Speculation on what will happen with Salt Lake City’s new Fair Workplace and Housing laws in the upcoming session is flying. But some new insights into the LDS / Mormon Church’s plans are shocking!

Since the LDS / Mormon Church announced its support of the Salt Lake City ordinances to ban discrimination of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community this past week, analysis of their motivation has been the number one topic of discussion. Some think the Mormons were actually

LDS / Mormon Headquarters

seeking to send an olive branch, while others (including myself) have claimed it was just a PR stunt attempting to shift the constant barrage of self-created negative press away from themselves for a while. Even Utah’s (UT) self-labeled and so-called “conservative think tanks” like Paul Mero with the Sutherland Institute and Gayle Ruzicka of the Eagle Forum have for the first time come out in opposition to the LDS / Mormon leadership.

But now some interesting insights are arising from these meetings that the LDS / Mormon leadership held with local Gay Rights leaders of the LGBT community. Apparently one very important concern that the local community leaders addressed was the very concern I posted about a few days ago, that these rights would be passed on the city level, just to be squashed by the legislature this Spring. But according to one source, Church leaders assuaged those doubts, going so far as to speak of one of the primary opponents of human rights saying, “the one whose name sounds like something you’d put on toast, we have him under control.”

So what should we draw from this? Could it be possible that the LDS / Mormon leadership plans on pushing these rights to the state level as the legislative session starts? It’s definitely a growing possibility with ENDA on the verge of passing on the federal level and more and more calls nationwide for these basic protections even from staunch conservatives. I’m just going to cross my fingers and hope.

You know how some people just don’t know how to shut up? Yeah…. for the Rodrigues family, aka “America Forever.” That time was just after they got out of diapers.

Sandra Rodrigues of America Forever

With their constant spewing against the LGBT community, they have now become virtually one of the biggest PRO LGBT groups around! With every other anti-LGBT and anti- human rights group like the Sutherland Institute (Paul Mero) and Eagle Forum (Gayle Ruzicka) just wishing they’d shut up and go away.

Earlier this week at the now infamous City Council meeting in Salt Lake City, which ended with a unanimous vote to provide Fair Workplace and Housing laws for LGBT citizens, America Forever leaders like Sandra Rodrigues decided that showing naivete would be the best road to take. Their rants included stories about the “little old lady” who rents out her basement and would be forced to rent to “the gays” who would make out in front of her grandchildren, and the small business owner who would have his employees “acting all gay” around him. Unfortunately for America Forever, both grandma and any business under 15 employees are actually exempt under these ordinances, but hey.. technicality right?

Times were when America Forever could be counted on to show up at every opportunity with their 12′ by 4′ signs shouting “shame on the gays,” but we haven’t seen them for a while! Where have they been? Well apparently Sandra Rodrigues, chief kook of the kooks, was called in to her bishop a month or so ago and asked to stop being so public because it was making the church look bad!

Now that the LDS church publicly endorsed the fair workplace and housing ordinances in Salt Lake City, the Rodrigues clan is none-too-happy with the Mormon leadership. Below is their flyer that they faxed to 80,000 people and businesses this week. My response? Keep up the good work kooks!

s

sd

UPDATE:
To anyone who received this fax and is upset and/or offended by it. Sending out mass faxes such as this is illegal.

With most of the country still under shock at Salt Lake City’s human rights victory, the city council’s vote is impacting the rest of Utah as well.

Over the past week we’ve heard rumblings now from both Salt Lake County and Park City that their own ordinances providing workplace and housing rights / protections are soon coming. But now news is coming up from Southern Utah University (SUU) in Cedar City.

Two months ago, SUU’s Queer Straight Alliance Director Ashlie Meredith

Ashlie Meredith

noticed that Sexual Orientation was not listed along side of race, age, religion, sex etc. as deserving of equal protection and opportunity in the University’s policies and procedures handbook.

Since then, Ashlie Meredith has been leading the charge to have this discrimination removed from the school. On Nov 4th this year, the Student Senate passed a resolution asking the faculty to add sexual orientation. The resolution will now head to the faculty senate later this month, and if approved will then be sent on the the Board of Trustees in December.

