Log Cabin Republicans Drafting Gay Rights Bills

11.17.2009 by Jeff Robinson

(KCPW News) Governor Gary Herbert held an informal reception at the Governor’s mansion with the Utah Log Cabin Republicans last night.  The group is drafting two bills for the state legislature to consider, one of which would prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation.  Melvin Nimer, president of the Utah Log Cabin Republicans, says GOP lawmakers are lending their support to these bills.

“We’re still in the writing process.  We have three or four Republican legislators who are helping us get them written.  No one has actual signed on because the bills haven’t been done yet, but I suspect the people that help us write us will also end up helping us sponsor it,” he told KCPW.

Nimer is also hopeful that the LDS Church’s recent support of Salt Lake City’s nondscrimination ordinances will help the Log Cabin Republicans get support for their proposals on Capitol Hill.

Governor Herbert has said he doesn’t believe gay people should be discriminated against, but at the same time, he doesn’t believe there should be a law prohibiting that discrimination.  Nimer says the governor needs a reminder about Utah’s Constitutional Amendment 3, banning gay marriage.

“I think the thing he forgets sometimes is under Amendment 3, the Utah Legislature did create a special class of people, and all we’re doing is asking that those people that the Utah Legislature singled out have some protections that they might not otherwise have because of that situation with Amendment 3,” said Nimer.

Nimer doesn’t believe it will be a problem if both Republican and Democratic lawmakers sponsor competing gay rights bills.  He says lawmakers will pick the best legislation to move forward.