The Idaho Legislature's Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has approved spending $1 million to defend the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports in a story on Thursday that the committee endorsed a request by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter to transfer the money from the general fund to the Constitutional Defense Fund in anticipation of a legal fight.
Four couples in November filed a lawsuit challenging Idaho's same-sex marriage ban, arguing that the ban violates the U.S. Constitution's equal protection and due process guarantees.
Idaho law recognizes only marriages between a man and a woman, and a 2006 voter-enacted constitutional amendment bans same-sex marriages.
Federal judges have voided all or part of voter-approved bans on same-sex marriage in Utah, Oklahoma and Kentucky. Appeals are pending.