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Sonia Pressman Fuentes
February 26, 2002
Concerning the article from the Forwards about Jews in Utah: For people of a liberal bent, such as myself, things have improved in Salt Lake City and Utah for everyone, not just Jews. I was in Deer Park, Utah, about an hour's drive from Salt Lake City, from October 11- 3, 2002, to deliver the keynote address to the Women Lawyers of Utah on the occasion of their 20th anniversary. There I saw for myself the changes that had taken place since I was last there many years ago, which I attribute to the influx of people from diverse backgrounds from all over the country. I learned that while the Mormon influence is still strong (while Salt Lake City is no longer predominantly Mormon, 70% of the state is), it is not what it once was. Among the groups for which things have improved are women. After my talk on the Second Wave of the women's rights movement and my role in it, a woman came up who encouraged me to continue giving such talks as they are needed. Her name was Christine Durham. I later learned that she was married and the mother of five, the first and only woman justice on the five- member all-white, all-Mormon Utah Supreme Court, had been a justice of that court for 20 years, was running for Chief Justice, but was receiving considerable competition from a male justice, who was a recent addition to the Court, but had the support of less liberal members. On February 5, 2002, she was elected Chief justice by her fellow Supreme Court justices--the 18th woman Chief Justice in the history of the U.S.
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