CHEYENNE - The Wyoming Senate Wednesday voted 21-8 in favor of a bill to deny recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Senate File 13 now goes to the House. Wednesday's Casper Star-Tribune gave incorrect information about what must happen before the measure goes to the desk of Gov. Dave Freudenthal.

No one in the Senate spoke for the bill when it came up for the third and final Senate vote. Speaking afterward, some of those who voted for it said the state shouldn't be forced to recognize outside marriages that couldn't be performed here.

Massachusetts is the only state that allows same-sex marriages, while several other states allow same-sex civil unions.

"In my opinion, under the law right now in Wyoming, a marriage is now between a man and a wife, a male and a female," Senate President John Schiffer, R-Kaycee, said after the vote.

Schiffer said that it makes sense to specify that Wyoming should only recognize marriages that meet the state's own definition. He said that if the state wants to talk about changing its existing state law to recognize gay or lesbian unions, "maybe that's the discussion we ought to be having."

Asked whether he's concerned the bill could hurt Wyoming's reputation outside the state, Schiffer said, "You vote for a bill because it has merits. I don't know that you vote for a bill because of what somebody in some other state might say. I'm not swayed by that."

Opposed, Sen. Jayne Mockler, D-Cheyenne, cited the state's historically leading role in granting equal rights.

Noting same-sex marriages are a "very, very emotional issue," Mockler urged the Senate not to put the ban into state law.

"This isn't who we are, and it isn't who we should be," Mockler said.

Another opponent, Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, said he is a religious person who believes in separation of church and state.

"I think it is wrong to bring religious belief and try to incorporate it into law," Case said.

He also said he believes the bill reinforces a stereotype some people have of Wyoming because of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay University of Wyoming student.

The recorded vote was along party lines, with 20 Republicans and one Democrat, Bill Vasey of Rawlins, voting for it. Voting no were six Democrats and two Republicans, Case and Sen. Michael Von Flatern, R-Gillette.

Sen. Bob Peck, R-Riverton, was excused.

House Speaker Roy Cohee, R-Casper, said Wednesday afternoon that he doesn't know yet if the bill will come up on the House floor. It first must get through committee.

But if it does get debated, he said, he believes the vote will be more narrow than the 21-8 tally in the Senate.

The Republican legislative leadership has decided, in regard to SF 13 and House Bill 144 - which requires doctors to inform women about the potential adverse effects of abortion - that the legislators are here to do the work of the people and these bills are important to some people, Cohee said.

The two bills are, however, "time parasites," in that they eat up time that could be spent on a number of other bills, Cohee pointed out.

During his weekly news conference, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said that he "isn't uncomfortable" with the same-sex marriage bill.

He said he believes same-sex marriages cannot be recognized in Wyoming now given that state law defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

He added that it is apparent that some of the senators feel there is a loophole in the laws to allow recognition of other forms of marriage from other states.

"I'm not convinced of that," he said.

Dan Neal, executive director of the Equality State Policy Center, said the approval of the bill is a "regressive step for Wyoming."

The United States he said, has a long history of discrimination, starting with religious discrimination and intolerance by the Puritans against the Quakers and other denominations.

"Our fear is this kind of legislation can lead to a society that first isolates a minority, then determines what it doesn't like about it and then can move to official discrimination," Neal said.

"We think obviously this is official discrimination by the state," he added. "Scientists tell us homosexuals don't choose their orientation. They have it by biology."

John Birbari of Lander, president of the Wyoming Family Coalition, said his group is happy about the Senate vote and intends to lobby the House to support the bill.

"Wyoming is one of only a few states that hasn't approved similar legislation," Birbari said. "So we're hopeful that this bill will continue on through the House and get approved."

Birbari said he believes the bill is important, "to protect the institution of marriage."

Capital bureau reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@casperstartribune.net.