Weekend Video Roundup: BYU-Hawaii, Utah Gov. Herbert, SLC ordinance, ELCA

Kicking things off with a dose of schadenfreude: BYU-Hawaii earns three years of probation, a public reprimand and censure from the NCAA. Any student athletes who might be impacted by BYU-H's administrative incompetence have my sympathies, but I happened to catch the BYU-H news right after watching the new Utah governor's first press conference, and so schadenfreude it is. A couple of gems from Gov. Gary Herbert's presser:

"Personally, what I believe is probably irrelevant to what the government should be involved with ..."

A worthy principle that Herbert invokes to explain his support for allowing science into Utah public schools, but one which he promptly sets aside when the discussion turns to anti-discrimination ordinances:

"We don't have to have a rule for everybody to do the right thing. We ought to just do the right thing because it's the right thing to do and we don't have a law that punishes us if we don't."

That's certainly an interesting position for a government official to take. I wonder if Gary has bothered to call Utah's legislators to let them know they won't be needing to come in for work, considering that Utah is now going to be run on the honor system.



And I wonder if Gov. Herbert caught this report on his local FOX13: Candice Metzler's experience highlights the challenges faced by LGBT workers, who, in Utah, are not protected against discrimination in the workplace by local, state or federal laws.

In any case, a reminder of why Herbert got it right with regards to leaving personal religious belief out of public policy: Evangelical Lutheran Church Pastor Anita Hill celebrates her first Sunday under the new ELCA policy. Our religious beliefs, doctrines, practices and policies are varied and mutable, Governor Herbert. That you and most other LDS insist on pretending otherwise as a marker of your faith and loyalty is unremarkable and understood. What is remarkable, and tragic, is that you seem oblivious to and unbothered by your responsibility as an elected official to protect the basic interests of ALL of your constituents.



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    News and views on NOM, marriage equality and the Mormon church from a former LDS missionary. This site is not affiliated with The National Organization for Marriage or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. © Copyright 2009 by Chino Blanco. All Rights Reserved.

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