Salt Lake City elects first openly gay mayor

Former Utah lawmaker Jackie Biskupski has become the first openly gay mayor of Salt Lake City.

Official election results released Tuesday show the 49-year-old Biskupski defeated two-term incumbent Ralph Becker.

Her win marks a milestone for the LGBT community in the conservative state, even as the Mormon church and a small town judge delivered setbacks.

A judge in central Utah last week ordered a foster child to be removed from a lesbian couple and placed with a heterosexual couple, citing the well-being of the child. He later reversed his decision.

Days earlier, the Mormon church issued a new policy that bans baptisms for children of gay parents until the kids turn 18 and disavow same-sex relationships.

Biskupski is not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and said she hopes the faith reconsiders the policy.