This Day In Gay Utah History July 19th

19 July 

1884-An editorial in a New York medical journal said that urnings (a term coined by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs to describe men who are attracted to other men) had an irrepressible desire to act like females, and that their "perverted feelings" led to insanity and suicide. The article was an attempt to remove homosexuality from the realm of the criminal and into the realm of the medical.

1892 Ogden Standard Examiner page 5 A DEPRAVED YOUTH IN CUSTODY Escaping justice after having outraged a boy, James Warren, a 19 year old youth who it is reported about three months ago committed the horrible crime of sodomy upon an 8 old son of Joseph P Stone, was arrested last night about 10 o’clock by Officer Learn on Twenty-fifth Street between Grant and Lincoln avenues.  The commission of the infamous crime which occurred in the brush near the Ogden railway bridge created intense excitement at the time and an indignant community would have given the guilty wretch an opportunity of stretching hemp could he have been captured. In his flight from justice, Warren has had many severe experiences. For some time past he has been located at Lehi under an assumed name and although the officers here made every effort to find him they met with no success. The fellow arrived in Ogden Saturday and since that time has kept very quiet. Last night he came out of his hiding place and find in consequence now lies in a prison cell. At the station no inkling was given him as to the nature of the charge upon which be he was arrested an examination will be held today.

1925-A book reviewer for The New York Times, Percy A Hutchison, wrote about a new translation of the poetry of Sappho. He criticized previous translators who purposely mistranslated the love poems directed toward women by masculinizing the subject, as well as criticizing the fanatical Christians who destroyed much of her work by burning the library at Alexandria in 391 Common Era and Pope Gregory VII who ordered much of what remained to be destroyed.

1970- Hans Knight of the Philadelphia Sunday Bulletin wrote an article which began, "homosexuals are sick. Very sick. They're sick of wearing masks. They're sick of being snickered and sneered at. They're sick of being feared. They're sick of being called queers, faggots, and fairies. They're sick of being punished for being honest, of being labeled criminals by the letter of the law. They're sick of being barred from federal jobs and the armed forces. They're sick of being insulted on one hand, pitied on the other. Most of all  they're sick of being told they're sick.

1974-Beth Chayim Chadashim received its charter from the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, making it the first officially recognized Gay synagogue.

1976-In an article in New West magazine, a former Los Angeles vice police officer wrote that LAPD officers routinely beat Gay men.

Gerald Pearson, Carol Lynn Pearson
and family

1984-Gerald Pearson, Utah native and subject of Carol Lynn Pearson’s book Goodbye I Love You, died of AIDS complications.

1988  I had Mark LaMarr do the lesson tonight at Unconditional Support because I was still recovering from last Sunday. He discussed as the topic “Our Fantasy Man” and he did a good job of it.  I am so sore. (Ben Williams Journal)

1989-Urvashi Vaid was appointed to replace Jeff Levi as executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force at the end of his tenure.

1989  I've been busy trying to get people interested in starting a Radical Faeries group here

in Utah.  I've asked Rocky O'Donavan, Mike Pipkim, and John Merrill to come join me as the four pillars to represent holding up the directions of East, North, West, and South as well as the elements of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire.  So that's in the works.  O'Donavan doesn't like the term Pillar saying it sounds too Patriarchal and I said, I like it because it suggests not only strength but support as well.  There isn't any Faerie handbook.  Part of the creation process is finding a new language to express new concepts and ideals. [Journal of Ben Williams]

1990-The House of Representatives Ethics Committee voted to reprimand Rep. Barney Frank for his involvement with a male prostitute. Attempts to have Frank expelled from Congress by Reps William Dannemeyer and Newt Gingrich would fail. 

1995 On July 19, Salt Lake County Commission Chairman Brent Overson proposes and sponsors a bill to the county Board of Commissioners which would amend the county Code of Ordinances by prohibiting the enforcement of county Ordinance No. 1212 from including "the services of county government beyond those required by state or federal law" or "employee benefits, including benefits related to family, marital, co-habitant, or dependent status unless provided for by state or federal law or contract." Commissioners vote unanimously for the bill, and it is adopted. But, it is a compromise to prevent the repeal of the "marital status" and "sexual orientation" protected classes of the ordinance.

