This Day In Gay Utah History April 15th

15 APRIL

1891 James Hamilton, a cook, who is charged with the infamous “Crime Against Nature” was arraigned and pleaded not guilty. Salt Lake Herald

Joseph Fielding Smith

1946 George Albert Smith wrote: "LeGrand Chandler of St George came [--] called to see me about Joseph F. Patriarch." (GASD)  [LeGrand Chandler was the uncle of B.  D. Browning.  Since Browning was still in Virginia in the Navy at this time, presumably he had contacted his family by letter or other means and confessed his relationship with the Patriarch, which led to this meeting between his uncle and the LDS church president.]

1963 Monday [16 April 1963] - Jealousy held Motive in Shotgun slaying by Don Beck [Deseret News B-1] The state opened its case Tuesday morning as the Jean Sinclair First Degree murder trial moved into the 2nd day. The entire opening session Monday was used to select an all male jury. Miss Sinclair, 45, 2300 South nursing home operator is on trial for her life in Third District Court charged with Jan 5 shotgun ambush slaying of Donald Leroy Foster, 33, 650 North 2nd West. In his opening statement to the jury, District Attorney Jay E Banks said the state’s evidence will show that Miss Sinclair, in an act of jealousy over losing intimate companion Mrs. LaRae Peterson

Jean Sinclair & Sumner Hatch 

, shot and killed Mr. Foster. Claims Jealousy- Mr. Banks said that a close personal relationship existed between the defendant and Mrs. Peterson, a divorcee, who was planning to marry Mr. Foster.  The victim was shot in the face at point blank range as he stepped from a car in a parking lot near his residence shortly after midnight last Jan 5. Mrs. Peterson who was in the car at the time did not see the assailant, Mr. Banks said. However, he aid, the state’s evidence will show that Miss Sinclair, for some time prior to the night of the slaying, planned to kill Foster and discussed the matter with a friend- a former inmate of the Utah State Prison. Didn’t See Attacker- Mr. Banks said the ex-convict, now a math major at the University of Utah will testify that the defendant admitted to him less then an hour after the shooting that she had killed Foster.  Defense counsel Sumner J Hatch, opening for the defense, challenged the state to prove his client guilty and said he would produce evidence which would convict the  “state’s star witness”- the ex-convict mentioned by Mr. Banks. He told the jury his client was not guilty of the crime, that she will provide an alibi for the night of the slaying and that the state cannot prove its case.

1972-Twenty-five members of the Gay Activists Alliance crashed a black tie dinner and distributed fliers to call attention to the negative slant the media put on stories about homosexuals. According to the newspaper stories, two GAA members were beaten.

1983 - "University Post: The Unofficial Newspaper of Brigham Young University" reports interview with director of Standards Department. He acknowledges that students suspected of cheating, illegal drug use, stealing, or homosexuality are expelled from BYU if they refuse to take polygraph examination. BYU Security has licensed polygraph examiner. Paper folds after two issues

1985- Cahoots an “alternative Card and Gift shop opened in the 9th and 9th area by  owner Bruce Daniger and manager Howard Bennion who offered homemade cookies. Located at 865 East 900 South Salt Lake City, UT

1985-Ronald Reagan's Margaret Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services, announced, "We must conquer AIDS before it afflicts the heterosexual population."

1985-The first classes were held at the Harvey Milk School at Washington Square United Methodist Church. The alternative school was for students who had been harassed at their regular schools because of their sexual orientation.

1989 S.L. MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER A Salt Lake man who surrendered to police Tuesday night has been charged with murdering a West Valley man last week. Marty Ray Withers, 27, is charged with second-degree murder in a complaint filed Thursday in 3rd Circuit Court. Withers is accused of killing Darrell N. Webber, 38, who was stabbed in the leg and chest during an altercation in a parking lot at 4070 S. State. According to the charges, Withers told an acquaintance shortly after the homicide that he had just killed someone. Salt Lake County Sheriff's Capt. Bob Jack said the witness said Webber had given a ride to Withers, who had been hitchhiking on south State Street. Deseret News

1994-Friday- Jeffrey Gordon Barnes age 35, died in Salt Lake City, Utah of AIDS. A Native of Nevada Graduated with honors from Cyprus High School. His love for nature and the mountains helped him to bear and endure the hopelessness of the disease.

1999 GAY COMMUNITY CENTER * Gay Single Men's Mixer

7pm Coffee Shop at the Center * Cards, conversation and "Will and Grace" at 830pm * Utah Lawyers for Human Rights 7pm upstairs at the Center

2000-The Transgender Pride flag made its first appearance at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona. The Transgender Pride Flag was created by American trans woman Monica Helms in 1999, and was first shown at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona. The flag represented the transgender community and consists of five horizontal stripes: two light blue, two pink, and one white in the center. Unlike within the wider LGBT communities worldwide which have adopted the Rainbow flag, the various transgender individuals, organizations and communities around the world have not coalesced around one single flag design. Instead there are several flags used and endorsed by the varying transgender individuals, organizations and communities. There have even been, and continue to be, alternatives to these flags suggested. The varying flags have been and continue to be used to represent transgender pride, diversity, rights and/or remembrance by transgender individuals, their organizations, their communities and their allies.

