Gay rights in utah

Less Than One Month Into New Year, Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills Escalating Across the Nation

WASHINGTON — Today, the Utah House of Representatives passed HB 257 as amended, sending the bill to the desk of Governor Spencer Cox. The bill would exclude transgender students from using restrooms and locker rooms that align with who they are, and restrict access to changing rooms in government owned or operated facilities for transsexual people of all ages.

“This bill is an invasion of the privacy of Utahns. No student should be denied access to the bathroom that aligns with who they are. No one should scare harassment in the most private of settings. Period,” said HRC President Kelley Robinson. “Unfortunately, we are already seeing similar types of bathroom bans–bans that are reminiscent of the infamous HB2 in North Carolina–introduced across the nation. These escalating national attacks on the humanity of transgender people, from assaults on medical freedom in Ohio to this assault on access to bathrooms and other facilities in Utah, are an affront

Utah Bans Health Nurture for Transgender Youth

Affiliate: ACLU of Utah

January 29, 2023 12:00 am

---

SALT LAKE Town - Ignoring the warnings of medical organizations, civil rights activists, transgender youth, and their families, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed into law a measure banning gender-affirming health care for gender nonconforming people under the age of 18. Similar laws passed in Arkansas and Alabama are currently enjoined by federal courts.

“This is a devastating and hazardous violation of the rights and privacy of transgender Utahns, their families, and their medical providers,” said Chase Strangio, Deputy Director for Transgender Justice at the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “Claims of protecting our most vulnerable with these laws ring hollow when lawmakers have transgender children’s greatest protectors – their parents, providers, and the youth themselves – pleading in front of them not to cut them off from their care. I hope for transgender youth in Utah to understand this fight is not over, and we won’t end defending your autonomy and freedom until each and every one of you can access the care you need.”

The AC

The Story of Equality Utah

Unity Utah Is Born2001

To change Utah, we needed a seat at the table. In 2001, during a time when LGBTQ acceptance was low and our rights remained unprotected, our founding members Doug Wortham, Jim Dabakis, and Michelle Turpin recognized that real change would require political affect. Over dinner, they conceived Unity Utah, the state’s first LGBTQ Political Activity Committee (PAC). With founding support from philanthropist Bruce Bastian, they launched what would become Utah’s leading LGBTQ political voice. As a PAC, Unity Utah’s mission was to support and elect fair-minded leaders who would stand with the LGBTQ collective. We understood that by supporting candidates’ campaigns and offering endorsements from the LGBTQ community, we could begin to secure our seat.

Becoming Equality Utah2004

When the state passed Amendment 3 by referendum, restricting relationship recognition for LGBTQ couples in our constitution, we took definitive action. At the time, Amendment 3 not only defined marriage as exclusively between a gentleman and a miss but also prohibited any form of legal recognition for same-sex relation

Human Rights Campaign Condemns Utah Governor Spencer Cox for Signing Dangerous Ban on Gender Affirming Care for Transgender Youth into Law; First Anti-LGBTQ+ Law of 2023 Now on the Books

by Aneesha Pappy •

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, multi-attracted , transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, rebukes Utah Governor Spencer Cox for signing SB 16, a law that will effectively ban the provision of gender affirming care to gender nonconforming patients under the age of 18.

Gov. Cox signed the bill on Saturday, January 28. Last year, Governor Cox vetoed anti-transgender legislation knowing his veto would be overridden, explaining,“Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they act. But I want them to live.” By signing this anti-transgender piece of legislation into rule, the Governor has now caved to anti-equality extremists. Utah SB 16 is the first anti-LGBTQ+ bill signed into law in 2023. Last year alone, 344 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced across 23 states. More than 2