LAYTON — The race for the District 16 Utah House seat has taken a twist after controversial remarks about the LGBTQ community by the upstart GOPer who ousted the incumbent at the Davis County Republican Party convention in March.

The county party released a statement condemning the comments by Trevor Lee as “transphobic.” And they have Rep. Stephen Handy, beat by Lee at the March 26 convention, saying he may wage a write-in campaign against the political newcomer, who defeated the incumbent among GOP delegates by a 64.1%-35.9% margin.

The turn of events also underscores the sometimes tense relationship between more moderate Republicans in Utah like Handy and their more conservative counterparts, like Lee.

He’s “leaning very strongly” toward filing as a write-in hopeful against Lee, Handy said Tuesday, “but I’ve got to line up a lot of things.” Libertarian Brent Zimmerman is also seeking the District 16 post, while no Democrat is on the ballot.

Handy is serving in his sixth term in the District 16 post, which covers north Layton and small parts of South Weber and Clearfield, and he noted his 40 or so years living in Layton. “I know the pulse of the community and the community does not embrace those kinds of strong views,” Handy said.

Lee, in response to the flap, said he will no longer use the derogatory term for transgender people that, in part, sparked the controversy.

He also said he’d welcome Handy’s entry into the race. He suspects he’d defeat the incumbent in another head-to-head vote as District 16, in his estimation, is more in lockstep with conservative Republicans than their moderate counterparts. “He still has sour grapes over losing (at the convention) and he’s not letting it go,” Lee said.

The controversy stems from remarks Lee made during a wide-ranging discussion on “The Modern Conservative Podcast” with Jon Harvey, the host. It was posted April 26.

Harvey turned the conversation to Gov. Spencer Cox, the debate over whether transgender females should be able to compete in girl’s and women’s sports and Cox’s apparent popularity across the country.

“Was that before or after he vetoed a bill for t——-?” Lee responded, using a derogatory word, censored here, for transgender people. Lee was referring to Cox’s veto — which Utah lawmakers later voted to override — of a measure prohibiting transgender females from competing in interscholastic sports.

Later, Lee turned the conversation to apparent ties between advocates of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community and the Black Lives Matter movement.

“I think it was embarrassing to a lot of Black people to watch the gay agenda and Black Lives Matter try to align and team up. If I go talk to a lot of my friends who are Black, they’d be like, ‘Yeah, I don’t agree with all that LGBTQ stuff,'” Lee said. “Of all the communities in America, that’s one of the most against that agenda, if you go ask them.”

Lee continued, addressing the addition of black and brown stripes to some versions of the rainbow pride flag, meant to recognize people of color in the gay community. “You’ll see the black and brown now in the LGBTQ flag. I mean, it’s kind of mixed together. I’m like, that’s embarrassing. I wouldn’t want to be associated with those people. It’s sad, it really is,” he said.

After Handy’s defeat at the convention, some supporters had encouraged him to wage a write-in campaign, but he resisted. After Lee’s comments in the April 26 podcast, though, the pleas from Handy’s backers surged, spurring him to seriously consider a write-in bid, likely an uphill effort, he thinks. He said he’ll probably make a definitive decision after June 28, when the primary election process ends.

GOP convention winners, Handy argues, aren’t necessarily representative of the broader populace, noting the small pool of people — party delegates — who actually make the pick. Less than 100 delegates in all voted in the District 16 race in March. “That’s what sticks in my craw … the general voter doesn’t have a chance to vote,” he said.

The Davis County Republican Party, for its part, offered Lee a tough rebuke.

The party “unequivocally condemns the transphobic comments made recently by House District 16 candidate, Trevor Lee. Lee’s words do not represent the attitude or beliefs of our party, our members, or our community,” the party statement reads. “While we believe in the First Amendment right to free speech, we encourage our members to use that right to engage respectfully and without vitriol. Productive dialogue, where the focus is principled and policy-based arguments for Republican values, should be the hallmark of political discourse.”

In his own Facebook post soon after the GOP statement, Lee said he hadn’t known the derogatory term he used for transgender people “was so disparaging,” as he had heard it used “in pop culture” his whole life. “But, that’s no excuse and now that I know it’s something others feel that strongly about I’ve erased it from my vocabulary. It’s gone,” he said.

He told the Standard-Examiner that his comments about the LGBTQ and Black Lives Matter movements could have been phrased differently, perhaps. He meant the remarks as a show of solidarity with people who are unwittingly associated with movements they don’t necessarily want to be a part of, not as a slam against the LGBTQ community.

“I have friends who are gay. I have no problem with gay people,” Lee said.

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