Vermont Humanities

Strange Bedfellows: How Religious Liberties Have Aligned with Nondiscrimination Policies and Can Again

Speakers Bureau
A german gothic church stands at a street corner during fall with a rainbow curving over the main steeple
Image Credit: “Rainbow at Faith Church” by Greg Ness is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.

The First Amendment protects the free exercise of religion. The Fourteenth Amendment affords all persons equal protection under the law. What happens when those two rights collide, as happened in the Masterpiece Cake case? Must protections for religious liberties come at the expense of non-discrimination statutes?

This presentation considers the unlikely coalition between advocates for the LGBTQ community and members of the Church of Latter Day Saints. In 2015, these political enemies became practical allies, creating a law that required no one to compromise their deepest values. Could it be that religious and sexual minorities may have more in common than activists on both sides allow us to think?

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About the Presenter

Meg Mott

Meg Mott

After twenty years of teaching political theory and constitutional law to Marlboro College undergraduates, Meg Mott has taken her love of argument to the general public.

Talks by Meg Mott

Image of preamble to the Constitution

How The Constitution Helps Us to Disagree

Deliberation is the practice that holds our democracy together, but does it always lead to better decisions? When citizens only talk to like-minded citizens, the thinking gets stuck and the decisions tend to be more extreme. Presenter Meg Mott gives participants a chance to find new ways to think about a contentious issue using two fundamental principles of the Constitution: separation of powers and free speech.

Strange Bedfellows: How Religious Liberties Have Aligned with Nondiscrimination Policies and Can Again

The First Amendment protects the free exercise of religion. The Fourteenth Amendment affords all persons equal protection under the law. What happens when those two rights collide? Constitutional law scholar Meg Mott considers whether protections for religious liberties must come at the expense of non-discrimination statutes.

Picture of the front of the VT State House at twilight.

The Better Angels of Vermont’s Constitution

In Vermont’s Constitution, citizens are urged to develop the civic virtues of justice, moderation, temperance, industry and frugality. This presentation considers the role Vermont’s five civic virtues hold in our current moment.

Vermont Humanities*** August 7, 2025