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Good morning, Netizens…
[Portions AP Press, Salt Lake City Tribune]
Tuesday night Salt Lake City, Utah City Council passed legislation that bans discrimination against gays in housing and unemployment, and the legislation was passed with the endorsement of the Mormon Church. This is not to say the Mormon Church is suddenly getting warm and fuzzy over gay rights; in fact last year their strenuous involvement was key in the passage of California’s Proposition 8, which bans gay, lesbian and transgender relationships.
Generally speaking, Utah lawmakers tend to “toe the line” when the church makes a policy decision, as over 80% of lawmakers and the governor are Mormons. In the past the church has stated that traditional male-female marriages are central to God’s plan. Gays are welcome in church, but must remain celibate to retain church callings and full membership.
In keeping with that, in August 2008 the church issued a statement saying it supported gay rights related to hospitalization, medical care, employment, housing or probate as long as they “do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches.”
However, the passage of this city ordinance is no guarantee that either county nor state legislative bodies will pass similar laws, according to the Salt Lake Tribune (http://www.sltrib.com/ ).
However, Stan Penfold, a gay man and the director of Utah Aids Foundation, has won the race to fill Salt Lake City’s District 3 council seat. Plus there are three openly-gay state legislators.
The statute, as crafted, requires annual reports by the city’s Human Rights Commission on the effectiveness of the statutes.
Dave
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arliacne on November 12 at 3:02 p.m.
Personally, I have a real hard time taking Mormons seriously.
spokelooneh on November 12 at 4:26 p.m.
CYA. It was going to pass anyway. SLC is fairly liberal.
“”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.”
Saying gay couples do “violence” to marriage is equivalent to comparing gays to murderers, child molesters and bestiality. It is abhorrent.
lewis8457 on November 13 at 10:06 a.m.
The whole gay issue is based on words in a book that many people hold as truth. And in turn they try to push their beliefs on the rest of us.
My theory is if it feels good do it, and guys wrap that rascal.
Lets go have some fun out there 2012 is right around the corner.
flutieflakes on November 14 at 5:05 p.m.
I’m all for religious tolerance, but I have a hard time ACCEPTING a church who’s goal it is to get a bazillion members and create some kind of Theocracy. They make Catholics (like me) seem open-minded in comparison.