CHEYENNE - Mormons comprise more than 10 percent of the membership of the Wyoming Legislature, yet Mormon lawmakers are not known for voting as a bloc or working together to promote legislation.

That may be changing.

Mormons are taking a higher profile this session in promoting bills linked to controversial social issues including assisted suicide, gay marriage and abortion.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are the primary sponsors of bills dealing with all three topics, and a cadre of about eight LDS lawmakers have teamed up as the original co-sponsors of six related bills.

Members of that group say their collective support of the bills is more coincidence than strategy, and they insist that no Mormon caucus exists in the Legislature.

But watchdog and social-issue advocacy groups say it could be a troubling sign if LDS legislators are working to inject their religious beliefs into the lawmaking process.

"It raises some serious questions about how we want to make our laws in this state," said Dan Neal, executive director of the Laramie-based Equality State Policy Center, a policy watchdog group. "Churches that believe one way or another shouldn't be forcing things in their direction."

'That doesn't happen'

The Utah-based LDS church last year rallied its members for a last-minute injection of money that helped push California's Proposition 8 over the top. The ballot measure eliminated same-sex couples' right to marry.

The Mormon church in Wyoming also has some history of targeting bills that clash with its teachings.

The president of the Cheyenne Stake of the LDS Church in 2006 told a legislative panel that he represented thousands of church members across the state in opposing a statewide lottery bill. The committee endorsed the bill, but it later died in the full Legislature.

Eleven Mormons serve in the 90-member Legislature - five in the Senate and six in the House. That's one more than in 2008. All of the LDS lawmakers except two are Republicans.

Bruce Asay, director of public affairs for the LDS church in Wyoming, said the church probably won't take an official position on any legislation this session, and it does not direct LDS members of the Legislature to take a position on or sponsor bills.

"The only church involvement would be to encourage individuals to become involved and advocate issues that are of concern to them," Asay said. "But as far as an initiative from the church directing them on particular issues, no, that doesn't happen."

Pushing abortion bills

But LDS lawmakers are sponsoring and co-sponsoring social-issue bills in much larger numbers than in past years, although they say they're doing it on their own.

Rep. Kathleen "Kathy" Davison, R-Kemmerer, is sponsoring House Bill 120, which would make assisted suicide a crime, and House Bill 123, which would enhance penalties for killing pregnant women, a bill critics say could plunge the state into the abortion debate.

Rep. Owen Petersen, R-Mountain View, is sponsoring House Joint Resolution 17, which would give voters the opportunity to amend the state constitution to specify that only marriages between men and women are recognized.

In addition, Davison, Petersen and six other lawmakers are co-sponsors of five bills dealing with assisted suicide, abortion and gay marriage.

Just a small number of socially conservative non-Mormons are among the original co-sponsors of the bills.

In addition, LDS legislators have shown a willingness this session to support social-issue legislation sponsored by their non-Mormon colleagues.

Rep. Bob Brechtel, R-Casper, a Catholic, recruited LDS lawmakers as co-sponsors of bills to increase abortion reporting requirements to the state, and another to require doctors to perform ultrasounds on pregnant women before performing abortions.

Sen. Curt Meier, R-LaGrange, a socially conservative non-Mormon, recruited six Mormon co-sponsors on a bill to change the state constitution to further outlaw same-sex marriage.

Meier said he approached those lawmakers as potential sponsors because of their political beliefs, not their religions affiliation.

"Over the course of a legislative career, you identify people who support the issues you do, so those are the people who support the bills you do," said Meier, who isn't religious but said his wife is Catholic and "sooner or later I probably will be, too."

'Christian values'

Efforts by a lobbying group called WyWatch Family Institute could also help explain the concentration of LDS support for social-issue bills this session.

The group calls itself a citizen lobbying group that "seeks to protect innocent life, parental rights, the sanctity of marriage, educational choice for families, and uphold God-given liberties…"

Some of the LDS lawmakers said they were approached about getting more involved in social-issue legislation at meetings WyWatch held in months leading up to the session.

WyWatch chairwoman Becky Vandeberghe said her group recruits lawmakers to sponsor and support legislation based on voting records and responses to campaign questionnaires, not on religious affiliation.

"We honestly don't look at religion," she said.

The evangelical group Focus on the Family Action is also trying to influence some of the bills.

LDS lawmakers say they agreed to sponsor the bills for a variety of reasons, including their religious beliefs.

Mormon lawmaker Rep. Allen Jaggi, R-Lyman, a co-sponsor of several social-issue bills, said he signed on to the measures because of his "Christian values" on issues including gay marriage and abortion, not because he collaborated with other LDS lawmakers.

"There wasn't any planning, but we are glad to do it," Jaggi said.

Representing constituents

Petersen said the fact that so many LDS lawmakers are sponsors and co-sponsors of the bills is "coincidence."

He said each lawmaker has his or her own ethics and personal values, and that's how they end up choosing whether to sign on to particular bills.

"This is legislation that happens to coincide with those values," he said. "It's not really a concerted effort whereby the LDS and Catholics are getting together to do this stuff."

Sen. Stan Cooper, R-Kemmerer, co-sponsor of bills on gay marriage and abortion, said he's primarily representing the interests of his constituents in Lincoln County.

"The fact of my religion probably has something to do with it," said Cooper, who is LDS. "But I also have many constituents who are Christians but don't have a particular religion, but they are interested in these bills."

Cooper said he also has a personal stake in the abortion bills, as he and his wife raised two adopted sons.

"I am so glad that the mothers of those boys decided not to have an abortion, because I wouldn't have been able to have them in my life," Cooper said.

Some Mormons unhappy

Not all Mormon lawmakers are thrilled about their LDS colleagues getting involved in social-issue legislation, especially bans on gay marriage.

Sen. Kathryn Sessions, D-Cheyenne, questioned why members of a religion historically persecuted for its beliefs would single out another group - in this case homosexuals - and try to strip away its rights.

Because of "the persecution that religion faced through all the years in the beginning, my question would be why would you go after a group of people who are different?' said Sessions, who said her family has been LDS for generations.

Bob Spencer, spokesman for Wyoming Equality, a group that works on gay, lesbian, transgendered and bisexual issues, said religious lawmakers should be "very cautious about hauling the church into the middle of something."

Spencer also said he has faith in the full Legislature to look at the bills on their merits.

"But it is a concern," Spencer said.

Contact capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at 307-632-1244 or jared.miller@trib.com