15 April 2000 GAY SPIRITUALITY MCC The Salt Lake Tribune 04/15/2000 Page: D1 Preacher Says Bible Is Gay Friendly For years, Samuel Kader struggled to choose between love for his Maker and his attraction to other men. It was one or the other, he had been taught, for the Bible makes it clear that homosexuality is an abomination to God.   Or does it? The now Rev. Kader, in his 18th year of domestic partnership with another man, says years of study have convinced him otherwise. The Bible does not condemn same-sex love, he writes in Openly Gay, Openly Christian: How the Bible Really is Gay Friendly (Leyland Publications, 1999), but makes a uniform offer of acceptance and salvation to all. That is what he preaches Sundays at Community Gospel Church in Dayton, Ohio, the predominantly Gay Pentecostal fellowship he founded 14 years ago. It will be the same message he delivers April 28-30 during revival meetings at Ogden's Glory to God Metropolitan Community Church.   Kader says he has recently witnessed "a sovereign act of God" in the growing openness of the homosexual community to the gospel.   "[He] is causing Gays to become on-fire Christians when the church at large denies God's love for us and our existence,” the pastor said. "Christ is being exalted in our lives, and he is not converting us into heterosexuals -- just Gays who love God more and more."   As for the Bible, Kader's 160-page book challenges scripturally based arguments that God condemns homosexuality. One is the Genesis account of the destruction of Sodom, a fiery judgment traditionally linked to threats by the city's men to rape two angels sent to rescue Lot and his family.   "Bring them out to us, that we may know them," Genesis 19:5 quotes the mob as demanding. Lot offered his daughters instead, but the enraged crowd rushed his door. The attack was turned back when the angels blinded the attackers. Lot and his family were evacuated and Sodom perished shortly thereafter.   Openly Gay, Openly Christian argues that the Hebrew verb translated as "to know" is ambiguous, being variously interpreted into English as "to know carnally" and "to be acquainted with." Kader also wonders why, if the crowd did consist of would-be Gay rapists, Lot offered them his daughters? Kader strives to clarify the account with other scripture. Ezekiel 16:49-50, for example, lists as Sodom's abominations pride, haughtiness, idleness and injustice to the poor; the passage does not mention homosexuality. Kader does allow that Leviticus 18:22 seems to clearly condemn same-sex relations by stating: "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination."  However, he maintains the offense -- for which the Bible demands death -- was technically of a religious, rather than sexual, nature. The writer of Leviticus, held to be Moses, was concerned with Israelites engaging in pagan rituals associated with idolatry and male temple prostitution, Kader argues. Such alternative views have found increasing acceptance among some liberal, mainline denominations, a number of whom welcome Gays and lesbians. It is with more conservative, evangelical churches that biblical condemnation of same-sex relations finds its most loyal adherents. The Rev. Eric Frye, pastor of Salt Lake City's First Southern Baptist Church, remains unshaken in his conviction that scriptures clearly declare "that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God. "I haven't read [Kader's] book, haven't heard of the book until now. But homosexuals aren't the first group in the world to try to rationalize away the straightforward narrative of the Bible," Frye said.    The Rev. Douglas Oss, pastor of Salt Lake City's Capital Christian Center and a respected scriptural translator in his own right, is familiar with Kader's arguments. However, he, too, believes they fail when Old and New Testament passages are taken as a united commentary on the issue.  "The clincher text is found in Romans 1:18-32, wherein homosexual behavior by both men and women is said to be against the 'natural order' .  . . .  against nature, and therefore sinful," he said. Oss lists himself among biblical scholars who find lacking alternative interpretations that St. Paul, the writer of Romans, also was referring to pagan male temple prostitution, or specifically condemning only abusive same-sex relations.  Still, if the Bible defines homosexual conduct as a sin, it also condemns the acrimony the issue has generated.  "There are hate-mongerers on both sides of this," Oss said. "Hatred is wrong no matter who it originates with.  . . .  I want to avoid this and defuse the militancy and harsh polemics. In my experience, homosexuals will find evangelicals to be open, flexible and understanding, while not compromising their own views about the bold teaching of scripture in this area." The Rev. Greg Kornmueller of Salt Lake Christian Center in Murray sees himself in that role. While he also rejects deconstruction of the Bible's same-sex declarations, he believes it is critical to remember all human beings are precious to God.    "I would agree with one point Mr. Kader makes: Yes, the Bible is really Gay-friendly. [God] sent his only son [and he] was called sin for each of us," he said. "That's God's love for us in action."    It is that love that Kader says convinces him that his scriptural interpretations are right, and that God accepts him as both Gay and Christian.    As for Kader, he says he has always loved God. Raised a Roman Catholic, he was swept up in the Jesus Movement of the 1970s, experiencing a dramatic conversion while in college. Still, he struggled with his sexuality, at times fasting and seeking prayer in a futile quest to become heterosexual.    Then, a lesbian friend convinced him to end the charade. "'Any God worth his salt made you the way you are and won't condemn you because of it, '" she said. "Those words carried me."    Finally at peace, Kader soon felt called to preach. He joined the Gay-affirming Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, earning ministerial credentials at Samaritan College in Detroit in 1982. A year later, he met Robert Shisler, an antique dealer. They have been together since.    Acceptance of his ministry has come slowly, however. Kader says he and his flock have been excluded from Dayton's inter-church fellowship, Metropolitan Churches United. He longs for the time when Christians, Gay or straight, can work together.    Patience and a good testimony by Gay believers will eventually win the day, Kader predicted.  "We are winning [mainstream] pastors and churches into our camp one heart at a time," he said.    "Something is stirring, and I believe it is the direct result of Gay Christians living out their witness before other members of the Body of Christ. I only see this increasing in scope and numbers," he added. "Too many have come too far to go back now."    The Rev. Jim Morgan, pastor of the 30 to 50 parishioners of Glory to God MCC, says that is certainly the case for Gay Christians in Utah. His Gay-affirming denomination has three churches in the state:  Salt Lake City and Logan, in addition to Morgan's Ogden congregation.   "We are being very deliberate and taking our time to lay a solid foundation of biblical principles and truths," he said. "[We try] to serve the greater community in general and the lesbian    and Gay community in particular through outreach programs and setting down some deep and lasting roots."

