"I am thrilled that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints endorsed the rights of gays in employment and housing. As a faithful, active Mormon, I hope the Utah Legislature will remember this endorsement when it considers similar bills for our state in 2010.

No one should be fired from their job or denied a home because they are gay -- or because they are Mormon, Jewish, female, male, black, white or any other unrelated factor. To deny someone a job or a home for these reasons is purely and simply discrimination.

We Latter-day Saints should remember the suffering and discrimination that happened in our own past. In Missouri and Illinois, our people were cast out of their homes, had their property destroyed and were forcibly exiled because they were Mormon. Later we suffered continued oppressions because of our own "sexually deviant" practice -- polygamy.

Today, we must not be the oppressors of another group of people who simply want to live their lives according to the dictates of their own conscience. We must protect the rights of all people to live free, safe and fair lives, even and especially when they are different from us.

Catherine Nelson

Salt Lake City"