Thought Leader Spotlight

Here, we talk policy with thoughtful people who stand out in their fields.

MICHAEL LEAVITT
FORMER Governor OF UTAH

“In the struggle between LGBT rights and religious freedom, the shared space is to be found in a robust pluralism that ensures fairness – fairness for all.  

Here is the common ground: to build their cases, both groups depend on a fundamental freedom referred to as moral agency – the ability to choose right from wrong and to act for ourselves.  Moral agency is the inalienable human right to follow one’s own conscience. Moral agency does not create an entitlement to steal or murder or lie because one’s conscience tolerates it. We create governments to restrain crime and even punish guilt when that occurs. However, neither governments nor the people that form them have the right to suppress the conscience of another human being. Our world includes such a wide diversity of human needs and experience that a peaceful world could not exist otherwise.

When an LGBT person asks to be protected from discrimination because of who they love, or the gender they identify with, that claim is based on moral agency. Their plea is for fairness. Likewise, when people expect the right to exercise their faith, or the right not to be religious, they too are acting from their moral agency and petitioning for fairness.

To a person who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, fairness for all includes protection from being denied a livelihood, a place to live, or basic services just because of who they are. To the religious adherent, fairness for all means the free exercise of religion, including the right to freely associate with fellow believers. That right cannot be absolute everywhere, to be sure, but there are many important spheres where it must be vigorously protected or religious freedom becomes meaningless.

The successful legislation and wise jurisprudence happens in the shared space of Fairness for All.”

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