15 April 2000 GAY SPIRITUALITY MCC The Salt Lake Tribune 04/15/2000    Page: D1Photo Caption: Sacred Light of Christ Pastor Jim Morgan welcomes member Maria Gallegos to the altar to partake in the Holy Communion and individual prayer during church service.  At left is altar assistant Josh Proveaux. Jump Page D2: Sacred Light of Christ church member Jon Lamoreaux raises his arm during service.  Utah Ministers Speak About Divine Intervention, Being Gay Ministers Speak About Being Gay The message is as Bible Belt as you can get: sin, conviction and the prospect of eternal separation from God. Then, the Rev. Jim Morgan offers an out -- the tear-stained altar before his pulpit where desperate penitents can grasp the lifeline of forgiveness. But if this is that Old Time Religion, it comes with a twist. While the message preached at Morgan's Glory to God Metropolitan Community Church in Ogden echoes that preached every Sunday in mainline evangelical Christian churches, he knows he and his flock would be anathema to many of those same congregations.  Morgan, like most of his congregation, is Gay. But as certain as he is about every sinner's need for salvation, Morgan is convinced that God has blessed both his ministry and an 18-year "holy union" with his spouse, Joseph Wegener. Confirmation, Morgan says, comes whenever he takes his place behind the pulpit Sundays at Glory to God or its Salt Lake City sister church, Sacred Light Metropolitan Community Church.  "I'm able to look into their eyes and be able to see when they 'get it,'" the pastor said. "That is absolutely one of the most precious moments in life, when that light turns back on inside a person. You know that they understand that what they have feared all this time is nothing but a shadow. "They realize that God really does love them and accept them the way they were created," Morgan said. "It's nothing short of a miracle." Miracles and epiphanies. He believes he has experienced them both on his personal spiritual journey. Raised Roman Catholic, Morgan wanted to serve God as long as he can remember. But along with devotion to the divine, he took unshakable same-sex desires into a Southern California seminary. Finally, at age 21, he surrendered to his orientation and abandoned his priesthood quest. "I realized that this was more than just a phase, that this was who I am," said Morgan, now 53. "Then came a dry wasteland period that we Christians sometimes go through, where God seems to be totally absent, and yet your heart and soul cry out for his presence." Eventually, he severed ties to the church of his youth and relocated to Alaska. It was a life-changing move for Morgan. One day he read about the Rev. Troy Perry, an openly Gay preacher in Los Angeles who had launched MCC as a ministry to other Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender believers. In 1972, with Perry's blessing, Morgan became a minister in the 40,000-member denomination, turning a home Bible study group into a church. A decade later he met Wegener, now 49. The couple moved to Utah and founded Glory to God in 1996.  The Rev. Kelly Byrnes, too, believes in divine intervention. For him, it came nearly 20 years ago as he wandered a lonely, star-lit mountain road  near Ogden Canyon's Pineview Reservoir. Struggling with Gay desires, a failing seven-year marriage and depression, he considered suicide. "I was camping with my family [his then wife and their son] and I got up in the middle of the night and just started walking . . .  on the road up to the dam above Pineview," said Byrnes, now 44. "But on the way I had one of those screaming fits with God. We had it out, and eventually it just was clear to me, like he said, 'You're going to be OK.' It struck me so hard I just had to stop." Seemingly out of nowhere came a Weber County sheriff's deputy, driving up to Byrnes to ask him if he was all right. "That was really weird. He just said I should go back down and find some place to sleep," Byrnes said.  He and his wife divorced soon after, and one day he picked up a copy of Perry's autobiography, The Lord is My Shepherd and Knows I'm Gay. He eventually began attending what is now Sacred Light, becoming increasingly involved first as a deacon and later a lay pastor. Byrnes founded Logan's Bridgerland MCC in 1990, not long after he and Courtney Moser, a food services employee at Utah State University, began a committed domestic partnership. Byrnes' congregation seldom exceeds 10 worshippers, but he sees his ministry as more community oriented. Along with speaking on Gay issues and joining panel discussions at USU, much of his ministry involves working with individuals trying to balance love of God with same-sex attractions. "You have to start where the hurt is," Byrnes said. "That isn't any different for Gay people than straight. But you have to decide if you are going to be a loving person, a charitable person, a real person as a Gay or lesbian.  "The biggest challenge is just to keep going," he said. "It's not about finding a comfortable way, it's about finding your way -- and that is always going to be a challenge."  Morgan agrees, adding that where faith lives, so does hope: "Whatever else you do, don't give up on God because he hasn't given up on you."

2003 Hello- Westminister College is having there Pride Week and they are having an open Mic tonight at 7:30pm at Westminister College in the Shaw Building. So if you or any of your friends can come up to Westminister College and like to speakup that would terrific for them.  I am sure they want to hear many postive points of view from our Community. Thanks, Mark Swonson

2003 Chad Keller to Ben Williams-Ben, Joe [Redburn] asked on Sunday if I would get with you to look into the history of Pignelli on the GLBT community.  During the east high thing, he was not very nice. Please email me to forward on or Joe.
Ben Williams to David Nelson  Could you give me your opinion on Pignelli with a few supporting examples?  Some one is wanting some info from the USHS on him and all i remember is his sponsoring the first attempt at an anti discrimination bill in the early 1990's. Thanks Ben Williams 

Frank Pignelli

David Nelson to Ben Williams- Frank Pignanelli: --Served as a Utah representative from the Avenues neighborhood of Salt  Lake City from 1988 through 1996. --Sponsored the state hate-crimes bills in 1991 through 1996, succeeding with the 1992 versions. --Served as a state chair for the Bob Kerrey presidential campaign in 1992. --Served as the state House of Representatives Democratic leader during the two terms before his retirement in 1996. --Considered campaigning for the state senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and Salt Lake City mayor before his retirement from the state house. --Met with Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats leaders in 1995 to demand that they stop using the word "Democrats" in their name because it was affecting the chances of other Democrats to win. Told GLUD founder David Nelson that Nelson was "no Democrat." --Joined other conservative Democrats in at least two failed attempts to start a "moderate Democrats" caucus of the party.
Joe Redburn  to Chad Keller  Subject: Re: History on Frank Pignelli- The Rocky Signs go up ASAP, that catholic bigot jack ass. Pay back time on PIGnanelli.

