October 31st
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1968-Silent film star Ramon Navarro was found murdered. A bathroom
mirror had the words "US GIRLS ARE BETTER THAN FAGGITS" smeared with
blood. Hustler Paul Ferguson and his brother Tom Ferguson were convicted of the
murder and both received life sentences. During the trial, Novarro's sexual orientation
was called into question with more vigor than the guilt or innocence of the
defendants.
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1971 Allen Blaich attended a Halloween Dance held in the Union
Commons of the University of Utah sponsored by Utah’s Gay Liberation Front. First Gay dance held in Utah.
1973-Wednesday Recently The Utah Daily Chronicle published an
excellent article by Jean Johnson concerning the “Gay Church.” In my opinion
the article reflected the heighten social awareness which reporting is capable
of and which is necessary for developing a sensitive community. It is
interesting to note that Ms. Johnson’s article was rejected by the Salt Lake
Tribune on the grounds that “it was offensive to the subscriber.” Whatever the
jargon for censorship is, it seems to me that Watergate, the Mid East, and
advertisements are equally offensive. Apparently the Tribune is not willing to
recognize the social significance of a Gay church, or even willing to recognize
it as news. Letter written by Clarence Widerburg.
1975 Rev. Bob Darst Pastor of Grace Christian Church for the past
two years gave his resignation to the Board of the Church. Bob stated he
resigned for his “physical and spiritual welfare”. The membership of the church has risen to
fifty since Bob started as active pastor. The Reverend Laverl Harris is expected
to fill the vacancy temporary.
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| Jose Sarria The Widow Norton |
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| Site of the Old Rail |
- ROYAL COURT OF THE GOLDEN SPIKE EMPIRE:
A TRADITION OF ELEGANT SERVICE The tradition of the Royal Court Systems in
the Gay communities of America started in 1965 when Jose Sarria put a
crown on his head and proclaimed himself, “Dowager Widow of the Emperor
Norton, Empress of San Francisco and Protectress of Mexico.“ Four years
earlier he had campaigned as the first openly Gay man to run for office in
San Francisco and received 6,000 votes! Sarria was by 1961already a
legendary drag performer at the North Beach’s Black Cat Cafe. In the
1950’s, at the end of each performance at the Black Cat, Sarria enjoined
his Gay audience to sing with him a rousing rendition of “God Save Us
Nelly Queens.” All Royal Courts received their charters from organizations
authorized by Jose Sarria. Ten years after the Empress of San Francisco
created the Royal Court system; Salt Lake City received its charter from
the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire in Denver, Colorado. In
October 1975, Salt Lake City formed its own court, the Imperial Court of
Utah (ICU). The ICU was primarily a social group started to show case drag
performers and provide fun activities for Salt Lake City. In 1979, the
Imperial Court of Utah evolved into the Royal Court of the Golden Spike
Empire (RCGSE), the longest standing, non-profit Gay fund-raising organization
in Utah. The Founders Council, who
were initially responsible for the creation of the first Court system in
Utah, consisted of the following: Bruce Allred, Thelma Ensign, Carole
Martindale, Earl Ashley, Dennis Felix, Len Matheson, Henry Bender, Chad Herinborg,
Marty Pollock, Jim Beverage, Winklekotter, Mack Hunt, Pepper Prespente,
Jim Beverage, Jay Bradley, Terry Jones, Rose Carrier, Larry Kasper, (One
unpublished name), Paul Douglas, Bob Mandrake, (7/3/80) Over the nearly 28
years of public service, the RCGSE has donated hundreds of thousands of
dollars to Utah’s charities, most notably to the United States Marine’s
Toys for Tots campaign and to AIDS charities. More recently Cancer
Awareness and Homeless Youth have also been primary charities of the philanthropic
group.
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| Bob Waldrop |
1980 Bob Edwards began The Imperial Court of Utah’s fundraiser for
Toys for Tots with a Halloween Fashion show.
1987- I started rushing around to get ready for Unconditional Supports' Halloween Party.
Mike’s mother let me borrow a black dress and
I had the black nylons that John Reeves and I bought. I think I did my make up
fairly well. We went over to Danny’s
where I brushed out my wig, put on false eyelashes and my nails. I draped a black lacy shawl over my shoulders
and I wore a pin that read Honorary Lesbian. I was not the most beautiful woman
in the world but passable. Mike Anderson, Danny Keele, and Steve Breckenbury were three witches and they were absolutely great. We all then back to my place to meet John
Reeves who was wearing Michael’s sheep costume that I wore last year. Randy
Olsen came as a Chippendale model. Anyway we went to Dan Fahndrich’s party
first to get it out of the way.Well we were at the party
by 8 p.m. and this one guy was dressed in a robe and turban so you could only
see his eyes. Someone said he had sexy legs so he started to strip. I said “Well
I don’t know who he is but that’s something Jeff Manookian would do.” And later
I found out that it really was Jeff [Journal of Ben Williams]
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| Ben Williams |
1988 The Blue Horizon bar in Ogden closed.
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| Connell O'Donovan |
1990 Wednesday Randy Hamlette age 32 died of AIDS in Salt Lake City. He was born 1 Jan 1958 in
Scotch Plains, NJ. Attended Cornell University.
Employed by Eastern Airline in SLC. Obituary
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| Rich McKeown |
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