Nine Utah Cities and Counties Now Ban Anti-LGBT Bias

There is progress to report on ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity in the state of Utah. Recently, the city councils of Moab, UT and Murray, UT unanimously have enacted local ordinances prohibiting discrimination in housing or employment against LGBT people.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

There are now nine cities and counties in Utah with such ordinances. Equality Utah hopes the number will reach 10 before the start of the next session of the Utah Legislature, where the group has pushed for a statewide anti-discrimination law.

In addition to Moab and Murray, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Park City, Summit County, Logan, West Valley City and Taylorsville ban housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

This means that Equality Utah is just one city away from having reached its goal of having 10 local jurisdictions enact "gay rights laws" before the Utah legislature convenes again and considers a similar statewide measure.

Of course these piecemeal efforts would not be necessary if the 111th United States Congress has passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act--although even then that legislation would just ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression and not address discriminations in housing, public accommodations, credit, education and government services. All of these are areas which are protected under California state law, for example.

There is almost no chance that under Republican control the 112th Congress will pass ENDA, or frankly any LGBT-supportive legislation.

Hat/tip to Trans Griot.

WATCH: Trailer for "8: The Mormon Proposition"

Hat/tip to WonderMan

Logan Utah Adopts LGBT Rights Ordinance!

The city of Logan, Utah (where Utah State University is located) became the second city in the Mormon-dominated, religiously conservative state to enact an ordinance banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in employment and housing on Tuesday night.

According to the Salt lake Tribune:

In one motion, the Logan City Council on Tuesday night mandated that employers and landlords cannot discriminate against gays, lesbians or transgendered people in the city limits.

Modeled after anti-discrimination laws recently adopted in Salt Lake City, Logan's housing and employment ordinances passed with four votes and one abstention, by Councilman Dean Quayle. A crowd, which filled the City Council Chambers halls and an overflow room, was mostly subdued throughout a one-hour public hearing. Following the tally though, the crowd erupted in applause and rewarded the council with a standing ovation.

In the days leading up to Tuesday's meeting, Council Chairman Jay Monson said he received more than 250 calls and e-mails "for" and only 10 "against" the ordinances, all from Logan residents and business owners.

[...]

"The [LDS] church supports nondiscrimination ordinances, period. Certainly, I was told that this applies to Logan as much as any other place in the world," Monson said Tuesday before calling for the vote. "They do and I do and I agree that this is not the answer for everything ... But it is a step in the right direction and it is long overdue in my thinking

However, as I have blogged about before, there are plenty of examples of ignorance in this monochromatic state about the nature of civil rights:

Logan resident James Gibson, a business owner and landlord, disagreed saying the City Council is overstepping its bounds.

"I don't feel that it is the place of the government to step in and say who I can and can't hire," Gibson said, adding that, if anything, it should be a state matter. "If anybody feels like they've been discriminated against on behalf of any landlord or business owner, that becomes a civil matter. "

Joshua Frazier added, "The problem is a lack of compassion, not a lack of laws. You cannot legislate compassion and attempting to do so only creates resentment."

Frazier said the ordinances are unconstitutional because employment and property rentals feature a private contract.

"It's wrong for governments to interfere with contracts between individuals," Frazier said. "I see this as the government forcing moral decisions on private individuals. I do not want the government determining and defining what is moral and what is not."

Of course, he is saying that as a white, Mormon man who is currently protected under federal, state and local ordinances which prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, gender and religion.
How would he feel if it were legal to say "No Mormons Need Apply!" in his rental property or place of employment?

It's simply stunning to me how some people can not see past their own privilege.

Mormons Support Salt Lake City Gay Rights Orginance

As Wonder Man says, "It's Ice Cold In Hell." The LDS Church not only did not oppose a proposed ordinance in Salt Lake Cty to extend civil rights protections in emloyment to the categories of sexual orientation and gender identity, but actively supported it. The ordinance passed unanimously, the Salt Lake Tribune reports:

Hours after the LDS Church announced its support Tuesday night of proposed Salt
Lake City ordinances aimed at protecting gay and transgender residents from
discrimination in housing and employment, the City Council unanimously approved
the measures.

"The church supports these ordinances," spokesman Michael
Otterson told the council, "because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage."

They also are consistent with Mormon teachings, he said. "I believe in a church that believes in human dignity, in treating people with respect even when we disagree -- in fact, especially when we disagree."

[...]

The LDS Church's endorsement was hailed by leaders of Utah's
gay community -- some of them stunned -- who called it a historic night they
hope will set the stage for statewide legislation.

"This is a great step," said Will Carlson, director of public policy for the advocacy group Equality Utah. But, he noted, four out of five gay Utahns live outside the capital and should be afforded protection as well. "Equality Utah will continue to work for that."