2004 Salt  Lake City Weekly Gay Latter Days Director C. Jay Cox talks about the queer experience of movies, missionaries and growing up Mormon. by Barney Hazen The director arrives, smiling. We’re meeting at Green Street Social Club in Trolley Square, just a stone’s throw from the theater that refused to participate in the premiere of his new film, Latter Days. Clearly, he is having the last laugh. Tonight the Tower Theater will screen his movie locally for the first time, and he’ll be there to introduce it. C. Jay Cox looks about as I remember him, minus the white shirt, tie and white nametag. (Black nametags are considered funereal in the Philippines.) We were both many years younger when he arrived as a “greeny,” and I was first district leader during his LDS mission, but despite the 21- year interruption in our friendship, we still seem to like each other. We shake hands, but it seems too little, so I clap him on the back. He returns the gesture, and suddenly we are in an oddly familiar ritual embrace. We are here to talk about his controversial film but also about him and how he came to write and direct.  Latter Days is going to be a hard sell anywhere, but particularly in Salt Lake City. It deals with spirituality and religion, particularly the Mormon religion. Mormons would be a natural audience, as films like The RM or Pride and Prejudice attest. However, this cinematic work intersperses scenes suggesting that religion and service can redeem the world with long scenes of men kissing and caressing, performing and discussing sex acts that may turn away religious viewers. But those who can watch from beginning to end are likely to feel that only someone who was raised with, and still clings to, Mormon values could have made the movie. It’s been raining most of the day, ending a string of good weather that threatened to turn the whole city into sun-worshipping hedonists. When the director arrives in his T-shirt, jeans, buzz-cut and earring, he is in the rain, but not of the rain. How difficult is it to get an independent project like Latter Days made? It took several years. I finished the script—the first draft—Thanksgiving of 2000. Then we started shooting in August of 2002. During that time, I had a producer who was involved and then fell out of the project. I got set up with another producer, and then we had to raise money. Then we

