Author: Ryan LaRe
From the Hill: Week seven of the Legislative session
As the legislature came to its end this week, I found myself going back and forth—as I often do—between wanting Utah’s legislative session to be longer or holding alternated biannual sessions, where year one the entire session focuses on the budget and the next focuses on all other legislative actions. Though bills would hopefully be more vetted in this process than they are in the current legisla...
From the Hill: Week six of the Legislative session
This upcoming week is the session's LAST. Thank goddess.Rep. Karianne Lisonbee’s HB198 – which allows Utahns between the ages of 18 and 21 to conceal carry weapons – passed out of a Senate committee last week. Lisonbee said this bill would allow women on college campuses to defend themselves from rape. No one in the committee hearing explained how shooting alleged rapists would solve the problem o...
From the Hill: Week five of the Legislature
Well, another week passed at the Utah Legislature—aging us about three months. Here are some of last week’s highlights:Rep. Sandra Hollins’ (D) HB156, which would “ban the box” in the state, advanced out of the House in a 40 to 32 vote. This type of legislation would prevent employers from asking an applicant to disclose a past criminal conviction on a job application. The bill now heads to the Se...
From the Hill: Week four of the Legislature
This week, Utah GOP Chairman, James Evans, released a press statement advising the Utah Congressional delegation to cease holding town-hall meetings for the time being because of his interpretation of town-hall meetings packed with worried constituents as inherently violent. Congresswomen Mia Love, meanwhile, said she is too busy to hold a town hall, but not too busy to meet with SelectHealth repr...
From the Hill: Week three of the Legislative session
Ryan LaRe is a senior political science major and former intern in the House Democratic caucus.Following his packed, chaotic and divisive town-hall meeting, Rep. Jason Chaffetz dismissed constituents and protesters as paid, out-of-state radicals. However, Rep. Marie Poulson (D-Cottonwod Heights), the state representative over the area where he held his town hall, told the Deseret News that she has...
From the Hill: Week two of the Legislative session
When every week feels like 10, here’s what happened this week at the Utah State Capitol.This week started (and ended) with protests against President Donald Trump’s recent immigration ban. Governor Herbert and Lt. Governor Spencer Cox have been critics of the executive order, while most of Utah’s congressional delegation offered lukewarm criticism of the order for being too broad or poorly rolled ...
From the Hill: Week one of the legislative session
Ryan LaRe is a senior political science major and former intern in the House Democratic caucus.The session started with over 6,000 folks braving a blizzard on Jan. 23 to fill the Capitol for the Women’s March..Rep. Norm Thurston (R) from Provo has a bill which removes the bipartisan makeup of a few key committees. Democrats and “good government” watchdogs decry this bill as expanding the power of...
Are You Listening?: Why is everything so god-damn heterosexual? And why do heterosexuals not question it?
Heterosexuals are uniquely positioned in society. Yet, heterosexuals are never really required to think about being heterosexual in the ways queer folk are required to position our experiences and lives to heterosexuality. When a person is queer their queerness is compared to backdrop of heterosexuality. Heterosexuality is considered the origin, and everything else moves from that. No matter what ...
Are You Listening?: In defense of habitable spaces
Many conversations and discourses around diversity and inclusion in academia mention making spaces (often classroom-focused but more importantly, all spaces on campus) more habitable, or “safe.” Habitable spaces are spaces that allow for anyone, particularly those from historically oppressed, marginalized, and underrepresented groups, to be able to exist without the threat of violence. Habitable s...