This Day In Gay Utah History October 12

October 12th

1889 EVAN THOMAS FOUND GUILTY The People vs Evan Thomas charged with the crime against nature was called A jury was impaneled and C. Simmonson testified that he lived at Monroe, Sevier county. Witness here described the detestable circumstances of the crime. Two other witness corroborated the testimony of Simmonson The defendant testified that he was a miner by occupation. He denied in toto the accusation. No arguments were made and after brief charge the jury returned a verdict of guilty without leaving the box. Evan Thomas the man convicted this morning of the terrible crime against nature was sentenced to one year in the Pen.  Judge Judd remarked that in all his practice in Tennessee he had never heard of such a case as this, but in view of the fact that defendant was drunk at the time he had imposed this light penalty. The Salt Lake herald., October 12, 1889, Page 5, Image 5 Salt Lake Herald Note He may have been among the 246 miners killed at Scofield Utah in 1900 in the worse mine disaster in America history 

1896 Tramp Case- The Crime Against Nature being Investigated. The disgusting case of the state against frank Merrill, Patsy Calvey and James Owens, the tramps charged with crime against nature by assaulting Thomas A Clark near Spanish fork now on at the Fourth District Court. J W Whitectoton and Sam Thurman are prosecuting. A D Gash being busy with politics. A D Booth and Booth are defending under appointment of the court. The testimony is not fit for publication Provo Daily Enquirer

1937 Salt Lake Telegram Salt Lake Human 'Wolves' Provide Grave Problems Perverts Who Prey on Boys and Men Lurk in City's Parks, Thrive in Jail, Prison Lurking in Salt Lake City's parks and public gathering places are the "wolves" who prey on boys and young men. To the scientist these men are known, among other designations, as homosexuals. In street parlance they are called "wolves." No other class of sex offender, police say, is harder to apprehend. No other type constitutes a greater menace to society. The psychiatrist is careful to differential between various types of homo-sexual. There are those whose habits are acquired by vices such as self abuse, those in which the horror was more or less Inborn by hereditary taint, and those who peculiar physical makeup is responsible as with hermaphrodites.

Other Factors Cited

There are many other factors which enter into homo-sexuality. It Is prevalent in both sexes but harder to detect in the female. Only a scientific dissertation of great length could adequately acquaint the layman with the ramification of homo-sexuality. Here, we can only be concerned with cases which have come within police jurisdiction. Male homo-sexuals are rarely guilty of attacks on women or girls. They are concerned only with their own sex. Nor do they "attack" their own sex. They are mainly seducers.

A first-hand description of this type of offender was given (to) police recently by a delinquent youth who as a boy fell Into the clutches of one of these human vultures. 

Park Is Hunting Ground

In the summer time the parks, particularly Pioneer park, are fertile fields for the lower type men, the youth said. During the' winter they frequent such public places as railroad (and) bus depots, pool halls and the like. Jails and prisons also are breeding grounds. There these men form one of the worst penal problems. "I was just a kid hanging around Pioneer park when I first tumbled," the young man told police. “There was a nice old guy who took a liking to me. He used to buy me candy and now and then he'd take me to a show.”

 "It was quite a while before he really tried anything, and by that time I'd come to trust him. I was just a kid, understand, and it was a new experience and morality was a word I'd never even heard of." Because the victims of these men are usually too deeply Involved In the crime, or too ashamed to speak of them, police rarely are called upon to investigate.

Gov George D Clyde

1961 Thursday- A committee named in 1957 after a brutal sex crime was called upon Wednesday to look again into the problem of sex offenses. Gov. George D. Clyde told the committee that it should not attempt to make a new study.  What is needed is a determination of how the state stands in regards to the committee report of 1958 which surveyed by the problem of defective delinquent and aggressive sex offender. (10/12/61 Page 30 col.1 SLTribune)

1971-The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs recommended the repeal of a law prohibiting homosexuals from working in or frequenting bars.

Joe Redburn

1978 Joe Redburn raises $1,300 at a fundraiser at his bar, the Sun Tavern in Salt Lake City Utah, to support the anti-Brigg’s movement in California. Then, director of Utah’s American Civil Liberties Union, Shirley Pedler, addresses the standing-room-only crowd.   In 1976, Utah ACLU hired its first full-time Executive Director, Shirley Pedler, who led the organization through a pivotal period of growth and hard-fought battles. Was a champion of Gay rights during the 1970's.

Gil Gerard

1979-The National Coalition of Black Gays sponsored a conference in Washington DC, The First Third World Lesbian and Gay Conference. Bil Gerard was a founding member.  Black Coalition history.  Gil Gerald graduated with a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1974, following attendance at the School of Architecture at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. After ten years working as a professional in the field of architecture, Mr. Gerald became immersed full-time in the Gay and Lesbian movement and in the community-based response to HIV and AIDS. Since 1990 he has worked as a consultant, assisting community-based organizations with their fundraising, program development and capacity-building challenges through specialized technical assistance services.

Ben Barr

1990 Friday, OFFICIALS BAFFLED BY THE HIGHER INCIDENCE OF PEDIATRIC AIDS IN UTAH THAN ELSE WHERE By JoAnn Jacobsen-Wells, Medical Writer Pediatric AIDS cases are disproportionately higher in Utah than in surrounding states, according to statistics released Friday. But health officials and patient advocacy groups don't know why. "It's so frightening. We don't have the resources to educate and treat folks, and the numbers are going to continue to grow," said Ben Barr, executive director, Utah AIDS Foundation. According to Barr and statistics released from the Utah Department of Health, nine Utah children under the age of 13 have been diagnosed with full-blown AIDS. Another 10 or more may be infected with the AIDS virus. "We have more children with AIDS in Utah than in Colorado and yet Colorado has 1,300 aids cases," he said. "We only have 300." Barr's concern is that only three of Utah's pediatric AIDS patients contracted the disease from blood transfusions. "But the other six are children who were born from infected parents. It could mean the mother is an IV drug user or infected by her partner. "The situation could worsen. State epidemiologist Craig Nichols says there's a potential for an increase in pediatric AIDS cases as more women become infected with the virus. "The Utah rate for children is higher than surrounding states. We are not sure the reason except we do believe by having the University of Utah Hospital and Primary Children's Medical Center available to review cases, we have a better diagnostic and reporting system here," he said. Barr believes that the increase "could also be a beginning indicator that HIV is spreading into the general population more than we want to admit." Nichols doesn't buy that theory. "Sero-prevalence studies in Utah indicate that HIV is not a major problem in the general public," he said. "It is true that we would expect rates to rise and make some inroads into the general population. But we have to be really careful when we talk about the "general population,' that we are talking about heterosexuals who have multiple partners or who have sexual intercourse with high-risk individuals." Barr said his biggest worry is that Utah has no prevention programs for IV drug users. "We are not reaching these people with the message that you and your sex partners and your children are at risk," he said. "The only drug users being reached are those in treatment. Unfortunately, they make up only a small percent of people who use drugs."