were ready to start production in the summer, and we had to push back into the fall. We started production without all of our budget, so it’s always this really treacherous path doing independent projects as opposed to studio projects. But this wasn’t one of those projects where you max out your credit cards and beg your parents to mortgage the house. Yeah, it was because the big rule is that you never make a movie with your own money, but right before we went into production, one of our investors lost a million dollars in the market. So we weren’t going to be able to go into production. Fortunately, Sweet Home Alabama [which Cox wrote] had just opened. ... And it made a lot of money that opening weekend. Yeah. So I put everything I made from that into this movie. There were rumors the venue at which the film was originally scheduled scratched it because of the threat of protests. When the chain released a statement, they claimed the film’s poor quality was the reason they dropped the booking. Do you want to weigh in on that? No. It would be interesting to see what other movies they’ve screened there. I never knew that movies were booked based on the taste of the theater chain. It was interesting that two weeks before, they’d been thrilled, and they were really anxious to book it in other markets. It just seemed that there was a different artistic standard for Salt Lake. I was actually surprised by the whole controversy. I can understand if they were talking about a new theater chain. They’re just trying to get established, and they don’t need the threat of a chain wide boycott or anything like that. But I really thought that people would just sort of let the movie come and go under the radar without drawing attention to it. They certainly raised the profile of it. What do you think Mormons don’t like about this movie? (Laughs) I guess we could start on a list. … It’s not like a personal screed against Mormonism. I just wrote it from my experience having been on both sides. I guess, possibly, one of the things people don’t like about the movie is the possibility that it presents an alternate viewpoint. Especially people committed to the idea of convincing their sons and daughters that this is the only way that you will survive the world. The fact that there are other possibilities for finding love and joy and acceptance: all that’s available. I’m going to go through four or five complaints that I’ve seen Mormons make against the film’s realism in portraying Mormonism. Is this the way it really is? Let me get you to comment on each one. OK. Elder Davis is alone much of the time in the movie, and it’s necessary for plot development that he be alone. How realistic is that? How does it jibe with your experience as a missionary? A lot of those episodes—doing laundry, stepping outside to study in the sunshine—we don’t have him going off tracting by himself or anything like that. When I was a missionary, especially that first companion and always having him at my shoulder, after a couple of months of that, it made me crazy. I needed to just sit outside and read by myself. I just needed a minute alone. I think it was realistic, but I wasn’t trying to defend every aspect of the film. It was true to my experience. LDS critics are concerned about the portrayal of aversion therapy and the genitals shocks. It’s not that they deny that such things ever took place, but they say it was 30 years ago, so it doesn’t belong in a film now. OK, although I don’t know whether I want to get into a debate about the veracity of their claim of 30 years ago. I have friends who have gone through it, either voluntarily or their parents committed them to an institution like that. I had to research that. It’s no longer church sanctioned. Let’s put it that way. In the early days, it was conducted right at BYU. I think almost all therapy—not just aversion therapy, but there’s a lot of talk therapy and a group called Evergreen that attempts to work with homosexuals—is divested from the church although bishops are kind of made aware that it’s available. Right. Here are referrals that we don’t sanction if you’re interested. I just think the fact that it ever did go on, however recently, is pretty barbaric. The church treats homosexuality as a mental aberration of some kind—maybe not a mental illness or a syndrome. I guess. I mean they’ve degraded it from a major abomination, but I don’t know what category it’s in now. I remember when I was in seminary, it was just one step down from murder. I think that’s still the theological position of the church: It’s the same as adultery. Yeah, it’s interesting though because in some of my research as far as excommunication goes, people I’ve talked to have been excommunicated for being gay so much faster than people who have committed adultery who were slapped on the wrist and allowed to linger. You mean, don’t do it again, and if you can stop, then you’ll be OK? Yeah. Speaking of excommunication, there’s a line in the film when Elder Davis says he will probably be excommunicated. At that point, he has only engaged in one homosexual kiss. Is the movie making the claim that people are excommunicated for a kiss? I think it’s a statement of his fear of the situation and the way that he feels about it. Certainly, getting sent home from a mission for that reason is pretty devastating. To a small town where everyone will know what happened. It’s got to be harsh. I have friends who were kicked out of BYU, and immediately a letter was sent home to their parents explaining exactly why they were. So not only were they expelled from college, but they were outed to their parents. You might want to give people a chance to confess to their parents in their own way. As far as excommunication goes, I understand that it’s the church doctrine that you can be gay so long as you don’t ever do anything. They don’t like the word gay. They prefer “experiencing same-sex attraction.” You can be homosexual. Or you can be homo; you just can’t be sexual. And the church is adamantly opposed to same-sex marriage; I think that’s worse. They just sort of doom people to a loveless existence. That’s a perpetual conflict. Excommunication is, in some ways, a little kinder. It allows people to go out and find their own way in the world. It allows people the opportunity to learn that there are other ways of being. Have you ever seen a church court? No. I talked to people who had been through it. Originally, I pictured it with just three people, but they said no. It was a full 15. They described the folding tables. It is a little bit of an inquisition, I guess. That’s got to be intimidating, especially to some 19-year-old kid. A general question: How do you think homosexuals are treated in the church? My personal experience was that you could be gay or be Mormon, but you couldn’t be both. I know people who are just so desperately trying to straddle that fence, but it’s almost impossible to live happily. For me, it was a choice of one or the other, but you can’t do both. You can’t try and live two opposite ways of being. There’s a feeling that the LDS characters are one-dimensional. Let me ask a question that deals with that: Why doesn’t Mary Kay Place’s character have a first name? Well, it depends whether you’re reading the script or the credits. I think that’s how she sees herself: she is a wife and a mother in Zion. She’s married to a stake president. She’s a Relief Society president. That’s how she has strength and identifies. Her first name is Gladys, for the record. I guess it’s also just a reflection of growing up where there were so many women in the church, and I had no idea they had first names. They were just “Sister [insert last name].” It’s kind of funny. I haven’t done a ton of interviews, but that’s the first time anyone’s asked that. That’s a good question. It is a reflection. A lot of women in the church are not identified as individuals. You look at patriarchal blessings where boys get to be almost anything, and girls get to be wives and mothers in Zion. Mormonism’s a useful religion for playwrights and filmmakers right now. They use it as some kind of metaphor because Mormons believe in a God present and interfering in the modern age. No one else seems to have flights of angels descending to the earth. Do you think Latter Days is a Mormon movie? Yeah, I do, in the same way that Kevin Smith’s Dogma is a Catholic movie ... and I think that it’s maybe the bastard stepchild of Mormon movies, and I think that often we would like to distance ourselves from those bastard stepchildren, but I don’t think we always get to make that choice. Another thematic concern that seems to me to be at least an echo of Mormonism is the idea that all people are, or should be, connected to each other in some way. We are all a family, and we should all be sitting down at the table together. Does that come out of your brush with Mormonism? It’s certainly an echo of that belief system, but it really comes more out of my experience in Los Angeles. After leaving the church, after leaving such a structured religion—and I think a lot of religions are reassuring to people because it’s easy to say, “OK, tell me what to believe” as opposed to deciding what to do ourselves. It was kind of scary because of having to walk out there without a net, where I need to figure out some of these things for myself. I think it did open me up to greater spirituality. Mormonism also gives you a social safety net wherever you go because if you do the same things you did as a child, growing up, people will like you and treat you like you are one of the family. I think that there’s a continuum that you fall into that is kind of reassuring. No matter what time of life you find yourself, the church has a slot for you.  To get back to that interconnectedness, it’s weird, but my experience in Los Angeles was much more about that. There were those odd coincidences where I really needed something to happen, and that person just kind of appeared at that moment. Those things just kind of seemed miraculous in their own way, and I think the tendency to see miracles in random occurrence is definitely a holdover from Mormonism. The most affecting musical moment in the film was that rendition of “Abide With Me” by Heather Floyd. Where did you find that? How did you choose it? That hymn was from my grandfather’s funeral. It has always stuck with me. I really liked the idea of using a Mormon hymn, and that one speaks to each of the characters at that point in the movie.  I also, as does everyone, I think, like the final scene at the restaurant, the holiday dinner. What turns a group of people into a family? I think you have the opportunity—and that’s the great thing—that as you explore the world, there’s always the opportunity to find family, and it’s not just the family you were born into. It’s the people to whom you’re drawn. That’s a holdover from Mormonism too, I guess. It’s not just your siblings. For me, that’s definitely an homage to the group of people I developed in Los Angeles. We’ve spent Thanksgivings together for the last 13 years. We go away and rent a big house, and it’s been great. I just wanted to incorporate that into the movie because that was my experience: being able to find an alternative family that in many ways was more nurturing and more supportive than ... well, my family was pretty dysfunctional, you know. We’ll get to them in a minute. Yeah. (Laughs). Do you think most Mormon missionaries are hostile homophobes like the Ryder character? Hostile? I didn’t see the Ryder character as hostile … OK, he was sort of hostile. I think he was this kid from a tiny town in Utah who had never been exposed to anything in a bigger world, and I think he was a little frightened by that. It’s funny because when we were 19 or 20, we thought that we were grown-ups, and now I see these guys, and I think, man, we were just little boys. For a lot of them, it’s the first time they’ve been away from home. I see these kids in Los Angeles, and they just look terrified. I think they respond to it differently. Ryder was sort of hostile and reacted from fear. The district leader was a little more understanding. He came from a more pragmatic place. I experienced all kinds of different missionaries. There were really hostile, homophobic rednecks. There were guys who were just biding their time because their dad was someone. There were guys who just sort of needed to go out and be a missionary so that they could get married. Do you think that you would encounter that kind of fear and intolerance and general ignorance in American culture, or is it worse among Mormons? Let’s talk specifically about the Ryder character, who is kind of a representation of homophobia. I don’t think that’s specific to Mormonism. I think you find that guy in any college frat house in the Midwest. Is there more tolerance of difference in the gay community? Or is it just a different kind of tolerance or a tolerance of different