America First Legal sues Equality Utah for defamation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, America First Legal (AFL) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Goud Maragani against Equality Utah and its Executive Director, Troy Williams, for alleged defamation, false light, and tortious interference with economic advantage. The suit alleges that Equality Utah and Mr. Williams intentionally and repeatedly made malicious statements about Mr. Maragani, damaging his reputation and injuring his legal career to the point of termination.
Mr. Maragani was an active member of the Utah Republican Party’s State Central Committee, led the Utah Log Cabin Republicans, and was employed as an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel since 2020 at Lucid, Inc. Prior to joining Lucid, Mr. Maragani had over 16 years of experience working in the federal government, including as a Trial Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, an Associate Counsel at the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, and a JAG Attorney with the U.S. Army Reserves.
After Mr. Maragani made public statements criticizing policies like allowing men into women’s locker rooms and children “transitioning” through chemical castration and disfiguring surgery, Equality Utah began attacking his reputation online–and directly to his employer. On September 26, 2023, Mr. Williams sent a letter to the Vice President of People Operations and the General Counsel, falsely tying Mr. Maragani to a “bomb threat” and claiming that Mr. Maragani’s rhetoric was endangering lives. Two weeks later, Lucid fired Mr. Maragani less than a year after promoting him to Director of Legal, Compliance, and Litigation in the Office of the General Counsel.
In a tweet from April 14, 2024, Mr. Williams continued his attacks on Mr. Maragani when he posted that Mr. Maragani is “not well,” “such a dick,” as well as analogizing him to “Gout inflammation” that “goes away.”
Equality Utah is described as the state’s “largest LGBTQ civil rights organization.” It claims to lead “efforts for LGBTQ civil rights at the state and local levels” by “sponsoring legislation, opposing negative bills, and lobbying for elected officials.”
Statement from Reed D. Rubinstein, America First Legal Senior Vice President:
“No American should ever lose a job for saying that men should not be admitted into women’s locker rooms or that children should not be subjected to the horrors of chemical castration and Frankenstein-line surgical mutilation." He added: "The days when weird woke extremists like Equality Utah and its executive director could harm decent citizens without consequence are over."