News

Actions

Gov. prefers local non-discrimination ordinances over state-wide law

Posted at 7:02 PM, Feb 19, 2013
and last updated 2013-02-19 21:02:46-05

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- A statewide anti-discrimination bill has the backing of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but Gov. Gary Herbert isn’t convinced passing it is the right move.

Herbert said he supports cities and counties adopting non-discrimination ordinances, but he said he isn’t sure the state needs such a law.

“The question really is: Should we in fact have some laws in place to force us to be good people? And I've advocated that that ought to come up from a bottom-up driven approach,” Herbert said. “I like the fact that we’ve had local communities, and we have a number of them now, that have created their own unique non-discriminatory ordinances. I think that's the best way to deal with it. That being said, if there’s some issues out there that brings people together, that unites us, so that there could be a statewide approach, I'm certainly willing to look at it and consider it.”

More than a dozen Utah cities and counties have adopted anti-discrimination ordinances.