Utah LGBT anti-discrimination bill passes 1st test

[DonViejo]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A landmark Utah proposal protecting gay and transgender individuals passed its test at the state Legislature Thursday when lawmakers on a Republican-controlled Senate committee offered their unanimous and at times emotional support of the measure.

Todd Weiler, a Republican senator from Woods Cross, said he comes from "a conservative, Mormon background" but he's met many transgender individuals, including one in his neighborhood who grew up with his son.

"I don't understand those things," Weiler said "I understand that those people are different than I am, and that they have rights, and I am 100 percent convinced that they should be protected."

The bill, which has earned the rare stamp of approval from the Utah-based Mormon church, bars discrimination against gay and transgender individuals while protecting the rights of religious groups and individuals.

-snip-

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e088ae89b0df4f94868c99fc8347b3a1/utah-lgbt-anti-discrimination-bill-gets-mormon-approval

[Humanist_Activist]

1. How is this bill "protecting the rights of religious groups and individuals"?

I'm suspicious that this is just a political play at pretending to be tolerant.

Look, when it comes to private clubs, members only type issues, those organizations should be allowed to discriminate all they want, freedom of association and all that. However, for profit places of public accommodation, employers of for profit businesses and landlords should NOT be exempt at all, regardless of their religious beliefs.

If they are allowed to discriminate in the name of "religious freedom", then the bill is rendered toothless and useless.

[DonViejo]

2. As far as I know, what they've put into this law is pretty standard...

in any and all anti-discrimination laws for the LGBT community:

The proposal prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation when it comes to housing or employment. Religious groups and organizations would be exempt from the requirement, as would Boy Scouts of America, which has a ban on gay adult Scout leaders and has close ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Beyond banning discrimination based on identity and sexual orientation, the proposal stipulates that employers can adopt "reasonable dress and grooming standards" and "reasonable rules and polices" for sex-specific restrooms and other facilities, as long as those standards also include accommodations for gender identity.

It protects the right of an individual employee to express their religious or moral beliefs in "a reasonable, non-disruptive or non-harassing way," as long as it doesn't interfere with the company's business. It likewise bars employers from punishing someone who expresses those beliefs, as long as they don't hurt business.

This is pretty standard stuff in already existing laws.

[OKNancy]

3. kick