Unfortunately however, the SUU Queer Straight Alliance have their work cut out for them. The University’s legal counsel Michael Carter has already advised the school against adding these protections, claiming they are unnecessary and unwanted by the community until the State Legislature passes these protections state-wide.

But with the passing of these lgbt human rights protections in Salt Lake City, the endorsement by the LDS / Mormon Church and the pending passage of the same rights in Salt Lake County and Park City, momentum is rolling and the school is coming under increasing fire.

SUU

Currently, only three university’s in Utah don’t include sexual orientation under their equal-opportunity clauses, Southern Utah University, Brigham Young University (BYU) and Utah Valley University (UVU, formerly UVSC).

You know, never thought I’d see the day when Paul Mero and the Sutherland Institute split from the LDS (Mormon) Church.

Earlier this week LDS Inc supported the Salt Lake City Council in passing fair workplace and housing ordinances, making it illegal in Salt Lake City to deny a person housing or a job based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Ironically, two of the loudest and brash local anti-humanity groups who normally use the Mormon Church as their claim to morality broke sides with the Church that they claim to believe is always in the right. The “America Forever” Rodriguez family spoke out immediately at the public hearing before the City Council but although Sutherland’s Jeffrey Reynolds was in the crowd, Sutherland did not immediately made a statement.

November 10th however, featured a small statement hidden away on one of their sub pages saying that the LDS Church’s view on the matter was “parochial” and essentially incorrect as allowing someone who is LGBT to keep their home can only lead to same-sex marriage. They went on to say that the Church’s statement were just a PR stunt and that the LDS leadership is just trying to “assuage the minds and soften the hearts of advocates of “gay rights” in Utah.”

Now the critical bit about this new statement from the “Meronites” is the essential bond that has always existed between Sutherland and the Mormon Church. The vast majority of Sutherland’s “constituents” are faithful LDS members, which means that Sutherland is now in essence trying to “lead the flock away” from the teachings of the prophet. Wait… did Mero just join the dark side? How will he answer that fun fun temple recommend question that questions if he is associated with any organization that goes against what the Church has said?

Well either way, I don’t know where Sutherland can go from here as they may quickly find out what happens to organizations that aren’t on the same side as the Mormons in Utah. I wonder if their followers will catch on, or if Sutherland will sweep this under the rug and pretend like the Church never spoke at all?

Related article(s):

Daily Kos

Salt Lake Crawler

Last night, Utah took a big side-step and did a very un-Utah thing.. it passed 2 ordinances against LGBT discrimination. Uh oh… does Gayle know about this?

In a unanimous vote, Salt Lake City Council passed fair workplace and housing ordinances following an hour and a half of testimonies from concerned citizens on both sides of the issue.  America Forever showed up (aka the crazy “you’re a waste of a vagina” Rodriguez family) to spout the usual confusing and un-thought out comments about how these ordinances will allow LGBT people to have sex at work apparently. They were out-numbered though by the enormous amount of people (myself included) who testified on behalf of these basic civil rights.

But the main speaker of the evening of course was Michael Otterson who represented the LDS (Mormon) church. The church stood up and supported these issues because they do not “do violence” against traditional marriage.

You know, although it’s not my wish to get negative about this wonderful event, I have to call BULL on those who are putting the church up on a pedestal for their statements. Let’s not fool ourselves thinking the church took a big leap last night. The church has been in support of these rights for years (at least that’s what they’ve claimed on their website). The only accomplishment the church made last night was to declare their own previously-announced beliefs verbally in front of a city council.

This past year’s legislative session marked the defeat of the “Common Ground” bills proposed by Equality Utah, included in these bills were…. everyone remember? Fair Workplace and Housing. Equality Utah called for the church’s support of the exact same protections on a state level last year, but the church remained silent at that point. So why now?

The supposition arising is that the church is bowing to enormous political pressure brought on from the backlash of Prop 8 in CA and the current look into their involvement in Maine. But I’m going to disagree completely actually.