1990 Friday  I went with Chuck Whyte to Club Karrera's to the Royal Court's AIDS benefit featuring the Slip Ups. Walt Larabee, Don Glenn and the gang were fabulous as ever.  I sat with David Sharpton and his lover Mike Andgotti. David was in the hospital this week.  He said that the virus had hit his spinal column. He didn't look well either but he did say that ACT UP was formed last week. I think David's anger is the only thing keeping him alive so I hope he stays angry forever. [Journal of Ben Williams]

Philip Austin

1994 WSU ADVISER APPEALS FIRING FOR KIDNAPPING OGDEN (page: B2) -- Phillip Austin, who was convicted of kidnapping, is appealing his termination as Weber State University's academic advisement director. Assistant Provost Kathleen Lukken said she has met with Austin about the job, but they could not reach a compromise. So Austin will take his case to Provost Bob Smith. The university started termination proceedings against Austin after his Sept. 14 conviction. He was accused of propositioning a man for sexual favors and refusing to release him from his vehicle after the man refused. Austin told Lukken a decision on whether to terminate him from his university job should not be made until after the court rules on his motion for dismissal in November. If Austin is unable to reach a compromise with Smith, his case will go before WSU's Personnel Relations Committee. Austin remains on paid disciplinary leave during the appeal. -- The Associated Press

1995: ``Living Healthy With HIV/AIDS'' may seem a contradiction in terms, but The People With AIDS Coalition conference this weekend is dedicated to the notion that there is life after an HIV-positive test. The coalition's seventh-annual conference will be Saturday and Sunday at the University Park Hotel in Salt Lake City. Registration is $25 and scholarships are available. ``The focus is how to live healthy with this disease, how to create a healthy lifestyle,'' said Cori Sutherland, office manager for The People With AIDS Coalition of Utah. More than 15 years after AIDS was identified, no cure or vaccine has been found. But treatments can prolong and improve lives of those infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Medical researchers now are looking at ways to make HIV/AIDS a chronic but manageable disease such as diabetes.  ``They're finding that support systems help people live longer, as well as eating right, exercise and stress management,'' Sutherland said. ``They're looking at a more holistic approach to managing HIV/AIDS.'' The conference will address some of the holistic approaches to HIV/AIDS treatment with workshops such as ``The Healing Power of Laughter,'' Nutrition Throughout the HIV/AIDS Continuum,  ''``Relaxation Techniques and Stress Management,'' and` `Moving to Live.'' ``One nice thing about this conference is that not only is all this information provided, it's also a positive environment,'' Sutherland said. ``It's important for people to have a support system . .. and this is a place to build friendships and get some of that support.''  Dr. Kristen Ries, who cares for AIDS patients at University Hospital, will deliver the

Dr. Kristin Reis

conference keynote address Saturday at 9 a.m. Workshops run until 3:50 p.m. and are scheduled from 9:30a.m. to 12:20 p.m. on Sunday. A fund-raising banquet and silent auction is planned for Friday at 6 p.m. at University Park Hotel. At the banquet, the coalition will honor several organizations and individuals who serve people with AIDS.   Those include:-- The Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire, a volunteer organization founded in 1954 (incorrect) that has raised thousands of dollars to benefit the HIV community through shows, carnivals and individual donations.-- Cindy Kidd, a member of The People With AIDS Coalition who reactivated the organization's monthly newsletter, The Positive Press.  -- Community Nursing Service, a not-for-profit agency that has provided home-health and hospice care for people with AIDS since the epidemic's inception.  -- Laurel Ingham, a longtime volunteer counselor with the Salt Lake City/County Health Department's HIV Testing and Counseling Clinic.   (10/12/95 Page: D2 SLTribune)

1998-Twenty-one year old Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming college student, died of injuries inflicted during a gay bashing. Victim of beating in Wyoming dies Last Associated Press  FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A gay University of Wyoming student died Monday, five days after he was found pistol-whipped and lashed to a fence post in an attack denounced nationwide as a hate crime. Matthew Shepard, 21, died while on life support, said the head of Poudre Valley Hospital, Rulon Stacey. Shepard had been in a coma since bicyclists found him tethered to the post in near-freezing temperatures outside Laramie, Wyo., on Wednesday. “The family was grateful they did not have to make a decision regarding whether or not to continue life support for their son," Stacey said. "He came into the world premature and left the world premature and they are most grateful for the time they had to spend with Matthew." Police have said robbery was the primary motive for the attack. But gay rights groups and others assailed the beating and called on Wyoming legislators to adopt laws to deter crimes against homosexuals.  "We are calling on all the people to have a renewed discussion to find out what we might do to strengthen our laws," Gov. Jim Geringer said Monday. The first-term Republican, up for re-election next month, hasn't pushed hate crime legislation, but he said, "I'm open to any suggestion that we might bring to our Legislature." In Washington, White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said Monday that President Clinton was horrified by the attack and spoke with Shepard's family Saturday. He renewed the president's call for "some kind of a national standard, law, on hate crimes."  Before Shepard's

Russell Henderson & Aaron McKinney

death, Russell Arthur Henderson, 21, and Aaron James McKinney, 22, had been  charged with attempted murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery.   Their girlfriends — Chastity Vera Pasley, 20, and Kristen Leann Price, 18  — were charged with being accessories  after the fact. Sgt. Rob DeBree of the Albany  County sheriff's office, a lead  investigator in the case, confirmed  Monday the charges would be upgraded to first-degree murder. He gave no details. McKinney's girlfriend, Price, and his father, Bill McKinney, told The Denver Post that the two men never set out to kill the 5-foot-2, 105-pound Shepard. Instead, they   said, the two wanted to get back at Shepard for making passes at McKinney in front of his friends Tuesday night in a campus bar.  "I guess they (the people in the bar) knew that Matt Shepard was gay and maybe it got around that Aaron was gay or something," Price said in a story published Sunday. "Later, Aaron did say he told him he was gay just to rob him, because he wanted to take his money for embarrassing him." The elder McKinney said there was no excuse for the crime but the story had been blown out of proportion.  "Had this been a heterosexual these two boys decided to take out and rob, this never would have made the national news," he told the Post. "Now my son is guilty before he's even had a trial."  About a thousand people attended a candlelight vigil Sunday night near the University of Wyoming campus to show their support for Shepard, who was a political science major. "We are saddened, heartsick," said the university's president, Philip Dubois. "All of us I would imagine are haunted by the thought of a terribly battered young man with his future erased. "It is almost as sad to see individuals and groups around this country react to this event by stereotyping an entire community, if not an entire state." Shepard's parents said in a statement released before his death that he would "emphasize he does not want the horrible actions of a few very disturbed individuals to mar the fine reputations of Laramie or the university."

