This Day In Gay Utah History July 25th

1970-The Vatican issued a statement reaffirming its stance that homosexual unions are a moral aberration. ROME, July 25—Attempts to consecrate the union between two people of the same sex through a formal marriage ceremony “are simply moral aberrations that cannot be ap proved by human conscience, much less Christian conscience,” a leading Vatican theologian declared. Writing for the Vatican paper, L'Osservatore Romano, where his articles on canon law and moral theology appear frequently, the Rev. Gino Concetti warned that religious authorities might soon have trouble refusing “pressing and frequent” requests to perform marriage ceremonies for homosexual couples. He added, however, that the “still small and limited” trend toward such unions should he resisted as a “totally and radically revolutionary concept outside all laws, all social systems and all ethical customs.” Only marriage between a man and a woman, he concluded, can fulfill the consecrated function symbolized by the marriage sacrament itself.

Bill Woodbury

1978 R. Joseph Dover bought The Open Door for $500 from the board of Trustees of the Gay Service Coalition and agreed to pay the Gay Helpline phone bill. Signed by Bill Woodbury acting President, John Meng Secretary. Board Members  Bill Woodbury, John Meng, Ray Henke, Ken Kline, and Bob Waldrop. Ken Kline resigned from the board.

1979 The film Cruising was protested as showing a negative

aspect of Gay life.Al Pacino who starred in the movie said that he understood the protests but insisted that upon reading the screenplay he never at any point felt that the film was anti-gay. He said that the leather bars were “just a fragment of the gay community, the same way the Mafia is a fragment of Italian-American life,” referring to The Godfather, and that he would “never want to do anything to harm the gay community”.
 

1985 On this day, July 25, 1985, HIV/AIDS was given a global spotlight when it was announced that screen icon Rock Hudson was suffering from the disease. Looking gaunt and almost unrecognizable, rumors began to circulate about his health earlier in the summer when the actor had made a public appearance to promote a new cable series of his friend and former co-star Doris Day. After collapsing in Paris in July 1985, he was diagnosed with AIDS and given treatment with the drug HPA-23, which at the time was unavailable in the United States. It was while he was in the hospital that it was announced to the public that Hudson had AIDS:

1988- Alan Peterson and I went to Brook Hallocks and Nancy Diatima Perez where they were hosting a Poetry Reading Party. That was fun. I got to know Becky Moorman

James Kepner

and Tom Abizu Jensen better who were there reading their writings.  It was an enjoyable evening. Brook Hallock and I had an academic debate on whether being Gay was a modern phenomenon or not. I said I believe it is because we define ourselves by the post world war II concept of Gay people as something we are and not something we do.  Later Brook Hallock  said that James Kepner of the International Gay Archives called Satu Servigna to tell her that The Triangle Community Digest was the best community magazine being sent to him due primarily to the quality of the writers including me. I got chills when I heard that because of the honor of recognition from James Kepner. [Journal of Ben Williams]

Richard Starley

1988  I spent all day at the Neighborhood Fair at Liberty Park at the Salt Lake AIDS Foundation booth handing out literature about AIDS. Mark LaMarr was the ultimate salesman selling over fifty AIDS T-shirts with safe sex slogans on them at $10 a piece. Richard Starley Executive Director of Utah AIDS Project wrote a real nasty letter to the Editor of the Salt Lake Tribune attacking Ben Barr for wanting to distribute condoms at the Neighborhood Fair. [Journal of Ben Williams]

1989-Studio 54 creator Steve Rubell died of complicationsIn June 1979, Rubell and business partner Ian Schrager were charged with tax evasion, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy for reportedly skimming nearly $2.5 million in unreported income from the club's receipts, in a system Rubell called "cash-in, cash-out and ski. The pair hired Roy Cohn to defend them but on January 18, 1980, they were sentenced to three and a half years in prison and a $20,000 fine each for the tax evasion charge. On February 4, 1980, Rubell and Schrager went to prison and Studio 54 was sold in November of that year for $4.75 million. On April 17, 1981, Rubell and Schrager were released from prison after which they lived at a halfway house for two and a half months.

Steve Rubell & Roy Cohn

from AIDS. In 1985, Rubell, who was closeted for most of his life, discovered he had contracted HIV which later progressed to AIDS. He began taking AZT, but his illness was furthered by his continued drug use and drinking, which affected his already-compromised immune system. Rubell's official cause of death is listed as hepatitis and septic shock complicated by AIDS.