1997- Salt Lake County Sheriff Department in a series of raids and arrests on the last remnant of Bare Ass Beach tried to close the Salt Lake Beach front of nudism and sexual activity.  Scores of people arrested and or given citations

1999 CALIFORNIA BATTLE OVER SAME-SEX MARRIAGE  -  THE MORMON CHURCH California Battle: Same Sex Marriage A heated political battle is underway in California over the issue of same sex marriage. Part of that battle pits gay activists against members of the LDS Church. For one side of this debate, it's a case of a church going too far. For the other, it's a matter of free speech. News Specialist Nadine Wimmer went to California and has the first in a series of in-depth reports. LDS Church leaders call this a moral fight for the family. But one San Francisco city leader and gay activists say it's a political fight, where the church has overstepped its bounds. The city by the bay...known for its sights, seafood and stronghold of liberal politics. It's here where gay and lesbian activists oppose a statewide initiative to recognize only marriage between a man and a woman. Mike Marshall, of "Californians for Fairness" says, "It's sole purpose is to denigrate a category of California citizens, gays and lesbians. "Rob Stutzman, the initiative campaign manager says, "The reason it's on the ballot is the moral imperative to have marriage remain as it has since about the beginning of time. "Both sides are preparing campaign letters and signs. Supporters, backed by a heavy hitting campaign firm, have collected more than 700,000 signatures, and support from dozens of churches, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with its 740,000 California members. In fact, California church leaders were instructed to read a letter from the first Presidency at the pulpit asking members to "do all you can by donating your means and time to assure a successful vote." "It doesn't try to tell anyone how they should live their life. It merely is forward looking and trying to keep things as they are." "It's really intruding into politics of California in an inappropriate manner, given the Church doesn't really have a presence in this state. "The issue has now come all the way to California's state capitol, where the Attorney General has been asked to investigate whether LDS leaders crossed the line separating church and state. One San Francisco lawmaker points out that the LDS Church enjoys tax exempt status as a so-called "501-C-3" organization. He wants to know if the church violated that status by the way leaders got involved on this issue. Supervisor Mark Leno, of San Francisco, says, "That they would be able to weigh in on a particular vote and ask for money in the same letter as a501C-3 organization, it got my curiosity. "But to initiative supporters, his actions look like a deliberate attack on a church's right of free speech. "If he's suggesting that people of faith do not have a place of discussing public policy in the public square, then that's alarming." To this point, LDS Church leaders have responded in a statement that, the church is simply adding its voice to a broad-based coalition of many who feel strongly about preserving the traditional family. Is the LDS Church on firm ground in this moral and political fight? We'll have arguments from both sides in our next report.

2000 Schools May Restore Nonacademic Clubs By Heather May, The Salt Lake Tribune Clubs, not just scholarly clubs, could be making a comeback in Salt Lake City schools as soon as September. Members of the Salt Lake City school board appear to be on the verge of ending their four-year ban on nonacademic clubs.  While board members did not make any decisions Tuesday night during their regular board meeting, they did review two possible club policies that would allow students to form academic and nonacademic clubs.     "East High and other schools are suffering because of the absence of these clubs," said Nate McConkie, East High's student body president, and one of seven students and parents who lobbied the board to end the ban. Students in Salt Lake can't beef up their resumés or college applications with lists of clubs they have joined or led, speakers noted.  And perhaps even worse, without clubs many students have no way of connecting to their schools, said Katie Van Dusen, student body vice president of East High.  She said 75 percent of East students don't participate in school activities. School board members will discuss club policy again Aug. 1.  The policies they are currently reviewing make a distinction between academic and nonacademic clubs.  For instance, only students from a particular school can join nonacademic clubs, while students from throughout the district can join academic clubs.  And while teachers sponsor academic clubs, they "monitor" nonacademic clubs.     One draft of the policy doesn't give club members’ equal access to the school's media.  For example, members of nonacademic clubs could advertise their meetings on one bulletin board while the scholarly clubs would have access to bulletin boards, the school newspaper and the PA system.     That doesn't seem right to at least one board member.     "I feel like they should be treated the same," said Ila Rose Fife.    Board member Cliff Higbee disagreed, saying he didn't want a club dealing with homosexuality to have the same access as other clubs.  "I don't believe the Gay lesbian lifestyle ought to be talked about or sponsored by our schools.  That is not a morally proper thing to allow in our schools," he said.     Board members proposed ending the district's ban against nonacademic clubs last month.  In June they learned the state's self-insurance agency might not pay for them to defend the policy in a civil-rights lawsuit brought by two East High students last April.  They wanted to form an academic club called PRISM to discuss Gay issues but were denied by the district in January.  The students then sued and a federal judge forced the district to allow PRISM to meet before school ended in May, pending the outcome of the lawsuit.  School board members are hoping the students will drop the suit if the district allows nonacademic clubs.  The district banned such clubs in 1996 because they wanted to prevent students from forming a Gay-straight alliance.