October 12, 1998

• KTVX Television News 4 Utah Subject: ACLU MAD ABOUT HATE CRIME ACLU ANTI-GAY RALLY Newscast: MONDAY -  Air Date: 10/12/98 MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY ALONG WITH CIVIL RIGHTS AND GAY LEADERS, SPEAK OUT THIS AFTERNOON ON THE DEATH OF A WYOMING MAN. HE'S BELIEVED TO BE THE VICTIM OF A HATE CRIME. CAT VO 21 YEAR OLD  MATTHEW SHEPARD DIED AFTER BEING BEATEN AND PISTOL-WHIPPED, THEN TIED TO A FENCE POST AND LEFT TO DIE. HIS ATTACKERS ALLEGEDLY TARGETED HIM BECAUSE HE WAS GAY. DVE 2 BOX NEWS FOUR UTAH'S CRISTINA FLORES JUST RETURNED FROM AN A-C-L-U RALLY AGAINST HATE CRIMES AND JOINS US FROM THE  NEWSROOM WITH THE STORY. CRISTINA. O25 PEOPLE HERE IN UTAH SAY WHAT HAPPENED TO MATTHEW SHEPARD IN WYOMING COULD HAPPEN HERE. EVERYDAY, MEN AND WOMEN IN UTAH LIVE IN FEAR, HARRASED AND EVEN HURT BECAUSE THEY ARE GAY. ALPHA PKG Camille Lee, gay Lesbian Straight Ed. Network, "Utah is not immune to this type of bigotry. we have gay and lesbian students regularly drop out of schools due to the abuse and harrassment they receive" {CG}

  

  Camille Lee

  CAMILLE LEE {CG} Teacher, East High School Ivy fox, Student East Hight, "most recently i was at a school bar-b-que to show our school spirit. when i left my tires were slashed" ivy fox, "Two days later i walked back to my girls locker room and my purse was scattered on the floor, my locker had been broken into" {CG} IVY FOX {CG} Student, East High keysha barnes, "I've had more than one friend drop out of school because of the harrassment that was received" {CG} KEYSHA BARNES {CG} Student, East High KEYSHA BARNES IS STRAIGHT, BUT SHE ALONG WITH IVY FOX ARE BOTH SUING THE SALT LAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT'S BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR BANNING ALL NON-CURRICULAR CLUBS ON CAMPUS IN ORDER TO KEEP OUT THE CLUB KNOWN AS THE GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANCE. THESE MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY SAY THE SCHOOL BOARD'S EFFORT TO KEEP THE CLUB OUT IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF ACTIONS THAT PERPETUATE HATE AND BIAS AGAINST GAYS. STATE LAW THEY SAY, OFFERS LITTLE OR NO PROTECTION TO VICTIMS OF HATE CRIMES. David Nelson, democratic Lobbyist, "we tried in vain to find a surviving victim of an anti gay hate crime and quite frankly they died" THIS GROUP SAYS IT DOESN'T WANT SPECIAL TREATMENT FOR GAYS, JUST A LAW THAT PROTECTS ALL PEOPLE FROM CRIMES OF HATE. {CG} DAVID NELSON {CG} Democratic Lobbyist 6 YEARS AGO, THE STATE PASSED A LAW INTENDED TO PROTECT PEOPLE FROM CRIMES OF HATE. PEOPLE I SPOKE TO TODAY SAY THE LAW IS WEAK BECAUSE IT'S VAGUE. IN 6 YEARS NOBODY HAS EVER BEEN SUCCESSFULLY PROSECUTED UNDER THE LAW. DVE 2 BOX QUESTION: HOW FREQUENT ARE HATE CRIMES AGAINST GAYS IN UTAH? THIS YEAR NEARLY 13 PERCENT OF ALL HATE CRIMES ARE COMMITTED AGAINST PEOPLE BECAUSE OF THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATION -- LAST YEAR THAT  NUMBER WAS 20 PERCENT. DVE 2 BOX
• KTVX Television News 4 Utah Subject: HATE CRIME DEATH utahns remember slain gay student Newscast: MON_TEN - Air Date: 10/12/98 OUR TOP STORY ... UTAHNS REMEMBER A YOUNG WYOMING STUDENT REPORTEDLY MURDERED BECAUSE HE WAS GAY. 21-YOL MATTHEW SHEPARD DIED TODAY - FIVE DAYS AFTER BEING BEATEN AND ABANDONED ON A FENCE NEAR LARAMIE. NEWS 4 UTAH'S PAUL MURPHY JOINS US NOW  WITH LOCAL REACTION. PAUL. O31 THIS YOUNG MAN'S DEATH HAS STRUCK A NERVE FOR THE NATION AND MANY RIGHT HERE IN UTAH. TONIGHT HUNDREDS GATHERED TO SAY GOODBYE AND TO ASK WHY.ALPHA PKG "Amazing grace how sweet the sound." A CANDLELIGHT VIGIL AND A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR A YOUNG MAN NO ONE HERE EVEN KNEW. 
• Rev. Silvia Behrend, First Unitarian Church, "A young man is dead because he was gay." {CG} REV. SILVIA BEHREND {CG} First Unitarian Church 
• 21-YEAR OLD MATTHEW SHEPARD WAS LURED FROM A CAMPUS HANGOUT, THEN LEFT HANGING FROM A SPLIT-RAIL FENCE WITH A CRUSHED SKULL IN NEAR-FREEZING TEMPERATURES. WYOMING POLICE SAY THE MAIN MOTIVE WAS ROBBERY - BUT THE VICTIM WAS CHOSEN BECAUSE HE WAS GAY. {CG} NEAR LARAMIE, WYOMING 
• David Nelson, Gay Democratic Leader, "It's not a surprise to us. Unfortunately it's something we have to live with. It's the same kind of hatred and discrimination we live with everyday." {CG} DAVID NELSON {CG} Gay Democratic Leader 
• BEFORE THE SERVICE, OTHER GAY AND LESBIANS RECOUNTED THEIR EXPERIENCES.... 
• Ivy Fox, Gay Student, "Most recently I was at a school bar-b-que to show our school spirit. When I left my tires were slashed" {CG} IVY FOX {CG} Gay High School Student ....
• AND SPOKE OUT AGAINST CONSERVATIVE LEADERS. 
• Monique Predovich, Gay Lesbian Community Center, "This intolerance and hate is reinforced by people like Gayle Ruzicka of the Eagle Forum." {CG} MONIQUE PREDOVICH {CG} Gay Lesbian Community Center Gayle 
• Ruzicka, Eagle Forum President, 'That's the most outrageous thing I've ever heard." {CG}

