'Natural family' resolution is called 'exclusionary'
S.L. County official takes issue with Sutherland Institute
Jenny Wilson, a Democrat and the lone woman on the nine-member council, penned a letter to Sutherland Institute president Paul Mero Wednesday, calling his resolution on the family "dangerous to a government founded 'of the people, by the people and for the people.' "
The Sutherland Institute recently sent a letter to local municipalities urging them to support a resolution that includes the phrase "upholding the marriage of a woman to a man, and a man to a woman as ordained by God." The resolution, approved in Kanab in January, goes on to encourage homes to be open to a "full quiver of children" and young women to become "wives, homemakers and mothers."
"At a certain level, I find this document amusing, but mainly it is unnecessarily insensitive, inhumane and exclusionary," Wilson wrote.
Wilson took issues with several points in the Sutherland Institute's resolution.
• Promoting a "full quiver of children" ignores population problems around the globe and in Salt Lake County, Wilson said.
"It seems that the Sutherland Institute is promoting a 'people' that comprises an extremely narrow segment of our society and our state," Wilson wrote. "It is mean-spirited towards those who, either by their own choosing, or by circumstances beyond their control, find themselves outside your definition."
Wilson said elected officials have an obligation to support a quality of life for everyone, no matter race, gender or sexual orientation. A healthy debate about the resolution might do some good in local government. "However, I have confidence that my fellow elected officials, regardless of their political persuasion, would recognize that endorsing this proposal would be a gross disservice to the people of our county."
E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com
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