Professor Wilson authored an op-ed that appeared on May 16, 2017 on the Cato Institute's blog, Cato Unbound. Her essay is part of the May issue, "Contemporary Perspectives on Religious Liberty."

Excerpt: 

"Meaningful solutions come from people of goodwill rolling up their sleeves and doing the hard work of crafting an approach that gives each of us the freedom to live and function in a society where others do not share our values.

"It is easy to focus on conflicts over the Mandate and LGBT rights and overlook the lessons both have taught us for living together. In the Mandate context, President Obama treated with respect the concern voiced by religious universities and other nonprofits that they could not shoulder the new legal burden asked of them. He did not dismiss the concerns out-of-hand or force religious groups to violate their faith. Instead, he crafted an accommodation that gave contraceptives to women “free of charge, without co-pays and without hassles,” but shifted the duty elsewhere to pay for those valuable benefits.

"In the LGBT rights context, Utah, the second most religious state in America, gave more rights to the full LGBT community than New York expressly gave that community. It did so by assuring religious groups and believers that gay rights would not wash out the faith character of faith communities. It drew careful statutory lines that permitted both communities to be who they are. Months before Kim Davis loudly proclaimed her religious conscience prevented her office from serving Kentucky’s citizens, Utah devised a new mechanism to guarantee seamless access to marriage for everyone—gay, straight, Black or White. No one was turned aside or humiliated, no one was forced from their jobs for their religious convictions. That careful balancing of interests comes from legislatures, not courts."

Read the full op-ed at Cato Unbound. 

Note: The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Illinois College of Law.