Blind Prophecy

I love me some righteous indignation. I know, you’re shocked. I’ve never let on in this blog that I get worked up over causes I hold dear, but it’s true. I really sort of enjoy getting fired up and angry at the injustices and wrongs of the world. I also love to rally support around radical notions of change. Let’s challenge the system and take down the man, man!

But sometimes people are just silly about it.

Yesterday, professional howler monkeys the Utah Legislature’s Judiciary Committee killed SB32, the first of 4 bills that are part of Equality Utah’s Common Grounds Initiative. The bill, considered the least radical of the four, would have allowed financial dependents (other than spouses, parents and children) to sue if a breadwinner suffers a wrongful death. The bill was defeated 4-2 along party lines.

This has, of course, renewed the call for boycotting Utah. So that Wolf doesn’t think I’m picking on him, here’s a sampling of quotes from Towleroad readers:

Just one more reason to stay the hell away from Utah. Let the Mormon crackpots have it.

You couldn’t pay me to go to Utah! The ONLY good thing about UTAH is “BIG LOVE”..period!

Or comments from the Salt Lake Tribune article:

Now would be a good time to LEAVE that Hate State

NOTHING inside Utah is worth remaining to fight for. It isn’t worth a single LGBT person’s wasted life there. UTAH is both an aberation, and an abomination. There are WAY better places for my tribe to call home.

But really? Boycotting an entire state because it has a shitty track record on gay rights? Cross Virginia, Arkansas, and Idaho off your vacation list. Boycott an entire state because statewide politics is overwhelmed by religious extremists? There goes Kansas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. Boycott an entire state because it holds the headquarters of a hateful anti-gay religious movement? Forget about going to Colorado (Focus on the Family) this weekend for the Creating Change conference, DC (Concerned Women of America) or Illinois (Americans for Truth About Homosexuality).

And what happens to the LGBT people living in the boycotted state? Well, of course they should all move. This is the perfect time to leave your job, sell your home, and strike out for the coasts. That’ll show ‘em!

And what happens to young queers dependent on their families for support? In a few years, we’ll send a rescue bus that drives through every month and picks up any unwanted queer kids hanging out along I-80. These queer youth will be set up in foster families as soon as they get to California. Nothing could go wrong!

And those of us with supportive relatives in Utah? Kiss them goodbye! Sorry, Mom, Dad, Grandpa Joe, Grandma Norma, my various cousins and siblings. I hope you can make it out to New York for the holidays next year, because I might accidentally spend money somewhere that could end up in someone’s tithing if I come to visit. Even if I’m really careful, well, even stopping for gas on the way to the airport is going to help pay a station attendant’s salary. I’ll be calling less, too, because I wouldn’t want the phone technicians in Utah to get my money. And you can just forget about me supporting those mail and package delivery folks who have the audacity to deliver something inside Utah. I’ve got to teach those big meanies on Capitol Hill a lesson!

So, yeah, I think the Utah Boycott is a silly idea, largely promoted by people who don’t understand Utah politics. It’s nice to simplify everything down to Mormon=evil, but it ignores systemic issues like the hyper-partisanship in state and local levels promoted by the party caucusing system (basically, only the hyper-partisan show up to decide who the candidates are in primary elections, there is no room for moderates).

I’m no fan of the Mormon church, and I think that following the antics of the professional howler monkeys Utah Legislature is like watching television’s professional wrestling (it’s vaguely entertaining, but you’re never really surprised at the overly-scripted outcomes). I think they deserve to be mocked, criticized, over-ruled by federal law, and generally bitch-slapped in the court of public opinion. But a state-wide boycott really is a silly idea.

Filed under: queer rights, utah by Jere Keys