En Route Podcast: The “Utah Compromise” Between Religious Conservatives and LGBTQ

Ordinary Times contributor Dennis Sanders talked to Rev. Marian Edmonds Allen about how the LGBTQ community and religious conservatives in Utah were able to balance religious liberty and LGBTQ rights on the latest En Route Podcast.

Maybe one of the biggest debates of the early 21st century was the debate about expanding marriage rights to include same-sex couples. From the minute I got married to my husband in 2007, the fight for same-sex marriage went from theoretical personal. Between the mid-aughts and 2015, religious conservatives and LGBTQ Americans fought over this question, ending with the decision by the Supreme Court in favor of same-sex nationwide by Supreme Court in 2015. You might have thought that would end the argument, but it didn’t. The fight shifted to a battle between religious conservatives who wanted to be able to practice their faith and LGBTQ persons who wanted to express their newfound rights. The Masterpiece Cake Shop in Colorado has become the physical embodiment of the clash between religious liberty and same-sex marriage.

Is there a way to bridge the gap?

Rev. Marian Edmonds Allen believes there is and it’s taken place the in most unusual places. Utah. Give it a listen.