The Beehive State has surprised the nation more than a few times – Salt Lake City ranks as one of the most gay-friendly cities in the country, and we elected our first female state senator in 1896 – but we still have a long way to go. Utah ranks 47th in the nation the percentage of women in elected office. Our hate crime laws are vague and ineffective; recent efforts to strengthen the language have been only weakly supported. Local government officials have openly refused to retract racist statements.
Every Utahn deserves to lead a safe and productive life, regardless of their gender, sexual identity, or the color of their skin.
Pride comes to Provo
Provo might be an unlikely place to be hosting an LGBT Pride Festival, but it’s about time it does. With two large universities at its door step, this Utah city of over 100,000 has enough progressively minded people to no doubt make the Sept. 21 festival a resounding success. That is, …
Racism has no place in Utah political discourse
Better UTAH Beat Episode 60 – August 13, 2013 There is a well-known Old Testament passage that the more morally obsequious among us are fond of trotting out these days. According to the old prophet, the latter days are to be marked by a series of extreme moral confusions. People …
Straights: Be gay-for-a-day to help Russian queers
The Russian government has intensified its assault on gay and trans Russians as the world looks on in horror. Meanwhile, gays and their allies in the United States are feeling helpless even as the media is awash with ideas for helping end the violence against our gay and trans brothers …
What gay rights leaders can learn from the Canaanite woman
There is great faith among members of Utah’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community: Faith that municipal non-discrimination ordinances will lead to full equality. Faith that mutual commitment registries like those in Salt Lake City, and now Salt Lake County, will lead to full equality. One could argue that this faith …
My view: Helping ‘undocumented Americans’
Better UTAH intern Diya Shah argued for compassionate immigration reform in an OpEd in today’s Deseret News. Utahns are known for their caregiving. I am not surprised that the Utah Compact that humanizes undocumented immigrants and was praised by Obama, is a creation of Utahns. Individuals brought into the United States …
On being in favor of marriage equality
The last two weeks featured a series of prominent politicians who have come out in favor of marriage equality. As of this writing, there are only three senate Democrats who oppose same-sex marriage. Even two Republican senators have voiced their support for marriage equality. This trend is likely to continue. …
LGBT Utahns deserve protection
Two things that I have been waiting awhile for happened at the end of last week. On Thursday Congress finally passed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act; the next day the nondiscrimination in employment and housing for the LGBT community (SB262) was introduced in the state Senate. On …
We can end discrimination against LGBT Utahns
Yesterday a few fellow students and I spent the afternoon working with Equality Utah to inform Westminster students about the need for a bill to protect LGBT Utahns from housing and employment discrimination. I was surprised to see how many of my friends, who are politically informed individuals, did not …