Looking at history, I cannot believe that the church actually supports these rights. The church has never been shy about speaking it’s mind, and if they truly felt as strongly about the importance of upholding human dignity as Mr. Otterson suggested last night, they would have supported the state-wide issuance of these rights earlier this year.

But why then speak up at all? Perhaps we can find the meaning in the previously-made statements from certain members of our illustrious senate (Buttars of course), who said months ago that if the Salt Lake City Council passed these ordinances he would have them, and any other similar city ordinances in the state banned and illegitimized. The LDS leadership truly seems to be only attempting to pacify the LGBT community and the country as a whole with a “See We’re OK!” attitude, while perhaps hoping to see these rights stripped in the near future. Neat little box isn’t it? If the rights are taken away in the future the Church itself cannot directly be blamed because even though they only spoke on the-very small- city level, they still spoke.

If Senator Buttars or his colleagues manage to get their issues before the senate or legislature to get these ordinances struck down, will the Church support these rights again? Although I want to be hopeful, I’m going to doubt it.  Honestly the way I see this playing is these ordinances will come under attack in the next session and Equality Utah and the rest of the LGBT community will rally in support. But the LDS church will again remain silent, refusing to support us. Opponents of civil rights and human dignity will use that silence to their advantage by fading any LDS support into the background and pushing through hate-legislation…. .again.

Am I right? Hope not.

Big news coming from LDS Hierarchy regarding the LGBT community!

From the production team of “8, The Mormon Proposition:”

———————————————————————

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: STEVEN GREENSTREET (801) 580-3103

PRESS@MORMONPROPOSITION.COM

MORMON CHURCH LEADERS BEND UNDER SCRUTINY BROUGHT ON BY 8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION. IS THIS ANOTHER MORMON P.R. STUNT?

On November 10, 2009 several highly placed people featured in the upcoming documentary film 8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION were contacted by well-placed people inside the Mormon Church in anticipation of an “historic statement against discrimination” to be made by the Mormon Church.

They were told, “Watch what we are about to do. You will be pleased.”

At this hour gays and lesbians all over the world hope that the Mormon Church’s announcement will not be yet another Mormon public relations smoke screen and result in action that will result in full marriage equality for the LGBT community world-wide.

Since the release of the trailer for 8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION, intense scrutiny has been focused on Mormon involvement in the passage of Proposition 8 and allegations that the Mormon Church set up the infamous NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE which was the key player in Maine’s recent ban on gay marriage.

Sources close to those who called our cast and production team alerting us to the upcoming Mormon statement on discrimination say that Mormon Mitt Romney has recently put pressure on his own church to extend an olive branch to the gay community to try and deflate the anticipated negative press that will come from the release of 8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION that would likely damage his hope for a successful 2012 presidential bid.

Ironically (and we suspect in step with the Mormon’s anticipated statement on discrimination) Mormon-owned KSL TV released an article on their web site saying “Romney appears to be front-runner in 2012 election.”

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8613293

While the 8:TMP team hopes Mormons end their game of discrimination against the LGBT community and wishes to work with people of all faith traditions to end discrimination, we would like to assert the following.

FACT: Under similar international scrutiny, Mormon leaders have in the past made similar statements regarding being against discrimination directed towards minorities & the LGBT COMMUNITY.

FACT: Gay leaders in SLC begged Mormon leaders to back up their statements on ending discrimination against the LGBT commmunity, through Mormon support for their COMMON GROUND initiative.

FACT: Despite lip service, Mormons did not get behind the COMMON GROUND INITIATIVE and in fact worked to see the initiative’s defeat.

FACT: Despite lip service to people of color, the holiest book of Mormon scripture THE BOOK OF MORMON still refers to people of color as being “CURSED WITH A DARK SKIN, FILTHY AND LOATHSOME.”

FACT: Despite lip service to people of color, printings of MORMON DOCTRINE by beloved Mormon Apostle Bruce R. Mcconkie, assert African Americans are “marked” for not being fully behind the plan of Jesus Christ in a pre-earth life war in Heaven.

FACT: A Mormon spokesperson told 8TMP’s director “this is all about public relations and making the church look good.”

