In the wake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ clarification of its stance on hate crimes legislation, lawmakers, advocates and political news media are speculating about how far hate crimes legislation will progress in the Utah Legislature. The answer to this question may come down to whether both sides of the debate continue or abandon their past political miscalculations.
Opponents of such legislation have miscalculated by pursuing victory through doing nothing on the issue. We’ve seen this approach fail here in Utah in debates over marriage, housing and employment, and beyond: The failure to prevent the expansion of Medicaid or the legalization of medical marijuana comes to mind.