2006 The GLBT Community Center Youth Group on Wednesday, July

Mahmoud Asgari 16
and Ayaz Marhoni 18

19 at 6:30 PM is sponsoring a candlelight vigil to honor the memory of Iranian youths who were executed just one year ago. Candlelight Vigil - Wednesday, July 19 at 6:30 PM  On July 19, 2005, Iranian officials executed two teenage boys in the city of Mashad in northeastern Iran. The government claimed they were executed for the rape of a 13 year old boy. Others claim the boys were really executed for statutory rape and the sex was consensual.  Prior to their execution, the teenagers were held in prison for 14 months and severely beaten with 228 lashes. The executioners, fearing reprisals, wore masks and anti-riot forces were mobilized to prevent outbreaks of public protests. Ironically, the boys were hung in Edalat (Justice) Square. Please join us at the GLBT Community Center Youth Activity Center on Wednesday, July 19 at 6:30 PM for a candlelight vigil to honor the memory of these youth who were executed just one year ago.  The Youth Activity Center is located at The Center, 355 North 300 West in Salt Lake City. This event is open to all ages, so please come and show your support. For more information, please contact Rachel McNeil 

2006 Federal Marriage Amendment Defeated in House Today! GLBT people across the

United States can celebrate once again as the Federal Marriage Amendment failed during today's House vote. The House rejected the FMA with a 236-to-187 bipartisan vote, with 27 Republicans voting in opposition to the amendment. Requiring a two-thirds majority, or 290 votes, a vote on the same measure failed 227-to-186 in the House on Sept. 30, 2004. The Senate rejected the measure on June 7, 2006, with a 49-to-48 vote, and 48-to-50 vote on June 14, 2004. While we should take a moment to thank the House Reps that voted in our favor, we also need to keep being vocal to our elected leaders, as well as our co-workers, neighbors, and family members. Today's battle may be over, but our enemies are gearing up for a war against GLBT people, children, families and values. Your active help will be needed now through November (and beyond). Certain conservative officials, and the anti-gay hate groups that fun them, have hinted at further attempts to amend the Constitution as well as bolster their already demonstrated plans to use GLBT issues to wedge voters in the upcoming election. The Center will keep you updated as things progress

2009 Gay incident reopens Salt Lake City's Main Street plaza wounds Culture Religious divide boils over again on church-owned square. By Rosemary Winters The Salt Lake Tribune It's the wound that won't heal. The rift that won't close. And earlier this month, two gay lovers' purportedly innocuous late-night kiss -- though LDS Church officials insist it was far more amorous than that -- ripped it wide open. Utah's simmering religious divide boiled over -- once again -- at the geographical and philosophical intersection of church and state:

Dani Eyer

the Main Street Plaza in downtown Salt Lake City. "It is a scab that will continue to be peeled away -- and may never heal," says Dani Eyer, the former ACLU director who fought to preserve First Amendment rights on the plaza. Matt Aune and Derek Jones say they held hands, kissed and then squabbled with security guards on the LDS Church-owned square. Salt Lake City police issued a ticket for trespassing. In protest, supporters of the couple staged a "kiss-in" last Sunday outside the plaza and plan another such demonstration today.  The LDS Church -- a faith to which 60 percent of Utahns belong -- defended its right to regulate "inappropriate behavior" on the plaza.  "What we're seeing now is a manifestation of what should have been obvious from the very beginning," says former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson. "This block of Main Street never should have been conveyed to the LDS Church. It was a recipe for ongoing resentments between the LDS Church and those who are not members." The church bought the strip of Main -- from