things? I think that the gay characters in Latter Days are just as intolerant as the Mormons. We both have our predispositions and our suspicions of other groups. There were certainly some shots taken at the gay community [in the film]. Christian is, initially, very shallow and hedonistic. The gay community can be very intolerant of people who don’t fit in. I think there are some parallels between those two communities. In general, in the bigger picture, Mormons are kind of looked at as an odd minority, also. I think the two communities have more in common than they would like to argue. Is homosexuality something you do or something you are? It’s one of those things: hmm, it’s a noun and a verb. I think that it’s both. For me there was never that choice of saying, “OK, if I just never do anything, it will change who I am.” No. There’s something intrinsic about it. Same question for heterosexuals: Is that who you are, or what you do? I just don’t think it’s ever that clear cut. I don’t think straight people wake up one day and say, “I think I’m going to be attracted to the opposite sex.” I don’t think it’s that conscious a process, but that’s what some would like others to believe. Mary Kay Place’s slap across Steve Sandvoss’ face is a big moment. There’s also a scene in Sweet Home Alabama when Reese Witherspoon’s character comes home, and it’s like cats and dogs as soon as she walks in. Is there some kind of unbridgeable gap between parents and children? Is this out of your experience? How do you get along with your parents? I have issues with my mother. Let’s just say it. (Laughs). It’s funny because I showed Latter Days to my family over Christmas. I just thought, “OK, at least you can brace yourself.” Because people were talking about it. So I wanted them to know what it was about. My mother’s response was “I am so glad I was nothing like the woman in that movie.” I thought, “No. You’re kind of crazier.” I think that this is kind of specific to that character. But there is a kind of burden on Mary Kay’s character and, also, Jim Ortlieb’s character. They are really charged with being the representation of this bigger body, the church proper. Those two characters are the personification of the church since we don’t get to see the institutionalized homophobia I believe exists. Has there been any hint that the film would be protested outside this area? Do other religious groups find it objectionable? I got a letter from the Baptists thanking me for not picking on them. No. Actually, I haven’t received any negative feedback from other religious groups although, strangely enough, a lot of people have responded to the movie who come from other religious backgrounds. I have straight women friends who feel that the movie has reflected their conflict over being Catholic and having to reconcile their sexuality with their religion. Lots of women have gone through the same thing, realizing that they were sexual beings too. They related to the movie that way, and I thought it was interesting that they saw that. How aware are you of this phenomenon of “Mormon filmmaking”?  I’ve become aware of it peripherally. When we were making the movie, my producer knew Richard Dutcher. He gave me a copy of God’s Army. I’ve become aware of other films. Ironically, a few weeks ago, I was in San Antonio for the opening of Latter Days there, and, in the same theater, the same night, The Book of Mormon Movie was opening. So I snuck out of my movie to see that. What did you think of that? Everyone had very nice teeth, I must say that. There was great dental work. Tell me about your hometown. I grew up on a ranch outside a town of 600, and this was in a county the size of Massachusetts that had 2,500 people in it.  And it was founded by Mormon pioneers? Yes. And so, in this Mormon outpost, how many non-Mormons lived in the town? It’s hard to say because we really tried to pick them off. It was funny because the county was 75 or 80 percent Mormon, but for a long time growing up, it was still Nevada, so prostitution and gambling were legal. Talk about mixed messages. It was predominantly Mormon, so “the Church,” with a capital C, permeated every aspect of the culture there. I get the feeling that you knew that you didn’t fit in there long before sexuality was an issue. I wanted to be a filmmaker from the time I was in third grade, but I didn’t figure out issues of sexuality until much later. I didn’t even have an inkling.  It was such a redneck. ... Well, my mother was a world-champion calf roper, so we were born and raised as cowboys. I wanted to make movies. Right there, that was a problem. I remember being—I think I was about 3 or 4—and I loved the Beatles, and my parents were just like, “Jay, I think there is a problem with the boy.” Yeah, I always felt a little odd. You were a believer growing up. I went through a period because my family was divorced; we were sort of the black sheep in town. So from the time I was 14 until I was 24, for this 10-year period, I was pretty hardcore. I was really attempting to throw myself into the church. Yeah, I was a believer. I would have been one of those kids out there picketing the movie. The Mormon worldview sometimes makes people believe that if they work hard enough, and if they are obedient enough, and if they have desire and love for God, that this will solve all sorts of problems that they have in their life and family. Was that you, too? Mm-hmm. That if I was good enough, not only would it solve some of my personal issues, it would help heal this screwed-up dysfunction in my own family. I know that particularly for me, becoming a missionary was part of this quest to deal with my sexuality. If I went out there and threw myself into it, that would solve this problem, erase this conflict that I had, somehow change my nature. When did you come to grips with the fact that this difference in you had something to do with sexuality? It didn’t really hit until after I was in college. At BYU? Strangely, ironically, that’s where it really surfaced. But there was no experimentation before your mission? Well, I’d had one brief little experience, and I was fleeing that. I was kind of terrified. It was problematic because, of course, so much of Mormonism is based on worthiness, and as a missionary, I knew that I wasn’t worthy, so I could never be successful. So I needed to work really hard to overcome that. And that would cleanse you, somehow, too? I guess, but I remember that one of the things that we were required to read was The Miracle of Forgiveness [Spencer W. Kimball’s popular treatise on sin and repentance]. And I remember going through that, and the first thing was that you had to have serious remorse for your sin. And I remember praying that I would feel bad about this experience that I had. But it was really one of the most life affirming, positive, loving experiences that I had in my life to that point. So it was tough to reconcile that. And I knew that when I did that I would just want to kill myself. But instead, it was like a Disney movie where birds were singing and stuff. I really worked so hard to make myself feel bad about it, and I could never quite get to that place of regretting the experience.  The irony was that I really wanted to reconcile my beliefs; I was looking for answers and taking it very seriously. I was pretty successful as a missionary, and that was a problem, too. I felt like either I am worthy, and that means that all these prohibitions are wrong, or I’m unworthy, and I’m still successful, and that’s still a problem. The rules are all changed. The logic goes around in your head and it all unravels. How afraid were you that your secret would be discovered? That’s a big part of the film. I realized when the movie opened, with the big marquee, I thought, this was my worst nightmare. I was so afraid that in some big public forum, I’d be outed. People would find out that I was gay. Then I realized that there was someone talking about [the film] on CNN, and I didn’t even consider the Internet. I was doing it to myself! The irony was that what had been my worst nightmare was the doorway to achieving this dream come true. Did your mission fix you? Did it fix your family? That’s funny because when I came home, my family was in even worse shape. That was a problem because I came home to one of the worst periods of my life. Really horrible stuff … and I thought, “Wow, that didn’t work.” And to make matters worse, I was still gay! Were you feeling any pressure to get married at that point? I don’t know about you—I thought it was just a joke—but in my interview with the stake president, he said that my first priority was to get married, before school or a job or anything. I got that from the mission president and the stake president. Not only that, but they had a schoolteacher that they hired specifically to fire her in my direction at literally every church event. We were pressed up against each other.  Why did you choose BYU? Everyone who went to my high school went to BYU. The choice was you could go to BYU or to Ricks College or, if you were a real hard-core loser, you could go to UNLV. Film and theater major? I wanted to study film, but the film school at BYU—you couldn’t get into it. They basically made church films, and you couldn’t study film there. The feeling seemed to be that the entertainment industry was not morally suitable anyway. What was your major? I majored in journalism. But then I got disenchanted with that. The temptation to write absolute fiction was too great. Did you graduate? No, I left school just before my next-to-last semester. I thought, “I just can’t go back there. I can’t spend another winter in Provo.” Then they won’t be able to revoke your degree if you cop to anything now. I never realized that would be another form of retribution. Is there a homosexual scene at BYU? For me? No. I have friends I met subsequently who went to BYU. They said, “All that stuff going on down at the field house?” I just had no idea. Was there a paranoiac fear of discovery at BYU? Sure. But in my head, it was more like a scene from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Someone would just point at me and know. There was this suspicion. Mormons do believe that they have discernment, so that your bishop at any moment could say, “I’ve got your number, buddy. You are out of here.” And how do you know anything if you don’t know that [secret of mine]? And if you’re just left to guess on your own. ...  There’s a moment in Latter Days when Aaron says, “You don’t know what I’d be giving up.” What did you have to give up? That’s more from his perspective. I gave up a really messed-up family life and a lot of wretched guilt and anguish and lots of boring Sunday church meetings that I wasn’t interested in anyway. A lot of the stuff he has to give up he’s more closely connected to than I was. The choice was between spending eternity with my family and being gay. I was like, “Let me get this straight: I get to have sex, and I don’t have to spend eternity on a planet with my family?” Bring it on. In return you got a life that works? Yeah. Talking about that worst nightmare of people finding out in some public forum, and it’s been so amazing to just be able to live honestly with myself and other people and just have a little more integrity in my life and relationships. And I think that I got a much deeper spiritual connection. It opened me up to all kinds of things. I know some members of my family and some people back home look at my life and think I sold my soul to the devil, but the Mormons weren’t offering that much, apparently. I kind of cashed in. When I showed the film to my family, my mom said that she had come to the conclusion that homosexuality is not a choice because nobody would choose it. It is such a terribly hard life. I look at my brother with six kids and a wife … working two jobs to support them. I think of my parents and their five failed marriages. And I went back to L.A. and took the top down and cashed a check from the studio and thought life is what we make of it. For me, it was the choice of being happy and living a fulfilled life, and still having family and all those things that I thought had to be denied. When was the last time you were inside a Mormon church? I went to one of my nephews’ confirmation. It’s been years, and I still kind of felt then that lingering suspicion that the pod people would turn on me. One last question: What God do you worship? I think he’s much more personal and not quite so defined as what I was taught: the white guy with the beard. But what’s interesting, having been away from religion for so long, how much I came back to the basic precepts of Christianity. Some of the basic teachings of Christ, I look at it and say, there’s a simple, brilliant logic to it. I’ve come back around to the basic tenets. When I was Mormon, I got so caught up in questions like “Why can’t I wear an earring?” It’s easy to get caught up in the minutiae.

