A big step towards...

There is much trumpeting of an announcement by Mormon, or Latter-day Saint, leaders of support for a bill that bans discrimination against sexual minorities. Is this a good thing? We'll set aside the confirmation that Mormon doctrine has not changed – their god still doesn't like gays and lesbians. What does this call for non-discrimination mean, especially if this important news comes linked with an assertion of religious freedom? What kinds of discrimination will be banned? An obvious piece would be a ban on discrimination in a restaurant. That wasn't specifically mentioned, but seems mostly beyond debate. What about the obvious and frequent case of baking a cake for a gay wedding? What about performing artificial insemination of a lesbian couple? For this one we get a reply from Jeffrey Holland of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (the guys who run the religion):

A Latter-day Saint physician who objects to performing abortions or artificial insemination for a lesbian couple should not be forced against his or her conscience to do so, especially when others are readily available to perform that function.

So, yeah, there is still that demand the Mormons be allowed to deny a service to one class of people they would readily offer to another class. This noise might signal a new and big step forward for the Mormon church, but it isn't a ban on discrimination.

Utah Democrats are delighted with this deal of non-discrimination coupled with religious freedom. Sarah Warbelow of the Human Rights Campaign says the deal is "deeply flawed." Commenters say it is a public relations stunt.