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Summarized by Kent Larsen
LDS Church Lobbying Crucial to King Holiday In Utah
Deseret News 11Mar00 D1
By Edward L. Carter: Deseret News staff writer
PROVO , UTAH -- Utah State Senator John L. Valentine credits LDS
Church lobbying for passage of a bill in the just-ended session of
the Utah State Legislature. Valentine, speaking to the Provo/Orem
Chamber of Commerce on Friday, said that the LDS Church made it clear
that it would like to see the "Human Rights Day" holiday changed to
"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day" to match the rest of the United
States. The legislation made Utah the last U.S. state to name the day
after Dr. King.
"I didn't get a call from (church headquarters)," said Valentine to
the businesspeople, But, "it was clear that this was something they
would like to see done." He said that the Church was seeking to avoid
public embarrassment. The Confederate flag flying over the South
Carolina statehouse is the only larger issue to civil rights groups,
according to Valentine. He indicated that the Church feared that
civil rights groups would try to put the issue in the national
spotlight as the 2002 Winter Olympics approached, "Some people would
be looking for a negative where there wasn't one," Valentine said.
Some Utah legislators felt that Utahns didn't have much of a
connection to King, "Some of us felt there have been plenty of people
here in the state who have dealt with human rights," said Rep. Jeff
Alexander, R-Orem. "To us it was a shame we were just focusing on
Martin Luther King." Several representatives on the House Government
Operations Committee nearly killed the legislation, but House leaders
rescued it in a re-vote, allowing the legislation to get to the House
floor, where it was approved.
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