BYU ICLRS and University of Utah co-sponsor Tolerance Means Dialogue Event at Utah State Capitol

PROVO, Utah, Oct. 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tolerance Means Dialogue will host an event at the Utah State Capitol on October 30 from 5-6:15 pm. The event is co-sponsored by the University of Utah and the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University Law School. Additional sponsors include Equality Utah, the 1st Amendment Partnership, the Fairness for All Initiative, Braver Angels and the Federalist Society at both BYU and the U's law schools.

This free event will feature opening remarks from Utah Governor Spencer Cox and a panel co- moderated by Jason Perry, U vice president for government relations and director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics, and Elizabeth Clark, associate director and interim chair for law and religion studies at BYU. Utah has staked out overwhelmingly bipartisan consensus on some of the most deeply divisive issues in American—most recently by unanimously banning gay conversion therapy while giving therapists assurances that they can serve children's needs. Panelists William N. Eskridge of Yale Law School, Robin Fretwell Wilson of Tolerance Means Dialogues and The University of Illinois College of Law, and Mike Peterson of the Utah House of Representatives will aim to understand how lawmakers forged common ground and how this process can serve as a model for America on contentious matters—to embrace civil rights for all. Utah State Senator J. Stuart Adams will close the event.

Scholarships will be presented to winning essays on the topic of bridging divides in America today. Undergraduate and graduate students from BYU, University of Utah, and any colleges or universities within a 100-mile radius of the U and BYU were invited to submit essays. Undergraduate scholarship winners are Aspen Marshall, University of Utah, and Kimball Yeates, Brigham Young University. Graduate scholarship winners are Pheng Lor, University of Utah, and Sarah Johns, BYU Law School. Essays are available on tolerancemeans.com.

The event is free to the public, but an RSVP is appreciated. You may attend in person or via Zoom. RSVP at https://www.tolerancemeans.com/rsvp. A $250 participation prize will be randomly given during the event for those students who submit questions.

The Tolerance Means Dialogues project is a national organization hosting essay contests and public conversations across the country designed to "bring together students and thought leaders to find more constructive approaches to living together in a pluralistic society."

Contact: Blythe Shupe, 801-691-8198, [email protected]

SOURCE BYU Law