SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah judge dismissed a defamation complaint against the leader of Equality Utah, citing a law designed to protect Utahns from being sued for exercising their First Amendment rights to free speech.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of former Republican legislative candidate Goud Maragani last August, accused the LGBTQ+ rights organization Equality Utah and its executive director, Troy Williams, of defamation, portraying him in a false light, interfering with his economic prospects and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Maragani said he was fired from his job as an attorney with Lucid Software Inc. in 2023 after Williams emailed his employer about social media posts Maragani directed toward Equality Utah and transgender issues.
Williams and Equality Utah filed a motion to receive expedited relief from the claims under Utah’s Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, or UPEPA, arguing the claims were based on their exercise of free speech “on a matter of public concern.” Third District Judge Kara Pettit agreed and on Thursday dismissed Maragani’s claims without prejudice.
“The court concludes the content, form and context of defendants’ communications were related to his and defendants’ differing public positions on transgender issues and can ‘be fairly considered as relating to any matter of political, social or other concern to the community,’ and thus, were on a matter of public concern,” Pettit wrote, adding that the court found the statements in question “not defamatory.”
Williams celebrated the ruling as a “resounding victory in court” in an email to Equality Utah supporters.
“Both the rule of law and the First Amendment prevailed today,” he wrote. “The district court properly applied (the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act) to stop this effort to punish Equality Utah for its unwavering advocacy on behalf of Utah’s transgender community.”
A lawyer for Maragani did not respond to a request for comment.
Maragani ran for Utah’s 48th House District in 2024 and also chairs the Utah Gay-Straight Coalition, which replaced the Utah Log Cabin Republicans. The lawsuit described the group as a “conservative LGBTQ+ group that does not support interference with minors medically or otherwise to transition children to a different sex.” Maragani has also advocated for bills related to transgender individuals, including last year’s bill restricting restroom access for transgender people in state buildings.
The lawsuit referenced several social media posts from Maragani related to transgender restroom access and other issues, including one that accused Williams of being “quiet on the issue of men in women’s locker rooms.” The complaint said Williams shared screenshots of the post with a human resources manager at Lucid in a pair of emails that said Maragani had “been engaging in disturbing behavior toward us.”
A “transgender trainer” from Equality Utah was scheduled to conduct a training with the company just weeks after the posts were made, according to the lawsuit, which said Williams asked if the company would “be a safe environment for her.”
Maragani was told a couple of months later he was “being (allegedly) terminated for performance,” the complaint states.
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