The ordinance contains much more extensive language granting exceptions to the discrimination protections for religious-based organizations and practices. It will be interesting to see if the Governor of Utah, Gary Hebert, who earlier this year revealed his utter ignorance and misunderstanding of the concept of civil rights, will change his position on statewide legislation now that even the Mormons are saying that LGBT rights laws (trans-inclusive!) are "fair and reasonable."

Here's the full text of the official statement from the LDS Church on the Salt Lake City ordinance:

Good evening.

My name is Michael Otterson, and I am here tonight
officially representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The nondiscrimination ordinances being reviewed by the city council concern
important questions for the people of this community.

Like most of America, our community in Salt Lake City is comprised of citizens of different faiths and values, different races and cultures, different political views and divergent demographics. Across America and around the world, diverse communities such as ours are wrestling with complex social and moral questions.

People often feel strongly about such issues. Sometimes they feel so strongly that the ways in which they relate to one another seem to strain the fabric of our society,
especially where the interests of one group seem to collide with the interests
of another.

The issues before you tonight are the right of people to have a roof over their heads and the right to work without being discriminated against.

But, importantly, the ordinances also attempt to balance vital issues of
religious freedom. In essence, the Church agrees with the approach which Mayor
Becker is taking on this matter.

In drafting these ordinances, the city has granted common-sense rights that should be available to everyone, while safeguarding the crucial rights of religious organizations, for example, in their hiring of people whose lives are in harmony with their tenets, or when providing housing for their university students and others that preserve religious requirements.

The Church supports these ordinances because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage. They are also entirely consistent with the Church’s prior position on these matters. The Church remains unequivocally committed to defending the bedrock foundation of marriage between a man and a woman.

I represent a church that believes in human dignity, in treating others with
respect even when we disagree – in fact, especially when we disagree. The
Church’s past statements are on the public record for all to see. In these
comments and in our actions, we try to follow what Jesus Christ taught. Our
language will always be respectful and acknowledge those who differ, but will
also be clear on matters that we feel are of great consequence to our society.

Thank you.

Mormons (Again) Reveal Their Ignorance Of Civil Rights

Dallin H. Oaks, member of the
Quorum of the Twelve of the Mormon Church

Another day, another verbal eruption from an influential Mormon revealing their ignorance and opposition to civil rights, the concept that all people are treated equally by their government. Last time it was the Mormon Governor of a predominantly Mormon state of Utah, this time it is one of the most powerful leaders in the rigidly hierarchical church, Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Oaks said the free exercise of religion is threatened by those who believe it conflicts with "the newly alleged 'civil right' of same-gender couples to enjoy the privileges of marriage."

"Those who seek to change the foundation of marriage should not be allowed to pretend that those who defend the ancient order are trampling on civil rights," Oaks said. "The supporters of Proposition 8 were exercising their constitutional right to defend the institution of marriage ..."

Oaks said that while "aggressive intimidation" connected to Proposition 8 was primarily directed at religious people and symbols, "it was not anti-religious as such." He called the incidents "expressions of outrage against those who disagreed with the gay-rights position and had prevailed in a public contest."

"As such, these incidents of 'violence and intimidation' are not so much anti-religious as anti-democratic," he said. "In their effect they are like well-known and widely condemned voter-intimidation of blacks in the South that produced corrective federal civil-rights legislation."

Wow! Where to begin with refuting these statements when there is so much misinformation and ignorance displayed? Earlier I blogged about the white-hot homophobia and misogyny of the Catholic Church and now comes this insanity from a spokesperson a certifiably racist and misogynistic institution.

Happily, there were responses from two gay people included in the article about Oaks' speech, which the author claims Mormon church officials told them would be a "significant commentary on current threats to religious freedom."

Marc Solomon of Equality California:

"Blacks were lynched and beaten and denied the right to vote by their government," said Marc Solomon, marriage director for Equality California, which spearheaded the No on 8 campaign. "To compare that to criticism of Mormon leaders for encouraging people to give vast amounts of money to take away rights of a small minority group is illogical and deeply offensive."

Fred Karger of Californians Against Hate:

Fred Karger, founder of the gay rights group Californians Against Hate, said Oaks' speech is part of a public relations offensive to "try to turn the tables on what has been a complete disaster for the Mormon church ... They are trying to be the victim here. They're not. They're the perpetrators."

Pretty good responses, but both comments fail to address the key issue that Oaks speech reveals: he fundamentally does not believe in full equality for LGBT people and he either doesn't know or doesn't care to find out about the extent of the persecution of African-Americans in the civil rights era of the 1960s, but he still wishes to overlay his own bigotry with the mantle of civil rights. This from a lawyer who clerked at the United Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren!

