It was less than a month old on January 13, when the Salt Lake City Council rescinded the ordance that prohibited discrimination "against an otherwise qualified employee or applicant based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, sexual orientation or disability."

"Having these words does not protect people from discrimination," said Bryce Jolley, a City Councilman who led the effort to repeal. He and Councilmen Carlton Christensen, Keith Christensen and Roger Thompson voted to scrap the fledgling law. Councilwomen Joanne Milner and Deeda Seed and Councilman Tom Rogan voted to keep the law.

The meeting started with a rally in front of City Hall, then moved into the Council Chambers. There, nearly 80 pro-gay supporters packed the room and for nearly four hours asked the Council to leave the law in place; only 16 urged repeal. This inbalance came as a surprise to many because of the fact that a high ranking LDS leader had encouraged Salt Lake area Bishops to ask their congregations to attend the Council meeting.

This action is unprecedented because LDS church leaders have never before urged their members to attend any other City Council meetings, where pressing social issues regularly addressed by churches, i.e. the homeless, poor, sick or suffering, were being considered. What system of moral values places higher priority on excluding decent, hardworking citizens from employment protection over attending to the very issues Christ singled out as most important? "By their fruits ye shall know them."

The four Councilmen said they intend to approve a more generic law that does not separate out "classes" for protection. But that promise rang hollow for the hundreds of homosexual and heterosexual city residents who pleaded with the Councilmen to reconsider.

"We will not confuse the repeal of this ordinance with an effort to craft a better one," said resident Kyle Treadway. "We see this as blatant, mean-spirited grandstanding."

"Why is this suddenly a case of life or death?" Jolly said. "Let's face it, this is symbolic."

Councilwoman Deeda Seed agreed. "Symbolism is the biggest problem with the ordinance's repeal: "It sends a message to these people that it's OK to discriminate."

The meeting ended when Seed concluded with the following statement, which provoked a standing ovation: "I am very saddened and disturbed that we're sitting here tonight considering repeal of a law that provides basic human rights to a group that has faced profound discrimination. Don't give up this fight," she urged the crowd. "This is a struggle for justice. We can't give up. The fight goes on."

When the crowd rose to its feet, Jolley called for police to forcibly empty the room. The crowd reacted by chanting "shame, shame, shame," and it looked for a few moments as if there was about to be a "situation," as police advanced but the crowd would not retreat. Jolley backed down and Councilman Keith Christensen suddenly moved to adjourn, bringing the meeting to a rather messy and unexpected conclusion.

Following the meeting, area resident, Kathy Worthington, shared how "the number of gay people who are willing to go up to a podium, speak in public and say they are gay (especially in front of TV camaras and the print media) has increased dramatically. Even a couple of courageous city employees and two school teachers spoke and said they are gay. There were also more supportive heterosexual people (including quite a few Mormons) than I have ever seen speak up in favor of equal rights for gay people in Utah."

"You'll remember this night," University of Utah law professor Ed Firmage told the Council. Indeed they may. The resulting unrest with their decision that night has started a new era of anti-discrimination support and grass-roots efforts. Following the meeting, people focused their phone calls, e-mail messages and letters on Mayor Deedee Corradini, urging her to exorcise her right to veto the Council's decision.

Prior to her decision, Affirmation supplied a statement to the mayor, and distributed copies to local television, radio stations and newspapers, as well as various Internet news sources. Ms. Corradini chose to do nothing, saying in a follow-up meeting with about 30 community organization representatives, that she would instead personally intervene if any Salt Lake City employees are discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. She defended her actions stating "I am the administrator of this government, not the policy maker."

Rick Fernández, Affirmation's Public Relations Director, saw the mayor's response as a punt. "The mayor is the chief executive officer of a city and charged precisely with insuring that sound public policy is enacted. The seriousness of this responsibility is underscored by the veto power granted her by the citizens of Salt Lake. Thus, it is particularly distressing that she would completely fail to understand her responsibility to exercise it. The alternative that she proposes, of intervening personally on behalf of gay and lesbian employees, is absolutely meaningless. Where anti-gay discrimination remains legal the most she will be able to offer is a kindly referral to the state unemployment department. We demand civil rights, not pity."

