Utah House panel delays action on anti-bias, religious rights bill

(this article is about two separate bills, the first is is SB296 which is the main anti-discriminaton law that introduces gender and sexual identity and gives some religious protections and the second is SB297 allowing clerks to opt out of performing gay marriages)

To read the entire article go to:  http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865623852/Utah-House-panel-delays-action-on-anti-bias-religious-rights-bill.html?s_cid=Email-1

Click here to find names, phone numbers and email address for those who represent you in the State legislature. 

Utah House members raised lots of questions during a hearing Monday on potentially monumental legislation looking to balance nondiscrimination and religious freedom.

Coupling that with the nearly 20 people who wanted to speak for and against SB296, the House Judiciary Committee decided to continue the hearing to Tuesday at 2 p.m. The panel didn't take action on the bill.

The bill, which easily passed the Senate last week, proposes to add sexual orientation and gender identity to Utah's anti-discrimination laws for housing and employment, clarify exemptions for religious institutions and provide protections for religious expression.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the LGBT community and business leaders support the measure.

Meantime, the Senate late Monday passed SB297, which would allow elected county clerks to opt out of solemnizing gay marriages for religious reasons as long as they find someone in or out of the office such as a local pastor or judge who would do it. The bill nows goes to the House.

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Rep. Brian Greene, R-Pleasant Grove, questioned whether SB296 strikes a proper balance between religious and LGBT rights. He said he's not sure the proposed law would protect people like former Salt Lake police officer Eric Moutsos, who was disciplined for citing religious reasons for not wanting to perform with his motorcycle squad in last summer's gay pride parade.

Greene said the bill is fraught with those types of ambiguities.

"This just one example where this bill falls short," he said.

Rep. Keven Stratton, R-Orem, asked whether the bill was properly vetted and if it's being pushed through too quickly.

Urquhart replied, "I'd say seven years is not a rush."

Urquhart has run a statewide anti-discrimination bill in housing and employment the past three years and others tried without success in the years before that.

Adams, a co-sponsor on SB296, said lawmakers also have fought for religious freedom legislation for years.

"It's not a new concept," he said.

House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, said he doesn't expect SB296 to have any difficulty in the House.

"The only issue is that people need to be familiar with it," Hughes said.

A religious liberty bill from Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, is on hold in the House, but Hughes said he "would hope it doesn’t compete" with the compromise legislation passed by the Senate.

Christensen, who heads the House Judiciary Committee, said during the hearing that it could take lawmakers up until the final hours of the legislative session, which ends at midnight Thursday, to find a "fair and balanced outcome." He also raised the idea that it could take more than one bill.

Gov. Gary Herbert has said he would sign SB296 if it crosses his desk.

Click here to find names, phone numbers and email address for those who represent you in the State legislature. 

SB296’s spirit of compromise: 10 scenarios where SB296 balances safeguards for LGBT with religious liberties

Where anti-discrimination and religious-liberty protections may or may not apply

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By Michael Erickson and Jenet Jacob Erickson, For the Deseret News

Published: Sunday, March 8 2015 7:52 p.m. MDT

SB296 does not treat this as discrimination because Utah’s antidiscrimination laws do not apply to employers with fewer than 15 employees. Antidiscrimination laws have consistently allowed small businesses wide discretion over the employees they hire.

• An employee has several “water cooler” conversations at work regarding his beliefs about marriage and family. A supervisor tells him that his anti-gay attitudes are not welcome.

SB296 guarantees that an employee “may express the employee’s religious or moral beliefs and commitments in the workplace in a reasonable, non-disruptive, and non-harassing way on equal terms with similar types of expression of beliefs or commitments allowed by the employer in the workplace, unless the expression is in direct conflict with the essential business-related interests of the employer.”

• An employee regularly makes fun of his LGBT co-worker with crude taunts and mean-spirited putdowns, but claims he’s just telling the truth in the Bible.

Religious liberty is not a shield for harassment. SB296 does not protect the expression of religious or moral beliefs if they are unreasonable, disruptive, or harassing. The example we chose is clearly harassment. But SB296 should not be misused to label an employee’s statement that marriage is between a man and woman as an expression that is unreasonable, disruptive or harassing to LGBT employees.

Read entire article at: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865623717/SB2967s-spirit-of-compromise-10-scenarios-where-SB296-balances-safeguards-for-LGBT-with-religious.html?pg=2

‘Historic’ bill that aims to balance LGBT rights and religious freedom unveiled

MARCH 4, 2015, BY BEN WINSLOW, 

SALT LAKE CITY — A bill that aims to balance religious liberties and LGBT rights has been unveiled in the Utah State Legislature.

