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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah lawmakers won't consider a law that would ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in the workplace and in housing, and will instead spend the next year studying the issue, key lawmakers said Friday.
In exchange, opponents of gay rights legislation will drop any effort to prevent local governments from passing their own-non discrimination laws this legislative session.
Gay rights advocates had hoped to build on recent momentum created by the Salt Lake City Council, which passed nondiscrimination ordinances last year. Those ordinances passed after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said it would support the measures.
In Utah, few law changes occur if the church disapproves. More than 80 percent of state lawmakers are Mormon, including Utah Gov. Gary Herbert.
Herbert has said he disapproves of discriminating against gay people, but doesn't think it should be illegal and hasn't issued an executive order banning the practice among state employees.
In calling for a type of legislative cease fire, lawmakers are hoping to avoid drawing national attention to Utah in the battle over gay rights during an election year.
The state has drawn criticism for residents' and the Mormon church's involvement in the fight over California's Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage there.
"There is a common desire to ensure that Utah is not the battleground for the nation on these kinds of issues. We simply refuse to be that battleground," said Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper. "We hope to set a standard of civility and cooperation and respect that hopefully will be copied in other states rather than seeing Utah as the place where these issues are fought out in a very harsh environment."
Stephenson is co-sponsoring a measure introduced Friday calling for a study of employment and housing discrimination that will be completed by the end of the year. He said lawmakers may consider nondiscrimination laws next session, depending on what several months of study by state lawmakers turns up.
Rep. Christine Johnson, D-Salt Lake City, said she's hopeful the new tactic could help move gay rights forward in the future. Gay rights bills in the past have repeatedly been shot down by the GOP-controlled Legislature because of fears it could lead to legalizing gay marriage, despite a constitutional ban on the practice.
"This in no way means that opposing sides are abandoning their respective legislative goals," said Johnson, a lesbian who is carrying a child for two gay friends who can't legally adopt in Utah.
The church has not publicly weighed in on a statewide nondiscrimination law.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