In conclusion, as Mormon heavy-hitters prepare for the so-called “historic announcement” our team would encourage Mormons to put their money and their membership by doing the following:

1. Severing all Mormon ties to the NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE, which works to rob the LGBT COMMUNITY of their civil rights.

2. Directing an amount of money equal to Mormon money spent in California’s Prop. 8 campaign to LGBT marriage equality.

3. Removing from all Mormon canonized scripture any reference to people of color as being “cursed or marked with a dark skin” or being “filthy and loathsome.”

4. Ask Mormon Apostle Dallin H. Oaks to retract his recent teachings on LGBT “alleged civil rights” and affirm that LGBT rights are not “alleged” but deserved and long overdue.

Our production team and cast await the day when Mormons will work with the LGBT community not only with their words, but their money and their members to achieve FULL MARRIAGE EQUALITY. This is the only way to truly advocate for the end of discrimination against ALL PEOPLE. Anything else is lip-service.

This week , this anniversary.. we mark a year from our rape in California. We now add a new atrocity, the rape of our civil rights in Maine. And what do I hear? Silence. Silence from the once-again victims.

Where are you? We update our facebook and twitter pages with “I’m disappointed in the voters of Main.” Where is your anger? A year ago I began to believe that change was actually possible. Marches nationwide were thrown together overnight, voices raised from all corners of the country in one resounding cry, ENOUGH. And yet tonight we are silent. Have you given up, bowing to the demands of  fools?

Well I say to you that I am here, my anger stoked like the coals of great fire ready to burn all in its path. I cannot be silenced nor stopped and I will break the walls of all who oppose us.

But let’s be honest, our worst enemy is strong and more debilitating than even we can realize. Our enemy attacks us at almost every turn, and constantly threatens to sink us moment to moment. More potent than speeches, harder to topple than any other force. Who is this enemy, can we give it a name? It is not the politicians, nor the laughably pitiful right-wing groups like the AFA, Eagle Forum or Evangelicals who cling to their dusty ideals like old men hoping for their twenties again. Our enemy is ourselves. Our lack of passion, our perpetual acceptance of our own destruction.

We’ve gone through things no other group on this planet ever has, rejection and anger from within our own families, churches and communities. We continue to be beaten and subjected to all manner of violations. We watch as we are ridiculed in all corners of media, films and tv. We are the butt of every joke and slang imaginable. And yet for those of us who are lucky enough to survive, instead of standing on every street corner and demanding justice, we choose rather to adopt an attitude of superiority and neglect. At the precise moment when we are our most powerful we walk away rather than choose to ensure that our future brothers and sisters do not experience the same horrors.

Yes, we have the most blame on our shoulders. And because of this the blood of our children is on our own hands. We spout off briefly against the parent who beats their child, or pushes them to take their own life, but that night we attend parties and drink away all bad memories.

I say ENOUGH. I say I am done laying down and letting those with closed and weak minds pass over me. I am done with the silence. Let this be my battle cry, that I will shout, scream and push until I never again hear that the ignorant have once again taken away what is rightfully mine. Every single person in my life will know who I am, no matter what the cost, for the cost of living in the shadows is far more dreadful and destroys any fake semblance of dignity I pretend to have, and the very lives of others.

I will stand and shout until every one of you, my brothers and sisters, stands and shouts with me. For at that time and in that great moment, I can promise you that we will achieve victory. That glorious moment will be the day when our enemies lie down at our feet and beg forgiveness as our voices blow the dust from their eyes.

I stand. Stand with me.

Eric Ethington

Today marked the 3rd protest over the Mormon Church’s treatment of two gay men who were caught kissing on the church-owned main street plaza. But unlike the past two protests which were filled with song, smiles and overall good-feelings this protest turned ugly quickly with shouts of anger and arguments. What was the difference? “America Forever” showed up.

The infamously-radical and push-button style group showed up ahead of most of the protesters to stage a counter protest. Bearing 6 foot signs with the usual anti-gay messages, they attempted to stop any of the protesters from entering the plaza. But America Forever had it’s hands full against an angry crowd who wanted to make it clear that they were sick of being put down and having their rights trampled under the guise of righteousness.