Matthew Aune

North Temple to South Temple -- in 1999 after then-Mayor Deedee Corradini and the City Council, with the only two non-LDS members dissenting, signed off on the $8.1 million deal. But the controversy burned for five more years as federal courts were asked to settle the

Derek Jones

prickly issue of whether the church could govern expression on the plaza and whether the city could retain a public right of way (as outlined in the original deal). "It was meant to be for everybody," Eyer says. "Where people come and go their constitutional rights go with them."  After a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in 2002, First Amendment activities returned to the plaza. But demonstrations by anti-Mormon protesters -- including cries of "whore" and "harlot" hurled at newlywed brides -- "sustained divisions" that "reached to the point of hatred" between Mormons and non-Mormons, Anderson says. In the end, he agreed to trade the public easement for cash and LDS land to build a west-side community center. "What we were really swapping was a major division that wouldn't go away," Anderson says, for "the opportunity to really improve the lives of a lot of people over generations through the services and facilities that would be available at the [Sorenson] Unity Center." Anderson tried to patch up the sores, staging a series of "Bridging the Religious Divide" forums in 2004 and 2005 that sprouted small discussion groups throughout the Salt Lake Valley. "People, in general, have many more similarities than they do differences," says Elise Lazar, who is Jewish and has participated in bridge-building groups with Mormons and members of other faiths since 2004. "Our guidelines have always been that we are not there to change anybody, but to understand each others' positions," she says. "We're friends now." Still, she says, LDS views on homosexuality and efforts to thwart gay marriage remain among the "thorniest" issues. "It's been hard for us to get past," she says. "I have respect for many of the values of the LDS Church, but this [plaza trespassing] incident highlights one of the most flagrant inconsistencies -- love thy neighbor, but only if he or she is heterosexual." The LDS Church, in a statement, says Aune and Jones were asked to stop "behavior deemed inappropriate for any couple on the plaza," alleging the couple had been drinking (Aune and Jones acknowledge that) and engaged in "lewd language," "passionate kissing" and "groping." (Aune says there was nothing "pornographic," just a show of affection.) "We hope the plaza will continue to be an asset to the community and enjoyed by the many that cross it each day," the church statement says. "We want it to be a place of beauty and serenity in downtown Salt Lake City for everyone." John Kesler, a Mormon who helped design Anderson's forums, says the incident and the ensuing "kiss-ins" highlight the need for more dialogue. Mormons don't want to be vilified as anti-gay for "honoring" their beliefs about marriage, Kesler notes, but they also have to realize that stand winds up hurting people. "The temptation is for everyone to move to the lowest common denominator and scream at each other from across the religious divide," he says. "When you have something traumatic happen, it's an opportunity for the community to convene and talk about it. Ultimately, it can help us create community even though we have differences that tear us apart." Mayor Ralph Becker says he does not plan to hold any religious-divide forums of his own, nor does he take a position on the plaza incident. "I am concerned about the hurt feelings that I've heard expressed on both sides," Becker says. "We have so much to work together on that my focus, as mayor, is to work on who we are and where we go as a city."  To that end, he plans to release a report on discrimination this week and push a citywide anti-discrimination ordinance this year. "Equality" and "justice," he says, are a "cornerstone" of U.S. democracy.  Legally, there is not much Becker can do about the plaza, Anderson says. The Main Street sale is history. "But certainly in terms of community dialogue, there's a lot that the mayor could, and I think should, be initiating," Anderson says. "You don't just let these

Tom Goldsmith

things fester."  The Rev. Tom Goldsmith, leader of the First Unitarian Church, one of the plaintiffs the ACLU represented in the lawsuits, wants to see the issues of church and state, gay and straight discussed on a "grander scale." "I would like to see dialogue not only among neighbors, but I'd also like to see the dialogue elevated more amongst community leaders and religious leaders."  For now, he hopes the LDS Church "lightens up" on plaza enforcement.  "The LDS Church responds very effectively to very overt cases of human pain and suffering," such as Hurricane Katrina or poverty in Africa, Goldsmith says. "For some reason, they just don't see the pain and suffering of people right here on their very doorsteps, people who are prevented from having their civil rights honored, their human integrity honored."

