#utah politics

[saintsandsuicide]

MARCH FOR PALESTINE - 3/2 IN SALT LAKE CITY

sharing this here in hopes of reaching some of my utah-based followers. the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and Palestinian Solidarity Association of Utah are holding a rally and march for palestinian solidarity THIS SATURDAY (3/2) in SLC, 1 PM @ Sugarhouse Park. please help spread the word and attend if you can.

(link)

[jesseleelazyblog]

August Executions

The US's criminal "justice" death machine just keeps on trucking

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alex Bollinger at LGBTQ Nation:

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) declared June the “Month of Bridge Building” instead of saying that it’s Pride Month, and he’s facing criticism for shifting the focus from LGBTQ+ awareness and Pride to the nonexistent oppression of anti-LGBTQ+ people. Cox issued a declaration for the Month of Bridge Building this past Saturday, June 1. His declaration said that LGBTQ Utahns “have experienced marginalization and isolation as a result of their differences.” In the next paragraph, his declaration says that “those who do not identify with, celebrate or support Pride celebrations… nevertheless share the experience of being marginalized.” His declaration goes on to say, “In Utah, we love our children and we hope to live in such a way that our children will forever love us even if at times we may disagree over deeply-held personal views or beliefs.”

[...] He also issued straightforward Pride Month declarations in 2021 and 2022. But in 2023, he got criticized by conservatives for issuing a Pride Month declaration, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, who called it “disgraceful” and “disgusting.” On the left, some criticized his Pride Month declaration for coming just after he signed the gender-affirming care ban. He considered himself “an ally to the LGBTQ community” in a 2023 interview, saying, “We have great relationships, I am very close with the advocates in our state.” He’s now facing a serious primary challenger from the right in state Rep. Phil Lyman as he runs for governor again. This past April, Cox was booed when he spoke at the Republican State Nominating Convention. Delegates at the convention overwhelmingly supported Lyman. “Maybe you’re booing me because you hate that I signed the largest tax cut in Utah history,” Cox said. “Maybe you hate that I signed constitutional carry into law. Maybe you hate that we ended CRT, DEI, and ESG. Or maybe you hate that I don’t hate enough.” Cox was attacked for suggesting that he was getting booed because the state Republican delegates were hateful, even though his veto of the sports ban in 2022 has been one of Lyman’s main criticisms of him.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R) issued a bothsiderist declaration that June is Month Of Bridge Building instead of declaring Pride Month by pushing the baseless trope that anti-LGBTQ+ Utahns “share the experience of being marginalized.”

This is a far cry from the days in which Cox was at least somewhat an LGBTQ+ ally (or what passes as one) for a GOP politician.

[bitstitchbitch]

I’ve heard so many people say that they don’t vote because it will make no difference, that because we live in a deep red state a democrat will never win.

But in our governor race right now the democrat is still polling at 26% so if all those non-voters who have given up on making a difference actually voted for the democrat, I firmly believe that the democrat would stand a fighting chance. At the very least we could prove that we are here and a growing, fighting force to be reckoned with.

There are a lot of conservatives in this state, yes. But I know so so many liberals and progressives and even moderates who are fed up with the bullshit our republican leadership pulls time and time again, who are sick of our leadership bowing to the demands of The Church (if you are in Utah, you know what I’m talking about). And I think if you forced everyone in this state (not that you should or could) to vote, the outcome would be a lot more left-leaning than people expect. I’d argue that the strong conservativeness is actually forming a powerful counter culture in response - which is why Bernie sanders polled way better than Hillary Clinton here.

fellow left-leaning and moderate Utahns, please stop disenfranchising yourselves. There are more of us than you realize. We have more power than you realize. And the conservatives want us to give in to that hopelessness, because they know we have power. Why else would they keep undermining our voter initiatives? Why else would they resort to cheap measures and confusing language to try and trick us into voting for things like Constitutional Amendment D without following proper procedures?

[enoua5]

In a decision Utah's republican senate president is calling "unprecedented and troubling", the utah supreme court ruled unanimously that a ballot measure reading "Establish requirements for the legislature to follow the intent of a ballot initiative." didn't properly convey the ammendment's text allowing the legislature to ignore or rewrite all ballot measures past and future after they pass.