  

  Gayle Ruzicka

  GAYLE RUZICKA {CG} Eagle Forum President 
• EAGLE FORUM PRESIDENT GAYLE RUZICKA SAYS  DON'T BLAME ME - BLAME VIOLENCE IN THE MEDIA. "Speaking out against immorality is never a message of hate so I have to disagree with them." 
• BUT THIS MEMORIAL WASN'T TO ANSWER WHO IS TO BLAME - BUT TO ASK - HOW CAN WE MAKE SURE THIS NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN. REMEMBERING MATTHEW DT1Tonight DT2ST. MARK'S CATHEDRAL GAY AND LESBIAN LEADERS ARE PUSHING FOR A NATIONAL HATE CRIME LAW AND TO STRENGTHEN UTAH'S HATE CRIME LAW - A LAW THAT HAS YET TO BE ENFORCED.

Strides U. panel cites support from some Mormons;   Gays Making Positive Strides in Utah BY ASHLEY ESTES   THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Being Gay in Utah still presents unique challenges, given the state's conservative majority, but positive strides are being made at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City and throughout the state, said a group of faculty and student panelists assembled for National Coming Out Day. "People underestimate how many GLBT [Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual] people there are here," said Katy Schumann, a panelist who works for a human rights organization. "We can be part of the turnaround this city is taking." Other panelists pointed to what they say is more acceptance by heterosexuals, including some Mormons. They cited efforts by Mormon parents of Gay children to urge leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to discontinue distribution of four pamphlets using inflammatory language about homosexuality. "It's great there are people in the church who are working on it," Schumann said. Panelist Brenda Voisard, coordinator of counseling services at the university's Women's Resource Center, said she has close friends who are Mormons, and believes such relationships help break down an "us and them" mentality. The LDS Church on Sunday took a firm stance against homosexuality, with Apostle Boyd K. Packer, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, condemning same-sex attractions as "unnatural" and asserting the church will never accept homosexuality as inborn.    Two panelists -- L. Kay Harward, the university's associate vice president for enrollment management, and student Jason Satterfield -- said they were raised in Mormon families and struggled with feelings of guilt and anguish after realizing their sexual orientation. "I thought I was evil and sick, the only one," Harward said. Satterfield said he tried to pray his homosexuality away before he learned to accept it. "You don't have to give up God," Schumann told about 20 people assembled for the discussion. "You don't have to go through a filter to get to God. If there were out people in Jesus' day, you know he would have been all about us." The gathering was sponsored by the Lesbian/Gay Student Union as part of National Coming Out Week events at the university. The union is working to establish a Gay and lesbian center, where faculty, staff and students could meet, discuss issues and make materials and resources available to the homosexual community. Despite some gains, living in Utah is still a challenge for homosexuals, Voisard said. At the Millennium March in Washington, D.C., "you can walk down the street holding hands and get smiles. You can walk down the street holding hands in Salt Lake and you don't get smiled at." Voisard said she and her long-term partner rarely go to restaurants because of the stares they get from other patrons when holding hands. She said she would enjoy being seen on campus and elsewhere as "interesting, and not scary." Schumann acknowledged that "being GLBT in Salt Lake City is not the same as in New York," but called the city's homosexual community "an untapped resource." The panelists urged those present to continue speaking out in support of Gay rights. "You as an individual have a lot more power than you think," said Andrea Moulding, a student and past co-president of the U.'s Lesbian/Gay Student Union. Harward pointed to hate-crimes legislation and the fact that politicians are more interested in Gay issues as positive signs for the future. The state hate-crimes bill, which would protect Gays and lesbians from hate crimes because of sexual orientation, is raised in the Utah Legislature every year, but fails. He said he remains optimistic because it continues to be introduced annually. Harward said it heartens him that high schoolers can now be seen in Gay and lesbian centers -- a far cry from when he was growing up years ago. "It's encouraging to me that there are young people willing to be who they are," he said.

2001 National Coming Out Day Event at U By Sheena McFarland On Oct. 11, 1990, one-half million people marched on Washington, D.C., to tell the world they were coming out.  Now, in commemoration of that march, Oct. 11 is National Coming Out Day. To celebrate, the Lesbian and Gay Student Union hosted a panel discussion. Although intended to educate community members and give them the opportunity to ask questions, very few attended. Arlyn Bradshaw,

Arlyn Bradshaw

LGSU co president, spoke about the questions he has received at the table the LGSU set up outside the Union. Many people asked him why gays have pride events, because they felt it separated the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community. “It made me ponder if we were approaching it in a divisive way, but then I came to the conclusion that we were right,” Bradshaw said. “One on-one education may be the best way, but many people will never meet a gay person. They still need to be educated.” Other panelists agreed, but expressed other reasons for pride days. “If we didn’t have pride days and Coming Out Day, it would be a lie to ourselves,” said Cristi Heinmiller, LGSU member.  “Even though it’s not the day I came out, it’s like an anniversary for me,” said Don Decker, LGSU co-president.  This year, national organizations have toned down celebrations because of the Sept. 11 attacks, Bradshaw said. The panelists also discussed the costs and benefits of coming out. “I’m in the modern dance department, and so it’s not as hard as other places. But there are a few people that still give you dirty looks, especially if you’re openly gay,” Decker said. “The benefit of coming out is it completely lets you be OK with a lot of things. You aren’t as moody and depressed, you can be friendly and happy more easily.” “I have lost a lot of credibility,” Heinmiller said. “I can be a jerk with political correctness because I’m open in my classes, but people often don’t listen to what I have to say.” “I have the unique perspective of being part of a repressed minority,” Bradshaw said. “The biggest cost comes in interpersonal relationships. The members of my family can’t see eye to eye on the small issue of sexuality. I always say ‘I can take on the world, but not my mother.’” “I am the patriarchy, I’m a straight, white male,” said Marty Liccardo, a panelist. “It’s been hard to stand up and tell people I disagree with them when they make negative remarks about the LGBT community.” One of the hardest struggles of the LGBT community is not being seen as a valid minority, Bradshaw said. “The Greek community in Utah is allowed to have the Greek Festival, but people are against Pride Day and marches,” he said. Mike Alcott, LGSU adviser, talked about what it meant to be gay in Utah. He quoted Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” saying, “‘Put money in thy purse.’ “You have to be discreet about your sexuality, and money is the only thing that protects you,” Alcott said. “I can live comfortably because I have my degrees and a good job.” He addressed every student on campus who has come out. “Every one of you has my huge love and support,” he said.