1990 Project: Volunteers are needed Saturday to cut undergrowth, paint, weed and pick up trash. CLEANUP DESIGNED TO MAKE MEMORY GROVE SAFE AGAIN By Joel Campbell, Staff Writer Deseret News In 1920, a group of mothers of World War I war dead had a vision for what then was described as "unattractive, barren" land in City Creek Canyon.  They approached the Salt Lake City Commission with an idea and were granted 20 acres in the area. By 1924, the Service Star Legion, the organization of mothers, officially opened "Memory Park" and began fashioning the landscape to honor their sons.  Today, most of those women are no longer alive to manicure Memory Grove, its monuments and buildings. By default, the city now controls the park. It's trails have eroded and many areas are filled with thick underbrush. What's worse, the park has developed a reputation as being both unsafe and

unsavory. The Salt Lake City Parks Department, Salt Lake Association of Community Councils, Office of Community Affairs and "Operation Earth," a joint project of KUER, KUED and KULC, plan to start changing all that. On Saturday, organizers are hoping to recruit at least 200 volunteers to cut undergrowth, remove dead wood, line the Freedom Trail with rocks and bark chips, paint park benches, weed flower beds and pick up trash. The park, one of the city's oldest, was last cleaned after the 1983 floods devastated it. Since then, many pine trees on the slopes above Memory Grove have died, underbrush and weeds have obscured paths and stonework and trails have eroded. It has become a victim of tight city budgets, according to deputy parks director Rick Graham. Project organizers think the cleanup will give local residents who volunteer a sense of ownership in the park that might bring them back, make the park safer and make the park spaces more attractive for the public. "There is a stigma attached to this park that is hard to

break," said Graham. Some of the stigma is attached to its reputation for being unsafe as well as a turn-around point for kids cruising State Street. It's also reputed to be a meeting place for Salt Lake area gays. "There is less family use than ever before," Graham said. He hopes removing dead trees and opening up spaces and trails will help all people in the community enjoy the park. Opening up spaces will also make the park safer, said Salt Lake Police Officer Pam Grimes. She said that all of the undergrowth makes the parks walkways frightening to some. Making trails so that people can see farther ahead gives more security. In addition, simply attracting more people to the park will make it safer. "The more people who use it, the safer it is," she said.

1990 EVERGREEN OFFERS AN ALTERNATIVE To the editor: Verl Ogden and Jim Budd (July 9) make essentially the same point that homosexuality is a choice. As an advocate for heterosexuality, The Evergreen Foundation provides support to people who have found that even with moral commitment and self-control, choice is a struggle and a process rather than a single decisive event. We offer those troubled by their homosexual behavior or attraction a positive approach to change. Our approach is an alternative to gay lifestyles. It is also an option to those who suffer alone and in silence believing change is impossible. Budd appears to blame the opposite sex for what he calls unnatural detours. We see homosexuality as a symptom of inadequate same-sex relationships. For example, we believe boys who do not feel closely bonded with their fathers are at greater risk of developing same-sex attraction than boys who know they are loved and accepted by their fathers and the other men and boys in their lives. The encouraging news is that damage to a person's sexual identity can be mitigated. Members of Evergreen are living proof that people who meet their needs for same-sex acceptance and affirmation in non-sexual ways experience positive changes, including freedom from sexual addiction. Alan Seegmiller, chairman The Evergreen Foundation Salt Lake City  

1994-  Laurence Richard Finnegan, age 34, passed away at home  Larry touched the lives of many and was loved by all. He spent many hours working for the AIDS Foundation in Utah and Texas. Employed at Holiday Inn.

1994 UTAHNS TO BOARD HEALTH-REFORM EXPRESS TO D.C.  UTAHNS JOIN THE HEALTH EXPRESS TO CAPITOL HILL Byline: By Jennifer Skordas THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Page: D1    When the ``health-reform riders'' roll out of Salt Lake City today on a tour to rally support for a sweeping national health plan, they will take with them the story of a Salt Lake City family whose father died uninsured.   At stops along the route to the nation's capital, Michelle Brown will tell how she quit her job to care for her husband, Larry, and how she went without health care for herself to save money for his medication. Ten-year-old Victoria Brown will tell how her father was unable to walk and could not remember who she was in the days before his death 18 months ago. The Browns are stepping aboard the Health Security Express, a caravan of buses that began a cross-country trek in Portland, Ore. Hillary Rodham Clinton kicked off the Express on Friday as a crowd of 15,000 turned out to cheer or jeer them on.  Michelle and Victoria Brown will be aboard, and Victoria will celebrate her 11th birthday on the road, talking to people about her father's death from AIDS.  Larry Brown used up $25,000 worth of insurance during his first stay in the hospital when he was diagnosed with AIDS. His policy -- and his family's -- was canceled after that, and Michelle Brown is still paying medical bills.  ``I'm hoping this will let Congress know we want health care reform -- this year,'' said Michelle Brown. ``It's only fair that we have access to the same kind of insurance that Congress has. It's our taxes that are paying for it.''

