Business and political leaders are seeking to chip away at long-held notions — in basketball circles and elsewhere — of Utah as a peculiar, boring and homogenous place that lags behind on LGBTQ- and race-related issues.
Two decades later, members of the Golden State Warriors squad mocked Salt Lake as a nightlife-free city that could “lull you to sleep.”
Just a year ago, a statewide ban implemented on transgender kids playing girls' sports raised worries that organizers of some events like the All-Star Game would think twice about coming to Utah. Salt Lake City has long been more liberal and religiously diverse than the rest of Utah, a blue island in a sea of red. A majority of members on the current left-leaning city council identify as LGBTQ and are people of color.
“Anybody who visits — especially for the first time — is going to be immediately struck by the Salt Lake Temple and the church’s holdings right downtown very close to the arena. This is, as a lot of people say, 'Mormonism's Vatican," he said. “This is just a chance to really have a moment together. People definitely know that there’s something here,” Smith said."It’s absolutely unique in all the positive ways. I think the one thing that is beautiful about Utah, that the people keep telling me from a wellness standpoint, ‘Utah is like where I’m at my best.’”
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