Maybe they should try this in D.C.: It's known as listening

President Obama was elected partly because of his promises that he would seek to bring both sides together, to try to get Republicans and Democrats working together on common ground. So far, his efforts haven't been particularly successful, as evidenced by party-line vote after party-line vote on key issues in Congress.

But something that occurred in Salt Lake City over the past few weeks shows that it is possible for mistrusting opponents to get beyond their differences.

This article in the Salt Lake Tribune describes the series of meetings that led to tonight's stunning announcement by the Mormon church that it would back the city's proposed anti-discrimination ordinance — one that would ban discrimination in housing and employment for gays. Although the church has in the past said that it doesn't oppose that type of legislation, this is apparently the first time it has formally endorsed such a proposal.

While the church's announcement is certainly interesting, the backstory as explained in the Trib article is more so. The story details how midlevel church officials met with some of the city's gay-rights leaders on neutral territory — the home of a Latter-day Saint couple who were good friends with a leading gay activist — to talk about their mutual concerns. Both sides went into the meetings knowing that they would never agree on certain issues, as the church is unequivocally committed to the traditional Christian position on same-sex marriage. But participants, who according to the account started out not trusting each other, were able to move beyond their differences.

Said one of the organizers, Deeda Seed: "What everyone found is that we really liked each other. There was a good rapport. It reaffirmed for me the power of people talking to each other — even if you have incredible differences. You start to see the humanity."

Wise words indeed.

A resort to religious bigotry

Unfortunately, it almost goes without saying that an initiative on as emotional a topic as Proposition 8, the California measure that would in effect reverse the California Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage, will be promoted with distorted facts on both sides. Indeed, that is what has happened. Both sides seem to have forgot what that court decision and Proposition 8 are all about — almost nothing in terms of traditional legal rights. It is about whether a state-sanctioned same-sex union can be called marriage or not; if it passes, same-sex couples will still be able to get "married" and get every legal right except to call the union marriage in a legal sense. In at least a technical sense, Proposition 8 has nothing to do with what is taught in schools, as proponents have claimed, or with whether same-sex couples will be discriminated against in terms of government protections, as opponents have claimed.

Yet the campaigns of both sides have restored to distortions and half-truths, sometimes with outright misstatements, at other times when statements that are defensible in only the most technical of senses, and at other times hinting at things that aren't true (such as possibility that churches could be required to marry same-sex couples) without saying so directly.

And both sides, too, have resorted in one way or another to fear. Yet, at least until now, the campaigns haven't devolved into championing of outright religious bigotry. That is no longer the case, as this new TV ad shows:

True, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, popularly known as the Mormon Church, has opened itself up to this sort of attack by getting involved in the political process. But that doesn't make the attack acceptable as a part of the political process.

Imagine, if you will, if an ad had pictured two stereotypical rabbis doing the same thing (some Jewish groups have supported Proposition 8); the ad rightfully would have been seen as anti-Semitic. Or, to put the shoe on the other foot, suppose that one of the pro-8 ads had shown had shown scenes of stereotypical gay men molesting young boys they hope to adopt once they're married. Such an ad rightfully would have been condemned as bigoted and criticized as a new low. This ad should as well.