This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Utah Legislature is prepared to grapple in coming weeks with competing measures — one that would bar housing and employment discrimination against gay and lesbian Utahns and another that would protect individuals' right to deny services based on their religious beliefs.
But whether these pieces of legislation will get a hearing is far from certain.
Last year, bills on both sides of the issue were shelved as legislative leaders awaited appeals-court rulings on U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby's decision to strike down Utah's constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed that ruling to stand by declining to hear the case. But the justices recently decided to hear a separate gay-marriage case in April.
With the matter still before the courts, Senate Budget Chairman Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, who is an attorney, says it may be best to continue last year's holding pattern for another year.
"It may be too premature again [to debate such bills] — that we ought to wait to see what the U.S. Supreme Court decides in June."
But Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, said the bills should at least go to a committee hearing "so we can see where we are going with this."
Rep. Jacob Anderegg, R-Lehi, says both the nondiscrimination bills and the religious-liberty bills he is sponsoring should get the same treatment — either they all should get to a committee or none of them should.
Anderegg is sponsoring HB66, which states that no one can be compelled to perform a marriage if he or she has religious objections, and a constitutional amendment that would prevent churches and members of a faith from having to perform or recognize any rite contrary to their beliefs.
Anderegg said he is reworking his bill to let individuals refuse to perform a marriage as long as someone else is present to perform the union.
"Let's be frank: The 800-pound gorilla in the room is: Does the LDS Church get behind it?" Anderegg said. "If the LDS Church gets behind it and gives its blessing, then 81 percent of the body who are LDS will likely get behind it. And it's not because the church is coming out and saying, 'Vote this way or that way,' but an endorsement from them does carry weight."
Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, who is sponsoring the bill that would prohibit housing and employment discrimination statewide, agrees with Anderegg that all the bills should be up for debate.
"Bring them all out," he said, noting that's the strength of the democratic process. "Rather than exploding in the streets we implode in our legislative bodies. That's where we push our tough issues."
Urquhart isn't swayed that Utah should wait for a court ruling.
"The Supreme Court," he said, "couldn't care less what Utah does with a nondiscrimination bill as it's considering same-sex marriage."