Rep. John Curtis wants to halt a growing argument about whether America should protect gay rights or religious liberty — saying Utah has shown it is possible to do both.
“The debate is too often framed that religious liberty and individual expression are a zero-sum game” and one must win and one lose, he said in a speech Friday to the conservative Sutherland Institute think tank in Salt Lake City.
“That's not true,” the Provo Republican said. “There is room to protect both rights — without compromising religious values.”
The speech comes after the Democratic-controlled House recently passed the LGBTQ Equality Act to push back on actions by President Donald Trump such as giving federal funds to religious-sponsored foster agencies that won’t adopt to gay people or broadening religious exemptions for employers who do not want to cover birth control in health plans.