SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A lawsuit challenging Utah laws restricting talk about homosexuality in schools will remain on hold while LGBT-rights groups and state officials negotiate a settlement.
The Deseret News reports (http://bit.ly/2ok4u5E ) U.S. District Judge Dee Benson in Salt Lake City granted a stay in the case, which was brought in November by The National Center for Lesbian Rights and Equality Utah. They argued the Utah laws create a “chilling culture of silence that stigmatizes LGBTQ students.”
State lawmakers approved a measure earlier this year that aimed to resolve most of the lawsuit’s complaints by stripping state law of language banning the “advocacy of homosexuality.”
Attorneys for the gay rights groups and state officials say they’re discussing further rule changes that Utah’s State Board of Education is excepted to discuss at a May 5 meeting.