On Saturday, Utah Democrats elected by a big margin openly gay Jim Dabakis to be the party's chairman. He is an art dealer and the co-founder of Equality Utah and of the Utah Pride Center.
Given the Mormons' long history of intolerance and aggressive fighting against gay rights, readers may be surprised to hear Chairman Dabakis chastising Democrats for not being "warm and inviting" enough to LDS members. He told the Salt Lake Tribune:
“I want to talk to LDS people and I want to tell them that we want them in our party, we need them in our party... We recognize that they have a great deal to contribute. ... As chair, my commitment is to make sure that LDS people feel comfortable in our Democrat tent. Sometimes, we haven’t been as warm and as inviting as we should be.”
Others may see the quasi-apology as shrewd politicking.
Saying that "People are broad-minded in Utah," Dabakis reports that while campaigning in all 29 counties, "the whole gay thing just simply did not surface as an issue....they want to know if you can do the job or not."
Also at the convention, in a multi-round, six-way contest, delegates narrowly elected openly gay Brian Doughty to fill the Salt Lake City House seat vacated by out lesbian Jackie Biskupski. She said, "I am excited that the LGBT community will have a voice again on the Hill because I’ve seen what a difference it makes to have someone on the floor who can articulate a personal message on some of the issues that arise, and that is really important, especially during this critical civil-rights time for the LGBT community."
Praise the Lord for Lesbians. If it weren't for them, we'd probably still be stuck politically in the late 80s.
Posted by: J.P. | July 19, 2011 at 02:48 PM