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SALT LAKE CITY -
The Mormon church supports a proposed pair of Salt Lake City ordinances that would make it illegal to discriminate against gays in housing and employment matters, a spokesman said Tuesday. Michael Otterson, the director of public affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, endorsed the proposals during a City Council meeting. "The church supports these ordinances because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage," Otterson said.
If the ordinances are approved, the city would be the first in Utah to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The proposals make it illegal to fire or evict someone for being lesbian, bisexual, gay or transgender.
The endorsement is not a shift in the church's position on gay rights and reinforces past statements on the issue, Otterson said.
In August 2008, the church issued a statement saying it supports gay rights related to hospitalization, medical care, housing or probate as long as they "do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches."
But Otterson said Tuesday the church "remains unequivocally committed to defending the bedrock foundation of marriage between a man and a woman."
The church said its support for the ordinances is due in part to the way they are drafted to carve out exceptions that protect the religious freedoms of all churches.
Previous Utah legislation that sought protections for the gay community did not contain those exceptions.
The church has come under fire for its support of Proposition 8, a ballot measure that banned gay marriage in California in 2008.
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If the ordinances are approved, the city would be the first in Utah to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The proposals make it illegal to fire or evict someone for being lesbian, bisexual, gay or transgender.
The endorsement is not a shift in the church's position on gay rights and reinforces past statements on the issue, Otterson said.
In August 2008, the church issued a statement saying it supports gay rights related to hospitalization, medical care, housing or probate as long as they "do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches."
But Otterson said Tuesday the church "remains unequivocally committed to defending the bedrock foundation of marriage between a man and a woman."
The church said its support for the ordinances is due in part to the way they are drafted to carve out exceptions that protect the religious freedoms of all churches.
Previous Utah legislation that sought protections for the gay community did not contain those exceptions.
The church has come under fire for its support of Proposition 8, a ballot measure that banned gay marriage in California in 2008.
SEND US YOUR NEWS, WEATHER AND SPORTS PICTURES! www.fox13now.com/pics
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! @fox13now
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