Salt Lake City Council Member Amy Fowler, says a few words during the swearing in ceremony, on Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. Salt Lake City has sworn in a historic new city council where the majority of members identify as LGBTQ, and most are people of color. (Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)

Historic Salt Lake City council majority LGBTQ, people of color

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Salt Lake City has sworn in a historic new city council where the majority of members identify as LGBTQ, and most are people of color.

Councilwoman Victoria Petro-Eschler said Monday the makeup of the seven-member council is not just a “demographic novelty,” in conservative Utah, per reports.

“This diversity is important because of what it means for how work gets done in our city,” said Petro-Eschler, who represents District 1, on the city’s racially and ethnically diverse west side.

The new minority-majority council comes just two years after the election of the capital city’s first minority member, Ana Valdemoros.

Also representing the city’s west side is incoming council member Alejandro Puy, who is gay and immigrated from Argentina. “The working families of the west side are a force to reckon with, especially those mothers like mine,” he said during Monday’s swearing-in ceremony.

Some activists are waiting to see how the new members address issues like affordable housing, the environment and calls to fund social services over police,  per reports.

“One of the biggest things we want to see is them directly addressing the issues we’ve been campaigning for,” said Deja Gaston, with the Party for Socialism and Liberation Salt Lake.