2005 These are our 2005 Social Mixer dates. Utah GLBT Business Guild Social Mixer Hors d'ouevres and a cash bar. Please come by to mingle and socialize with fellow business owners. Help us grow by inviting your friends to join us. Toni Johnson Accounting & More, Inc. 801-412-0600 Friday, April 15, 2005 Hotel Monaco 15 W. 200 S. SLC, UT

2005 “The Center Space” an evening of music and comedy at the GLBTCCU.  Bring a friend

Leraine Horstmanshoff

for big laughs with Karen Bayard followed by great original music by Leraine Horstmanshoff. Admission is free.  We are very fortunate that  Karen and Leraine have donated their amazing talents to entertain you –

2006 Utah Stonewall Historical Societ Group Site by Ben Williams Peter, Paul, and Mary once sang "where have all the flowers gone"? I often rephrase the question and ask “where have all the Gay radicals gone?”  You know the ones who pushed the envelop; the ones to whom being queer was more then a theory?  Times change. If you live very long you are painfully aware of that  fact.  Radical. You Radical. You are too Radical! Epitaphs hurled to keep you in your place. But what is so dangerous and menacing about being radical? Radical hmmm lets look at the true meaning of the word.  

RADICAL adj.

1. Arising from or going to a root or source; basic

2. Departing markedly from the usual or customary; extreme:

3. Favoring or effecting fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, conditions, or institutions:

4. Linguistics Of or being a root: a radical form.

5. Botany Arising from the root or its crown: radical leaves.

6. Slang Excellent; wonderful. n.

1. One who advocates fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, conditions, or institutions: radicals seeking to overthrow the social order.

2. Mathematics The root of a quantity as indicated by the radical sign.

3. An atom or a group of atoms with at least one unpaired electron.

It appears to me that many of today’s GLBT leaders in and out of Utah are afraid to death of being considered radical. This was not always the case. In the recent past Gay men and women use to embrace the word and take ownership of it. There were once Radicalesbians in Utah writing manifestos, as well as Radical Faeries putting spells on patriarchy.  The Utah ’s National Organization for Women’s Ruby Fruit Chapter also fought patriarchy mostly without spells and Queer Nation Utah was once the epitome of radicalism even chanting “I Hate Straights”.  However in the late 1980’s and into the 1990’s “assimilation” replaced radical  as the buzz word of an increasingly vocal group of new leaders who felt that Gay Liberation could only come a full circle when it no longer needed to exist.  These new leaders were mostly made up a new queer subgroup, the Gay professional.  Gay became a career instead of a vocation. One's Gay credibility was now based on how many letters you had attached behind your name. I wonder if this was the origin of the love affair with acronyms that have become meaningless in the GLBTQITS community.   Did I leave anyone out? Some may argue, and I am sure they will,  that the Gay civil rights movement was simply growing up,  while others including myself feared that the movement was shifting to the political right as to become more mainstream. Mainstream, normal, typical, conventional, ordinary. Are we selling our Gay souls  to become ordinary? Many Gay people have even stopped identifying themselves as a separate folk, one with a distinct history and culture.  We have almost become reactionary making our sexuality disconnected from our hearts, as it was before Stonewall. I hear people all the time saying that they are not defined by their sexuality anymore, as if this was progressive.  Excuse me?  When I hear people say,  that I want to cringe. It appears to me if no one is Gay anymore then why do we need Gay civil rights?  I submit that being Gay is more then what someone does with their genitalia. I have always maintained that If I became paralyzed from the waist down I would still be a Gay man.  My spirit is Gay. My perception of the world is from that of a Gay man.  I am not a heterosexual man. I can not pretend to understand his perspective just because biologically I am male.   Somewhere along the way the word Gay has become derogative even among our own people. If it has, we have lost something more dear and precious then anything we could possess.  So I suppose there is little hope of those, who no longer believe that they are uniquely, exceptionally, distinctively and remarkably dissimilar from heterosexuals even embracing the word “radical”.  I could be wrong.

