The day after Proposition 8, a Mormon supported ballot measure that outlawed same-sex marriage, passed in California, the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints released a formal statement saying, “the church does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights.”

Last week however, a Utah bill that would have allowed two people who live together and who are mutually dependent and named in a will or trust to a wrongful death court action if a tragedy occurred, was defeated in a state senate committee after opponents of the bill argued that offering any legal recognition to same-sex couples, including the right to sue when a breadwinner suffers a wrongful death, could lead to a court decision legalizing gay marriage.

This week in an effort to sway voters in that state and prevent other of Equality Utah’s legislative initiative’s remaining bills from going down in flames, Equality Utah has come out swinging with a major multimedia ad blitz that turn the tables and proclaims…

“The Church does not object to rights for same-sex couples …”

In a press statement Equality Utah said…

Several polls have indicated that the majority of Utahns support the reasonable and basic protections provided for in the legislation of the Common Ground
Initiative.

Yet lawmakers rebuffed one of the Common Ground Initiative bills last week, recalling tired arguments that the proposals are somehow an attack on traditional marriage.

Far from pessimistic about the ability of Utah legislators see passed the tired arguments that surfaced during last week’s hearing, Equality Utah has launched a media campaign to help raise awareness of the reasonableness and broad public support of the basic ideals of the Common Ground Initiative.

“We’ve modeled our legislative proposals directly from the statements of the LDS Church,” said Mike Thompson, Equality Utah’s Executive Director. “We’re talking about basic rights that have broad public support and have nothing to do with marriage. We hope this media campaign will help Utahns see passed the fear-based arguments used against this legislation.”

More of Equality Utah uses the LDS own words in a new campaign for Gay Rights
Lez Get Real – Washington DC,District of Columbia,USA

Controversial Sen. Chris Buttars was stripped of his Senate committee posts not because he went on an anti-gay tirade in an interview with a documentary filmmaker but because the West Jordan Republican broke a deal with Senate leaders not to talk about gay issues.

That’s what a Senate colleague revealed on a conservative radio program Saturday.

“I have to tell you publicly that most of what Sen. Buttars said — I agree with,” Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said on the weekly radio program “Inside Utah Politics” on KTKK-AM. “However, my concern is that we, as a Senate caucus, had an agreement that because Senator Buttars has become such a lightning rod on this issue, that he would not be the spokesperson on the issue.”

Buttars violated that agreement, Stephenson said, adding that the comments undermined “everything we’ve done” in the last three weeks of the legislative session. MORE

A Utah Senate committee voted down 4-2 the first in a series of Common Ground Initiatives that support basic rights for the gay and lesbian people of Utah. The reasons given were that this is a “slippery slope” and that this legislation may lead to the “chipping away [of] the definition of marriage.” But this is not about marriage.

It is about civil rights. This is about a recognized group of people, accomplished and contributing, who are not protected by the law of this land. The rights to fair housing and employment protections, inheritance and hospitalization visits are basic civil liberties that are being denied to our neighbors, teachers, business owners, families and friends.

It’s not about marriage; it’s about finding common ground. I am a teacher in the valley and I know as well as anyone that students are products of their environments: their families, churches, neighbors and legislators. In a classroom activity about stereotypes, a third of my students replied that homosexual people are “deformed, horrifying.” That they are “scary people,” “rapists” and they are “insane” or have “a mental condition.” Allowing these misinformed attitudes to go unchecked is a slippery slope.

This is not about marriage; this is about what students are learning.

This is about raising future generations of people who, despite their differences, can see and respect all people for who they are. If our legislators are not willing to grant

 See Children learn bigotry at home, in their neighborhoods
Salt Lake Tribune, United States -