Salt Lake Crawler

Could this be possible? The LDS Church and gays form a axis of power against a coalition of conservative legislators, the Sutherland Institute and Gayle Ruzicka? Talk about a fun legislative session.

Of course it won't be that simple, but the gay rights protection ordinances passed by the Salt Lake City Council with the astonishing support of the Mormon Church will surely be a model for state laws and it's already getting weird. Several lawmakers told the Deseret News a statewide version doesn't stand much of a chance.

Senate President Michael Waddoups offered a stunning glimpse into the sensibilities of lawmakers. Here's an excerpt from the DNews article (Note to reporter Lisa Riley Roche: You always record interviews—so why don't you give us Waddoups's full, juicy quotes).

However, Waddoups, a property manager, said he wants the "right to protect the image of my company" against gay employees "out flaunting the gay lifestyle" during work hours. He said he also had concerns about similar behavior among his tenants.

"I'm not going to put up with that on any of my properties," Waddoups said.

Sweet. The state Senate is run by a slum lord. And what is "flaunting the gay lifestyle."

Meanwhile, The Salt Lake Tribune reports an LDS apostle is enthusiastic about the idea of  gay protections in the rest of Utah. (I can't believe I typed that sentence.) Elder Jeffrey R. Holland told the Trib:

"Anything good is shareable. Everybody ought to have the freedom to frame the statutes the way they want. But at least the process and the good will and working at it, certainly that could be modeled anywhere and even elements of the statute."

(I'm sure you news junkies are scratching your heads — 'The godless Trib has the interview with an LDS apostle, not the church-owned DNews?' Truly, the world is turning upside down.)

Last year, in what seemed like a non sequitur, then-Gov. Jon Huntsman told reporters he supported same-sex civil unions. It was met with disgust by conservative lawmakers. Ruzicka even said, "Shame on him!"

Now, I've got to wonder if Huntsman had a better mojowire to the Church Office Building than lawmakers.

I foresee several lawmakers "getting their minds right" before the session begins in January.