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SALT LAKE CITY — A former Republican candidate for the Utah Legislature and Salt Lake County clerk has sued Equality Utah, saying he was fired after the leader of the LGBTQ+ rights group shared screenshots of his social media posts with his employer.
Goud Maragani sued Equality Utah, its executive director Troy Williams, and the Equality Utah Foundation last week in Utah's 3rd District Court for alleged defamation, portraying him in a false light, tortious interferences with prospective economic advantage and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The complaint was filed by a Salt Lake law firm in partnership with America First Legal Foundation, a Washington-based conservative organization founded by Stephen Miller, a former senior adviser to former President Donald Trump.
Maragani — who ran for Salt Lake County clerk in 2020 and ran unsuccessfully for the state's 48th House District earlier this year — claims he was terminated as an attorney with Lucid Software Inc. last fall after Williams emailed his employer about social media posts by Maragani about Equality Utah.
A representative of Equality Utah declined to comment on the litigation, and attorneys for Maragani did not respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit includes screenshots of posts from Maragani on the social platform X, including one from July 21, 2023, related to restroom and locker room access for transgender individuals, which the lawsuit claims was posted in "his capacity as a member of the Utah Republican Party's State Central Committee."
"Have you noticed that @TroyWilliamsUT & @EqualityUtah are quiet on the issue of men in women's locker rooms?" Maragani asked, in response to a news story about Salt Lake County Council member Dea Theodore advocating to bar men from women's locker rooms at county recreation centers. "Cat got their tongue or is Troy too busy applying his #mascara and glitter, getting ready for another 'exclusive' at the gov's mansion? #eyeliner @GovCox @SpencerJCox."
Maragani is also the chairman of the Utah Gay-Straight Coalition, a successor to the Utah Log Cabin Republicans, which the lawsuit describes as a "conservative LGBTQ+ group that does not support interference with minors medically or otherwise to transition children to a different sex." He has often advocated at the state Capitol for measures related to transgender individuals, including a bill passed earlier this year restricting restroom access for transgender people in state buildings.
According to the lawsuit, Williams shared screenshots of the post with a Lucid human resources manager via email on Aug. 1, saying Maragani had "been engaging in disturbing behavior toward us." He mentioned that a "transgender trainer" from Equality Utah was scheduled to conduct a training with Lucid on Aug. 11, and asked if the company would "be a safe environment for her."
"I'm very worried that his extreme transphobic rhetoric may also endanger transgender people throughout the state," Williams' email concluded, according to the lawsuit.
Williams sent a second email that same day referencing another social media post from Maragani sent through the Utah Log Cabin Republicans account, in which Williams said Maragani speculated that a transgender advocate with the organization "simply has a sexual fetish." He also said Maragani had regularly advanced a "'grooming' narrative, to demonize transgender people, and positioning them as a threat to children," according to the lawsuit.
Williams sent another follow-up on Aug. 7, the suit states, the same day that Maragani says he had a meeting with the human resources manager and another Lucid employee, during which he was "told not to post about Equality Utah on social media" and that Williams might find his use of a hashtag offensive.
The lawsuit said Williams emailed the human resources manager again on Sept. 26, 2023, accusing Maragani of "escalating his attacks" against the organization's transgender advocate and state Sen. Jen Plumb, D-Salt Lake City. He referenced a Deseret News article about a bomb threat at a drag storytime event at a Salt Lake bookstore two days earlier.
"Goud has been perpetuating the gross and heinous lie that trans people are grooming children. This kind of rhetoric is endangering the lives of people within our community," Williams said in an email included in the complaint. "I am not asking you to fire him. I'm just making you aware of his ongoing actions."
The complaint said the email "falsely states" Maragani was escalating attacks, and said the email "again implies physical violence and falsely connected him to 'a bomb threat,' when the Utah Log Cabin Republicans have the First Amendment right to post disagreement on policy positions."
The lawsuit claims Maragani was told he was "being (allegedly) terminated for performance" on Oct. 10, 2023.
"Defendants portrayed Mr. Maragani in a false light to his employer, making highly offensive allegations, including that defendants asked for assurances that their speaker 'won't be attacked by Goud during her upcoming speaking engagement with Lucid' and that his tweets led to 'hate crimes' including a bomb threat," the lawsuit alleges.
Maragani's attorneys ask for a trial by jury, and ask the court to award him at least $300,000 in compensatory damages, along with punitive damages and attorney fees.
