LGBTQ advocate touts efforts to make Utah ‘more inclusive’ – Standard-Examiner

OGDEN — In advocating for the LGBTQ community, a rep from Equality Utah says a key element occurs at the individual level.

In going to the polls, volunteering and promoting candidates favorable to the cause “we are making this state more inclusive,” Mindy Young, the Equality Utah managing director, said during a stop in Ogden. She visited Tuesday evening, invited by the Weber County League of Women Voters and the Ogden branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Beyond political change, she touted the import of personal interaction between the LGBTQ community and those in the broader community in the push “to show love,” to move beyond the divisive messages that can come across computer screens. Equality Utah is perhaps the leading advocacy group in the state for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.

“We want to make our world better. That’s why we’re here,” said Young, speaking at the Main Branch library in Ogden. “And if we live in fear, we sit at home and we chat on Facebook, it’s not productive. But when we show up, we’re showing love, and I want to live in a world filled with love.”

Still, Equality Utah makes sure it’s “at the table” for policy discussions impacting the community, Young said. She used to be a drama teacher and she focuses on education about LGBTQ matters in her role with Equality Utah.

“Our stance is, bring us to the table, let’s negotiate together. Like I said, nothing about us without us. And we have worked, and that’s the Utah way,” Young said.

Asked about Equality Utah’s legislative agenda, she deferred to Troy Williams, the group’s executive director. He indicated Wednesday that a focus will be safeguarding the rights of the transgender community.

“LGBTQ Utahns want the liberty and freedom to live our lives without persecution from the state. We hope lawmakers will take a deep breath, slow down and protect the parental rights of families with transgender kids,” Williams said in in a message to the Standard-Examiner.

At the end of the 2022 session earlier this year, lawmakers approved House Bill 11, a controversial measure banning transgender athletes from participating in girls high school sports. Some lawmakers and pundits have said additional proposals could be in the offing in the 2023 session targeting parents of transgender teens and youth.

“Across the country there has been great hysteria around LGBTQ youth. Over 300 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in legislatures across the nation. They have been pushed by extremists who are obsessed with transgender youth, drag queens and conspiracies around COVID and the 2020 election,” Williams said. “They are generating moral panic here in Utah as well.”

That said, Young praised Utah lawmakers for prior moves to protect the LGBTQ community, notably passage in 2015 of Senate Bill 296, an anti-discrimination law that covers the LGBTQ community. Utah, she said, has more LGBTQ protections than any other conservative state.

Young also lauded The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ declaration of support for the U.S. Respect for Marriage Act, which recognizes the validity of same-sex marriages, as a “full-tilt miracle.” The U.S. Senate approved the measure on Tuesday and it now goes to the U.S. House.

More protections, though, are needed, she said, stressing the importance of earnest dialogue between the varied political players and others.

“Utah has an incredible track record of navigating contentious issues through the model of the Utah way,” Williams added. “We will be encouraging lawmakers to invoke that model and to work with us to find common ground.”

At a more grassroots level, Young said being an LGBTQ ally “can be lifesaving” because it lets those in the community know someone cares. She also stressed the import of using the preferred pronouns of those in the community — “There’s something so, so validating about that” — and singled out “fear” that seems to be bubbling around transgender kids.

“There’s so much misinformation being spread, frankly, that it scares parents, even if they don’t have a trans youth,” she said.

Again, she stressed the importance of personal interaction, getting to know those in the transgender community. “If you knew some trans folks who transitioned and their parents, that would open your heart,” she said.

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