Salt Lake Crawler

Reaction in the online gayborhood to the Mormon Church's support of a Salt Lake City Council gay discrimination ordinances is harder edged than the shocked hope and gratitude of many in Utah's LGBT community.

The Human Rights Campaign's Religion and Faith Program Director Harry Knox issued a statement:

The makers of the documentary on Prop 8, 8: The Mormon Proposition, think their film brought pressure on the LDS Church that led to the historic statement of support.

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

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." that would likely damage his hope for a successful 2012 presidential bid.

Note: Romney's people insist he had nothing to do with the church's statement.

The blog Instinct suspects it's PR spin, including church spokesman Michael Otterson's saying: "I believe in a church that believes in human dignity, in treating people with respect even when we disagree -- in fact, especially when we disagree."

Instinct's Jonathan Higbee responds:

So as long as you don't feel we "threaten" your idea of "marriage," you won't vilify us and destroy our families? I'm sorry; though I'm thrilled that the Salt Lake ordinance passed without controversy, I believe the LDS has much, much more work to do to mend fences with a community they've pillaged and fought a harsh, unethical one-sided war against for decades now.

SouthernForLife blogged, simply:

It must be ice cold in hell because . . . The Mormons supported a gay protection bill, for reals.

On the gay blog Towleroad, the reaction was suspicious and often obscene:

Great game of chess! The church will intentionally lose a battle if they think it'll help them win a war. Keep a wary eye on 'em!

LatterGaySaint says:

Certainly a step in the right direction, but like granting the priesthood to blacks, many years later than is justifiable.

For Salt Lake Olympic savior Mitt Romney, it's the best of times, worst of times in his campaign for president. His poll numbers and name recognition make him a frontrunner as Republican nominee in 2012 as he tries to fashion himself as Ronnie in the GOP's production of Revenge of the Gipper.

But simultaneously, Romney is getting hammered ever more viciously from the far Right as a counterfeit conservative, and worse, as a socialist. In a blog entry that asks if it's the "End of the Line for Romney," Race 4  2012 quotes government radio NPR lauding Mitt's Massachusetts' health insurance plan that looks  a lot like Obamacare:

No other state has ever told its citizens they have to have health coverage, just as they must carry car insurance if they drive.

At The American Conservative, Daniel Larison, calls Mitt the "Republican John Kerry" (That's got to be outright slander in conservative circles.). Larison's point is that Mitt his headed toward becoming, as Kerry did, "the drab establishment candidate favored by party insiders."

What the war was for Democrats in 2004, health care legislation and bailouts will be for the Republicans in 2012. Romney fits the Kerry mold perfectly, and like Kerry he will be forced by the strength of the primary challenge from some Dean-like representative of the “Republican wing of the Republican Party” to run away from his record on health care and bailouts. In fact, Romney has already been trying to make people forget that he favored the bailouts when it mattered, and no doubt he will engage in some of his typical dishonesty when confronted with the question of his record of support for health care mandates. Like Kerry, he will have zero credibility . . .

If I remember correctly, Tale of Two Cities ends with someone's head getting lopped off.

 

State auditors want to get rid of one of the sweetest deals that public worker can attain. On it's face, the concept of retiring then returning to work to collect both a salary and a pension just doesn't sound right to most taxpayers. But 94,000 government workers are doing it.

Now, the auidtors are warning that double dipping will cost the state's pension fund $900 million over the next decade. The fix is simple, a retried worker who returns to the job would have his pension suspended until he permanently goes out to pasture.

Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz, who fancies himself a PR whiz, has lost every Yankees fan's vote — fortunately there are only seven in the state. After the Yankees won thw World Series, New York Congressman Eliot Engel put a Yankee hat on and asked for two minutes to congratulate the team.

Chaffetz objected saying the House should focus on important things, such as healthcare. A Conneticut sports writer complains:

Politicians are such opportunists. Engel was making sure that his voters in the Bronx knew what a Yankee fan he was, so next election they would be sure to vote for him.

Chaffetz, whose party had eight years to do something about healthcare, used the opportunity to interrupt Engel, so that everyone would think that he spent every minute of his waking hours working on a healthcare plan.

Politicians are such opportunists. They really are pathetic.

The church's whole-hearted support for Salt Lake City's anti-discrimination ordinances apparently grew from a series of secret meetings between representatives of the LDS Church and gay rights activists following a wave of "kiss-in" rallies on church-owned Main Street Plaza. As gay rights activists continue to push for same-sex civil unions, two possible conclusions could be drawn from last night:

1. The church is open to reasonable dialogue on gay rights issues.

2. The church will only talk when pressured by the threat of embarrassing public demonstrations near its temples.

The church obviously hoped to send the first message. But gay rights activists will remember the second.