Today the Mormon church held a press conference to announce they plan to give up fighting LGBT equality. There is a string attached. They want special treatment to express their bigotry in public. The problem is religious people can’t demand special protection for beliefs that can hurt people.
“Convening a rare press conference on Tuesday at church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Mormon leaders pledged to support anti-discrimination laws for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people, as long the laws also protect the rights of religious groups.
In exchange, the Mormon church wants gay rights advocates — and the government — to back off.
“When religious people are publicly intimidated, retaliated against, forced from employment or made to suffer personal loss because they have raised their voice in the public square, donated to a cause or participated in an election, our democracy is the loser,” said Elder Dallin Oaks, a member of the church’s Quorum of Twelve Apostles.
“Such tactics are every bit as wrong as denying access to employment, housing or public services because of race or gender.”
“It is one of today’s great ironies that some people who have fought so hard for LGBT rights now try to deny the rights of others to disagree with their public policy proposals,” said Oaks.”
The problem is that Mormons and other religious people think there should be no blow back for supporting restricting or taking away the rights of others.
If a Mormon believes a gay person is going to hell, they act on the belief to mistreat LGBT people, and the company they work for frowns on bigotry then they shouldn’t be sad if they lose their job.
Many years ago, I had a job that ended up contradicting my personal moral values. I never once thought the boss should change the company to fit my beliefs. I found a job that fit my values better and changed jobs.
None of the so-called violations of religious freedom mentioned in the press conference restricted religious people from their wrong beliefs.
Even separation of church and state advocates thought the city of Houston overreached on their subpoenas of sermon notes and the subpoenas were never acted on.
The other two incidents mentioned were bigots holding jobs in organizations that don’t put up with discrimination. The people who lost their jobs didn’t have to drop their religion or stop going to church. They were free to be bigots but on their own time and with their own money.
It is good to see the Mormon church finally realize they lost the LGBT rights battle. They should just come out and say it and move on and not ask for special treatment for their bigotry.
