Ten years ago Wednesday, Utah pioneered an approach for fostering harmony in an increasingly diverse society: Fairness for All. Through two landmark pieces of legislation, Utah — one of the most politically conservative states in the nation — protected religious freedom and LGBT individuals from discrimination in housing and employment. These laws harmonized protections for LGBT people with protections for people of faith, fostering mutual respect.
Both communities sought the same thing: to live authentically in public as well as in private — without fear that something as deeply personal as one’s faith or who one loves could be wielded against them.
Those laws allayed fears without requiring anyone to give up or alter their personal beliefs.
Fairness for All became a model for addressing conflicts that have often divided the nation. Fairness for All reflects the principles that all individuals deserve respect and governments should expand freedoms for all rather than limiting them.
Consider Utah’s unanimously enacted Exercise of Religion Amendments. In 2024, Utah became the 26th state to ensure that laws burdening religious free exercise have effect only when absolutely necessary.
In 2023, Utah unanimously enacted a law banning conversion therapy for minors. The law also provides assurances that therapists who speak candidly with children will not have their licenses revoked on that basis. These are just two examples of Utah’s ability to find bipartisan consensus around complex, divisive issues.
Respecting religious faith and protecting rights should not be controversial. Utahns deeply value freedom. Eighty-two percent of Utahns view religious freedom as a positive. And more than 8 in 10 Utahns support laws that protect LGBT people from discrimination.
It’s often said the three words most associated with American politics are “divisive, messy and polarized.” Yet, amid national polarization, Utah has managed to create bipartisan moments by following three principles:
Removing points of conflict
Conflicts may arise when laws create uncertainty. Lawmakers can prevent conflicts by creating clear policies for how we live together despite our differences.
Just as the Utah Legislature successfully balanced religious freedom and LGBT rights, lawmakers can create solutions that serve everyone well.
In 2023, Utah unanimously passed an adoption law that avoided the stark, divisive outcomes seen in other states. In Massachusetts, a religious adoption agency closed up shop rather than make placements with same-sex couples, contrary to their convictions. In Tennessee, agencies are allowed to turn away qualified couples, whether same-sex or from another faith tradition, without offering alternative referrals.
Utah chose a different path and created a system that ensures all prospective adoptive families are respected and receive assistance while preventing agencies from being forced to close. Utah took children out of the culture war.
Protecting rights without diminishing others
By striving to protect rights without diminishing others, Utah’s “Exercise of Religion Amendments” passed unanimously. Elsewhere, opponents have claimed that religious freedom restoration acts (RFRAs) “weaponize religious beliefs to justify discrimination.” The Utah Legislature made clear that it did not intend for Utah’s carefully constructed bipartisan legislation to be undone. Utah enacted one of the strongest RFRAs in the United States. These strong provisions would allow, for example, municipal pools to designate times to accommodate the modesty of Muslim women.
Giving clarity about what a law is meant to do helps counter the destructive narrative that protecting faith must somehow harm others.
Equal measure
Many people naturally speak about their home lives at work. The Fairness for All approach to workplace speech protections allows employees to speak about personal matters when it is non-harassing and allowed by employers — whether it is to comment on the Pride parade or a sermon at church.
Utah’s 2024 law protecting moral and religious conscience in government workplaces continues this all-in approach. Utah’s Constitution protects rights of conscience in addition to religious freedom. Utah’s 2024 law gives substance to this guarantee, whatever beliefs one holds.
Governments need flexibility in order to reasonably accommodate an employee’s sincerely held beliefs without causing substantial disruption. However, regardless of whether those beliefs align more with progressive or conservative perspectives, they deserve equal respect. This novel conscience protection has effectively safeguarded the rights of people from all beliefs equally.
When we protect everyone’s freedoms, we live up to the promise of America. Fairness for All is a credit to the people of Utah.
J. Stuart Adams is the president of the Utah Senate.
Brady Brammer is a member of the Utah Senate.
Michael Petersen is a member of the Utah House of Representatives.
Chris Wilson is the majority whip for the Utah Senate.
Todd Weiler is a member of the Utah Senate.
Robin Fretwell Wilson is a professor of law at the University of Illinois College of Law, a Fulbright Scholar at NOVA School of Law (Portugal) and a member of the VOICES Project.