Friday, November 8, 2013

Senate Bill on Bias Against Gays Receives Support





This past Thursday, a bill banning workplace discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation has found support in Mormons!  These unlikely supporters "have stepped in to provide the political muscle... and more often than not, [are] not just Mormons, but Republicans."  5 out of the 7 Mormons voted yes on this bill, and it passed with a majority of 64 to 32, with 10 Republicans joining.  Senator Orrin Hatch stated, "Religion should be respected, and so should people."
Posted by at

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Republicans and members of religious groups have been in constant opposition to equality for members of the LGBT community for as long as I can remember. That being said, I am pleasantly surprised by this article; I was aware of the fact that Republicans were starting to become more accepting towards members of the LGBT community, but I did not expect members of a religious group to give their support to such a bill. I believe that this is indicative of an increased rate of acceptance of homosexuality among members of religious groups across America. Although this might not be the case, it is still possible that this may encourage members of different religious groups to become more accepting towards members of the LGBT community.

November 10, 2013 at 9:29 PM
Brianne Felsher said...

I think that we should be careful about how we label religious groups or political parties. Although religion does relate to social conservatism and opinions on LGBT rights, there are other factors as well. But I do hope that you are right, Alex, that this bill indicates increased acceptance.

November 10, 2013 at 9:51 PM
Unknown said...

The reactions to this bill definitely indicate step in the right direction. The fact that Congress (not exactly on of the most cooperative groups in the world) is moving forward with this bill indicates just how much of a common sense law this is. However, it's disheartening that we actually need laws like this to protect LGBT people. One would hope that employers would have the integrity to employ people based on their merits regardless of their sexual orientation. I also found Harry Reid's comments at the end very good at summing up the whole issue.

Honestly though, who votes no on this law? Regardless of personal beliefs, isn't this just a 14th Amendment issue. This bill is a way to extend equal protection under the law to even more American citizens, it infringes on nobody. You can disapprove of LGBT people all you like, but I feel like there is clear obligation to vote on this law on pure legal grounds.

November 11, 2013 at 5:21 PM
Unknown said...

I think it is great that this bill has passed and that LGBT employees are now being given equal protection under the law in the workplace. Although there are stereotypes that Republicans or Mormons are not accepting of LGBT individuals, I believe that it is unfair that they are all labeled as such. Just like any other stereotype there are exceptions and assuming they all fall under the stereotype is wrong. So, I do agree with Brianne in that we should be careful when assuming beliefs of those who identify with certain groups.

November 12, 2013 at 2:46 PM
Unknown said...

Although the Republican establishment has generally received a bad rap in terms of social change, the fact is that not all Republicans are hard-line anti-LGBT and not all Democrats are pro-LGBT. What worries me most about this law isn't it's stated purpose of ending sexual orientation discrimination, but rather the loopholes/exemptions they have introduced, such as the Armed Forces Exemption and Religious Institutions Exemption.

November 13, 2013 at 8:54 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)