Things stayed at a mostly normal pace until one America Forever man started screaming at the crowd that they were trying to destroy the country, and that homosexuals are the “most un-patriotic” group in existence.

Then came the kiss. Somehow without any of the dozens of cameras there (including my own) seeing him, a man on rollerblades skated by and kissed Sandra Rodriguez (leader of America Forever) on the cheek. News cameras immediately rushed over and interviewed Sandra, who’s story of what happened changed 5 times in the first 2 minutes. First she claimed he kissed her on the cheek, then he had grabbed her shoulder, then he had jumped on her and eventually the story became that he slapped her (I have that whole conversation on film). Ms. Rodriguez then went on to speak to myself for another 5 minutes. I asked her if she saw the irony in that she herself is an immigrant to this country and had to work for years to be given all the rights our country offers, and now she spends her days working to deny others of those same rights. She unfortunately wouldn’t answer the question, but after several minutes claimed to be injured by the man who had kissed her and staggered off. Eventually she had an ambulance called so she could be loaded in as a martyr in front of the crowd and driven off with lights flashing.

Now I did not see (nor did anyone in the crowd apparently) the actual event take place so I cannot say definitively that the man did not grab her shoulder. But with how the situation was handled and how she acted afterwards, I would be enormously surprised if it was any more than a peck on the cheek and she decided to twist it to her advantage.

on another interesting note, the Mormon Church’s gestapo were no-where to be seen today. In both of the previous protests the seemed to come out of the bushes everywhere to make sure no one entered the plaza. But today, there were only 2 and they disappeared as soon as America Forever showed up. Could it be the the Church’s PR agents have realized what bad press they’ve already got and told security to not be seen anywhere in relation to such a vile group as America Forever? Hmmm, could be.

Photos of the event can be seen here. And videos are on there way.

Below is an article I copied from the Salt Lake Tribune (see here), written by Rosemary Winters.   -Eric E.
———————————————————————————————-

Gena Edvalson tried for years to be a mom. So when her partner of six years, Jana Dickson, became pregnant through artificial insemination and gave birth to a boy in March 2006, nothing brought her “instantly more joy.”

And nothing brought Edvalson more pain than a recent court ruling depriving her of a chance to even visit the child.

After all, she had eyed every ultrasound. She had read Little Quack to “the little guy” when he was inside Dickson’s womb. She had clicked on a flashlight throughout his first night home from the hospital to check on the sleeping babe.

Both Salt Lake City women, were “mama” and — with the help of lactation medication for Edvalson — both breast-fed the newborn.

But the two split up when the boy was 17 months old and last week, after a yearlong legal fight, Edvalson was cut off from any contact with the 3-year-old she loves as a son. A 3rd District judge, citing a 2008 Utah law, upheld Dickson’s “fundamental” right, as the biological parent, to refuse visitation.

“I never want him to think I gave him up voluntarily. I never abandoned him,” Edvalson wrote on her blog. “I loved him, and I love him still.”

The case highlights the predicament of same-sex parents in Utah, a state where gay and lesbian couples cannot marry, adopt children or even expect their own contracts for shared parenting and guardianship to stand in court.

Such documents did not protect Edvalson, who signed

co-parenting and co-guardianship agreements with Dickson near the time the baby was born.Although this case is “not binding precedent,” Edvalson’s Salt Lake City attorney, Lauren Barros, said she wouldn’t recommend a co-parenting agreement to other same-sex couples.

“It was my last hope,” Barros said. It didn’t work.

Frank Mylar, Dickson’s attorney, said the “important principle” in the case is that the law upholds the “right of a parent to make decisions for their child and to change their mind.”

That, Mylar said, is precisely what Dickson did: change her mind.

Dickson and Edvalson met at the YWCA, where Dickson worked with teens and Edvalson with battered women. The couple moved in together in 2000 and formally declared their love with a commitment ceremony in 2003.

“Jana had kind of joked that she was old-fashioned like that,” Edvalson said. “She didn’t want to have a kid without making that official.”

