Anti-Discrimination Rally

Last week in Utah, SB 262 - a bill that would outlaw housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity - died in the final days of the latest Senate session. Supporters of the bill held a rally on the state capitol steps two days later where they celebrated how far the bill had come and to motivate people for future measures. I shot a few photos at the capitol. Enjoy.

 

Demonstrators in support of SB 262, a bill banning employment and housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, gather on the steps of the Utah State Capitol on Wednesday, Mar. 13, 2013, two days after the bill died before coming to a vote in the Utah State Senate. The rally was planned and organized before the fate of the bill was known.

Over 100 supporters of an LGBT anti-discrimination bill held signs and flags at a rally on the steps of the Utah State Capitol on Wednesday, Mar. 13, 2013. Despite the failure of the bill to reach the senate floor, the mood of the rally was positive.

 

Senator Steve Urquhart (R-St. George) addressed a crowd at the Utah State Capitol during a rally in support of LGBT anti-discrimination measures on Wednesday, Mar. 13, 2013. Sen. Urquhart had sponsored the recent anti-discrimination bill which died in the Senate just after being passed out of committee.

 

Demonstrators in support of SB 262 listen to speakers from the steps of the Utah State Capitol on Wednesday, Mar. 13, 2013. The bill never made it to a vote on the Senate floor, but it did make it out of committee; something that demonstrators saw as a sign of progress after failed attempts over the last six years.

 

Jeanetta Williams, President of the Salt Lake Branch of the NAACP, and Archie Archuleta, President of the Utah Coalition of La Raza, right, spoke at a rally in support of SB 262 at the Utah State Capitol on Wednesday, Mar. 13, 2013, two days after the bill died before coming to a vote in the Utah State Senate. Williams and Archuleta compared the struggle for LGBT equality to past struggles for racial equality.