In a letter passed out at the meeting, Corradini said that the city's human resources director had not received a single complaint of sexual-orientation discrimination in eight years.

University of Utah law professor Terry Kogan, a gay man, said that proved nothing. "If gays and lesbian employees of this city do not feel they are protected, of course they are not going to the director of human resources," he said. "The fact that there have been no reports of discrimination is simply a reflection of the fact there are no [protective] laws on the books."

Corradini also expressed her disappointment on what she termed "press intimidation," referring to a Salt Lake Tribune article that included a quotation by a gay activist who said the gay community would not support her in a re-election effort if she did not veto the repeal.

Her fears may not be unfounded. Across the country, the political mood is changing. Where once politicians could freely ignore the interests of gays and lesbians, and vote against their civil rights, they are now discovering that their political world is changing. A poll of 500 Salt Lake City residents by ABC affiliate KTVX-TV came up with a dead heat on the question, with 47% supporting an ordinance to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination, 47% opposing, and 7% undecided. The same poll found that a 53% to 40% majority of women supported job protections while a 53% to 40% majority of men opposed them-a fairly common finding on gay and lesbian issues.

Gays and lesbians are increasingly a well-organized, significant constituency that cannot be ignored. Politicians now realise that homophobia-based decisions come at a price. For example, David Nelson, a Salt Lake reisident, has asked that "people who support keeping the ordinance can oppose [Jolley's] efforts by voting with our dollars and our voices." He points out the contradiction of his businesses offering their goods and services to gay and lesbian customers while he works to deny the equal rights of gay and lesbian city workers. He also said that "Jolley makes no secret of his opposition," supplying newspaper article quotations: "Jolley said he's morally opposed to homosexuality...," Deseret News, Dec. 8. "Jolley is now determined to move to repeal [the ordinance] once the new Council is seated [and] ... says he is morally opposed to homosexuality...," NewsPlanet, Dec. 10.

Nelson has compiled a list of Jolley family-owned businesses, and has asked valley residents to "Judge for yourself whether continuing to buy from his businesses is the right thing to do. Encourage your family and friends to make the same consideration, then tell his businesses about your choice:"

Top Hat Video
1676 East 1300 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84105
(801)582-1600

Jolley's Gift and Floral
1676 East 1300 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84105
(801)582-1625

Jolley Drug Inc. DBA Jolley's Pharmacy
1676 East 1300 South
Salt Lake City, Utah 84105
(801)582-1999

Jolley Drug Inc. DBA Jolley's Pharmacy
1702 South 1100 East
Salt Lake City, Utah 84105
(801)484-4393

Jolley Drug Inc. DBA Jolley's Pharmacy
9720 South 1300 East
Sandy, Utah 84094
(801)571-0201

But, it's been very costly: The Council is permanently divided. The city and the state are once more awash in the worst kind of publicity. "I know this will get [bad] publicity. There's nothing I can do about it," Jolley said.

John Harrington, the Weekly writer who interviewed Jolley related that "Mainly, it's sad. In the end, what stuck with me most about my talk with Bryce was that he only referred to 'gays, lesbians' or 'homosexuals.' He never referred to them as people, even though he said he had 'gay friends.' I thought about his way of talking about non-heterosexual human beings, like they were objects, not living souls, long after we hung up. 'It's the way he was brought up,' I told myself. 'Can you really hold it against him?' I wondered. I don't know the answer to that one."

Perhaps, in reflection, we can rejoice in the greater victories and opportunities for education that this experience has provided us. We can also find sorrow in the recognition that we still live in a world where a church and society holds intolerance as one of its most cherished "moral" values.