SALT LAKE CITY — In a unanimous vote, a Utah House committee on Monday passed a bill advancing a state conversion therapy bill.

The vote came hours after a deal was struck on the legislation that originally sought to unwind some of Utah's ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy.

The deal revolved around a language change in House Bill 228, and it was confirmed that the legislation will preserve the ban on conversion therapy for minors. Conversion therapy is a widely discredited practice of attempting to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity.

In 2020, Utah banned LGBTQ conversion therapy in an administrative rule after efforts to pass a law through the legislature failed. It was the result of a deal at the time between the governor's office, LGBTQ rights groups and even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Last year, it was reported that lawmakers signaled they would be revisiting the ban, raising concerns among Utah's LGBTQ community members.

The state's Rep. Mike Petersen, R-Logan, announced the agreement ahead of the Monday hearing on his bill.

"I am happy to sponsor this important legislation which provides clarity for professionals while continuing to protect Utah’s LGBTQ+ youth," he said in a statement.

“As a former counselor, the current DOPL rule has been particularly concerning to me. I have spoken with former colleagues who stopped treating minors because of ambiguity in the DOPL rule and fear of reprisal if they were to say something non-affirming to their minor patients. I have also spoken with members of the LGBTQ+ community who are grateful for the changes in HB228 because they wish their counselors would have been more inquisitive and curious during their therapy sessions."

Because of changes made to the bill to preserve the original ban, Equality Utah confirmed that it would support the legislation. If it passes the entire legislature, the ban would be enshrined into law instead of through an administrative rule.

"We’ve had important dialogue and have shared our concerns openly, and for that we are grateful," Equality Utah Executive Director Troy Williams said in a statement. "The second substitute continues to prohibit the very dangerous practice of conversion therapy for minors, while providing greater clarification for Utah therapists, and accordingly, we support the advancement of HB228 as amended."

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said he had been briefed on the agreement and was supportive of it.

Governor Spencer Cox was apparently involved in some of the discussions around the bill and supported the compromise.

"We appreciate Equality Utah and legislative sponsors working together to find common ground. We’ve encouraged these discussions and support this version of the bill," his office said in a statement.

This story was originally published by KSTU in Salt Lake City, Utah.

WORCESTER, Mass. — It isn't easy for 25-year-old Sumaya to talk about the life she left behind in Africa. Three years after leaving her home in Uganda, this refugee is still afraid for her family she doesn't want her real name used.

Sumaya fled to the United States in 2019 after people in her hometown found out she was a lesbian. Being openly gay in Uganda is considered a crime and can be punishable by death.

"When I came here, I totally lost my family. They don't want to communicate with me. Back home I had a girlfriend for 10 years, but we had to hide it," she said.

There are not a lot of statistics kept on LGBTQ asylum seekers like Sumaya. Around the world though, being openly gay is illegal in about 70 countries. The latest data from the US government shows that from 2007 to 2017, at least 4,385 people were identified as seeking asylum because of their LGBTQ status.

"I knew I couldn’t do it anymore. I thought I would try and change, but I couldn’t," Sumaya said about her life in Uganda.

For asylum-seekers like Sumaya though, just fleeing persecution is only the beginning of their journey. Once in the United States, many have a hard time finding housing while they wait for work visas to be approved.

Which is where Pastor Judith Hanlon comes in.

Pastor Hanlon is with the Hadwen Park Church United Church of Christ in Worcester, Massachusetts. Over the past decade, the congregation has worked to create a nonprofit which provides housing opportunities to LGBTQ asylum seekers like Sumaya.

"We have all new appliances, granite countertops!" Pastor Hanlon explained as she showed us around the nonprofit's newest and most expensive endeavor.

Before this year, the LGBT Asylum Task Force was housing people in rented apartments around the city of Worcester. Thanks to years of hard work and donations, they were able to raise more than $500,000 to purchase a three-story home and renovate it for asylum seekers to live in until they're able to secure permanent housing.

It's the only housing program in the country tailored specifically to LGBTQ asylum seekers.

"We were paying $43,000 a month to keep people in these apartments and realized a mortgage would cost one of the rents. So, we made a decision and had a three-year campaign to purchase a home, so we purchased this home I’m in right now," Pastor Hanlon said.

In addition to housing, the task force provides a $500 monthly stipend for immigrants until they can receive work authorization—a process that usually takes around two years.

Non-lethal baton shells still litter the driveway at 74 Bolling Road in Portsmouth, the scene of a tragic and bizarre murder-suicide Friday night.

"He bought the house sight unseen from Alabama, moved in here Thursday, and called a real estate agent Friday to return the house," a neighbor told Scripps station WTKR.

According to Portsmouth police, the incident happened around 5:59 p.m. Friday at a resident on Bowling Road.

