After another round of devastating defeats at the State Legislature and now, with Jon Huntsman moving on, gay activists in Utah are trying out a new strategy. They’re focusing on more liberal city and county governments such as Summit County, home to many of the resettled California snobs in Park City and other progressives who despise historic Utah.
Last week, the Summit County Council passed a resolution in support of gay rights. Not having the political courage to call the resolution what it really is, the Council titled it “Inclusive Communities: A Vision For Common Ground.” Of course, the “common ground” portion pays homage to the gay rights group Equality Utah and their “Common Ground Initiative.” And why not? They wrote the resolution.
But before I get into that, I would like to remind everyone of another resolution I wrote for Utah’s cities and counties about four years ago. That resolution supported the natural family and called on local governments to cherish stable family structures that benefit society and help to cut down on the need for expensive government programs.
That resolution was passed by the small town of Kanab and other versions of it were passed by a couple of other Utah cities. A maelstrom of outrage from the gay community was released nationwide when Kanab stood for strong families. A national boycott was called for and protestors descended on the little community.
The response from many other Utah local governments was either silence or a terse lecture about how family issues weren’t the purview of local governments. One mayor wrote to me and reminded me that city government is about gutters and sewers, not about strengthening families. Yes, the Sutherland family resolution was scoffed at and largely ridiculed for its misguided notions about the role of local governments in society.
And so it’s with particular curiosity that I read Summit County’s gay rights resolution passed just last week.
The resolution talks about inclusiveness as a hallmark of their wealthy community. It talks about equal rights, the human family, dignity, and how their citizens are “entitled to all rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind.” It mourns past abuses of its people based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and HIV status. And it “pledges active efforts to seek to achieve” inclusiveness for all its residents.
All of this talk is pomp and ceremony to give employee benefits to county employees who are homosexuals – four or five who work there. It also does one more thing: it places into law in Utah the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” That’s what the gay group Equality Utah is looking for. They know, even if their straight, progressive, guilt-ridden, rich, white, gated-community neighbors don’t know, that such language is fodder for future law suits.
The Summit County gay resolution focuses on what it calls the inherent dignity of human beings. That’s another curiosity. There’s nothing inherent or dignified about homosexual behavior. Human beings are born male and female with moral agency to pursue purposes beyond the selfish cravings of sterile sexual behaviors. There’s nothing inherent about this selfish behavior that can naturally invoke any legal claims to inalienable rights. It’s not surprising for the Summit County resolution to use these words, “entitled to all rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind.” This is an increasingly popular sentiment in the Age of Obama – the very old idea that everything is without distinction, except of course any thought that actually draws a distinction. That’s not allowed.
So, keep your eyes peeled. The gay agenda will be coming to your city or county council very soon. And, ultimately, that’s not a bad thing – it forces all of us to reflect on the essence of what it means to be human being, to understand the true meaning of liberty, to negotiate the proper role of government, and to help us focus on the true meaning of life itself.
I’m Paul Mero. Thanks for listening.
