LGBT Protections for Utah County

Now that Grand County has joined the 10 Utah cities and counties with LGBT protections in housing and employment discrimination, one in four Utahns are protected from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the developments could help build support to pass such protections in the Utah state legislature.

“Sen. Ben McAdams, D-Salt Lake City, plans to introduce a bill in the upcoming legislative session that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing housing and employment laws banning discrimination based on characteristics such as race, religion or national origin,” reports the Tribune.

Attempts to pass protections at the state level have failed in each of the past three years, but a poll from January shows that two-thirds of Utahns support such a law.

Salt Lake City became the first city in Utah to ban employment and housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in 2009, with support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.