OGDEN -- Members and friends of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ogden seemed to get one step closer Sunday to their dream of ending discrimination against people who are gay or transgender.
At a Valentine's Day town hall-style meeting at the church, they were encouraged by a city lawmaker and a statewide lobbyist to use all means available to get their voices heard.
"If you can do the job and pay the rent, it shouldn't matter if you are gay or transgender," Brandie Balkin, executive director of Equality Utah, said in introducing participants to the arguments that would be presented at the meeting.
She and others said all people are affected when one person is discriminated against for whatever reason.
But the picture for passing anti-discrimination laws in Utah seems grim, Balkin said.
"The Legislature won't be passing any (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender) bills this year," she said. "They've placed a moratorium on all of them."
Balkin said five such bills were written and ready to go forward. The bills also had the votes needed to pass but were put aside, she said.
The meeting, dubbed Reimagining Valentine's Day, was part of a national Unitarian Universalist campaign called Standing on the Side of Love.
The Rev. Theresa Novak said while she hasn't had success through her several attempts at getting an anti-discrimination law passed statewide, she is hopeful one will be passed in Ogden.
Ogden City Councilwoman Susan Van Hooser, who was the concluding speaker for the event, encouraged audience members to present their wishes in the form of a proposed resolution to the city council and to not take no for an answer.
"Something as important as this should be brought forward by someone who has a passion for it," she said.
Van Hooser said she was surprised to learn during the meeting that Ogden city did not have a policy to protect a person from being fired because of sexuality or gender orientation.
"They will listen," she said of her council counterparts. "You will be heard, so please bring it forward."
Van Hooser said she couldn't speak for the city nor for the council but said she personally stands on the side of love.
Balkin said she would help the church draft a proposed resolution for an anti- discrimination law.
Salt Lake City resident James C. Humphreys is vice president of the Utah chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, which has a majority membership of gay people. He told the audience members he could help them in their lobbying efforts.
"Those who show up make all the decisions," he said after the meeting.
He told them he could explain how the process of making laws works so they could have more "seats at the table" through the process.
"Certain organizations have virtually all the seats at the table," he said naming the Eagle Forum as a specific example.
Humphreys said that group has become very good at showing up in the right places at the right times to get attention.
Many in attendance shared heart-wrenching stories.
Allison Black, president of Ogden Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays and an outspoken member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told of her son's struggles when people sent him messages of hate.
"It became clear that he was not welcome in this predominantly Mormon neighborhood," she said.
Several others also told of gay relatives, friends and acquaintances moving away from Utah because they felt unwelcome.
A gay nurse and others told of dying hospital patients unable to say goodbye to their longtime partners because family forced them to stay away.
A schoolteacher told about students using the term "gay" as an insult to one another and the effect it had on other students before she explained why such remarks are inappropriate.
Gary Horencamp, who oversees a gay drop-in center at the church, said he wants to do more.
"It's not enough to provide a safe space in this building a few nights a week when that same safe space does not exist in the community."
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