By their own account, Wyoming Equality has the “right to discriminate.” They have a right to treat me differently, just because of what I believe. They have the right to refuse me employment, just because of who I am. They have the right to describe me in terms that are offensive and false.

Azucar Bakery, the Colorado cake-maker that refused to serve a Christian customer, likewise has that right. Individuals and organizations across the land regularly exercise their free speech to call you and me bigots, homophobes, haters, and worse.

And it hurts. It hurts me, personally and professionally. It is intended to. It also contributes to a climate where people like me are attacked, hounded out of business, and fired from jobs.

Discrimination is happening every day, in plain sight. I wish it would stop. Personally I have asked LGBT lobbyists to stop. Publicly, I have pleaded for the protection of all people (Wyoming Tribune Eagle, “Let’s Work Together to Protect All Wyo. Citizens,” January 7, 2017). So have many others.

Instead of a public conversation on how to balance interests, behind-the-scenes efforts have been launched in Cheyenne, Rock Springs, Casper, Jackson and other Wyoming communities. These are not about stopping any actual discrimination, but about inserting “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” language into city code. That’s the whole thing.

Wyoming Equality uses a favorite talking point to push this agenda. They say, “[it is] currently legal to fire, evict or refuse service to someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity” (Wyoming Tribune Eagle, “Councilmen Again Pushing for Protections for LGBT Residents,” July 20, 2017).

Of course, that is true, but it’s a half truth. Rather, it’s a scintilla of the truth. The whole truth is that it is currently legal to fire, evict or refuse service to someone because of their political party, hair color, height, weight, I.Q., schooling, tattoos and a million other relevant and irrelevant factors.

Shall we include them all in city ordinances? That would be silly. Laws are not given to micromanage free citizens. Laws are passed when there is actual harm that is happening which needs to be stopped, not simply when there is potential harm which few, if any, actually encounter.

So where is the actual harm? Who, exactly, has been denied employment or housing based on sexual orientation or gender identity? After years of pushing SOGI laws, Wyoming Equality still has not shown one single case of this kind of discrimination in Wyoming.

Andrew Koppelman, law professor and progressive activist, has studied discrimination nationwide and found, “Hardly any of these cases have occurred: a handful in a country of 300 million. In all of them, the people who objected to the law were asked directly to facilitate same-sex relationships, by providing wedding, adoption, or artificial insemination services, or rental of bedrooms. There have been no claims of a right to simply refuse to deal with gay people” (Northwestern Public Law Research Paper No. 14-27, June 29, 2014, 91-92).

“No claims,” he says. None. There simply is no rising tide of discrimination against people on the basis of gender ideology. But there is, demonstrably, a rising trend to punish people who disagree with gender ideology. So who wants cities to punish those who oppose the new gender ideology?

The June 23, 2017, edition of Rolling Stone suggests an answer. Andy Kroll writes about software mogul, Tim Gill, who is methodically using his $500 million fortune to bankroll SOGI legislation across the country (“Meet the Megadonor Behind the LGBT Rights Movement”).

He is not putting his money into national politics. Instead, he is stealthily giving thousands of dollars to elect local officials and push SOGI laws which, as Gill puts it, “punish the wicked.” Is this what is happening to our communities?

In Cheyenne, a lack of transparency has left room for that suspicion. Two councilmen have been working with Wyoming Equality for months without letting others see, much less have any input on their draft. When we elect city officials, we expect them to work with each other to draft laws for our local communities. We don’t want them to outsource the drafting to out of state activists for partisan interests.

But back to Wyoming Equality’s “right to discriminate.” By their own definition of discrimination, they have the right for themselves and want to strip it from others. That’s wrong on two counts. First, their definition is wrong. Speaking and acting on your convictions is not discrimination. Second, no fair-minded citizen would want to strip fellow-citizens of rights that you insist on for yourself.

The freedom to speak and act according to one’s convictions comes from a source higher than government. It derives from our common humanity. Governments have no right to take it away.

For the moment, all Wyomingites are free to speak and act according to their best understanding of reality. All sides are free to disagree using reason, logic, morals, beliefs, and even feelings. The playing field is level.

We should all use our freedoms in charity and respect. SOGI ordinances foster neither. They only take free speech from one side of the debate, and skew the playing field.

Jonathan Lange is an LCMS pastor in Evanston and Kemmerer and serves the Wyoming Pastors Network. He can be reached at JLange64@allwest.net. Follow his blog at OnlyHuman-JL.blogspot.com.