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Although the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been instrumental in the passage of Proposition 8 in California in 2008, it surprised the national press in November 2009 by publicly supporting Salt Lake City's sexual orientation/gender identity nondiscrimination ordinances in housing and employment.1 In early 2009, Equality Utah, an organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Utahns, had proposed a "Common Ground" initiative because the Church, which heavily inf luences political discourse in the state, had stated after the Prop 8 campaign that it is not "anti-gay" and "does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches."2 The initiative has not made much progress in the Utah State Legislature; but when it became clear that the city ordinances were sure to pass with religious liberties included (such as the right of a religious organization to hire only those of the same religion), the Church was in a position to follow through on its words. Church spokesman Michael Otterson stated before the city council: "Our community in Salt Lake City is comprised of citizens of different faiths and values, different races and cultures, different political views and divergent demographics. . . . The issue is . . . the right of people to have roofs over their heads and the right to work without being discriminated against."3
The Salt Lake Tribune reported "secret meetings" between mid-level Church officials and queer activists prior to the unanimous vote.4 As recently as a decade ago, the Church would probably have sided with more conservative voices, such as the Sutherland Institute, a public policy think-tank based in Salt Lake City which continues to publish objections to the ordinances and warns: "The meaning of marriage will die by a thousand cuts. Each new inclusion in the law of such vague terms as 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' represents a mounting threat to the meaning of marriage."5 Sutherland labeled the Church's support "a public relations opportunity . . . [to] assuage the minds and soften the hearts of advocates of 'gay rights' in Utah."6 Here seems...