Michael Marriott

2010 From: Michael Marriott Subject: Ben Williams "A History of Gay Pride in Utah" To: Michael Aaron and Ben Williams ate: Monday, July 19, 2010, 12:28 PM Hi Ben and Michael, I received a copy of the Gay Pride Guide and read the article written by Ben about the history of Gay Pride in Utah.  Unfortunately, in 2002 there is no mention that the Bastian Foundation paid for a consultant to come to Utah to look at Pride and offer a report about what changes could be made to make it profitable and professional. Prior to 2002, the Foundation had supported the Pride Day Inc. for several years.  I was one of the first people called after the money went missing, as we were one of few financial supporters of Pride.   I read nothing in the article about the contents of the report, which laid out a blueprint of success in Denver, which led us to back a plan putting the Pride under the umbrella of the GLBT Community Center..if they would agree to take it on.  The article only mentions the serious problems Pride Day Inc was experiencing and that they elected to be absorbed by the GLBT Community Center...under much secrecy.  I was at the meeting, and it was anything but secret.  I'm not certain, but perhaps if you shared this information with the general public, we could change the way some people look at this point in history.  I don't care about accolades/press for the Foundation, but if the story had mentioned a paid consultant, a report with findings which led to the whole "absorption", I think people would look back at this time as a turning point.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  Thanks, Michael Marriott Executive Director/Trustee B. W. Bastian Foundation

• Ben Edgar Williams  7/19/2010 3:41 PM Hi Michael thanks for the input. I only had access to the emails from 2002 from Craig Miller, Jeff Partain, Sherry Booth, Chad Keller and others. Minutes have never been shared with me and nowhere in the emails were there mention of a professional report. Do you have a copy of it? That would be great. Unfortunately little is retain in this community regarding it's history. As for the secrecy it may have appeared so because the Pride Day Committee and the Center did not consult the community nor any media that they were intending to have the GLBTCCU take over the Pride Day and have it become more "professional" rather than the home town affair it had been for years.  There were no press reports or anything of that nature at the time the center was considering this move. In fact the involvement of the Bastian Foundation to the extent you report is quite news to me. Thanks for the update.Ben
• Re: Ben Williams "A History of Gay Pride in Utah" Monday, July 19, 2010 1:21 PM From: "Michael Marriott" To: "Ben Edgar Williams" Cc: "Michael Aaron" Hi Guys,I am looking in my files for the report, but I don't think I have it anymore.  After I moved, I got rid of so much Foundation paperwork that was no longer necessary to keep.  I can try to locate a copy, either from the Center or the consultant.  I believe his name was Mike.  He attended Pride that year, and wrote his report based on his findings.  He came recommended thru my Foundation contacts/Community Center contacts and hailed from the Denver GLBT community.  He also helped start the AIDS quilt..if I'm not mistaken.  Interestingly, he provided a great report detailing ideas that the Salt Lake community should do including fencing in the event and charging the public.  I remember the Denver Center raising a lot of money for programming from their Pride, and thinking that is exactly what needs to happen in Utah.  At any rate, I will be happy to provide whatever information you need to help clear this time in the Utah GLBT history.  I hope that people will look back and think that community members, both Pride Inc., and the GLBT Comm Ctr, and other folks involved, and made some difficult choices that led to what is now an incredible Pride event in UT.  I was pleased to hear that this year's Pride was such a huge success! Thanks for taking the time to respond.  Best, Michael 
• Michael Marriott Back in 1995, Michael’s passion for real estate was ignited while living in Salt Lake City, Utah. After attending the University of Utah in Business Administration, and owning a variety of local businesses, he joined a small boutique broker in Park City, Utah. With lots of hard work and determination, Michael earned the prestigious “Rookie of the Year” in 1996. In 2006, he moved to DC and affiliated with Coldwell Banker Dupont. Then in 2011, Michael and Stanton found that they shared similar passions for real estate. With a desire to help people with the buying and selling experience, Marriott + Schnepp was formed. Since 1995, the real estate market has had its challenges. Each upswing and downturn has given Michael the opportunity to develop unique solutions. Instead of saying, “We can’t do that,” Michael’s response is always, “How can we do that?” This positive attitude is what draws people to want to work with him. Besides being a dedicated realtor, Michael takes time for family, friends, and fun for a healthy balanced life. Michael and his partner of 18 years, Juan, live with their dog, Bailey, in Sheridan Kalorama. Michael loves cars–especially his “all electric” Tesla, traveling the world with friends, and spending time working with various charitable and equal rights causes. He has served on the Board of Governors of the Human Rights Campaign, he was a founding Board member of Equality Utah, he served on the Board of Trustees of Ballet West and the Salt Lake Acting Company, and loves to support local neighborhood community organizations like Friends of Mitchell Park, the Logan Circle Community Association, and SMYAL. He is especially proud of his work as the Executive Director and Trustee of the B. W. Bastian Foundation, a private family foundation based in Utah.

