Utahns from various backgrounds responded to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ declaration of support for legal measures that would protect LGBT individuals from discrimination—so long as religious liberty was protected.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said the new comments from the LDS Church brought up important issues that lawmakers will have to think long and hard about.
“I think the legislature needs to grapple with this and see if it’s in fact possible to have an anti-discrimination piece of legislation that people will be supportive of,” Herbert said. “I personally believe that if we have anti-discrimination legislation that would be on a statewide basis, it needs to be coupled with religious freedom legislation so that they work in concert with each other, so that there’s no diminution of the rights of either side.”
Equality Utah’s Executive Director Troy Williams called the decision momentous and lauded the LDS church for its support of a non-discrimination law in the state.
“We’ve been advancing a non-discrimination bill, statewide, for seven years and every single year the legislators block it in some way, and I hope that this gives our legislators an opportunity to actually seriously consider the bill,” Williams said.
The anti-discrimination bill that Williams and Equality Utah have supported in the past would amend current laws, such as the Utah Fair Housing Act, to include sexual orientation and gender identity.