2003 Sunday Family Fellowship Summit located in Social & Behavioral Sciences Building University of Utah

2003 SUNDAY - Threads of the Red Ribbon - independently produced play about the experience of being gay and/or HIV/affected in Utah.  Run time: 1 hr 15 mins. Gay and Lesbian Community Center Black Box Theatre, 7:30 PM - Tickets are $7.00 FAT LADY SINGS - Annual Monarchs Show, Trapp Door* - 7:00 PM.  Horsd'oeuvrs and cocktail hour for the early attendees - show begins at 8:00 PM.  Final event of AIDS Awareness Week and a great time to reflect on the reason we're here. Thanks in advance for your continued support!!  I hope to see you this weekend!! *Private clubs for members

Lisa Diamond

2004 Noon Lecture ~ Lisa Diamond Professor of Psychology, University of Utah What Does Acceptance Really Mean? Embracing the Diversity of LGBT and Heterosexual Experiences Over the Lifespan Women’s Resource Center, 293 Olpin Union University of Utah Campus

2004  Subject: Gay Men's Health Summit & Reception October 12th- 15th-Gay Men's Health Summit "INVENIO"  5:00 PM to 7:00 PM INVENIO Reception at Panini If you are a gay man, or if you know one, this is an event for you. Come to find out about INVENIO, come to register, or just come for the food and company! Panini is located inside the Wells Fargo Tower at 299 South Main Street.  This is the fourth year that the Utah AIDS Foundation is the presenting sponsor of INVENIO. This is a great weekend to learn more about gay men's health issues, and also to connect with other gay men. We have had over 150 men in the past and expect even more this year. Help us build the energy behind gay men's health. For a complete schedule of workshops and events click the link above! Utah AIDS Foundation 1408 South 1100 East Salt Lake City, Utah 84105

2005 Provo schools could allow gay-straight clubs Comment sought: A proposed policy change would set new rules forformation of noncurriculum organizations By Sheena McFarland The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Tribune PROVO - The Provo City School District proposed creating a new student-club policy in response to a request at Provo High School to start a gay/straight alliance club. The board is looking to model its policy after the one currently in place at Granite School District."The policy applies to all curriculum and noncurriculum clubs. It is not targeting anyone," said Shannon Poulsen, Provo Board of Education president. The board is asking for public comment, and then it will decide whether to pass the policy at its November meeting. The policy would mandate parental permission to join clubs, faculty oversight and that all clubs follow federal and state laws and guidelines. The federal law states that students' political speech cannot be limited, but Utah state law requires that students do not discuss or  promote any sexual activities except within marriage. "It's not about sex, it's just not about sex," said senior Kaisha Medford, who is spearheading creating the club. "It's a place where we can be accepted regardless of our race, gender, sexual orientation or if we're

Millie and Gary Watts

Mormon or not." Such an idea appeals to Gary and Millie Watts, who have raised six Provo High School graduates, two of whom are gay. "In high school, our children didn't realize they were gay, but they were questioning themselves, and they were in a state of isolation; it was extremely lonely for them. I feel very bad about their experience in high school," Gary Watts said. He hopes to fix that experience for current high schoolers by adding "respect" to the typical reading, writing and arithmetic learned in schools. "Allowing a gay/straight alliance club at Provo High School could be the catalyst for gathering information about respecting differences," he said. The only way for the district to deny the club its charter is to close all noncurriculum clubs, which are those clubs not directly related to a  lass. Curriculum clubs, such as the French club, are class- room-related. Salt Lake City School District closed all noncurriculum clubs after a student attempted to start a similar club at East High in the late '90s, but the district eventually allowed noncurriculum clubs because of public pressure. The Provo board did not support closing all noncurriculum clubs. "Each controversial club will test your mettle if you want an open forum or not," said Provo Superintendent Randall Merrill. The district will decide on the policy at its Nov. 8 meeting at 7 p.m. at 280 W. 940 North in Provo.

2004 Amendment 3: Court will settle whether law prevents equal treatment Salt Lake Tribune The language of Utah's constitutional amendment banning gay marriage needs interpretation. Its words, as supporters said last year before Amendment 3 went to a vote, are simple. Their meaning, however, is not. On this page, we urged voters to defeat the amendment because of its ambiguity, although we support the traditional concept of marriage as being between a man and a woman. We feared the amendment would prevent domestic-partner benefits for unmarried couples, and so did many other Utahns. But amendment supporters pooh-poohed those fears, saying it would do no such thing. Hesitant voters bought those assurances, and 60 percent cast ballots for the amendment. Fortunately, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson

Rocky Anderson

recently took the bold step of rewriting city policy to allow unmarried partners of city employees to share health benefits now offered only to the families of married city workers. The city's insurance carrier and an  Arizona Christian group have taken the issue to court, where it was destined to go from Election Day 2004. Only a court can interpret this law. How the court rules will determine whether Salt Lake City or any government can legally provide benefits to unmarried partners under Amendment 3. A court ruling will not, however, answer the question of what the amendment's framers really had in mind. Despite their claims before the election, did they write the law not merely to define marriage but to purposely prevent gay and lesbian couples from receiving any of the same benefits extended to their married peers? If promises of "compassion and fairness" were just pre-election campaign rhetoric, as it now seems, then the pro-amendment groups are guilty of a colossal bait-and-switch. Whether the consequences were intended or not, Amendment 3 is hurting nontraditional couples and families. This year the Legislature defeated a bill that would have permitted domestic- partner benefits; the Salt Lake County Council defeated a proposal to extend benefits to unmarried county workers, citing Amendment 3; Utah State University officials made a similar decision. Utahns may have been enticed with disingenuous speeches by devious people, then handed a law that is so broad it sanctions discrimination by preventing equal treatment. If that is how Amendment 3 must be interpreted, it should be repealed.

