Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons was gratified when the Salt Lake City Council voted to approve an ordinance to prohibit discrimination "against an otherwise qualified employee or applicant based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, sexual orientation or disability." While most Americans now recognize that it is unacceptable to discriminate against someone simply because of their religion, color, sex or age, there are unfortunately others who believe that it is fine to restrict the rights of someone because they happen to be gay or lesbian.

Many of Affirmation’s members have been on the receiving end of those who follow that belief. All too often our members, despite being fully qualified and competent workers, have been fired simply for being gay or lesbian. After being fired, others have been blackballed from their profession, as word spread to potential employers that this person was gay or lesbian. Many others simply live with the daily fear that they will lose their job if their employer should even suspect they are gay. But more outrageous than any of this is the fact that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation is completely legal in Salt Lake City.

What happens when no specific law protects gay or lesbian employees? An Arizona appeals court last year upheld the termination of a person who was fired from his job solely for being gay, ruling that it is was perfectly legal to fire him for that reason alone. This is not the kind of workplace environment a city like Salt Lake City should help perpetuate or endorse. Sound public policy should seek to encourage fair employment decisions where workers are evaluated solely on the basis of factors relevant to their job performance.

That is why, as Mormons, we are particularly disturbed that some of our church leaders have taken a stand opposing equality in employment based on sexual orientation. We note with alarm that this appears to be the first time any LDS church leaders have publicly come out against employment rights for gay and lesbian citizens. While the church is free to adopt whatever rules it desires for its members within the church itself, the government of Salt Lake City is not a branch of the church. Affirmation cannot accept the view that the church should be in a position to dictate public policy regarding employment rights of citizens at large. As to its members, we had taken at face value the church’s call in its 1992 manual entitled Understanding and Helping Those Who Have Homosexual Problems, "to reach out with love and understanding to those struggling with these issues." If such love and understanding include firing otherwise qualified gays and lesbians from their jobs, then these words are meaningless.

Affirmation strongly disagrees with Councilman Jolley’s statement that "[h]aving these words does not protect people from discrimination." In our legal system, words are a major force in preventing people from acting on their irrational prejudices and harming others who are different from them. Martin Luther King, Jr. was once confronted by an angry white man who shouted that no matter what civil rights laws were passed, he could never be forced to accept blacks. King responded that the goal of such laws was not to force everyone to accept blacks, but to prevent the intolerant from hurting blacks. So it is with the choice before Mayor Corradini today. We know that the repealed ordinance will not make those in the anti-gay forces accept or like us. However, it will be a strong force in preventing them from hurting us. It will allow us to do our jobs with integrity and confidence, knowing that whatever opinions our employers may have about our sexual orientation, those opinions cannot serve as the basis for preventing us from earning an honest living.

Affirmation urges Mayor Corradini to use the power given her by the citizens of Salt Lake City and veto the repeal of the civil rights ordinance. Her veto will send a powerful message that the law will not turn a blind eye to those whose rights are threatened by bigotry and intolerance.