1999 07/25/99 UTAH   MORMON CHURCH LEADERS SAY THEY REGRET PROTESTTHE DAILY HERALD  LDS Church 'regrets' exodus over gay issue By PAUL FOY Associated press Writer SALT LAKE CITY - LDS Church leaders say they regret a protest by dozens of dissident members trying to quit the church because of its campaign in California against gay marriages. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement Saturday saying it was defending the "traditional family" by pushing for a California ballot initiative that seeks to preempt legalized same-gender marriages. Church spokesman Dale Bills said written demands by gay members and others to be removed from church membership roles will be referred to local bishops and stake leaders for a decision. The dissidents say the church crossed a line by asking its 740,000 California members to "do all you can" to assure passage of the initiative. "We regret that any member would ask to have his or her name removed from our records because the church has joined a coalition in California to oppose same-gender marriage," the church said Saturday from its headquarters in Salt Lake City.  "In the face of organized efforts to redefine marriage, the church has no doctrinal choice but defend the traditional family," the statement said. Also Saturday, Bills sought to clarify how the church contacted California members for their support. Bishops and stake leaders read a church letter to the 740,000 California members in congregations, but the church did not mail letters to each member as some news reports have suggested, Bills said. The appeal asks members "to do all you can by donating your means and time to assure a successful vote" on California's March 2000 ballot measure. Saturday's church statement also quoted President Gordon B. Hinckley saying, "Our hearts reach out to those who struggle with feelings of affinity for the same gender. We remember you before the Lord, we sympathize with you, we regard you as our brothers and sisters. However, we cannot condone immoral practices on your part anymore than we can condone immoral practices on the part of others." Gay activists say several dozen dissidents have requested their names be removed from the Mormon church's membership rolls and that dozens more are likely to follow.

2003  Subject: 27th Anniversary of Salute to the Cowboy Chad Keller to Ben Williams The following was sent to me today...with the comment...."since you took on 30 for Pride, why are you not taking on UGRA."  I have responded back with the difference to the person with PR and History... However...by calculations the first Salute to Cowboys was indeed 1976.  So that would mean that they missed the PR boat by history standards...25 years was 2001. As UGRA has been supportive, and knowing the person that sent me the jab, perhaps if you’re willing you should give Paul a heads up.  This could again be from the Memory of one particular individual.  It would also help us in the Pride issue. If I send it, it would probably be taken wrong.  See item 2 on the second page of Marks document. (i think)  Open Door had a think on it. Saturday, November 8th 25th Anniversary of Salute to Cowboys  The Trapp Door* Showtime 8:00 PM  Can you believe it?  25 years ago the first Salute to Cowboys was held here in Salt Lake City.  UGRA is proud to help continue the tradition and will celebrate this important anniversary with the biggest and best Salute to Cowboys ever.  Come joins us in this special event as we select our new UGRA Royalty for 2004.  $5.00 cover charge  $3.00 for UGRA members

2003 Subject: USHS Chad Keller- For the historical society to truly recreate itself we need to get more people and organization on board.  This became apparently obvious to me in a meeting last night with a president of an organization that is working on its history. For months I have hoped to get organizations in our community to create a historian position, who in turn will have a position on Organization Council to guard and watch over the physical archives and memorabilia once they start to come together again. While some members of the board may not be interested in helping with the dinner event, there may be one of you interested in helping with recruiting GLBT organizations to see the value in history, commit to supporting an organizational historian, assist them in preparing items to be archived. If one of you are interested in this, I would like to meet with you to discuss the vision of the Organizational Council, prepare a proposal for the board, and get to work. Please contact me directly. Thanks!  Chad Keller Co-Chair USHS   

