Democrat Jackie Biskupski (1998) defeated Republican Bryan Irving, by a 2-1 margin, becoming Utah's first openly gay legislator.

The following is the full text of a speech by Utah state Representative Jackie Biskupski (D-Salt Lake City) delivered before the state House during its February 23 debate on a bill to deny both public and private adoptions to any household with an adult not related to the adoptive parent by marriage, blood or adoption. The measure, which passed by a vote of 49 - 19, is targeted particularly at same-gender couples.

We have received much literature that attempts to define who I am. I want to start by speaking to it.

I can tell you that the lesbian some see is not me. The stereotypes that people use to justify their hatred for me are not me. I am not all of those negative things you have been taught to believe about me.

I am not less than human and therefore do not deserve to have my liberties taken away from me.

I am a person who gives freely of my time to help others. I love my family and friends and they love me. I have hopes and dreams. I laugh and I cry. At times I feel that my faith in God is stronger than most.

Please do not judge me, but look into my eyes, my heart and my soul and see me.

This legislative session has been a difficult one for many of us, if not all of us, for one reason or another.

Every day we start with a prayer asking for guidance, and we pledge our allegiance to this great country we live in. The words "liberty and justice for all" touch most of us deeply as we or our ancestors have been persecuted unjustly and have had our liberties taken away.

As a society we seem to be repeating our mistakes rather than learning from them.

When we take one point of view and determine it to be the only one that matters, we do so at the expense of others and ultimately end up fostering bias and hatred. To promote or elevate any one group over another is disrespectful of all. Our common threads should be what we hold onto when faced with circumstances like this.

As state legislators we must be very careful about where we encroach on the rights of people. This legislation takes away the rights of parents to make decisions about their family. It is a dangerous place for us to allow government to go.

Our actions today should be about protecting the rights of parents and we should make certain we are providing the same legal and civil rights for everyone. We should also ensure that we are providing due process for all. Clearly, the language in first substitute HB103 does none of these.

This is not a personal attack, but rather a request that you look at this piece of legislation thoroughly so you can see how it allows government to take away rights from everyone. The reason you decide to vote for or against this bill is very important.

Don't misunderstand what you are voting about. You can vote to protect the rights and freedom of the people or you can vote to allow government to take them away.

This piece of legislation lacks one obvious element, which is one of respect for people as individuals. Putting people into categories in order to deem them to be unfit parents without personally knowing who you are impacting, reminds me of past acts of discrimination.

This is truly reminiscent of the days when the Jews, the African Americans and even the Mormons were categorized and persecuted unjustly.

Every time we have justified singling out a particular group and have chosen to take away their rights, for reasons that seem okay at the time, later generations have had to look back in horror and undo the wrong that has been done. Every time!

We do not have to go back down this road. We can choose to look at how complex this is rather than see it in terms of black and white.

May God grant us the ability to change our world so that we can move past our actions of inhumanity to men, women and children and onto a civilization of freedom and justice.

Robert F. Kennedy once said: "We must recognize the full human equality of all of our people -- before God, before the law, and in the councils of government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous, although it is; not because the laws of God command it, although they do; not because the people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do."

I strongly urge you to vote against this piece of legislation.

What more needs to be said?