Pray the Gay Away – Salt Lake City Weekly
Pray the Gay Away
Let’s see how this works. We should leave it up to individual doctors whether they use bloodletting—oops—we meant conversion therapy in their practices. But it’s OK to ban medical professionals from offering gender-affirming medical care, according to a Salt Lake Tribune report. Oh, and let’s not forget how doctors should never, ever perform an abortion. In the eyes of the Legislature and the GOP, it’s important to get the gay out of people, prevent them from becoming their best selves and put a halt to women aborting babies because they are simply murderous trollops. As politicians attempt to socially engineer their world, real people suffer the consequences. No matter how much you might want it to work, conversion “therapy” is more like conversion torture. “Efforts to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity are associated with poor mental health for LGBT people,” concludes a 2019 report from UCLA School of Law.
Late but Great
Every week, we hear something new about how lawmakers are working to save the Great Salt Lake. Joel Ferry thinks we can just twiddle along, tweaking water usage here and there, and all will be fine. “What you’re talking about is a rigid approach, all or nothing,” Ferry, director of the Department of Natural Resources, told The Salt Lake Tribune. “We need to be flexible and mindful and adaptive to a condition we find ourselves in.” In other words, Utah’s not going to mandate any kind of water restrictions. Ferry has determined a “sweet spot” level for the lake, and it will have to rise 11 feet to hit it. Strangely, he’s still talking about a pipeline from the Pacific Ocean. The University of Utah is offering prize money to innovate and address climate change. Even Utah’s 3rd District Rep. John Curtis is getting on board. His Conservative Climate Caucus in Congress could move the needle for right-wing climate deniers. Will it be in time? Climate doesn’t change overnight.
Nursing a Grudge
Burgess Owens was miffed. A Pat Bagley political cartoon has been eating at him for a long time. The Deseret News notes that he’s been chewing on what he calls the “racist cartoon” for the past year, which he expects from a “liberal outlet” like The Salt Lake Tribune. The straw that broke his back was editor Lauren Gustus being named to moderate a debate between him and his challengers. But wait—this wasn’t the first debate Owens has ducked out on. He demurred on the pre-primary debates, too. They were held by the Utah Republican Party because the GOP wanted to choose its own moderators. Apparently, the moderators didn’t make any difference, and neither did Owens’ disdain for the public process. He handily beat his GOP opponent Jake Hunsaker, and deep red Utah will likely give him another term in office to do whatever it is he does.