Logan City adopts ordinances to stop anti-gay bias
Logan adopts ordinances to stop anti-gay bias
Updated: 05/18/2010 10:22:49 PM MDT
Logan » In one motion, the Logan City Council on Tuesday night mandated that employers and landlords cannot discriminate against gays, lesbians or transgendered people in the city limits.
Modeled after anti-discrimination laws recently adopted in Salt Lake City, Logan's housing and employment ordinances passed with four votes and one abstention, by Councilman Dean Quayle. A crowd, which filled the City Council Chambers halls and an overflow room, was mostly subdued throughout a one-hour public hearing. Following the tally though, the crowd erupted in applause and rewarded the council with a standing ovation.
In the days leading up to Tuesday's meeting, Council Chairman Jay Monson said he received more than 250 calls and e-mails "for" and only 10 "against" the ordinances, all from Logan residents and business owners.
Meanwhile, a handful of protesters staged a ruckus in front of Monson's LDS chapel Sunday, carrying banners and drawing attention to themselves by calling this lifelong Cache Valley educator names such as, "child hater." Two other council members were similarly targeted in their neighborhoods, where the protesters also handed out anti-gay literature door-to-door.
On Tuesday night, Monson defended his support of the ordinances and clarified the stance of the area's largest church after calling the LDS headquarters in Salt Lake City on Monday.
"The [LDS] church supports nondiscrimination ordinances, period. Certainly, I was told that this applies to Logan as much as any other place in the world," Monson said Tuesday before calling for the vote. "They do and I do and I agree that this is not the answer for everything ... But it is a step in the right direction and it is long overdue in my thinking."
Logan resident James Gibson, a business owner and landlord, disagreed saying the City Council is overstepping its bounds.
"I don't feel that it is the place of the government to step in and say who I can and can't hire," Gibson said, adding that, if anything, it should be a state matter. "If anybody feels like they've been discriminated against on behalf of any landlord or business owner, that becomes a civil matter. "
Joshua Frazier added, "The problem is a lack of compassion, not a lack of laws. You cannot legislate compassion and attempting to do so only creates resentment."
Frazier said the ordinances are unconstitutional because employment and property rentals feature a private contract.
"It's wrong for governments to interfere with contracts between individuals," Frazier said. "I see this as the government forcing moral decisions on private individuals. I do not want the government determining and defining what is moral and what is not."
Councilmember Holly Daines said the ordinances have passed the legal test in other cities where have been in effect and that several exemptions make them easier to deal with. For example, businesses with fewer than 15 employees are exempted from the new standards, as are owner-occupied rentals.
Gail Hansen, a citizen of Logan for 30 years, said she has been enlightened by the support among her neighbors and friends for the ordinances.
"I wasn't aware that there was a problem because the people who suffered the injury just found a different job, just found a different place to live," Hansen said, adding that she believes in liberty and justice for all described in our nation's founding document. "I was reminded that our constitution was enacted in order to establish justice..."
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