LGBT Protections for Utah County

By Advocate.com Editors

Now that Grand County has joined the 10 Utah cities and counties with LGBT protections in housing and employment discrimination, one in four Utahns are protected from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the developments could help build support to pass such protections in the Utah state legislature.

“Sen. Ben McAdams, D-Salt Lake City, plans to introduce a bill in the upcoming legislative session that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing housing and employment laws banning discrimination based on characteristics such as race, religion or national origin,” reports the Tribune.

Attempts to pass protections at the state level have failed in each of the past three years, but a poll from January shows that two-thirds of Utahns support such a law.

Salt Lake City became the first city in Utah to ban employment and housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in 2009, with support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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LDS Church Invites Gay Leaders to Christmas Concert

By Advocate.com Editors

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints invited prominent gay activists including Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black to its Christmas concert in Salt Lake City over the weekend.

According to ABC 4 News, Black, software entrepreneur Bruce Bastian, and a handful of Utah gay activists were among the VIP guests at the Saturday concert in Salt Lake City.

Black, who grew up in a Mormon household, spoke to the news station by phone about the invitation, which he called an “extraordinary act of goodwill.” He said that the church and the gay community have started conversations in an effort to find common ground.

A source told ABC 4 News that the LDS church might be willing to conduct outreach including assistance for homeless LGBTQ youths.



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