Equality Utah | Utah Together

When Utah passed landmark LGBTQ protections in 2015, it shattered expectations for a conservative state.

As a country, we must stop pretending that protections for LGBTQ people and freedom for religious people are fundamentally and eternally at odds. They are not. There are ways to protect the LGBTQ community with robust legal protections and also ensure religious people can live their faith freely. We can respect religious voices without oppressing LGBTQ people. We can and must do both.

As our nation becomes increasingly divided over hyper-partisanship, the Utah Compromise serves as a model for collaboration to create bipartisan solutions that advance LGTBQ rights. If we can do it in Utah, we can do it federally.  #UTAHTOGETHER #ONEUTAH

[zanderperkalator]

Love you guys. So glad you got that donation!!!

[thinkclearly]

"Utah, despite being a conservative state, has the second highest percentage of state population in support for non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. The data Public Religion Research Institute from 77 percent of Utah residents support LGBTQ people..."

Utah was founded by a group that had endured intense discrimination and believes the Savior's injunction to "love one another" - the resultant empathy and love are Utah's cultural outgrowths of that seed. Whether with this issue in Utah, or other issues anywhere else - empathy and love are essential in recognizing and building on common ground. But, even those qualities will not work if the entire premise of the conversation over differences being discussed is to create greater division and weaken stability.

So much of today's polarizing conversations are actually designed (unbeknownst to many in the conversation) to divide and weaken in order to conquer (or win) as opposed to actually improving a situation or solving a problem - whether it is race, immigration, economic theories, health/choice, or any number of other conversations. In today's environment, regardless of the conversation, it is worth asking, "is the intent to unify and strengthen or to divide and weaken?"