Senate Bill 296 would prohibit discrimination based on “sexual orientation or gender identity” in housing and employment. But at the same time, it also takes efforts to safeguard religious freedoms for people who oppose homosexuality.

Some of the highlights of SB296:

• It would be illegal to fire someone or deny them housing because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender;
• Likewise, it would be illegal to do the same for someone who speaks out against same-sex marriage or homosexuality on religious grounds;
• The bill defines “gender identity” and addresses restroom use for transgender people;
• The bill exempts religions and the Boy Scouts of America;
• No religious exemptions from the non-discrimination provisions would be allowed for individuals or for-profit businesses;
• While “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” are used in code, it does not create a special class of protections for other purposes;
• Religious organization owned housing, like at Brigham Young University, would be exempted from the law.

The bill is the result of negotiations between key lawmakers, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and groups advocating for the rights of the LGBT community.

“Despite the challenges and the difficulties and the complexity of negotiations, a spirit of respect and good will has allowed all involved to respect the differences of one another and bring about Senate Bill 296,” said Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the LDS Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

At a news conference Wednesday, three leaders of the LDS Church stood alongside members of the LGBT rights group Equality Utah and state lawmakers to unveil the legislation. Some wept as they spoke about the bill’s impact and how it could bridge two divided communities.

“This issue between religious liberties and anti-discrimination can be in fact controversial and divisive. We’ve found a way to bring those issues together and have respect for one another, respect for all, freedom for all,” said Senate Majority Whip Stuart Adams, R-Layton, who is co-sponsoring the bill with Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George and Rep. Brad Dee, R-Ogden.

Troy Williams, the director of Equality Utah, said the bill sends a powerful message to LGBT people in the state.

“The work that we do today, the legislation that we pass this session will provide hope to thousands of LGBT youth living in Utah,” he said. “We will send a message to them that you belong in Utah.”

SB296 was praised by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights group.

“This is an extraordinary moment for the state of Utah, for LGBT Americans, and for the Mormon Church, which, by supporting this legislation, shows a willingness to align with others on the right side of history,” HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement. “The desire exhibited by the Mormon Church to work toward common ground should serve as a model for other faith traditions here in the United States.”

Governor Gary Herbert praised the bill.

“Today’s announcement is a great example of what makes Utah great. We work together to tackle difficult issues. I applaud members of the House and Senate for working with the LGBT community and religious, business, and civic leaders toward a worthy goal. The way our state has addressed this issue will serve as a model for the rest of the nation,” he said in a statement.

The Libertas Institute, a Libertarian think-tank in Utah, said it would oppose SB296 “on principle.” Libertas president Connor Boyack told FOX 13 the group opposes restrictions on property rights.

The ACLU of Utah said it “strongly supports” SB296.

Read the entire article at: http://fox13now.com/2015/03/04/compromise-lgbt-nondiscrimination-religious-liberties-released-heres-what-it-says/

Alabama Supreme Court Halts Same-sex Marriages

Wednesday 4 March 2015 04.47 EST

The Alabama supreme court has ordered the state’s probate judges to stop issuing marriage licences to gay couples, saying a previous federal ruling that gay marriage bans violate the US constitution did not preclude them from following state law, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

The all-Republican court in Montgomery on Tuesday sided with the argument offered by a pair of conservative organisations, appealing against a decision by US district judge Callie Granade of Mobile, who ruled in January that both Alabama’s constitutional and statutory bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional.

It was not immediately clear what impact the latest ruling would have, or whether it would stand. While a six-member majority of the nine-member court did not explicitly invalidate the marriages of hundreds of same-sex couples who obtained licences in the state in recent weeks, the decision used the term “purported” to describe those licences.

The court’s most outspoken opponent of gay marriage, Chief Justice Roy Moore, disqualified himself from the case and did not take part in the writing of the unsigned 134-page decision.

After Granade’s ruling, Moore told probate judges across the state not to issue same-sex marriage licences. His stance created widespread confusion, prompting some judges to refuse to issue the licences and others to shut their operations for all couples, gay and straight, until they could get a clear answer. Some, however, decided to issue the licences.

Of the other judges on Alabama’s high court, one agreed with the ruling while citing some reservations, and one, Justice Greg Shaw, dissented.

In his dissent, Shaw said it was “unfortunate” that federal courts refused to delay gay marriage in the state until the US supreme court could settle the issue nationally. But, Shaw said, the state supreme court did not have the power to consider the issue and was creating more confusion by “venturing into uncharted waters” outside its jurisdiction.

Read the entire story at: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/04/alabama-judges-halt-same-sex-marriages?CMP=ema_565