2010 Todd Curtis Ransom 1982 ~ 2010 Todd Curtis Ransom departed this life on July 19,

Todd Ransom

2010. He was born on July 11, 1982 in Princeton, New Jersey. He grew up in Tucson, Arizona and Orem, Utah, where he graduated from Timpanogos High School in 2000. He graduated with honors from the University of Utah in May 2009, earning a BS degree in biomedical engineering. Before his death he worked at BD Medical in Salt Lake City. Todd was a talented singer. He was a member of the Timpanogos High School Show & Chamber choir and sang in the BYU Men’s Chorus. He loved to sing, play the guitar, and write. He loved the outdoors and taking photographs of beautiful scenery. For many years Todd dealt with emotional pain that we could not understand. In spite of this, he was sensitive and kind and had many friends. We know he has found peace and that we will see him again. We all loved him very much and will miss him deeply. We will always remember his laughter, twinkling blue eyes, big dimpled smile and long, loving hugs. 

• Another Life Lost To Hatred And Bigotry Posted by Eric Ethington Another life has been lost to the hatred, bigotry and prejudice of the Mormon Church. Todd Ransom, 28, of Utah took his life this morning after a lifetime of persecution, leaving behind a note reading “Sunrise – Accept This Offering.” I don’t want to elaborate here much dear readers. Let me simply say that I place full blame on the Mormon Church and their intense bigotry and persecution of people like Todd. Todd was one of many interviewed for the recent documentary 8: The Mormon Proposition and his story of growing up in the church was truly heart-breaking. We fight for equality, we fight for justice; but we need to remember that the cost of those who hate us is the precious lives of our children. Be at peace dear Todd, we love you.
• Mark Swonson Re: Todd He apparently committed suicide last night. He was 28. I saw him at a party last week. He apparently went over to his family last week and told them he "he loved them" they had no clue or no else.
• Michael Aaron commented on Eric Equality Ethington's Link: "I just want to scream and cry and rant and soapbox and tell people how hateful they are to their friends and family for being so damned selfish to do this. But I don't. And I just did. I understand and I don't. I feel for them and I hate them. I want to resurrect them just to kill them again for being so cruel. I want to travel back in time to be there and plead and strangle them with my own hands if they reject my reasoning. They scare me because I don't know who's next. They anger me because they didn't come to me for help. How did you end all resources for living if you didn't talk to me or a dozen other friends who would say the same thing? I call you a coward, but braver than most. You escaped life and its troubles, but you also left me. I believe you will go to hell, but I hope and pray not. And I don't even believe in hell. I know of three people who killed themselves this month. How many others in this area did the same thing and I don't now about it. I read the obituaries daily to glean who was the latest suicide. Why am I so powerless to help with this? Why are we, as a community - yes, a gay community, and the community of Utah, able to fix this. Suicide is a choice. How do we get people to not choose this? How did so many of us - friends of Todd - not see the signs to see and recognize the signs that this was on our horizon?  I'm angry, I'm hurt. Much like I was when I was 16 and a friend did the same thing. Much like I was when a complete stranger drove his car into a concrete wall only to have a group of boy scouts run to his "aid." I wish for a better world and pray that people out there considering the same thing know there are people out here who will help. 
• Rebecca Chavez-Houck commented on Eric Equality Ethington's Link:"I hurt for all of you who hurt.  I have no way of understanding your pain, but know that my heart aches for what some people have to go through. I agree with Michael; I want to have been able to protect them. I so wish that these individuals could find peace in other faith traditions that would love and accept them, before they resort to taking their lives.  Maybe Ben's right; they might see a chance to be forgiven and loved if they leave. But I guess it is so hard when your family, the people who gave you life, hate you for who you are. I left the Catholic Church and became Episcopalian because I couldn't reconcile the Catholic Church's stance on women in the priesthood (plus many other things...), but I've never thought the road to my salvation lay in staying with the Catholic Church.  I guess that's what makes it different."