2003 Subject: RCGSE Presents this weekend Mark Thrash to all: FRIDAY - JULY 25 "A Night of Ebony Essence" - Trapp Door* - 9:00 PM         Presented by Miss Gay Utah, Charese $5.00 - Proceeds benefit the General Fund SATURDAY - JULY 26 "Drag Idol" - Trapp Door* - 8:00 PM Crown Prince & Princess Mega Production $5.00 - Proceeds benefit the General Fund SUNDAY - JULY 27 Irreverent Sundays" - Hosted by Imperial Family Trapp Patio* - Dinner - 4:00 PM/Activity - 5:00 PM $3.00 - Proceeds benefit the General Fund *A Private Club for Members

Rocky Anderson

2003 Page: B1 Staff Column Mayoral foes' campaign

Frank Pignanelli

appearances in sharp contrast by Paul Rolly and JoAnn Jacobsen-Wells   Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and challenger Frank Pignanelli have held several fund-raisers and made appearances reflecting broad areas of support. Anderson even enjoyed a fund-raising event sponsored by the mayor of Washington. But the contrast of the appearances the mayoral foes have scheduled for Saturday night is too good to escape a mention.  Anderson will be the guest of honor during dancing, drinking and other festivities at Club Naked, 326 S. West Temple, beginning at 10 p.m. The mayor has sought and won endorsements in the gay and lesbian community, considered a key constituency in this year's mayoral election, and the event is co-sponsored by the gay/lesbian advocacy group Unity Utah. The invitation says Anderson will pose for pictures for $10 each and bartenders will serve up "special drinks named after Rocky."  Meanwhile, Pignanelli will be seen at an ice cream social for families at Rosewood Park, 1200 W. 1400 North, at 6:30 p.m. No word on whether he will be scooping up specialties such as "Frank's Fudge" or "Pig's Parfait." 

2017 Utah’s two big parades exclude groups with LGBTQ ties, but only one is taking heat  The Salt Lake Tribune    Thousands attend the Day’s of 47 parade in downtown Salt Lake City By Jennifer Dobner Money matters • America’s Freedom Festival is criticized after denying an LGBTQ entry; Days of ’47, not taxpayer funded, can set its rules. The ouster of the LGBTQ resource center Encircle from America’s Freedom Festival Fourth of July parade in Provo has produced a wave of criticism against organizers, whose nonprofit receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money. Social media posts dubbed the exclusion as discrimination, a state senator has launched a petition to block future public funding, and at least one legal expert says violations of the state and federal constitutions may have occurred. Utah’s largest parade — the Days of ’47 event slated for Monday — has, for the fourth consecutive year, barred the group Mormons Building Bridges. But it isn’t coming under the same kind of fire as the Freedom Festival. The difference is public funding. Days of ’47 Inc. spokesman Greg James says his nonprofit doesn’t accept government money and for that reason is free to adhere to its standards that bar parade entrants based on reasons that include political speech and advocacy. Mormons Building Bridges, a group that promotes better relations between the LDS and LGBTQ communities, accepts that distinction. Now sitting on the sidelines for its fourth Days of ’47 Parade, it has had its application to participate in the Freedom Festival denied three times, group

Kendall Wilcox

spokesman Kendall Wilcox said. “Mormons Building Bridges fully supports the parade organizers’ right to free speech and freedom of association,” Wilcox said. “It’s the public funds used to support the events that call that into question.” Public money • What about the $10 million in state funding and millions more in state and local tax dollars spent, along with LDS Church donations, to build the new Days of ’47 Arena at the Utah State Fairpark? James said those funds cannot be viewed as support for the parade and its nonprofit sponsor. “The majority of the arena belongs to the state,” James said. “And the rodeo is its own separate organization that runs its own budget and gets their own funding.” The separation of the rodeo into a nonprofit distinct from the parade-sponsoring organization occurred relatively recently — in 2014 — according to IRS tax records. But they remain closely linked. The Days of ’47 Inc., which runs the parade, is the “supported organization” of the Days of ’47 Rodeo Salt Lake. The former exercises broad control over the rodeo, approving rodeo dates and

Jim Dabakis

activities, according to the tax documents. The two tax-exempt organizations also have a half-dozen board members in common. Still, those raising the alarm about the Freedom Festival, aren’t expressing concern about the Days of ’47. State Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, for one, is sharply critical of the former. “You don’t have a First Amendment right to have the taxpayers pay for your discrimination,” said Dabakis, who called the Freedom Festival’s decision reprehensible and launched an actionnetwork.org petition that has been signed so far by 12,000 people. “They want it both ways.” Dabakis did not respond to a