Hopefully, more people will follow Fred and Marc's lead and call out Elder Oaks statements for the affront they are to all fair-minded Americans who understand and believe in civil rights for all people.

Utah Governor Doesn't Understand Basic Civil Rights

The new Governor of Utah Gary Hebert doesn't even realize how offensive he is being (or maybe he does and just doesn't care?) with the following statements:

In his most definitive comments yet on gay rights, Herbert told reporters he doesn't believe sexual orientation should be a protected class in the way that race, gender and religion are. "We don't have to have a rule for everybody to do the right thing. We ought to just do the right thing because it's the right thing to do and we don't have to have a law that punishes us if we don't," Herbert said in his first monthly KUED news conference.

In Utah, it is legal to fire someone for being gay or transgender. The gay rights advocacy group Equality Utah has been trying to change state law for several years but has always been rebuffed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. Last year, the group got Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman's support for extending some rights to gay people, although none of the bills it backed became law.

But, wait, there's more!

Herbert stopped short of condemning Salt Lake City's proposed anti-discrimination ordinance during his first appearance on the governor's monthly news conference on KUED Ch. 7, but said a fair-housing and employment law for the state's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community would unnecessarily create a new "protected class."

"Where do you stop? That's the problem going down that slippery road. Pretty soon we're going to have a special law for blue-eyed blondes," Herbert said, adding "we get bogged down sometimes with the minutiae of things that government has really no role to be involved in."

The very first follow up question should be whether Governor Hebert supports the current classes protected against employment discrimination under state and federal law in Utah, which are age, race, religion, sex, national origin, color and disability (by virtue of state and federal law) and pregnancy, childbirth or pregnancy-related condition (Utah law only. An esteemed reader wrote in to make sure I made it clear that discrimination on the basis of pregnancy is illegal under federal law as well, but I do believe that Utah's statute goes even further in prohibiting discrimination in this area than under federal law).

If he does not support those laws, then he should be called out for the anti-historical bigot he appears to be. If he does support those laws, but doesn't see any need to expand them to cover sexual orientation and gender identity, he should be educated as to the vast amount of discrimination which openly LGBT workers face all over the United States (and I expect, in Utah) unlike the mythical history of discrimination against blue-eyed blondes the Governor seems so worried about.

And isn't it shocking that it is a wealthy white male who is making these statements of how unnecessary llegal protections for minorities are. Color me surprised. Not.

Frank Rich Demolishes The NOM Ad

Columnist Frank Rich demolished the now universally-mocked National Organization for Marriage's "A Storm Is Coming" ad campaign opposed to marriage equality in an op-ed published in Sunday's New York Times.

As the polls attest, the majority of Americans who support civil unions for gay couples has been steadily growing. Younger voters are fine with marriage. Generational changeover will seal the deal. Crunching all the numbers, the poll maven Nate Silver sees same-sex marriage achieving majority support “at some point in the 2010s.”

Iowa and Vermont were the tipping point because they struck down the right’s two major arguments against marriage equality. The unanimous ruling of the seven-member Iowa Supreme Court proved that the issue is not merely a bicoastal fad. The decision, written by Mark Cady, a Republican appointee, was particularly articulate in explaining that a state’s legalization of same-sex marriage has no effect on marriage as practiced by religions. “The only difference,” the judge wrote, is that “civil marriage will now take on a new meaning that reflects a more complete understanding of equal protection of the law.”

[...]

In 2008, 60 percent of Iowa’s Republican caucus voters were evangelical Christians. Mike Huckabee won. That’s the hurdle facing the party’s contenders in 2012, which is why Romney, Palin and Gingrich are now all more vehement anti-same-sex-marriage activists than Rick Warren. Palin even broke with John McCain on the issue during their campaign, supporting the federal marriage amendment that he rejects. This month, even as the father of Palin’s out-of-wedlock grandson challenged her own family values and veracity, she nominated as Alaskan attorney general a man who has called gay people “degenerates.” Such homophobia didn’t even play in Alaska — the State Legislature voted the nominee down — and will doom Republicans like Palin in national elections.

One G.O.P. politician who understands this is the McCain-Palin 2008 campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt, who on Friday urged his party to join him in endorsing same-sex marriage. Another is Jon Huntsman Jr., the governor of Utah, who in February endorsed civil unions for gay couples, a position seemingly indistinguishable from Obama’s. Huntsman is not some left-coast Hollywood Republican. He’s a Mormon presiding over what Gallup ranks as the reddest state in the country.

[...]

As marital equality haltingly but inexorably spreads state by state for gay Americans in the years to come, Utah will hardly be in the lead to follow Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont. But the fact that it too is taking its first steps down that road is extraordinary. It is justice, not a storm, that is gathering. Only those who have spread the poisons of bigotry and fear have any reason to be afraid.

Pow!