When officers arrived on the scene, they found 84-year-old Albert A. Baglione armed with a weapon.

Baglione told police that he had killed his realtor, then closed his door. Police said they then heard a gunshot from behind the door.

According to the neighbor, Baglione had just moved into the home. Soren Arn-Oelschlegel, a real estate agent, drove to the house to help the man displeased with his home purchase.

Authorities secured a perimeter around the home before SWAT entered and found Baglione dead.

Police said they also located 41-year-old Soren Arn-Oelshlegel, a Norfolk-based realtor, inside the residence with a fatal gunshot wound.

"He called his son after he shot the real estate agent," said the neighbor.

"The LGBTQ community of Hampton Roads has lost a vibrant person [who's] hard to replace," said Rudy Almanzor.

Almanzor is president of Hampton Roads Pride. Arn-Oelschlegel had been a member of the LGBTQ non-profit for more than a decade, an avid volunteer active in the LGBTQ community.

"He always had tons of energy. I never saw him not smiling, laughing, and wanting to have fun. He worked hard, played hard," said Almanzor.

Almanzor was stunned hearing the news, confused as to why and how this could have happened.

"I had to read it four to five times and was like, 'This does not make sense,'" he said. "We are here to build up the community, and one of our building blocks is missing."

Hampton Roads Pride will be planning a memorial service set for this week to honor Arn-Oelschlegel.

Chelsea Donovan, Leondra Head, and WTKR web staff contributed to this story.

RICHMOND, Va. (WTKR) - The American Civil Liberties Union announced a Virginia school board will be ordered to pay more than $1.3 million in attorney's fees and costs in a transgender discrimination case.

Gavin Grimm, a transgender man and former Gloucester High School student, successfully sued the school board for violating his rights under the Fourteenth Amendment and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

After years of litigation, the Supreme Court declined to review lower court decisions, ruling that the school board's discriminatory restroom policy for transgender students violated Title IX and the Constitution. The school board informed the court Thursday it would pay the entire amount requested in the fee petition.

“Rather than allow a child equal access to a safe school environment, the Gloucester School Board decided to fight this child for five years in a costly legal battle that they lost,” Grimm said in a statement. “I hope that this outcome sends a strong message to other school systems, that discrimination is an expensive losing battle.”

The resolution comes as Hampton Roads school systems vote on adopting a required Virginia Department of Education policy regarding the treatment of transgender students. Newport News School Board members recently voted against adopting the state-mandated policies, while the Portsmouth City School Board voted 5-1 to adopt the policy.

On Thursday, the Gloucester County School Board released a statement saying:

Advocates say the Grimm case demonstrates school systems could face expensive lawsuits if they don't accept the state's transgender policy.

"When these school boards actively choose not to adopt these model policies as required by the state, they're really actually opening themselves up to potential lawsuits," said Vee Lamneck, the executive director of Equality Virginia. "It is very costly and a very time intensive risk that the school boards are taking on."

CINCINNATI — Scott Knox has found himself an accidental LGBTQ activist, in the right role, at the right place, at the right time to help make change.

"I am not by nature an activist," he said. "I feel like I was pushed into it because I was in a position to see what was going on."

His legal career started in labor law and asbestos litigation, until the AIDS epidemic exposed a cruel lack of resources and representation.

"I had people coming to me since I was active in the gay community, saying, 'I have a friend whose partner is in the hospital, they have no paperwork, their family is going to swoop in and move him and take all his stuff and disrespect this relationship,' and back then I couldn't think of anyone to refer them to," Knox said. "Out of necessity, I just started doing it."

Knox started doing estate planning and discrimination cases and working with many LGBTQ clients.

Scott Knox

"It was really kind of like my activism because I couldn't think of anyone else to do, so if not me, then who?" he said.

Perhaps his biggest fight would still be on the horizon, a fight that would forever impact Cincinnati's perception in the social justice, business and LGBTQ communities.

In 1992, the City of Cincinnati adopted a human rights ordinance which included sexual orientation. The backlash came quickly, with city voters approving a measure to remove sexual orientation from the ordinance in 1993.

"It sure felt a lot like your community doesn’t want you here," Knox said.

A federal judge ruled the measure unconstitutional. But then it got worse for the Cincinnati LGBTQ community.

Cincinnati voters approved Article XII, codifying that "no special class status may be granted based upon sexual orientation, conduct, or relationships."

"We were the only city in the country that had a regulation that said City Council was prohibited from passing any law that would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination," Knox said. "It said this one set of people had no access to the government."

Boycotts and lawsuits followed these actions. Even Pride events and parades ceased in the city for five years.

