2004, and it went into effect that same day. Constitution On March 3, 2004, the Utah Senate voted 20–7 in favor of Amendment 3, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and any "domestic union" that grants "the same or substantially equivalent legal effect". The House of Representatives voted 58–14 in favor of the amendment that same day. On November 2, 2004, Utah voters approved of the amendment by a margin of 65.8% to 33.2%. The amendment went into effect on January 1, 2005. Lawsuits Kitchen v. Herbert District Court On March 25, 2013, three same-sex couples, including one already married in Iowa, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah seeking to declare Utah's prohibition on the recognition of same-sex marriages unconstitutional under the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution. The court heard oral arguments on December 4. The state argued that there was "nothing unusual" in enforcing policies that encourage "responsible procreation" and the "optimal mode of child-rearing". The plaintiffs' attorney contended that the policy was "based on prejudice and bias that is religiously grounded in this state". On December 20, 2013, District Judge Robert J. Shelby struck down the same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional. He wrote: It was the first federal court decision to address state recognition of same-sex marriage since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Windsor that held Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denied federal recognition to same-sex marriages, unconstitutional. Marriage licenses issued During the first six days following the ruling, Utah county clerks issued marriage licenses to more than 900 same-sex couples. Historian J. Seth Anderson and neuroscientist Michael Ferguson were the first couple to legally marry in Utah. State Senator Jim Dabakis, chairman of the Utah Democratic Party, was one of the first to get married in Salt Lake City. Mayor Ralph Becker officiated at his ceremony and at dozens more. Two couples in Washington County became the first same-sex couples to marry in a county other than Salt Lake County, shortly before the county clerk's office closed on December 20. Officials in Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state, began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples immediately after the ruling. The Salt Lake County District Attorney, Sim Gill, said that the ruling prevented the state from enforcing the ban: "The current state