Feminists For Choice

I was pretty shocked by the news last week that an out gay candidate won a seat on the Salt Lake City Council. I was shocked, though, when I heard that the city council passed a nondiscrimination policy that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. The Mormon Church had initially opposed the law, but they switched sides this week. According to Gaypolitics.com:

Utah lawmakers tend to quickly fall in line when the influential church makes a rare foray into legislative politics. So Tuesday’s action could have broad effects in this highly conservative state where more than 80 percent of lawmakers and the governor are church members.

“What happened here tonight I do believe is a historic event,” said Brandie Balken, director of the gay rights advocacy group Equality Utah. “I think it establishes that we can stand together on common ground that we don’t have to agree on everything, but there are lot of things that we can work on and be allies.”

This is awesome news. I can’t imagine being gay in Utah. I have a hard enough time going to visit my family for only short periods of time. If I had to try to live there full time, I think I would lose my freaking mind. I think the Mormon Church only backed off from their opposition of this bill because they’ve gotten a lot of bad PR over the past year over their involvement with the Prop 8 campaign. But you know what, who cares if this is just a marketing decision on their part? If it means that queer folks don’t have to worry about losing their jobs if they live in Salt Lake, then it’s all good in my book.