Comments about ‘Utah lawmakers, Mormon church leaders discuss issues but not gay rights’

Good to see the LDS Church is giving legislators their yearly marching orders.

Too bad we do not have the separation of church and state in Utah. Kind of reminds me of the Taliban running Afghanistan. That worked out pretty well.

Are gays entitled to more rights than others. NO THEY ARE NOT!

Well, maybe they should discuss it.

And this is what is WRONG with politics in Utah, they do this every year. WHY?

What ever happened to that litle old thing called the SEPERATION OF CHURCH AND STATE? Do other religions get equal time and/or consideration? Do the elected officials even care what their constituency wants?

I'd have to say NO on that last one.

This is the traditional meeting where the LDS Church tightens up the little strings that they use to make the legislative puppets dance for them.

Seems like someone should file a lawsuit arguing that this comes awfully close to an establishment of religion because the legislature does not hold a similar meeting for other religions (or atheist groups)!

Someone fill out the paperwork to get this started!

Are Mormons entitled to more rights than others? Are Mormons entitled to more consideration and attention by the Utah legislature?

NO! But that doesn't stop them from getting such preferential treatment, does it!

I am always saddened when I see reports such as this one regarding the Legislature and the LDS church. I'm convinced the LDS church runs the Legislature in this state and reports of meetings such as this one only serves to cement my opinion on the matter. It's to bad there isn't a better balance between LDS and non LDS in our state government. Bills should be supported or not based on there merit not because the LDS church may or may not be in support.

" That ordinance, endorsed by the LDS Church, outlines anti-discrimination ..."

"Most of the 104 part-time lawmakers are members of the LDS Church."

"And while church leaders rarely take public stands on political matters, when they do it enhances such issues' chances of passage in the Legislature."


No, Utah's not a theocracy.

It's a good thing nobody is proposing that gays get more rights than others. They legislation being proposed would give gays the same rights as everyone else by making it illegal to discriminate against them for being gay. It would also make it illegal to discriminate against straight people for being straight. Your argument is the very definition of a Straw Man.

Slat...no gays are not entitled to MORE rights than others, and that's not what they are asking for. They are asking for EQUAL rights. Check your facts before posting such an ignorant comment.

There are already a myriad of discrimination laws on the books. This special interest group — like so many others — doesn’t need the laws it is proposing.
Special interest groups - this time the gays and lesbians - apparently think they should have their own "special laws". Well, so do many other special interest groups....and we can’t all have “special laws”, can we?
Special laws all-to-often turn into platforms from which the special interest groups that proposed them can then attack others, and have those special laws protect them from being held to account for their own crimes against others.
Let's put an end to this kind of "special law" thinking.
Deal with your problems using the already far too cumbersome number of existing laws, and stop using the legislature as a way to get free "advertising" for your special interest group. When I see this kind of "advertising" I myself immediately think that what the group wants is illegitimate, or they would doing things differently...

Leaders in other states meet with Catholic clergy and protestant clergy. There is nothing unusual about this and has NOTHING to do with separation of church and state.

All citizens and organizations in this country have the right to meet with elected officials and express views and positions on a variety of issues as well as educate those leaders as to what activities those organizations are engaged in.

This "separation-of-church-and-state" argument is SILLY!

Unbelieveable, absolutly incredible that state elected leaders are influenced by religious leaders.

"Both meetings are traditional get-togethers to keep open POLITICAL channels"

obviously DN admits that LDS church is not religious institution but political organization forcing itself on state legislature, nothing really new for anyone watching Utah politics.
So much for separation of church and state.

Separation of church and state is not a law. The government shall make no law establishing a religion or preventing the free exercise thereof.

I would expect that the state leaders of any and every state would meet with the single largest (insert term here: constituency, corporation, group, religion) on a yearly basis. Goverment leaders meet with unions, businessleaders, lobbyists, and regular citizens etc. Free access to goverment leaders is essential to our processes (right to petition the goverment). That fact doesn't dissappear simply because religion is involved.

I think we will soon find that the public statement of the church in support of the gay rights ordinance was nothing more than a public relations move. My guess is they are doing everything behind the scenes to make sure it does not pass! Would Jesus deceive people like that?

Lazerus, the vast majority of legislators come from districts that are HEAVILY LDS. Right or wrong, they're doing the will of their constituents, which is what they get elected to do. Choosing to simply ignore the PEOPLE's will isn't good business for politicians.

To: Marching orders: I've been to Afghanistan. Comparing the two is ludicrous.

@Trowe

Actually, in Utah, Separation of Church and State means more than it does in other states because the Federal government forced the drafters of the Utah state constitution to adopt stronger separation language than what is the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Therefore, Utah truly has far more separation of Church and State than the other 49 states do. The LDS Church has the free speech rights to tell the legislature what it would like to see done, but the legislature is under no obligation to pay any attention to that. So Utah is absolutely not a Theocracy. Just the opposite because the Utah state constitution mandates just the opposite. If you disagree with how your legislator votes, then vote against him or her come election time.

The people of Utah choose who governs them, not the Church. And the legislature wisely votes the way that the majority of the people of the state wants them to. The fact that a majority of the legislature is LDS is simply a reflection of the fact that a majority of the state is LDS.

A lot of bitter people posting here.

Maybe I missed it but I don't think the article said the lawmakers were exclusively LDS. So, while many of the lawmakers are LDS it's not necessarly a group of LDS lawmakers meeting to get their "Marching Orders" from their church. Maybe the non-LDS lawmakers like this chance to communicate with and attempt to influence one of the largest organized groups in the state. Nothing wrong with that.