Gustavo Solis

The Desert Sun

States passing anti-LGBT laws under the guise of religious freedom are “desperate,” Salt Lake City’s first openly gay mayor told those gathered Saturday night for the National Center for Lesbian Rights’ annual Palm Springs Garden Party.

“We all have religious freedom. We live in America,” said Jackie Biskupski. “People using that to oppress groups of people are desperate. They are desperate to somehow be better than everyone else and in the end it will not last. We will all eventually be treated equally.”

As conservative states such as North Carolina pass bills that allow people to discriminate against the LGBT community, mayors need to assume a larger role in defending civil rights, Biskupski added.

“I have to lead change,” she told The Desert Sun. “I have to do the work and I have to set an example. I have to make sure we are moving in the right direction as a city.”

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Biskupski became Salt Lake City’s mayor around the time the Mormon Church issued a policy banning baptisms for children of same-sex parents. Children of same-sex parents can join the church when they turn 18 and disavows gay relationships.

She was honored Saturday, along with California’s Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Newsom, who is running for governor, issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples when he was mayor of San Francisco in 2004. He said mayors in cities such as Seattle are punching above their weight by issuing travel bans to North Carolina.

“What mayors are doing, including my mayor in San Francisco, is saying that we are not going to sponsor any city-funded events into North Carolina,” Newsom said. “We are not going to subsidize that kind of homophobia.”

Both Biskupski and Newsom have a connection to North Carolina. Biskupski’s bisexual niece who is in a same-sex relationship lives in the state and Newsom worked with the man who signed the anti-LGBT bill into law.

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“I knew that mayor who is the governor now in North Carolina,” he said. “He was the mayor that stopped our marriage equality resolution in its tracks at the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Nothing about what happened in North Carolina with this governor surprises me.”

LGBT advocates believe anti-LGBT laws have become more common after the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples could marry nationwide.

“Week after week in state after state we are facing the most anti-LGBT laws we have ever seen,” said Palm Springs City Councilman Geoff Kors. “Since the Supreme Court ruled just nine months ago, 81 bills have been introduced in state legislatures around the country to take the benefits of marriage away from the LGBT community.”

In Mississippi, the state legislature passed a bill that would allow people to refuse to employ or rent to a member of the LGBT community. The governor has not signed the bill into law but he is considering it.

In Georgia, lawmakers passed a bill that would’ve allowed faith-based organizations to deny services to gay people. The governor vetoed the proposal after companies such as Apple and Disney threatened to pull their businesses from the state if the measure became law.

At Saturday night’s garden party, which hoped to raise $100,000 for NCLR, Biskupski offered to donate $1,500 as long as someone else matched it right on the spot. Newsom raised his hand to offer but before he could say anything another member of the crowd stepped up to match the donation.

“Everyone deserves to be treated equally and we are done with oppression. We are done with being held back,” Biskupski said after accepting a Trailblazer award.