Burke, Paul

request for comment on the Days of ’47. Paul Burke, a Salt Lake City attorney who called the Provo-based event problematic, said the rodeo undoubtedly benefits from having access to a new and improved stadium. He said he would be concerned only if arena managers ever appear to favor viewpoints held by rodeo organizers above others.  “A traditional public forum built with public funds should be operated in a viewpoint neutral fashion,” Burke said. “The real test is whether the facility will be open to other tenants reflecting other viewpoints.”  While the Days of ’47 has consistently refused Mormons Building Bridges, it has twice invited Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski to ride in the parade with her wife. Councilman Derek Kitchen and his husband, Moudi Sbeity, whose lawsuit legalized gay marriage in Utah, also have appeared in the parade, the mayor’s spokesman Matthew Rojas said. Biskupski is aware of the Mormons Building Bridges rejections and weighed that in deciding whether to accept the invitation to appear in the parade, Rojas said. “For her, it came down to being with her wife in the parade,” he said. “It’s a great city event, and there is an element of the opportunity for [the mayor] and her wife to ride with dignity that is its own message.” Provo Parade • The America’s Freedom Festival nonprofit received nearly $400,000 from government sources this past year, including $100,000 from state lawmakers, $113,000 from Utah County, and another $150,000 in cash and in-kind police and fire services from Provo, government records for all three entities show. The money is only a fraction, but not an insignificant one, of the organization’s budget, which tax records from 2015 show was $3.3 million. America’s Freedom Festival Executive Director Paul Warner did not respond to requests for comment from The Salt Lake Tribune, which sought an explanation of the event’s decision to decision to dub Encircle an “advocacy group” and renege on a participation invitation issued weeks before the Fourth of July. In a recent Daily Herald story, Warner said the festival has a constitutionally protected right to choose parade participants based on standards it alone sets. A 1995 U.S. Supreme Court ruling did conclude that as a matter of free speech, a privately organized St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston could block a gay veterans group from marching. And while the Freedom Festival and other organizations do have free speech rights, the governmental endorsement and funding trigger a constitutional tripwire, said Burke, the Salt Lake City attorney. “The parade organizers get to decide what their message is,” he said. “The problem here is that government has chosen to endorse and subsidize the expression, a viewpoint that is not consistent with the Utah and the federal constitutions.” On its website, the Freedom Festival states its purpose is to “celebrate, teach, honor and strengthen the traditional values of God, family, freedom and country.” If the festival is teaching about the value of God, then public funds are being used in violation of Utah’s constitution, which states that “no public money or property shall be appropriated for or applied to any religious worship, exercise or instruction, or for the support of any ecclesiastical establishment,” Burke said, quoting the document. Additionally, if the event is promoting traditional man-woman marriage over the established right of gay marriage, then the U.S. Constitution has been violated, he said. “Utah’s counties and cities may not use public funds to promote unconstitutional views,” Burke said. “And they should not spend tax dollars to advocate for second-class citizenship of LGBT Americans.” Dabakis is considering proposing legislation to bar lawmakers from funding events with participation rules that exclude individuals or groups — “although I’m not sure it would get out of [the Senate] Rules [Committee].” “I think a lot of the Legislature probably agrees with the discrimination,” he said. Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said no such legislation is needed. The Legislature already has sufficient checks and balances in place for weighing funding requests. “It’s called the appropriations committee process,” said Bramble, whose wife serves on the Freedom Festival board. The participation issue is hardly unique to the Freedom Festival, he added. Many other parades have rules that limit entries, particularly those related to political messaging, said Bramble, who pushed for the $100,000 the event got from state coffers. That includes parades that keep out state lawmakers, even while elected city officials are allowed to march or ride floats. “We haven’t protested,” said Bramble. “But I think it’s a delicate balancing act.” Provo Mayor John Curtis said his city views the parade and other events like it as good for the community and drivers of economic development. City leaders, he said, don’t ask many questions about specific events rules or seek to impose their own rules. “We have, for example a concert series,” Curtis said, “and we don’t tell them what band they can have and which ones they can’t.” But questions about funding a privately run event with public funding, Curtis added are both fair and appropriate. “They do need to be consistent about who gets to participate,” he said. “Otherwise, they are discriminating.”