Keisha Medford

2005 District considers guidelines for clubs ANNA CHANG-YEN - Daily Herald Wednesday, October 12, 2005 .Provo City School District Superintendent Randy Merrill says trying to prevent a Gay-Straight Alliance club from forming at Provo High School would get the district in legal trouble. "If you deny this particular club, you will go to court," he told the Board of Education at a study session Tuesday night. "You will. I promise you." The district is considering a policy that would establish guidelines for clubs, in response to an application for a Gay-Straight Alliance club at Provo High School. The policy would, among other things, require parental consent for students who want to participate in noncurricular clubs, which could include everything from chess to Harry Potter clubs. Director of Student Services Greg Hudnall is collecting board members' recommended changes to the policy, and the board may vote on the item during its November meeting. Kaisha Medford, a senior at Provo High, is trying to found the club. She applied to start the club at the school in late September and said Principal Sam Ray has been "awesome." Medford said about 50 students have expressed interest in the club, and functions will include service projects, movie nights, and other events typical of those held by other clubs. "It'll be a social place where people can go and know that they won't be picked on, where they're safe from harassment, from being bullied," she said. During a study session before the board's regular meeting on Tuesday night, Merrill urged the board to remember that the First Amendment and the Equal Access Act support the students' right to form the club. Although the club has not been approved, as Merrill mistakenly told the Daily Herald on Monday, he said it will be allowed to form. "It's approved whether you do this or not," he said. "This isn't a matter of approving or not approving. It's going to go through." Merrill suggested he might urge the teacher who has 

Mary Theodosis

agreed to advise the club, Mary Theodosis, to carefully consider the responsibility. He said an educator who allows unlawful activities to go on during meetings could lose his or her teaching license. And a club that violates the policy, if it is approved, could be dissolved. When a board member asked if Provo High school administrators realize the risks, Merrill said, "I'm hoping they don't. We'll discuss that with them." Theodosis said she got involved because she wanted to help troubled teens. "I think these kids are in a lot of trouble, and they need someone to help them," she said. She said she has heard from students that there is a hostile environment toward gay and lesbian students on campus. "You hear all these nasty words being spoken around the school all the time," she said. "I think it's an awful thing to hear someone call you awful names, and somebody needs to say, 'Hey, stop that.' " Gary Watts, the father of six children, two of whom he said are gay, spoke in support of the club at the regular board meeting. "At the time they were at the high school -- this was 15 or 20 years ago -- I don't think any of them realized for sure they are gay but they

Gary Watts

were questioning and discovering something about themselves that was difficult for them," he said. "As we have sort of gathered information about gay persons, as parents we have felt very bad about their experience in high school." Watts asked the board to support the club. "We somehow need to create a situation where more information is available," he said. "I think having a Gay-Straight Alliance in a school in Provo could be a catalyst to create a situation where students could get more information and learn to respect the differences and diversity that's out there," he said. Medford said she's concerned with the policy's parental consent requirement for noncurricular clubs. "I think the parent permission thing makes sense in most cases," she said. "I think in this particular case, it would do just more damage than it would do good. A lot of time in Utah, people tend to throw their children away." She said students asking their parents if they can join the club might cause trouble at home. Robyn Brimhall and her son, Craig, a Provo High senior, said they are concerned about the club forming and said students at Provo High School do not support it. "I've been talking to a bunch of the student body, and I haven't talked to one kid yet who is for it," Craig Brimhall said. "I don't want that kind of thing associated with my school." He said he was worried about students who joined the club being targeted for violence. Provo resident Grant Misbach attended the meeting and said he thinks the club would be so detrimental that "it'd be better to do away with all noncurricular clubs." Misbach said he was worried about the effects such a group would have on families. "It could be promoting extra-marital sexual relations and a lot of the lifestyles instead of husband-and-wife families," he said. Misbach's son, Matt Misbach, also spoke at the meeting and said he thinks the district should forego federal funding to avoid complying with the Equal Access Act. Business administrator Kerry Smith said the district receives $15 million in federal money annually and losing it would require taxes to be raised to an unlawful level. Merrill warned Misbach about trying to skirt federal requirements. "The U.S. Constitution is something you cannot buy away," he said. This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.

2005 October 12th -RCGSE AIDS WEEK EVENTS How Gay is That? at Todd's Bar & Grill, 9:00pm, $5.00 cover

Esero Tuaolo

2006 Thursday, Ex-NFL star relates stress of hiding his gay lifestyle By Deborah Bulkeley Deseret Morning News Playing in the Super Bowl should have been the best experience of Esero Tuaolo's life, but there was something missing. While other members of the 1999 Atlanta Falcons team proudly introduced their wives and children to the coach before the game, Tuaolo was alone. After losing the game, Tuaolo quietly gave a signal for his gay partner to meet him in his room. "It was the best day of my life and the worst," he told students at the University of Utah Wednesday, National Coming Out Day. The day, part of the U.'s Pride events, encourages gays and lesbians to live proudly, openly and honestly. Tuaolo said he was a young child when he first "saw the rage" of boys beating up someone because they said he was "gay." He saw himself in the frail boy who was being attacked because other boys said he wanted to play with dolls. "I took that child within me and I threw him in the closet," Tualo said. "That was the day I started acting." For years, Tuaolo was terrified that his secret would be discovered and that his career as a linebacker would be over. He worried that if the other players knew, they would try to take him out, maybe go for his knees. So Tuaolo put up with derogatory comments about gays and women in the locker room. He smiled at jokes that repulsed him. He dated women. Then, after he retired from the National Football League, he finally came out. He and his longtime partner have adopted two children. He can finally smile for real. "Now that I'm free, now we walk down the streets and everybody knows we are a family," he said. "We came out for our children, for our lives." Also Wednesday, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center of Utah held a "Coming Out Day" breakfast. It was announced at the event that the center has changed its name to the Utah Pride Center. Valarie Larabee, executive director of the center, said one reason for the name change is "we are working to bring a new sense of identity to our community." "Pride" is also very recognizable, she said, and the center sponsors Salt Lake's annual Pride Festival. Larabee said the center is also starting a new focus of bringing services to rural areas and to serving the population age 55 and up. The center is working with people living in St. George to bring youth services there and is also working with an organization in Ogden. "We see a lot of suffering in rural areas," she said. Pride at the U. continues through Oct. 25. 

