Has SLC become a hotbed of liberalism in an otherwise conservative state? WTH is going on there?
Answer: yes. Look at how SLC city council last November passed special minority class status in employment and housing for homosexuals/various “sexual orientations”: Headline: Mormon church supports Salt Lake City's protections for gay rights
Forbes Magazine just did a column on Salt Lake City’s redevelopment in downtown (June 29, 2010):
”Although Utah remains the church's central base--over 70% of the state population is Mormon--the biggest increase has been outside the U.S., predominately in Latin America and parts of east Asia. This reality is reflected in Salt Lake itself; once overwhelmingly white, its population is now some 30% minority, much of it Latino.” Source: Salt Lake City's Sacred Space
Crunch these numbers: 30% of SLC is Latino…the vast majority of them NOT Lds. I mean, even if 1 out of 10 SLC Latinos were Mormon, that’s still only 3% of the city. (I doubt it’s even close to that high).
Then, Forbes columnist Kotkin also says: Mormons, who make up half of the city population and the vast majority of those in the surrounding suburbs… Source: Salt Lake City's Sacred Space
So, if 50% of SLC is Mormon; and 30% is Latino…that’s still a figure where about 70% of whites in SLC are Mormon. Yet, still look at how liberal SLC has become despite those numbers!