![]() ![]() ![]() We made some changes to the legislation - obviously not as many changes as they would have liked, but also did research and looked at the science, the real science behind what is being advocated for.Īnd the truth is, again, as I came to it, that the science is just not there to support those claims. And again, very methodically, I listened, learned from them. And I mean, obviously there are people who disrespect our humanity on both sides of the aisle. I wonder, did anybody say to you, Governor, you're not recognizing my humanity with respect?ĬOX: Sure. SIMON: You mentioned having people who were transgender into the governor's mansion to talk about the piece of legislation you ultimately signed, which prohibits a lot of what they consider to be rational medical treatments. So there are examples out there, but they're getting harder and harder to find. And there were some changes made to the legislation because of those conversations. And although they weren't happy with how that legislation turned out, the discussion was very different. And so we invited transgender youth and their parents over to the governor's mansion with leadership from the legislature and had, again, a dignified conversation. And I always try to give people a seat at the table, including inviting them over to the governor's residence as we were working on some very difficult and polarizing legislation around transgender rights and also around conversion therapy. We've been working on some very difficult issues. I've certainly tried to model this behavior myself. And I was blown away by that example as I heard some of those stories. And they were able to have civil conversations with people who disagreed very passionately with them and actually changed people's minds - maybe not exactly about those specific issues, but they left with a better understanding of each other, treating each other with dignity and respect. They actually bought a booth at the Republican state convention and went in there - you know, again, very hostile territory for somebody in that group. SIMON: Can you cite a good example of what you're talking about?ĬOX: Well, right here in the state of Utah, we have Equality Utah, which is the LGBTQ organization that represents that group of people in our state. The point of this is that most Americans - recent polling has shown that 75% of Americans - are tired of the polarization, are tired of the toxic disagreement that we're seeing across our country and are looking for something better. You know, I'm not saying you have to engage with someone who is abusive to you in any way. And we don't do that by attacking people. If you really care about your side and about your argument, you're going to have to convince other people to see what you see and believe what you believe. We've been working with departments, policy labs at Stanford University, at Dartmouth, at Duke, who do this type of work and actually look at the work of persuasion. SIMON: Governor, I have to ask, what do you say to people who say, I'm sorry, there's just no way to civilly disagree or dignify the viewpoint of people who tried to violently overthrow democracy on January 6 or who don't accept somebody's orientation or identity?ĬOX: Yeah, well, I hear those types of arguments from both sides of the aisle very routinely. ![]() SPENCER COX: Thanks for having me, Scott. Governor Cox joins us now from Salt Lake City. It's a program to encourage governors to try to set an example in how to disagree but still seek bipartisan solutions and, dare I say, be civil as they disagree. When Utah Governor Spencer Cox took the chairmanship at the National Governors Association this week, he announced his chair's initiative called Disagree Better. ![]()
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