"When Salt Lake City embraced anti-discrimination ordinances for gay and transgender residents last fall -- snagging a landmark endorsement by the LDS Church and widespread support from city officials -- more shifted than public policy. Public opinion -- throughout Utah -- jumped, too," reports The Salt Lake Tribune. "Support for some gay rights, short of marriage, climbed 11 percentage points across the state from a year ago, according to a new Salt Lake Tribune poll, and shot up by 10 percent among Mormons. Two-thirds of Utahns (67 percent) favor employment protections and safeguards for same-sex couples such as hospital visitation and inheritance rights, up from 56 percent in January 2009, when pollsters asked the same question. READ MOREUtah Democratics shelve gay-rights bills for a year
"On Friday, three Democratic lawmakers announced they are dropping bills -- until 2011 -- that would provide anti-discrimination protections, probate rights and adoption rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Utahns,"reports The Salt Lake Tribune. The move is a "compromise," sanctioned by leaders in the House and Senate, intended to halt efforts to overturn or weaken the newly minted anti-discrimination ordinances in Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County. READ MORE
