Take the resolution's opponents within Kanab. They say that the resolution will embarrass and hurt the town economically, even as they rant and rave in public, on blogs and in person, and, in effect, encourage economic sanctions on their own neighbors.
They claim to serve the best interests of Kanab businesses, all the while immaturely and masochistically agitating for a local economic downturn.
Also surprising is the blind hatred with which opponents literally interpret the resolution. They seem to read it like a Dan Brown novel, seeing penumbras where none exist and reading their own personal world views into every syllable.
For a document that includes no mention of gays, lesbians, transgenders, feminists or any other sacred idol on their multicultural totem pole, opponents must stretch to find offense at every turn.
Another surprise regards the weight to which opponents give financial sanctions. Everyone needs to make a living and businesses exist to make that happen. But is the quest for money why people live in Kanab?
On the contrary, people move to and live in Kanab because they want to escape the headaches of money-driven lives. They live there because they enjoy the blessings of rural life, the beauty of the vistas and the opportunity to breathe fresh air each morning. Threatening Kanab with a boycott is like threatening the gay community with a new STD - it's relevant but not enough to make them change their ways.
A final surprise comes from a few local LDS voices in the region. In a mind-numbing expression of misplaced priorities, evidently there are a few members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there worried that the resolution might hurt missionary work. What?!
People join the LDS Church precisely because of its family-centered theology and culture, and not because they like everything it stands for except its opposition to abortion, homosexuality and feminism.
Having said this, it is time for the rest of Utah to step up in defense of Kanab. Any imagined embarrassment from the resolution pales in comparison to the genuine disgrace of a state, known for its espoused family culture, whose leaders sit idly by while their neighbors down south get insulted by every know-nothing with discretionary time.
Utah's Legislature should pass the natural family resolution and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. should tie the state economy to Kanab by honoring the non-binding resolution. It's one thing for distant cowards to try to bully tiny Kanab. It's another thing to take on the state of Utah.
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Paul T. Mero is president of the Sutherland Institute, a conservative, Utah-based public policy group.
