County conventions are here

Wake up Salt Lake County! By the time this column hits the streets the Salt Lake County Democratic Party Nominating Convention will be but a short few days away.  It’s being held Saturday, April 14, at Murray High School. Registration opens at 7:30 a.m.

While this column is more focused on convention and the 1,300 or so Salt Lake County delegates, the argument will hopefully need to be made again as we move toward the general election in November.

This year will be Mayor Peter Corroon’s last in office. Unless you’ve been living under a political rock for the past several months, you know that the Democratic Party has two candidates for Salt Lake County Mayor, with five on the GOP side. I’ll discuss the GOP candidates in a later column, after they’ve determined their nominee. Today, I’m going to discuss the Democratic race between Sens. Ben McAdams and Ross Romero.

Let’s face it, 2012 is going to be a tough year for Democrats in Utah. With Mitt Romney the likely GOP nominee, most politicos see a higher than average Republican turnout in Utah as people flock to the polls to vote for “one of their own” (although I still don’t see how any average American could possibly equate that to Mitt.) What this means in practical terms is that Democrats further down the ballot will have to overcome that increase in GOP turnout.

In order for Salt Lake County to continue on the path that has been set by Corroon, we need to make sure that our strongest possible candidate is on that ballot; a candidate with a track record of reaching out and drawing support from the other side of the aisle without compromising the values we hold dear as Democrats in Utah. That candidate, in my opinion, is Senator Ben McAdams.

In the time that I’ve been involved with Utah’s LGBT community, as an activist, a columnist, and as a member of the Board of the Utah Stonewall Democrats, I’ve not seen anyone stand out for equality as strongly as McAdams.

He was instrumental in the crafting and passage of Salt Lake City’s landmark nondiscrimination ordinances, which have become the model for 13 other municipal ordinances across Utah.

This year McAdams again brought his nondiscrimination bill to the Utah State Legislature. After its defeat last year, however, he took a different tactic. He brought together leaders from Utah’s business community, religious community and even found a Republican co-sponsor in Rep. Derek Brown of Cottonwood Heights. In spite of all that, unfortunately, the power of Utah’s hate machine was stronger – this time – and the bill died in front of the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee.

While I’m generally not one for patience and “moral victories,” it’s pretty easy to see that there is some level of progress being made on this issue. McAdams had led the legislative fight for equality for Utah’s LGBT community, building a strong coalition without compromising our Democratic values and ideals.

Part of the problem that I see facing us, both within the LGBT community and as Democrats in general, is that we’re so used to being pushed around by Utah’s GOP majority that we’re willing to settle for any table scraps that might be tossed our way. If we’re ever going to break that cycle, we need to change our mindset. We need to be willing to stand up and fight for our values, we need to make the sometimes difficult choice of demanding that support from our political leaders in exchange for our support of them.

McAdams has shown that he shares a desire for LGBT equality, and that he will fight for it. He not only proposes legislation, he works for it, fights for it and doesn’t let go. That commitment, that leadership, is why I’ve chosen to support McAdams in his bid to succeed Mayor Peter Corroon. I hope that on Saturday you join with me in nominating the next mayor of Salt Lake County, Ben McAdams.