salt lake

december, 2013 | issue 225 | gaysaltlake.com NEWS | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 11

Gay Ogden City Council candidate loses to incumbent

While White openly acknowledged her orientation on her website, plainly stating that she “happily resides in Ogden with my partner of 18 years Nancy Knape, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.” There is nothing on her site that indicates her positions on LGBT-equality issues, although her supporters page lists prominent LGBT activists Allison Beddard (member of the Utah Pride board of directors) and Jane & Tami Marquardt, who have given significantly in terms of both time and money to equality causes over the years.

Ogden is one of the municipalities that followed Salt Lake City in passing employment and housing non-discrim-ination ordinances in 2011. The first ordinance was vetoed by Mayor Matt Godfrey, but overturned unanimously on March 15, 2011 after language was inserted that ensured the ordinance would not violate First Amendment rights to free speech and religious belief.

This year Ogden had two openly gay candidates on its ballot, White for an at-large, or city wide, seat and Turner Bitton running in Municipal Ward 3. Bitton’s race was much closer, with him finishing just over 100 votes shy of incumbent Doug Stephens. Q

He out-raised his opponent, knocked on every door of the district, was endorsed by the local newspaper and put together a se-ries of ideas to improve the neighborhoods in Ogden. But it all wasn’t enough to oust the incumbent in the Ogden Municipal District 3 race.

Turner Bitton’s resume is filled with gay activism, including board member of Utah Stonewall Democrats, Certified HIV/AIDS Counselor Northern Utah HIV/AIDS Coalition and Ogden OUTreach, not to mention being president of the Weber State University Gay-Straight Alliance and working with the Ogden City Council to pass its nondiscrimination ordinance. He also has political experience, includ-ing member of the Democratic National Committee Youth Council, secretary of the Utah Democratic Progressive Caucus, Weber County Democratic Party. He is currently the Weber County Democratic

Party vice chair. He lives in Ogden with his domestic partner, Christian Miconi.

“I’ve been a member of this community since my partner, Christian, and I first met. In 2010, as president of the Weber State Gay-Straight Alliance, I worked with the city to pass a nondiscrimination ordinance. That year, I watched the city’s administra-tion and members of the city council stall passage of the ordinances time and again. It was then when I resolved to run for city council at the next election,” Bitton told QSaltLake when he announced his candi-dacy last spring.

Bitton developed several innovative plans for the city, including a proposal to require all tax increases to be an-nounced before November elections, offer equal payment options for city utilities, incentivizing xeriscaping, assisting local businesses in getting city contracts and a community clean-up day. He also wants to create neighborhood re-development committees as well as offer homeowners a payment plan on the city’s 50/50 match to fix sidewalks.

The Ogden Standard-Examiner was impressed with Bitton’s well-thought out plans for the city of Ogden that they endorsed his candidacy in an op-ed shortly before the election. He was also endorsed by Equality Utah.

“A few years ago I was a scared teenager struggling for acceptance and now I am with my best friend in life and living a dream I didn’t think was possible,” Bitton

said. “This is the purpose of local govern-ment, to build strong communities that welcome all of us home.”

In the end, incumbent took home 55 percent of the vote, besting Bitton by a vote of 603 to 487.

“My campaign focused on putting forward a positive, progressive message for Ogden’s citizens. We outspent and outworked my opponent but it ended up not being enough. I’m proud of the race we ran,” Bitton said. “I look forward to continuing to work for the betterment of Ogden City and to make it a place that is welcoming to LGBT people.” Q