[unpackingexmo-blog]

Please enjoy/share/use this art I made. It's a message that feels important to me right now. There is no freedom OF religion without freedom FROM religion.

Blog post with different image versions: https://unpackingmormonism.blogspot.com/2023/03/free-art-there-is-no-freedom-of.html

[atlas-affogato]

I know I reblogged this yesterday but I'm reblogging it again because its important. If the Salt Lake dries up everyone in Salt Lake Valley, which is about 2 MILLION people, are all fucked. Its been getting worse for years and conservationists have been trying to tell the government for years that this is a serious problem, but state and federal officials couldn't be bothered. They let Morton Salt keep mining there even now when we are in serious danger. Yeah that blue tub with the person with an umbrella? All that salt comes from the Great Salt Lake.

All the rich people that will be affected can just up and move but what about everyone else? What about the thousands of people being fucked by the housing market in Utah who can barely afford rent let alone a move? What are they supposed to do? You expect 2 million people to just move or die?

And it's not just the people, thousands of species of birds, mammals, fish and amphibians rely on the Salt Lake water shed. Millions of birds stop at the Salt Lake as part of their migration route, the shrinking of the Salt Lake has disastrous consequences for every part of the ecosystem of the American Rockies and farther across the country.

And what have government officials done? Fuck all.

Republicans are garbage.

[ninsiana0]

Transgender bathroom bill gets a rewrite in the Utah State Senate

[liesforchildrens]

BREAKING: Utah secedes from United States after coming-of-age queer film, MISSIONARY wins Oscar

Senator Kurt Morton could not be reached for further questions.

[incorrectbatfam]

Hey guys, this isn't fandom-related but just a PSA because I want you to be safe out there.

Whatever you do, DO NOT go to this form created to target trans people in Utah and DO NOT spam it with bogus reports such as:

The entire Bee Movie script

100k word fanfics

Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up"

The names of conservative lawmakers

Full-length movies

Keysmashes

PDFs of novels

etc.

Remember, since they have no limits on word count or file size, it's really easy to overload their system and we DO NOT want that to happen. Additionally, if you have a VPN, you should absolutely NOT change your location to Utah because that makes it more difficult for them to filter reports by IP address.

[talisidekick]

Less than 5000 Signatures away. Please share if you can't sign. Get this to the eyes of those that need to see it. Show it to people who are looking to help but don't know how.

Tennessee signed a law forcing every trans kid to netball detransition in the next year. Please sign this petition to help it get overturned and share.

(This petition covers laws in these states Alabama, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah)

-fae

[bizlybebo]

i hate the electoral college i hate the electoral college i hate the electoral college

[ralfmaximus]

Books by Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, Rupi Kaur and Sarah J Maas are among 13 titles that the state of Utah has ordered to be removed from all public school classrooms and libraries. The books on the list were prohibited under a new law requiring all of Utah’s public school districts to remove books if they are banned in either three districts, or two school districts and five charter schools. Utah has 41 public school districts in total.

They're not exactly burning books in Utah, but they are throwing them into dumpsters.

banned materials must be “legally disposed of” and “may not be sold or distributed”. PEN America Freedom to Read programme director Kasey Meehan said that such “vague” guidelines will “undoubtedly result in dumpsters full of books that could otherwise be enjoyed by readers”

What a fucking waste.

Utah residents! Maybe you wanna look into this terrible plan to waste tax money while also banning hugo award winning authors like Margaret Atwood?

[you-are-not-here]

I didn’t see them announcing the news

[harriswalz4usabybr]

Speech Liz Cheney gave at the Utah State Capitol!

~BR~

[pjharvey]

part of why election discourse drives me crazy is because you literally have to be stupid to think both parties are the same bc utah (red state) just made it essentially illegal for publicly funded universities to have lgbt organizations or other organizations based on “diversity” so anything for people of color too and has made it illegal for trans people to use the bathrooms that correspond with their gender and meanwhile my friend in california just had her facial feminization surgery largely covered by insurance. i would do anything to live in a blue state. obviously the foreign policy of both parties is atrocious and biden and harris and co are well deserving of being held accountable for that but i have lived in both red and blue states and i’m very aware i have a lower quality of life in a red state and so do my friends