"The community was so demoralized," Knox said. "You'd walk down the street and look at people and think, 'Really? You thought that I should able to be fired for being gay?' And it took years before we could get a group together that thought it would be worthwhile that there was a chance we could repeal it."

Knox said the group called themselves "The Prayer Group," because they thought their chances were so slim to overturn Article XII.

He describes himself as one of the "worker bees," many who made up what would become the Citizens to Restore Fairness. He credits dedicated volunteers, including lots of straight allies, and boots-on-the-ground, in-person campaigning for the repeal's ultimate success.

"We went door to door and asked people, ‘Do you think someone should be fired if they’re doing a good job just because they’re gay or lesbian?‘ and uniformly, they said no," he said. "Overwhelmingly, people are fair."

Cincinnati voters repealed Article XII in 2004.

Scott Knox

That's a large part of why Knox says he remains "Pollyanna" about people and ongoing LGBTQ issues, mainly the current fight for transgender acceptance and rights. That, and the amount of change in the city of Cincinnati since the rights fights of the early 1990s.

"It's a sea change," he said. "It's nice to see the Pride flags up on the streets, it's encouraging."

Even professionally, Knox said, things are better and he's more optimistic.

"A lot of my LGBTQ issues now are estate planning and family issues, which is kind of fun compared to the past," Knox said. "It's more 'happy law.'"

His work to right wrongs against the local LGBTQ community makes Scott Knox one of the Tri-State's Points of Pride.

WCPO is committed to telling the stories of LGBTQ+ individuals in the Tri-State year-round. If you know someone who should be recognized as a Point of Pride, send an email to evan.millward@wcpo.com or newsdesk@wcpo.com

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — When you walk into Kaitlyn Mahoney’s house, you’ll notice every shelf is filled with pages and pages of insight. There are hundreds of books, all with a similar purpose.

“One of the things that I’m really committed to is prioritizing stories by and about Black people, Jewish people, fat people, disabled people, as many different marginalization’s and intersections with the queer identify as I can," Mahoney said.

Mahoney is the founder of Under the Umbrella Bookstore. It is an upcoming community bookstore serving the LGBTQIA+ community in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the first of its kind in the area.

Fewer than 1% of small businesses in America are certified as LGBT business enterprises. Now, this new business is joining the ranks to open its own inclusive space.

“Under the Umbrella is meant to flip the entire hierarchy of prioritization so that those stories featuring or about black queers, and trans queers and disabled queers are the most important ones," Mahoney said. “What I envision for Under the Umbrella is a space where people can come and do what I did with yourself and those books and you are learning about yourself. You’re having an experience for and with yourself and that book.”

Mahoney's own experiences with books is what has sent her on this journey of self-discovery.

“I started reading more diversly in general and that’s kind of how I realized how diverse life could be and is, but how diverse it could be for me," Mahoney said. “It made me start questioning what I had been talk about gender and sexuality. Because I grew up in a religion where gender is male and female, and it’s eternal and that’s it, and sexually was either straight or gay and one of those was a bad thing to be. Books is how I really found the language to describe a lot of things I had been feeling, but I just hadn’t let myself just think about.”

Mahoney says this space will be safe for those who have nowhere to go.

“There are a lot of queer youth who desperately need acceptance and love," Mahoney said.

She wants to make sure no one is left behind wondering.

“I can’t even imagine what my life would look like if I would have had that when I was younger. If I had been exposed to the love and acceptance that I desperately needed to help me and myself," Mahoney said.

Members of the community couldn’t agree more.

“I can’t tell you how many people have said those words to me, ‘I wish this space had existed when I was younger," Mahoney said.

People have come together to raise more than $55,000 to make this vision of Under the Umbrella a reality.

“I knew that the space was necessary. I knew that we needed it, but the response from the community has just been amazing," Mahoney said.

Mahoney says Salt Lake City needs businesses like this, but so does every other city. According to the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, out of the 28 million small businesses across the country, only 909 are officially certified as LGBT Business Enterprises.

“There are only a handful that are specifically queer, but there are a handful that are very queer focused," Mahoney said.

The NGLCC says businesses like these are a vibrant, essential part of the small business engine that makes the economy run.

“There is nothing like this in Utah and I can’t tell you why, like I don’t know," Mahoney said.

That is why she says books and book stores need to be more inclusive nationally and world wide.

“I found it really hard to go into a general bookstore like your Barns and Noble or your local and that just has a general selection of books was hard to find books that were specifically queer or that showed identities that are everywhere but that you don’t necessarily see in books," Mahoney said.

With a house filled with books and items made by LGBTQ+ individuals ready to sell Kaitlyn is ready to welcome all.

“So, however you identify under the LGBTQIA+ queer umbrella, you are welcome under the umbrella," Mahoney said.