Clark Monk

2009 Local Cowboy competes in World Gay Rodeo Q Salt Lake Saddle up and get your spurs on, because Salt Lake City resident Clark Monk  has qualified to participate  in the 2009 International Gay Rodeo Association’s World Finals, held this year in Albuquerque, New Mexico. From Oct. 23 – 25, Monk will compete in breakaway roping, team roping, barrel racing, pole bending and steer decorating, for a chance to win a championship belt buckle as well as a cash prize in each event. “A contestant must qualify to go to the rodeo finals each year,” explained  Monk. “You accumulate points based on your placing at each rodeo you attend [during the season, January through October]. The top 20 contestants in each event are then invited to finals held each October.” The IGRA is a non-profit organization made up of regional Gay Rodeo Associations throughout the United States and Canada. These groups foster and sponsor rodeo activities and events while helping raise money for non-profits associated with the gay and lesbian community in their respective areas. Each year, the IGRA presents an international rodeo that allows qualifying competitors to participate in 13 IGRA-sanctioned events, from bull riding to the Wild Drag Race event. Monk said there are three other Utah contestants participating in the World Gay Rodeo Finals, but they are not out in their respective communities nor do they wish to participate in promoting themselves openly in the sport. “Unfortunately, the number of participants have dwindled over the years,” said Monk. “Four years ago the Utah Gay Rodeo Association folded and closed its member association.” In the past, the UGRA had sponsored an IGRA convention and four successful rodeos in the Salt Lake area, according to Monk. “There are barrel racing clubs here in the valley that anyone can join and there are four or five gay participants who are very active in the barrel racing circuit,” he added. “I do, however, have friends who rodeo and barrel race that know I am gay and have no problem with me or with gay rodeo and are very supportive.” Though Monk has not participated in pro rodeo, he has friends that are not out that not only participate in pro rodeo but in college rodeo and high school rodeo. During the rodeo season, four or five local rodeo enthusiasts will take a road trip in one vehicle, share a couple of rooms, drive 12 – 16 hours to a rodeo, and get back to Salt Lake City for work, after a weekend spent participating in West Coast gay rodeos. “I am very fortunate that I have a job that allows me to pick and choose my schedule, so attending the rodeos really hasn’t been difficult,” said Monk. “I have won in many of the events I have participated in and have a nice trophy case filled with buckles.” The rewards for competing are placing in events into which a competitor enters, earning the belt buckle and prize money, which helps pay for the weekend, the cost of maintaining one’s animals, equipment and travel. The love of competition and placing on a consistent basis among the top cowboys or cowgirls is also rewarding to one’s self esteem. “Up until two years ago I was single and traveled with other rodeo buddies,” said Monk. “I’m very lucky to have met someone who allows me to continue to rodeo. He travels with me now and even though he doesn’t participate, he is a great video recorder and my biggest fan.” Gay rodeo also has events for beginners, so that anyone without  knowledge of working with animals or specific events can learn. Most events are open to men and women, including bull riding and barrel racing. Line dancing is also respected within the rodeo circuit, and dance finals are held at a yearly national convention each year. “Gay rodeo has most all of the same events that mainstream rodeo has,” noted Monk. “Gay rodeo, however, has a few other events thrown in, and the rodeos are more of an all day social event, not only for contestants but for the spectator as well.” Though many folks might not consider rodeo a sport, participants must stay in shape,  learn to negotiate distance and speed, and display dexterity for specific actions in each event. They must also learn to exercise good judgment because each participant is working and commanding actions with animals. Agility, strength and will power are necessary for each cowboy and cowgirl to make decisions in a blink of an eye. Most events are timed and the competitor with the shortest time usually takes the prize. Monk said he has probably competed in all 13 events during his history of participating in rodeo. However, he is currently competing in these events: Mounted break-away roping is an event where the mounted cowpoke’s rope is tied to the saddle horn by a piece of string. When the calf is released from the chute, the mounted participant must lasso the calf completely around its head. As the rope grows taunt and breaks away from the saddle horn, the task is completed. The best time wins. Team roping involves a pair of riders who train together with well-trained horses. One rider/roper, called the ‘header,’ ropes the steer’s horns and turns the steer in a certain direction. This allows the second rider/roper, or ‘heeler,’ to rope the steer’s heels while the header ropes its horns. Collisions, entanglements and even serious hand injuries or loss of fingers may result if the exercise is not well-timed and executed. Again, the best time wins. Pole bending is another timed event, in which horse and rider race  through a line of equally spaced (21 feet apart), six-feet high poles. A running start is allowed and a penalty of five seconds is assessed if a pole is knocked down or if horse and rider go off course. The best time wins. Barrel racing is another timed event in which a horse and rider maneuver in a cloverleaf pattern around three barrels after passing a visible starting line. Penalties are assessed for knocking over barrels, and if the rider goes off the pattern, he or she is disqualified. The best time wins. Steer decorating is another timed event in which a team of two participates. One team member holds a 25 foot rope tied around the steer’s horns. This team member is about ten feet way from the steer, which is still in the chute, while his or her teammate is 40 feet away from the chute and holding a ribbon that will be tied to the steer’s tail. After the steer is released, the first team member is able to get the rope off the steer’s horns, and the other team member must get the ribbon tied onto the steer’s tail, and then this team member hits a timer. The best time wins. Along with exciting events, IGRA is a great way to make friends and meet new people. “I have made great friends over the years and consider IGRA to be part of my family,” said Monk. “We have entertainment and vendor booths set up at the rodeos as well. Gay rodeo has a little bit of something for everyone.” The 2009 World Gay Finals honors Grand Marshall Lorrie Murphy, community activist and rodeo aficionado from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for her work supporting the community, sponsoring and promoting rodeo teams locally and internationally, and her work with local and national non-profits. Entertainment at the three-day event includes The Demented Divas in “Totally Plowed” and Sandy Vee Anderson, in a tribute to Dolly Parton.

