Listen to this articleMail-in ballots must be postmarked today to be counted in all Utah municipal general elections in the state. Ballots may also be returned to any of Salt Lake County’s 20 ballot drop boxes or any Vote Centers during polling hours through 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5. Find out all locations throughout the state to vote at vote.utah.gov.
Equality Utah surveyed candidates on their views from including their support of a public accommodations ordinance that includes LGBTQ people, transgender insurance rights, law enforcement training, gender-neutral restrooms and whether they would champion ending so-called reparative therapy.
Their endorsements include:
Cedar City Council At-Large — Brittanie Parry
Logan City Council At-Large — Ken Heare
Millcreek Mayor — Jeff Silvestrini
Murray City Council District 1 — Kat Martinez
North Logan City Council At-Large — Sarah Baca
North Salt Lake City Council At-Large — Natalie Gordon
Park City City Council At-Large — Deanna Rhodes
Price City Council At-Large — Layne Miller
Provo City Council At-Large — David Shipley
Salt Lake City Council District 4 — Ana Valdemoros
Salt Lake City Council District 6 — Charlie Luke
Sandy City Council District 4 — Monica Zoltanski
South Jordan City Council District 2 — Brady Quinn
South Salt Lake City Council At-Large — Natalie Pinkney
The group did not make an endorsement in the Salt Lake City Mayor’s race, however, both candidates, Luz Escamilla and Erin Mendenhall, earned an A+ for their survey responses. Their responses to QSaltLake Magazine‘s questions can be found here.
In the Ogden Mayoral race, challenger Angel Castillo also received an A+ score on her survey.
Survey Questions
The political action committee asked the following survey questions. They do not release individual answers, but rather give a final “grade” on their responses from A+ down to an F.
1. It’s currently legal in Utah to deny service to an LGBTQ person in a place that provides service to the general public. Some examples include restaurants, hotels, health care establishments, and retail spaces. How do you feel, in your elected capacity, you might be able to affect change on this issue to help extend public accommodations protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, or even champion it on other levels of government?
2. Transgender people are often denied benefits by their insurance companies for mental health or transitional related care such as hormones. Does the city you are currently running to help lead have protections in place on this issue and how might you be able to protect or advance health insurance benefits to transgender employees and/or their family members? (For example: would you support an ordinance to extend healthcare to transgender employees and their families employed by your municipality?)
3. How likely are you to support LGBTQ specific trainings within your local law enforcement and other government agencies?
4. How likely are you to champion policy initiatives that would require facilities owned or operated by your municipality to have single-occupancy gender-neutral restrooms?
5. Do you agree with the following statement? I support Transgender Utahn’s right to access restrooms that match their gender identity.
6. Conversion therapy is any effort or treatment that attempts to change someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation. Equality Utah brought legislation to the Utah State Capitol during the 2019 legislative session that would ban these practices on minors; however, this legislation has yet to pass. If approached, how likely are you to champion the passaged of a resolution calling upon the state to act on this issue? (Learn more about this issue at equalityutah.org/stillhappening)
