Mormon Church backs protection of gay rights in Salt Lake City

[Ian David]

Source: Deseret News

Supported by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Salt Lake City Council on Tuesday night unanimously approved a pair of ordinances protecting gay and lesbian residents from housing and employment discrimination.

"We cannot make decisions based on ignorance," said Salt Lake City Councilman JT Martin. "All of us (on the council) raised our hands and swore that we would do what was right for those people we represent. This is an issue that touches everyone's life. Equality is the right thing."

An LDS Church representative read a supporting statement at a public hearing before the Salt Lake City Council regarding the ordinances proposed by Mayor Ralph Becker.

"The church supports this ordinance because it is fair and reasonable and does not do violence to the institution of marriage," said Michael Otterson, managing director of the LDS Church's public affairs office.



Read more: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705343558/Gays-get-Mormon-support-in-SLC.html

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However..

<snip>

"The church remains unequivocally committed to defending the bedrock foundation of marriage between a man and a woman," he said.

[Blue_Tires]

1. ??

tossing a couple of crumbs, i guess...good for PR

[TygrBright]

2. "See? We're NOT homophobic bigots. Not, not, NOT!! nyeah-nyeah.... Now, let's get on...

...with stamping out vile unnatural practices like gay marriage."

ironically,
Bright

[question everything]

3. Huh? They don't think that they will burn in hell

or, worse, that they can be "fixed?"

[rpannier]

13. Mormons don't believe people go to Hell

The position of the LDS Church is that it takes an extraordinary to get sent to Hell.
Hitler isn't, Stalin isn't, etc
Being gay doesn't get you sent there either

[Taverner]

26. They just don't get their own planet for life...

[customerserviceguy]

4. Having lived in Utah for about six months

back in 2005 (the longest ten years of my life!) I can tell you that SLC is not a terribly conservative city, the wingnuts are pretty much out in the suburbs. It does not surprise me that the SLC council made this decision.

While it appears surprising that the LDS church is backing this, it does dovetail nicely into their new line, "we don't hate homosexuals, but we don't want to share the word marriage with them, that's all." Seeing as how practically every place that has equal marriage on the ballot (including some states that are as blue as Utah is red) pretty much has voted the same way, they are positioning themselves to look mainstream.

Don't forget, the last vote to overturn Prohibition came from Utah. They know how to play political chess over there.

[icymist]

8. Tell that to the California gays living with prop 8.

Also, please explain what the fuck prohibition has to do with equal rights?!

[customerserviceguy]

21. It wasn't just a handful of Mormons who derailed Prop H8

According to this site: http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_lds.html Mormons only made up 1.79 percent of Californians in 1990. Yahoo Answers had a similar percentage. Yes, Mormons in Utah gave money to the Prop H8 campaign, but since the opponents of the measure raised slightly more than the supporters, that should have been irrelevant. As many politicians have found out, you can't always buy an election.

Clearly, as the Maine results of last week show, even without heavy Mormon lobbying, straight America still has a long way to go before it will surrender the "M" word along with the rights of marriage. As the Washington State results showed on the same day, if we leave the label "domestic partnership" in place, and even provide for opposite-sex DP's for seniors (in order to reduce their stubborn resistance to equality), then you can have a popular vote that takes a big step in the right direction.

As for Prohibition, perhaps you are unaware that the Mormon church is dead set against alcohol. When I lived in Utah, you practically had to have a GPS to find one of a very few state-run liquor stores, and the highest percent beer you could get was 4 percent. You couldn't just walk into a bar, you had to "join" a private club in order to have a drink. And that was after liberalization of the liquor laws made for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

The vote to repeal Prohibition was not an act of the Utah Legislature, instead, it was a vote of the people of the state that took place on November 7, 1933, and it was for both national and state repeal. Even the Mormon church was not able to influence it. There have been conflicts within Utah between Mormons and non-Mormons ever since mining opened up the state to "outsiders" that were not part of the original migration in 1847 or their subsequent waves of Mormon converts.

While the LDS church usually wins, they don't win 'em all. That's why this vote did not surprise me.

[cmkramer]

22. I was reading some Mormon blogs during the election campaign

When it came to Prop 8, the majority were definitely for it mainly because of their beiief that marriage is between a man and a woman, but other than that, they were supportive of gay civil rights in terms of employment, housing and most were supportive of civil unions and thought gay couples in those unions should have the same rights as married couples.

[customerserviceguy]

24. Like I said, it's part of trying to "look" fair

The Mormon church knew that it came in for a lot of heavy criticism over the last year because of the high visibility of its support for Prop H8, and it knows that in order to continue its proselytizing activities, it needs to mellow the image that it has acquired.

As evidenced by votes both at the legislative level, and the proposition/referendum level, most people in this country are willing to concede civil rights protections in the area of jobs, housing, etc. to gay people. A majority is not yet ready to extend the use of the word "marriage" to same-sex relationships, although there is some support in blue states for allowing a marriage-substitute relationship under a different name.

The Mormons are trying to thread the needle by looking progressive on the civil rights views, remaining silent on the civil union/domestic partnership issue, and feeling that they are mirroring the country on the idea of saying that marriage is only between a man and a woman. At this point in our nation's history, it seems they have picked it correctly, unfortunately.

[Iggo]

5. "Equality is the right thing."

Yeah, fuck you.

[and-justice-for-all]

6. Ok, so what are these sneaky bastards up to now??

they will NEVER get any praise from me, they can kiss my ass.

[imdjh]

7. +1

[Divine Discontent]

9. clearly a ploy to attempt a media coup by appearing non-monsterish by not demanding that Gay people

be driven out of their homes and burned to death...

They can try all they want to appear loving of every "child of God", but their LDS leaders' actio's imply that someone leading their church is a monster. They victimized hundreds of thousands of LGBT people who would have gotten married in Cali had they not interfered with the marriage battle there.

They need to do a LOT more than this little ploy that would have been challenged quickly by the US govt (if housing protections are understood at all by me)

[Ian David]

15. +1. n/t

[MountainLaurel]

18. My guess

Is that now that all of their appeals on the release of the names of Prop 8 donors have just about run out, they're scared about what that information is going to reveal about the church's role and the backlash against it.

[Heidi]

10. Kick.

:kick:

[struggle4progress]

11. This is progress: even the people, that are for discrimination against gays, are against it.

[WillParkinson]

12. So two men or two women getting married is an act of violence?

Pshaw.

[Kolesar]

14. I agree with you. That was disgusting...eom

[Odin2005]

16. OMG, Hell just froze over!

:wow:

[TommyO]

17. Not by a long shot

They're still anti-gay, despite their capitulation in this instance.

[Ian David]

20. They also won't let gay people look inside their magic hat. n/t

[kestrel91316]

23. Heeheehee. I think most DUers missed the reference, but I didn't......

[closeupready]

19. These people just make me sick.

Clearly, they don't believe in ending discrimination against gay people. Nothing has changed. :puke:

[truthisfreedom]

25. As soon as that bigot got to "violence to the institution of marriage" part he lost all credibility.

Fuck you, asshole.