Moudi and Derek

2014 The little gay-marriage case in Utah that roared & made history Derek Kitchen’s name will live on in law books — along with his partner’s — as three plaintiff couples who brought down Utah’s Amendment 3 and propped up same-sex unions across the nation. BY MARISSA LANG THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE  Long before strangers began stopping him on the street, open armed and grateful, before he became the face of a history-making movement, Derek Kitchen was being chased down his high school hallway by a mob of students hurling crumpled-up newspapers at his head. He was 16. The year was 2004. The election was all anybody could talk about. On the ballot, after president and governor, was a proposal to officially outlaw gay marriage in Utah: Amendment 3. Kitchen was too young to cast a vote. But when a student journalist asked him how he would — if he could — Kitchen said he wouldn’t support any candidate, or measure, that was anti-gay. By then, Kitchen had only just begun to find words for feelings he’d had all his life. They were the same words he heard tossed around school hallways as insults, accusations, shame. When the school paper identified Kitchen as a gay student in its election coverage, he still hadn’t said the words aloud. But it didn’t matter. He was outed, and there was no going back. That night, Kitchen went after Amendment 3 with a black marker. It was his first battle in a war that would change Utah, and the rest of the country, forever. — “Famous people” • Years from now, when history recalls the first time a federal judge overturned a state ban on same-sex marriage, it will remember Utah. It will remember Kitchen v. Herbert. “My name is on it.” He’s not alone. Kitchen is one of six gay and lesbian plaintiffs who sued the state for marriage rights. Their names — Karen Archer, Kate Call, Kody Partridge, Moudi Sbeity, Laurie Wood — will be forever tied to the case that brought same-sex marriage to Utah and set a groundbreaking precedent that began a wave of similar decisions across the U.S. Bans on same-sex marriage have been overturned in 25 states and counting. Kitchen’s name — and Utah’s case — is cited in almost every one. It’s little wonder that in Salt Lake City and beyond, Kitchen and his partner, Sbeity, have become overnight celebrities. Their names carry the weight of a movement. Their faces have been shown in newspapers, television broadcasts, websites and magazines around the world. In the park, on the street, at the supermarket, the couple said, they get recognized. Recently, as they stood in a Harmons debating the merits of canned fruit, a shopper stopped. She nearly dropped her groceries. “Famous people!” she exclaimed, eyes widening in recognition. Sbeity, who is never quite prepared for the shock and awe with which he and Kitchen are sometimes greeted, gave her a hug. They get smiles from strangers, notes from long-lost acquaintances, high-fives from customers buying hummus from their booth at the Downtown Farmers Market. As he was leaving the gym recently, Kitchen said, a man he’s never spoken to stuck out his fist for a congratulatory bump. — Partners • The leaves in Logan were changing when Sbeity and Kitchen first met. Sbeity, who was evacuated to Utah from his home in Lebanon, was studying at Utah State University and keeping a blog about economics and philosophy. Kitchen, a student at the University of Utah, was a frequent commenter. The two began exchanging emails, getting to know each other through intellectual debates and daily musings. When they met in person five years ago, on Oct. 10, 2009, the men say they just knew. “It felt so natural right away,” Kitchen said. “It was love at first sight.” After that, hardly a day has passed when the two are not in touch. They maintained a relationship between Logan and Salt Lake City with frequent calls, emails, texts. They drove back and forth. On Christmas of that year, Kitchen went to Lebanon to meet Sbeity’s family. When the couple moved into a shared apartment behind the Utah Capitol, they bonded over a shared love of cooking. In February 2012, they quit their jobs to start a business: a homemade hummus-making operation called Laziz. They now sell to more than 30 businesses and man a stand at farmers markets year-round. They’re partners, Sbeity said, in every sense of the word — in business, in love, in life. When they speak, they look to each other for cues, place a warm hand on one another’s shoulder, chest, knee. They find each others’ eyes when they talk about how in love they are. Anyone left watching feels as if, for a moment, they’ve forgotten anyone else is in the room. “He makes me a better person,” Sbeity said. “He really is my best friend. I’ve never gotten sick over the past years of spending 24/7 with him.” In 2013, the couple registered as domestic partners. It was the first time marriage even entered their minds. They always assumed they would have to leave Utah to wed, though they wanted to have and rear a family here. That changed in December, when a federal judge ruled that all Utahns — gay, straight or otherwise — have a “fundamental right to marry.” For 17 days, same-sex couples rushed county clerk offices across the state. More than 1,200 married. Suddenly, marriage seemed less of an abstract idea and more real. It wasn’t just a dream, Kitchen and Sbeity said. It was possible. At a Valentine’s Day fundraiser, Kitchen got down on one knee and offered Sbeity a ring. He said yes. — What’s in a name • The first time Kitchen and Sbeity were approached about joining a lawsuit challenging the state’s ban on same-sex unions, they said no. Gay-rights activist Mark Lawrence approached the two at a meeting of the Utah Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in 2013. He said they would make strong plaintiffs. He asked them to meet with two attorneys who agreed to take the case. Sbeity refused. His family remained in Lebanon, where, until this year, people could be imprisoned for having sex with someone of the same gender. He feared what would happen if he and Kitchen joined a high-profile case, what would happen to his family if the news traveled overseas. But Kitchen was intrigued. He got Sbeity to talk to the lawyers. James Magleby, one of the lead attorneys in the case, said the moment he saw them, he hoped he could persuade them to join. They were responsible, fresh-faced, warm. They owned a business. Kitchen was a homegrown Utahn; Sbeity was living out the American dream. “Not to mention,” Magleby said. “I thought they’d make cute plaintiffs.” He went over the risks, which, at the time, he said, felt more than possible — they felt like virtual certainties. “I’ve had cases with death threats, we’ve gotten hate mail and email,” Magleby said. “We thought this case was going to be that on steroids.” The couple left the meeting with Magleby and attorney Peggy Tomsic without giving a final answer. They wanted to ponder it, talk about it with their families. Kitchen’s mother, Joni Jensen, begged him not to do it. “It scared me to death,” Jensen said. “I was afraid for his safety. I was afraid people would lash out at him. I was afraid his business would suffer. I was afraid how the family reaction would be. More than anything else, I was very, very terrified for his safety. I pleaded with him to stay out of it.” Ultimately, Kitchen and Sbeity said it was something they had to do. They agreed. In their second meeting, mere days before the lawsuit was filed with the U.S. District Court in March 2013, Kitchen made a request: “If I’m going to do this,” he said. “I want to do it all the way.” The person whose name came first would receive the most attention, the most scrutiny and, perhaps, be in the most danger, Magleby had warned. “Amendment 3 is more than just an unjust law,” Kitchen said. “It’s the reason I came out. It’s personal.” — Victory • Every win seemed like an impossibility until it happened, Kitchen said. First, at the district court, when federal Judge Robert J. Shelby overturned Amendment 3 on Dec. 20, 2013. Then, at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, when a panel of two out of three judges found that Americans were entitled to a fundamental right to marry, and no state law could ban same-sex couples from exercising that right. On Monday, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s sudden rejection of the Kitchen case and six others like it effectively legalized marriage in Utah and 10 other states in one fell swoop, Kitchen said he was stunned. After a whirlwind year in which the case was at the forefront of everything he and Sbeity did, discussed and thought about, it felt like the floor had dropped out from under them. “This case has been our lives for a year and a half, and we just weren’t expecting it to end so abruptly,” Kitchen said. “It’s like our other plaintiff, Laurie, always says: It’s like you’re training and you’re in the preseason and you make it all the way to the playoffs, but then the other team forfeits. So you’re thrilled that you won, but maybe a little disappointed that you didn’t get to play.” Sbeity said he, too, felt joy, but with a touch of mourning. “It’s the end of a journey with people that you care about,” Sbeity said. “There was a real sense of purpose.” But now, the couple said, they can move forward. They can plan their wedding — a big affair in a public space where any well-wishers would be welcome. Together, they can start the rest of their lives. They’re working on plans to open a Middle Eastern deli downtown. They want to leverage their newfound fame and name recognition to advocate for new causes: transgender rights, equality in the Middle East, youth outreach. When they have kids, Sbeity said, he wants them to share a name with the case that changed countless lives. Kitchen shrugs off the suggestion that he’s any sort of hero. He points to his lawyers, his fellow plaintiffs, his partner. For him, it’s enough to finish the battle he started 10 years ago, as he crouched, Sharpie in hand, making his first mark on Amendment 3. On white signs that dotted his South Jordan neighborhood urging Utahns to “vote YES on 3,” a young Kitchen crossed out the words and wrote “NO” in big block letters. He stole signs, threw them in the trash. But new ones, it seemed, would always appear. In November 2004, the measure passed. For so long, it felt like a fight Kitchen couldn’t win. Until he did.