The article in Saturday’s paper titled, “Rep. John Curtis says Utah shows how to protect both gay rights and religious liberty” raised hopes and dashed them quickly.
He correctly outlined how behavior changes when the heart changes. He crafted emotional and caring statements about how everyone matters, such as, “that our North Star in this debate is the notion that the worth of every soul is great, that every person has intrinsic value and the right to be who they want to be without impediment from government, society and our communities.”
However, based on applying this logic to other issues, he also laid out a case for a country without laws, or at least made it clear he doesn’t support the cause of the North Star.
He resists new laws covering LBGTQ citizens by suggesting we simply follow our hearts to avoid bad behavior. Curtis’s point about following the heart and that rules and laws only slow bad behavior is one we only seem to hear when the GOP doesn’t actually care about the issue or the people involved.
Following his logic, or lack thereof, we would not need most laws. Traffic violations would end because everyone would be so heart-fully concerned about their neighbors they would not even think about speeding. Rape would end because rapists would follow their hearts. Thieves and burglars would give instead of take. Drug dealers would go into herbal farming. Corporate polluters would not dream of filling our environment with chemicals which damage their communities, and nobody would discriminate on the basis of race, religion, age, national origin, and disability.
This John Curtis pipe dream and those like him reveal they are sometimes good with words, but they really don’t care. He clearly does not care for the LBGTQ with the care provided to match his words. So much for the GOP “rule of law” mantra. They are big on not needing or enforcing laws, at least for those citizens and issues they actually do not really support. When they do develop laws, they often are against “the heart."
Their sudden passion for new laws results in them being written so tightly that we can’t move or breathe, that is, take away our liberties.
Please, stop the double talk. Nobody reasonable is buying it.
John Woeste, Salt Lake City
Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible