What Did The Mormon Church Just Do?

I have been wanting to write more over here, but I've also been a bit distracted lately. However, a friend asked me to comment on the Mormon Church's support of the gay rights law recently passed in Salt Lake City.

Just to clear up a few things, while this law was a step forward, it wasn't a giant leap. The law only places sexual orientation in a protected category, meaning it is illegal to discriminate against LGBT people in housing, employment and services. One would think that is already the case, but sadly it's not, and it's not a Federal rule yet either. In fact, many locals it is perfectly legal to fire someone for being gay. Like Cincinnati up to only about 5 years ago. And the Military today.

It also looks as if the Salt Lake City Council was poised to pass the bill with or without LDS consent. It possible that the blessing of the magical underwear fairies assisted in getting the bill to pass unanimously, but that's really not clear.

What is clear is that the LDS clergy came forward in favor of something that's not blatantly anti-gay. Yes, that's a shock, but the real question will be if they live up to their promises to support domestic partnerships and civil unions. Back when Prop 8 passed, the Mormon higher ups came out and made some ridiculous statements about how they weren't anti-gay, blah blah blah (and I bet the KKK doesn't hate black people…), and that they would support domestic partnerships as a matter of fairness.

This could be the first step toward that, but I really have to wonder about these nut jobs. I feel like this is more of a publicity stunt than anything else. Would they really support a "everything but marriage" Domestic Partnership program like Washington just enacted? If so, what then is the difference between that and actual, for real-real Marriage? And, if that truly is their stance, why did they not spend their money and influence being proactive and helping domestic partnership and civil union bills pass across the county, as compared to wasting millions of dollars on destructive and divisive anti-gay campaigns?

The Mormon church may have just handed a shiny red apple with a smile on their face, but I sure as hell ain't going to bite into that poison.