2014 ACLU says same-sex marriages must be recognized by state Courts • Utah has asked U.S. Supreme Court to continue stay on the marriages. BY JESSICA MILLER AND PAMELA MANSON THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE The marriages of same-sex couples who wed in Utah are valid and the state should not be allowed to “effectively divorce” them by placing their unions on hold, the American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday. “The act of entering into marriage is a fundamental change in legal status, which is shielded by the Constitution from state interference,” the ACLU said in a brief filed at the U.S. Supreme Court in Evans v. Utah. The ACLU filing was in response to a request by Utah that the Supreme Court issue an emergency order preventing the state from recognizing the more than 1,000 same-sex marriages performed during a 17-day window starting in December when the unions were legal in the state. With a stay barring recognition due to expire at 8 a.m. Monday — making the same-sex couples eligible for spousal benefits — Utah asked for the emergency order on Wednesday. The state said it believes it will ultimately prevail in its fight to revive a ban on same-sex unions, which it says would nullify the marriages entered into during the window. But the ACLU said that even if the same-sex marriage ban is revived, the state will be constitutionally barred from nullifying the marriages that took place between Dec. 20, 2013, and Jan. 6, 2014. It said that “couples that do legally marry are protected by the same fundamental rights and liberty interests as any other legally married couple.” Utah continues to defend its right to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman on two fronts — in the historic Kitchen v. Herbert case that toppled the state’s ban on same-sex unions in December, and in the newer Evans v. Utah

Dale Kimball

suit, in which say the state must recognize their Utah marriages.  U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball ruled in May in the Evans case that Utah must recognize and imbue all same-sex marriages performed in the state with the same rights and privileges afforded to married opposite-sex couples. His decision did not go into effect immediately to give the state time to appeal. Utah’s emergency application was filed with U.S Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who oversees the federal court circuit of which Utah is a part and who, in January, halted the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Utah after 17 days of marriages. If Sotomayor refuses to intervene, the state wrote, it will seek relief from the full U.S. Supreme Court. The state had first gone to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. A panel of three judges, who heard the Kitchen v. Herbert lawsuit, subsequently denied the request to indefinitely stop married gay and lesbian couples from applying for benefits until all litigation was settled. Judges Carlos F. Lucero and Jerome A. Holmes authored the succinct denial without offering an analysis of their reasons. But, in denying Utah’s request, the judges declared the state failed to prove it would suffer irreparable harm in recognizing the marriages and didn’t demonstrate that the state is likely to prevail in its appeal.  Last week, one appeals judge, Judge Paul J. Kelly, wrote a dissent, backing the state’s right to judicial resolution and arguing that allowing gay and lesbian couples’ marriages to be imbued with rights would undermine the appeals process.

2018  haCalifornia Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed a bill into law establishing June as LGBT Pride Month, making California apparently the first state with such a statute. a sinus infection that  I went to urgency care for this morning. I thought it would go away but hadn't. I hadn't been sleeping well but got some anti-biotics. Just been staying close to home spending time with Buddy. He's declining quickly.