Utah Legislature Kills Gay Rights Bills

After the bitter electoral fight over Proposition 8 in the 2008 elections an official statement from the Mormon Church said that "[The Mormon Church] does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights."

In response, Equality Utah created the Common Ground Initiative which was a group of bills that would enact these principles into Utah law:

Expanding Health Care-most gay Utahns can not insure their family. Currently, Equality Utah is working to secure an Executive Order, which would extend benefits for State of Utah employees and their adult designees. Since the State of Utah is the state’s largest employer, this is a great start in getting insurance plans to cover all family structures.

Fair Housing & Employment-Right now it is legal in Utah for people to be fired from their jobs or evicted from their homes just because they’re gay or transgender. All Utahns should have the chance to provide for their families and stay in their homes without fear of being unjustly fired or evicted for reasons that have nothing to do with ability to work or pay rent. A Fair Workplace bill was introduced in the 2008 session as HB 89. This year, the Fair Employment portion was added and the bill has been introduced as HB 267.

Wrongful Deaths-The sudden death of a loved one is painful. When someone dies because of the negligence or malpractice of another, we can help families stay in their homes by removing existing barriers to inheritance and insurance. This bill was introduced in the 2007 session as SB 58 and in the 2008 session as SB 73. The bill is SB 32 in the 2009 session. *This bill was defeated in the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 4-2 vote.

Adult Joint Support Declaration- Apart from marriage, we can do much more to help committed couples in Utah care for each other. This bill creates a joint support declaration and will attach rights of inheritance, insurance, and fair housing. This bill's number is HB 160.

Clarifying Amendment 3- A government registry involving inheritance, housing, and insurance is nowhere near the legal equivalent of marriage. But the second part of Amendment 3 has been misinterpreted to prevent any recognition of gay and transgender couples in Utah. This bill would repeal the portion of Amendment 3 which states “no other domestic union, however denominated, may be recognized as marriage or be given the same or substantially equivalent legal effect.” It will not change Utah’s current definition of marriage, which is one man and one woman.

How did the Utah Legislature respond? They killed every single legislative bill they could get their hands on.

LDS Church Officials Cancel Meeting with LGBT Mormons

Quelle Surprise! Officials at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (commonly known as the Mormon Church) have now cancelled a previously announced meeting to be held with gay Mormons next month.

Latter Day Saints President Thomas S. Monson agreed to a meeting in April with leaders of Affirmation, an organization for LGBT members of the LDS church, Fred Riley, commissioner of family services for the LDS, and Harold C. Brown, the agency’s past commissioner.

Affirmation had sought such a meeting for several years. It was to have taken place Aug. 11.

But in a letter to Affirmation, Riley suddenly called off the discussion, noting he was preparing to leave his position and that the meeting would best be handled by his successor, who has not yet been named.

“We feel badly about this, but believe that for this to be the best experience for all parties and to ensure appropriate consistency and continuity of the process, it would be best to postpone the meeting until the new commissioner is named,” Riley said in the letter.

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm.

Gay Mormon Wins $1m on Survivor: China

Despite losing interest in the show after fan favorite and über-hottie James Clement was voted off the show a few weeks ago MadProfessah still couldn't resist watching the Survivor finale Sunday night. Surprisingly, for the second time ever, an openly gay contestant won the $1 million dollar prize (Richard Hatch, the show first ever winner was also its first openly gay winner). Todd Herzog, a 22-year-old former Southwest Airline steward from Utah and Survivor-fanatic who first started watching the show when he was barely a teenager received 4 votes from the jury to wrest the prize from the more-deserving Amanda Kimmel, a 23-year-old beauty queen from Montana currently living in Los Angeles and the dangerously thin (and needlessly cruel) Courtney Yates, a 23-year-old waitress from New York City. Todd is actually the second openly gay Mormon to be a contest on the show; the other was Rafe Judkins from Survivor: Guatemala who made it to the jury.

Happily, the very handsome and pleasant James (who unfortunately made one of the most boneheaded moves ever in Survivor history which resulted in him being voted out while holding two special talismans that confer immunity if played at the right time) was awarded a $100, 000 prize by Sprint for the most popular Survivor contestant.MadProfessah thinks that the "popularity consolation prize" of $100k is a good addition by the producers to the show. Denise Martin, the mullet-wearing 40-year-old non-lesbian was given a $50, 000 donation by Mark Burnett, the executive producer and creator of Survivor, upon hearing that the $7-an-hour lunch lady had been demoted to a janitor at her elementary school. Denise was the last member of the jury to be decided when Amanda made the fatal decision NOT to renege on her Day 1 alliance with Todd and instead ended up receiving only 1 vote from the jury, even less than the odious Courtney (2 votes) and eventual obnoxious winner, Todd.