Utah

OGDEN, Utah -- On Monday, April 23, 18-year-old Alex Smith spoke on a community panel at a screening of a film on bullying, telling the packed room about the bullying his boyfriend, Jack, experienced at school. What no one in the room yet knew, including Alex, was that Jack had already taken his own life. [ Read more → ]

A group of Mormon parents are defending their gay children in a new "It Gets Better" video which challenges the Mormon church's disapproval of homosexuality and same-sex relationships. [ Read more → ]

LGBT students and straight allies at Utah's Brigham Young University on Friday released an "It Gets Better" video, adding their voice to the tens of thousands of video messages aimed at preventing depression and suicide among gay youth. [ Read more → ]

Proponents claim that abstinence before marriage is the best and only way to ensure that one does not get pregnant or contract STD’s. This poses a problem for LGBT youth in states – such as Utah – which have marriage amendments, because the reality of their sexual experience is left unaddressed. [ Read more → ]

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah's Republican Governor Gary Herbert on Friday vetoed a controversial measure which would have banned the state's public schools from teaching contraception as a way of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. [ Read more → ]

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah's Republican dominated legislature on Tuesday passed a measure that makes teaching sex education optional for the state's schools, and prohibits any instruction about homosexuality or the use of contraception. [ Read more → ]

A recent poll commissioned by Equality Utah — a Salt Lake-based civil rights organization focusing on equal rights and protections for LGBT Utahns and their families — found that a majority of those polled favored a statewide non-discrimination law that would make it illegal for someone to be fired from a job solely because they are LGBT. [ Read more → ]

LEHI, Utah -- A Utah school district is on the defensive after outing a 14-year middle school student to his parents, claiming administrators were being "proactive" in preventing possible bullying. [ Read more → ]

The ACLU of Utah has sent a warning to the state's school district superintendents, cautioning them that banning same sex couples from being attending proms, dances and other school functions violates their constitutional rights. [ Read more → ]

SALT LAKE CITY -- A Mormon bishop on Sunday apologized for the way gays are treated and perceived by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, calling it "an atrocity." [ Read more → ]

A Utah gay man was attacked in the early morning hours on Thursday -- the third anti-gay attack in the Salt Lake City area in recent weeks. [ Read more → ]

A Salt Lake City gay man was hospitalized following a brutal attack last Friday night after leaving a downtown dance club on its gay-themed night. It is the second attack on a gay man this year outside the same club. [ Read more → ]

The Utah Democratic Party on Saturday voted in favor of electing as its new chairman an art dealer who is believed to be the first openly gay leader of a political party in the state. [ Read more → ]

Tens of thousands lined the streets in downtown Salt Lake City this weekend to celebrate Utah’s biggest-ever gay pride festival. [ Read more → ]

In a surprise vote, the Ogden City Council this week voted unanimously to overturn the mayor's veto and pass a non-discrimination ordinance that includes sexual orientation. [ Read more → ]

SALT LAKE CITY -- Three controversial, anti-gay bills brought forward in the Utah Legislative Session this year by State Rep. LaVar Christensen, have been shelved. [ Read more → ]

In his third anti-gay bill of the 2011 Utah legislative session, extremist Republican LaVar Christensen has introduced legislation that would exempt anyone from local non-discrimination laws if they do it on religious grounds. [ Read more → ]

SALT LAKE CITY -- Extremist and anti-gay Utah state Representative LaVar Christensen has introduced House Bill 270, called the “Family Policy” bill. [ Read more → ]

Utah State Representative LaVar Christensen, the man who introduced and passed Utah’s 2004 Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage, has resurrected an old enemy of the LGBT community -- a bill that prohibit same-sex couples from making contractual agreements, such as wills. [ Read more → ]

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah State Senator Chris Buttars is proposing a new resolution designed to repeal the recently passed anti-bullying and non-discrimination policies created by the Salt Lake School Board. Buttars calls the policies a “program to bring down America.” [ Read more → ]