When it comes to doing the right thing, you sir, are not doing the right thing

In reading this article on Equality in Utah, the Governor is quoting for saying "We don’t have to have a rule for everybody to do the right thing. We ought to just do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do and we don’t have to have a law that punishes us if we don’t."

Gary Herbert, the current Governor of Utah is probably right. When it comes to doing the right thing, people should just do the right thing. Now I'm not a legal expert when it comes to Utah laws. I'm pretty sure however they have laws about speeding. And shoplifting. And murder. And... quite a bit actually. This isn't because people aren't capable of deciding what the right thing is when it comes to shoplifting, murder, or speeding. People feel very culpable on these topics and other laws intrinsically. And yet, we set these laws (or whichever laws are on the books in Utah) not perhaps precisely because but in large part due to the fact that not everyone does the right thing always. By preventing a law on the equality in Utah (eg: Job protection, housing protection, etc), Gov. Herbert is failing to do the right thing. Ensuring the right thing is done legally (by definition, part of why we right laws) is helping do the right thing. While this could be a hindrance or a nuisance, it is what we expect. There are laws protecting religious and racial equality because, as it happens, not everyone naturally does the right thing. Weird. Wouldn't by extension of the same logic as these laws, be the protection of today's fringe minority (the LGBTetc community)?

So, in response to Mr Herbert and his quote we offer only this rebuttal: Sometimes, to do the right thing, we have to do the right thing by reminding people what the right thing is legally. Even if we all know the right thing by nature, sometimes we must nurture the right thing within our culture.