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SALT LAKE CITY — By sponsoring legislation that eliminates a specific prohibition against advocacy of homosexuality in health instruction in Utah schools, Sen. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, “acknowledged the merit” of Equality Utah’s lawsuit against the Utah State Board of Education, the organization said in a letter to the Deseret News and others Wednesday.
“Sen. Adams acknowledged the merit in our legal complaint and recognizes that discrimination has no place in public schools. He understands that LGBTQ students must be treated equally to all students. With that, he presented us with SB196, which accomplishes exactly that,” wrote Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah.
Adams did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Senate Education Committee unanimously endorsed the legislation Tuesday, sending it to the full Senate for its consideration.
During committee debate, Adams said the legislation is intended to treat all students equally with respect to health education instruction in Utah public schools.
The amended legislation emphasizes instruction that encourages sexual abstinence and fidelity in marriage.
Equality Utah’s lawsuit against the State School Board, filed in October, cites experiences of three unnamed Utah students in elementary, middle and high schools as examples of other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths' experiences in Utah public schools, according to the complaint.
Equality Utah, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, claims Utah school policies violate constitutional rights of free speech and equal protection, as well as Title IX protections.
The lawsuit is on hold in federal court after U.S. District Judge Dee Benson granted a joint motion for a stay of proceedings on Friday.
While Williams urges the public to support SB196, he wrote that its passage “does not necessarily mean that our lawsuit will be resolved."
"Utah's sex education law still bans speech that can 'facilitate or encourage the violation of any state or federal criminal law.' This means that Utah’s same-sex marriage and sodomy laws remain in state code despite having been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court," the letter states.
"Our job is to ensure that the state or its public schools do not enforce these laws or instruct our students in a way that violates married same-sex couples’ dignity or legal status."
However, Williams wrote that the Senate Education Committee’s approval of SB196 “is certainly an encouraging sign that other elements in our lawsuit may reach a favorable resolution."
Williams noted that the defendant in its case, the Utah State Board of Education, testified at the hearing in support of the legislation, referring to Mark Huntsman, board chairman.
Huntsman was among a half-dozen individuals or groups who spoke in support of the bill. No one spoke in opposition. Email: marjorie@deseretnews.com
