HRC Delivers 27000 Letters to LDS

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has delivered six boxes containing more than 27,000 letters to Mormon church headquarters.

The letters were from members of the Human Rights Campaign ask leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to support gay rights legislation publicly in Utah.

The Mormon Church opposes gay marriage but has said it does not oppose civil unions or non-marriage legal rights for same-sex couples.

Utah lawmakers are expected to consider five bills offering legal protections for gays and lesbians when the Legislature convenes on Jan. 26.

Church spokesman Scott Trotter says the letters were accepted and will be forwarded to the appropriate office for review.

Don’t Boycott Utah This Winter

I was disappointed when California voters last month approved Prop. 8, which bans gay marriage. I saw it as a civil rights issue, not as a threat to my or anyone else’s wedded bliss.

But even though the conservative Mormon church aggressively supported the proposition with money and foot soldiers, I’m not going to boycott Utah ski resorts this winter, a tactic some activists have called for.

Granted, Utah is the center of Mormonism, where 62 percent of residents belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And tourism does bring in $6 billion a year to the state. So it’s an obvious target for those angry over the vote.

But the ski industry is one of the most secular parts of the Beehive state. And Park City, where I’m headed with my wife and two of my kids next month, has a reputation for being one of the most progressive (read un-Mormon) parts of Utah.

Read the rest at Brian Clark’s Snow Blog!

Panel OK’s Utah’s First Gay Rights Bill

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

The first in a series of gay-rights bills being pushed for the 2009 legislative session cleared a committee Wednesday, but not without drawing staunch opposition from conservative activists.

The pushback over Sen. Scott McCoy’s wrongful-death measure — one of the seemingly least controversial bills proposed as part of Equality Utah’s Common Ground Initiative — could signal a tough slog for the gay-rights group and the legislators carrying the six bills. The initiative also calls for creating a statewide domestic-partner registry and forcing employers with family health plans to extend those benefits to unmarried partners.

McCoy, D-Salt Lake City, wants to amend state law so that financial dependents — besides spouses, parents and children — could sue if a breadwinner suffers a wrongful death.

The measure could be used by same-sex couples and other nontraditional households, such as one in which a grandmother relies on a grandson for financial support. Unlike spouses, parents and children, a wrongful-death designee would have to prove a financially dependent relationship with the victim to go to court.

Read the entire article by clicking here.

Utah Sentate Introduces Common Ground Initiative

Today, the first of a series of six bills proposed by Democratic lawmakers and endorsed by gay-rights groups goes before the Utah Senate Judiciary Interim Committee. The lead-off bill, if passed, would permit someone to name an unmarried partner as a designee in wrongful death cases.

Combined, the bills make up the what’s being called the Common Ground Initiative. The initiative also includes proposals that would create a statewide domestic-partner registry, provide health benefits for gay couples and partial repeal of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

The initiative is a bold move in a state where the Republican-dominated Legislature has fought to ban gay student clubs, prevented gay couples from adopting and barred any domestic unions that would give same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual married couples.

The movement takes its cue from remarks by the LDS Church in the wake of the passage of Proposition 8, California’s measure to ban same-sex-marriage. The church, which pushed the ballot measure but did not oppose California’s domestic-partner registry, stated it “does not object” to rights for gay couples regarding health care, probate, fair housing and employment.

“The planets are aligned,” said Rep. Christine Johnson, D-Salt Lake City, who will sponsor laws to protect LGBT people from being fired or evicted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Anti-Defimation League Denounces Vandalism

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) founded in 1913, which is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry, today denounced the recent vandalism that has taken place at religious institutions across the state of California and Utah in response to the passage of Proposition 8.

ADL issued the following statement:

“Although we strongly opposed Proposition 8, its passage does not justify the defacement and destruction of property. We urge Californians to channel their frustration and disappointment in productive and responsible ways to work towards full equality for all Americans. To place anyone in
fear of threat to their houses of worship or their personal security because they have expressed deeply held religious views is contrary to everything this nation represents. Our Constitution’s First Amendment
protects freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion for all of us.”

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