Milestone legislation that would ban LGBT discrimination while protecting religious liberties has made it to the desk of Utah Gov. Gary Herbert.
The Utah House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 296 late Wednesday evening, on the second-to-last night of this year’s general session. But the favorable 65-10 vote came after some emotional discussion on the House floor.
Several lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Ken Ivory, voiced their opposition to the bill. Ivory argued that the bill was being rushed into law, and it needed more time to be analyzed.
“It was helpful—by degree—to get some questions answered, but there are many in terms of taking existing code, putting in definitions that are vague and appear imprecise in the ability to try to calculate and figure out how that runs to ground throughout our code. This is a deep constitutional dive in a very shallow pool of time and process,” Ivory said.
But Rep. Patrice Arent, a Democrat, said the Legislature has deliberated over the issue for years now, and the bill’s passage is long overdue.
“Today, we have the opportunity to address one of the remaining human rights issues of our time. We recognize that equality is not just an issue of gender, skin color, religion. Equality is for all of us,” Arent said. “Today, we can vote to make sure we extend protections to all Utahns, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Statewide housing and employment protections for LGBT individuals have been discussed at the Utah Legislature for seven years now, thanks largely to Republican Senator Steve Urquhart, who made an annual tradition of presenting an anti-discrimination bill. LGBT anti-discrimination got a major boost this year when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came out in support of such measures, so long as they were balanced by protections of religious liberties.
After passing both the House and the Senate, this year’s bill now awaits the governor’s signature to become law. Herbert is expected to sign SB296 in a ceremony on Thursday evening.