Edvalson began artificial insemination. Two years later, she still wasn’t pregnant. Dickson, who is nine years younger than Edvalson, decided to give it a go. She became pregnant after her second treatment.

“We must have taken like 10 pregnancy tests,” Edvalson, now 42, recalled. “I can’t even describe it. I was so excited.”

After the boy’s birth, the couple planned to move to California so that Edvalson could adopt him, Dickson said, but, “due to major issues in our relationship, that never happened.”

When the boy was 4 months old, the pair had a fight. Edvalson moved out for a week.

“She told me that he wasn’t my kid, he was her kid, and she told me I should move on,” Edvalson said. “We worked it out for another year — but that never went away.”

Dickson and Edvalson broke up in 2007, when their son already was calling both of them “mama” (“Mama G” for Edvalson was a little too tricky).

Dickson, 33, now is married to a man, but said, in an e-mail, she has “dated both men and women” in her life. An attorney who defends parents in abuse, neglect and custody cases, Dickson said she is a “stronger believer than ever” in the right of lesbians to marry and adopt — if the biological mom wants her partner to do so.

She declined to comment specifically on why she has made the “very hard decision to limit Gena’s role” in her son’s life, noting Edvalson’s “palpable hostility” toward her complicated the visits. But she agreed the relationship “never really recovered from that initial move-out.”

While the couple still were together, Edvalson complained that her lack of “legally recognized rights” to the child created “unfair power dynamics” in the relationship, according to an affidavit Dickson filed.

For 10 months after the breakup, Edvalson generally saw the boy two days a week, but she felt Dickson was “whittling away” her time when the visits dropped to one afternoon a week. Edvalson asked her attorney to send Dickson a letter, requesting mediation to uphold the co-parenting agreement.

“Then Jana hired Frank Mylar,” Edvalson said, “and it was kind of game on.”

Mylar, a former Utah attorney general candidate, belongs to a conservative alliance of “Christian attorneys,” the Alliance Defense Fund, and regularly fights against the extension of rights for gay and lesbian couples. He did just that in pushing changes to the 2008 law that severely limited Edvalson’s ability to press for visitation in court.

Dickson declined mediation and stopped letting Edvalson visit the child. Edvalson did not see him for a year until — after a hearing in April — the judge ordered visitation once a week in advance of his ruling.

That decision came last week. The boy now is off-limits to her.

There is no next step in getting to see her boy again, Edvalson said. “The next step is [Dickson] doing the right thing. I have no legal recourse.”

Her advice for other same-sex couples: Don’t have kids unless you have the legal protection of an adoption (something you cannot get in Utah).

For now, Edvalson, who is working on a master’s degree in social work, is keeping an online journal to record her experience in case her one-time son someday notices the hyphenated last name on his birth certificate and has questions.

She cannot say enough about how sweet and outgoing he is — even “old men” at the grocery store, she said, would comment, “Your kid’s a flirt.” She calls him “my sweet boy.”

“I know everyone thinks their kid’s the greatest,” Edvalson said. “It just doesn’t help that mine actually was the greatest.”

rwinters@sltrib.com

The 2nd of two protests took place this morning at the LDS-owned Main St Plaza in Salt Lake City. The protest started off as a kiss-in, with roughly 200 people gathering in front of the plaza and posing for PDA photos. But with the Mormon-Fuzz (thank you Bill Maher) turning away everyone who was attempting to enter the plaza, the crowd grew a little restless.

It wasn’t long before someone made the call to march on the plaza, and before you knew it, all 200 people entered the plaza for a peaceful march. With so many entering the Mormon Secret Service weren’t able to detain everyone, just threaten that the SLPD had been called and people would be arrested. After marching around the entire plaza in front of temple while holding hands, kissing and laughing, the group again took up it’s stance on Main St and South Temple.

The police soon arrived, and spoke privately with the Mo-stapo before speaking with the crowd. With so many around this time, including many cameras, there were no arrests or citations issued. And the whole protest ended on a peaceful note with song.

Below are some of the highlight videos (again, just my handheld camera sorry!). For pictures, visit my FB page here.