Kanab residents assail family stance

KANAB — More than 100 residents of this rural town met Wednesday evening to express their frustration with the mayor and City Council for passage of a "natural family" resolution.

"Wouldn't common sense tell you that the reaction of the community to the resolution calls for a retraction?" Pete Nixon asked at the meeting held at the town library. "Instead of creating goodwill, it's created friction in the community."

The resolution, approved in Kanab in January and drafted by the conservative Sutherland Institute, says that the local government "supports upholding the marriage of a woman to a man and a man to a woman as ordained by God." The resolution also encourages homes to be open to a "full quiver of children" and young women to become "wives, homemakers and mothers."

The resolution was sent to 265 local governments in Utah, and Kanab is the only one, so far, to pass it.

"This seems to be an oppressive, discriminatory event in this community," said one woman in the audience. "We're all feeling it. We're all impacted by it. The council and mayor have no business being in our homes like this."

A newly formed group of residents, calling itself the "Take Our Community Back" committee, organized the meeting that featured Pat Keehley, an assistant professor of political science and criminal justice at Southern Utah University.

"The council is certainly within its right to pass the natural family resolution," said Keehley, who was invited to address questions over local government and its role in society. "It's perfectly legal."

One resident asked if Kanab citizens could force the council to rescind the action.

"My sense is you wouldn't be on solid ground because it's a resolution, and no action has been taken," Keehley said. "I don't know that you'd get very far, legally."

Residents were angry the council passed the ordinance without public input and then would not reconsider its actions after receiving complaints about the resolution's intent.

"The resolution says the city will use it to form public policy," said Nixon. "Haven't they stepped over the line in doing that?"

One woman said the city failed to represent voters by passing the resolution.

"They've made us the laughingstock of the nation," she said. "It's not a Mormon thing or a religious thing. What can we do about it?"