Lds Church And Gay Community Achieve A Victory

Two of the last organizations you would expect to see fighting together for a cause are the Latter-day Saint Church and the gay rights activist group. On the surface, they seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum.

However, on Tuesday, November 10, 2009, the two groups came together at a city council meeting in Salt Lake City to ask the city council to pass nondiscrimination ordinances that would offer a higher level of human rights and protections to those of the gay and lesbian community.

Michael Otterson , the representative for the church that attending the city council meeting, spoke out on the matter stating that this was a matter of human dignity and that the ordinances proposed were not in any way an assault on the institution of marriage between a man and a woman.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints actually took the same stance last November, and the gay rights activist group in the Salt Lake City area used the previous occurrence to propose different bills to the Utah state legislature-for the very rights that the church had stated they were not opposed to. A few of the rights contained within the bill include hospital visitation rights, employment rights, and housing rights. However, none of the five bills that were proposed last November made it out of committee.

Some individuals may speculate that the LDS Church was officially represented at the city council meeting on November 10th because the church felt that their voice was not heard in an official statement in November of 2008. No matter why the church decided to make their feelings known by a personal appearance at the city council meeting this month, it appears to have worked.

There were two nondiscrimination ordinances that were being proposed before the Salt Lake City council and they were both passed. They pertained to housing rights and employment rights. While this is only a city ordinance, it is a big step forward for the gay community in receiving sponsorship of the government in Utah to help eliminate prejudice based on their sexual preference.

This day marked truly a big victory for the gay community. Not only did the ordinances pass, they passed unanimously. This may well be a turning point in Utah for the mutual agreement between the LDS Church and the gay community for the God-given rights of every human being. With the backing of the LDS Church and the nondiscrimination ordinances that passed in Salt Lake City, all of Utah's state laws may soon be changed.