In a major step forward, the Mormon Church has decided that there should be laws to protect LGBT people against discrimination in housing and employment.
In a major step backward, the Mormon Church has also decided that anyone an ignore those laws by citing religious liberty.
That’s the gist of the big announcement to come out of the Church of the Latter Day Saints on Tuesday. The Mormon leadership considered the news to be earth-shattering enough to interrupt church television and radio broadcasts with live coverage of the rare press conference announcing the purported breakthrough.
After years of opposition to anything remotely pro-gay, Church leaders are now supporting “reasonable safeguards,” as long as those safeguards include provisions that are “ensuring that religious freedom is not compromised.”
How about we take this to the next level?
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The church insists that “this appeal for a balanced approach between religious and gay rights does not represent a change or shift in doctrine for the Church.” In fact, at the press conference Sister Neill Marriott of the church’s Young Women general presidency made a point of stressing that the church “believes that sexual relations other than between a man and a woman who are married are contrary to the laws of God.”
Indeed, in its statement, the Church specifically positioned LGBT people and religious people as equal victims and the Mormon Church as trying to Rise Above It All. “[The decision] does represent a desire to bring people together, to encourage mutually respectful dialogue in what has become a highly polarized national debate,” the church proclaimed.
There have been signs for a while that the Mormons were backing away from their stenuous opposition to gay rights. Unlike their advocacy for California’s Proposition 8 in 2008, the church has been largely silent about the current marriage equality debate. Then there was that computer glitch last month that signaled a change of policy was in the works.
In retrospect, perhaps the biggest tip-off came in 2013, when five of the seven Mormons in the Senate voted in favor of ENDA. That’s not a move they would have undertaken without some clearance from the church.
Of course, what kind of protections are they if they don’t protect you against people who want to discriminate against you? All anyone has to do is cite Sister Marriott’s statement at the press conference and you’re out of work or an apartment. Try to imagine another legal protection that offered that kind of loophole. You can’t.
This isn’t to question the sincerity of church leaders, who genuinely believe that they have arrived at a Solomonic decision. And perhaps the decision will start to shift attitudes among the rank-and-file, which is a good thing. But civil rights aren’t subject to compromise. Either you’re all in or you’re not. And right now, the Mormon Church still is not.
tdx3fan
I would think that there would have to be evidence presented that the person discriminating has had that long held significant spiritual belief for some period of time. They could not just make the claim as an excuse.
Every anti-discrimination law has built in safe guards for religious institutions. Even the Civil Rights act of 1964.
As far as the Mormon and even the Catholic church. These are multi-billion and maybe even multi-trillion dollar businesses. They are going to continue to grow their memberships because that is where their cash comes from. As the nation and the rest of the first world shifts on gay marriage and gay rights so will both businesses because it makes for easier recruiting of new candidates.
Paul Nadolski
“…the church ‘believes that sexual relations other than between a man and a woman who are married are contrary to the laws of God.'”
Since there is no God, how can being gay be against his/her laws? Just saying…
Mike
Same pig different lipstick. It is interesting to watch these groups who have a long history of implementing and pursuing aggressive anti-gay public policy suddenly getting their robes up in a wad with false worry that somehow their rights are now being stomped on. Pussies.
Ladbrook
Allow me to translate:
“Everyone is equal here in Utah, but some are more equal that others.”
Cam
How many times are they going to put out the same statement by attempting to rewrite it? This is no different then what they always say, and that is they think it should be legal to discriminate against LGBT’s.
The NYTimes crushed them in this article.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/takingnote/2015/01/27/on-discrimination-the-mormon-church-gives-and-takes-away/?smid=tw-share&referrer
jwtraveler
So, religious bigots can discriminate against people, but everyone else can’t? Is that right?
Does this policy apply only to homosexuals? What about unmarried, cohabiting heterosexuals? Or any unmarried people who are not virgins? Can they discriminate against people who drink alcohol, smoke, drink coffee? Can a Hindu employer or landlord refuse to hire or rent to anyone who eats meat? Can Quakers refuse to do business with members of the military?
Where does it end? Can any religious person refuse to provide services to anyone who does not share their religious beliefs? And what happens to Freedom of Religion?
loren_1955
Please don’t be deceived, the Mormon church is not giving up a thing and actually are entrenching deep to protect their own position. Not once has there been any apology from the Mormon leadership for decades of abuse to gays. No mention of the church sponsored electro-shock therapies, the Nazi like rounding up of gays by BYU (church) security, the countless suicides, the gay youth thrown out of their homes by their ‘loving’ parents to survive on the streets as prostitutes and drug dealers or worse kill themselves. Nor has there been any announcement by Mormon leadership to stop the harassment of their own members, nor has the funding of anti-gay efforts been stopped. This is just another very calculated move to benignly appear to be supportive while in fact driving the knife ever deeper into their gay members and worse non-members who they have no right to push their dogma on.
SteveDenver
IGNORE THIS DISGUSTING MONEY-GRABBING CULT.
Conrad84
Just read this:
http://kevinallred.tumblr.com/post/109419806100/newsflash-the-mormon-church-is-still-anti-gay
oldbrit
Excuse me, but why would anyone vote for an elected official who had to get clearance from their church for any vote on anything?
Liz
oldbrit
@loren_1955: Exactly. This is nothing but not-too-cleverly-worded propaganda designed to trick people into thinking that the Church of Latter Day Saints hierarchy isn’t full of hatemongers and bigots.
Harley
Does this mean I can have as many husbands as I want?
rikki
Why should we give a damn what the churches think of us? I really don’t care and it makes no difference to me whether any church loves or hates me as long as they leave me alone I’ll leave them alone.
jwtraveler
@rikki: The problem is that they don’t leave us alone. They use their inordinate political power to try to deny us our civil rights and make our lives miserable. I agree, I don’t care what they think of me. I care what they DO!
NiceNCool1
This is one more reason that religion makes people stupid.
jamesdkey
Very well written, John!!