2006  Miller and U. protesters will meet Small group: Many are upset the Jazz owner, who pulled 'Brokeback,' was asked to be keynote By Sheena McFarland The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Tribune The history of the feud l The issue: University of Utah officials announced Larry H. Miller as the keynote speaker for the campus' Discover U Days. More than 1,000 students, faculty and staff signed petitions opposing the engagement, saying Miller did not represent campus ideals of open dialogue when he pulled the gay romance "Brokeback Mountain" from one of his theaters earlier this year. l What's new: A group of 15 to 25 campus representatives will meet with Miller in a closed-door, invitation-only setting to discuss their concerns. l What's next: Miller will deliver his keynote address on Friday in the Olpin Union Ballroom. A group of University of Utah students, faculty and staff who oppose Larry H. Miller speaking on campus will have a chance to tell him why in person. A group of between 15 and 25 people will meet with the businessman next week in a private meeting to discuss their concerns over his decision to pull the gay romance "Brokeback Mountain" from a theater earlier this year. More than 1,000 signed a petition opposing his speech, but U. officials believe a small, invitation-only meeting will be "more productive." "It will set a nice environment for an open, candid discussion," U. spokeswoman Coralie Alder said, adding that Miller will take questions after his Friday address, "The Rewards of Investing in Higher Education." Charles Milne, coordinator of the U.'s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center, agrees. "We won't be able to have a constructive conversation if there are too many people there," he said. Controversy arose last month after U. officials announced the Utah Jazz owner would deliver the keynote address at Discover U Days. They chose

Miller because of both his financial dedication to higher education - he provides about 12 full-ride scholarships for U. students every year - and because he lobbies for legislation that would benefit higher education, Alder said. Many campus members were offended, saying Miller does not represent the ideals of open dialogue and respecting different viewpoints. "People aren't opposed to him speaking on campus, but rather the venue he's speaking in. By speaking at Discover U Days, it's as if he is representing the entire campus," Milne said. However, he acknowledged the controversy has sparked campus conversations, many of which he expects will continue for the next year. "This has allowed many different voices to be heard," he said. Milne hopes the meeting with Miller will be the beginning of a series of conversations that will eventually lead to respect of differing viewpoints and valuing differences. Miller did not immediately return phone calls Friday.

2006 Saturday Ben Williams Subject :Miller's 25- I am curious how the selection process for the choosing of the 25 people who will be meeting with Larry Miller is being handled. What are the qualifications to be on the list? Will they be a cross representation of the community or just U of U representatives? Is there going to be parity in the selection? Will people be invited who had never seen the movie? Is Charles Milne doing the selecting? Is the U of U Gay Resource Center doing the choosing? Will there be people included from the arts community or only the political community? As a member of the Gay Community of Utah I think we have the right to know how these processes take place. As with the poor response to the community’s fury over the passage of Amendment 3, the people chosen to speak for the community were not truly representational. Self appointed leaders rarely are. As to making sure people have actually seen the movie, previously the director of the GLBT Center was interviewed on the radio about the controversy and finally had to admit she hadn't even seen the movie! I personally feel that since the movie impacted the Gay men's community slightly more then the Transgendered or Lesbian communities that I would hate to see Gay men under represented.  I don't know about others but I saw the movie three times at the theate, cried every time, and felt kicked in the gut when the movie lost to Crash for God's sake at the Oscars. Hope someone can appeal to Miller's sentimental side since he an emotional man. Heart to Heart

• 2006 Toni Palmer RE: [gay_forum_utah] Subject: VISUAL PROTEST AT LARRY MILLER SPEECH!! I don't understand WHY he should be "welcomed". Yes, he does have the right to his opinion and to his "freedom of speech", but then so does the KKK, would we welcome THEM? We need to stop worrying about being such nice Queers. Larry H. Miller is an ass and the U is wrong for not cancelling his appearance. Had this speaker been someone who was openly racist (rather than homophobic), there'd be no doubt that the U should not appear to support that opinion, & should cancel his speech to not be aligned w/ someone hateful. But again we see how Queer rights are apparently not the same thing, regardless of the fact that the U has a non-discrimination policy that includes Queer people (thanks to ppl like "Rocky" O'Donovan). I feel like some people are getting so caught up in "Freedom of speech" that they're using their own Queer bodies as the welcome mat hate can wipes it's feet on. -Toni Palmer
• 2006  Stuart Merrill Subject: Hurray Charles! Charles Milne, Coordinator, University of Utah LGBT Resource Center, did not make the decision whether or not to allow Larry Miller to speak at the U, nor did he make the decision to hold a meeting with only 25 participants to discuss the issue with Larry Miller and the U of U leadership. These decisions were dictated to the LGBT Resource Center by the University. I say “Hurray to Charles!” for coming up with a poignant, creative, yet classy form of demonstration that fits within the confines given to him by the University of Utah leadership. Wearing cowboy hats is a, funny and eloquent statement that clearly establishes our huge numbers of supporters while letting people know that we are of a higher caliber than our reactionary rightwing extremist counterparts. This is a far better solution than disruptive demonstrations like the rightwing freaks did at Michel Moore’s speech. Well done Charles! We should make sure the room is packed with more cowboy hats than a western rodeo! Stuart Merrill
• 2006  Ruadhan Sheridan Re: [gay_forum_utah] Miller's 25 Quoting Ben Williams “I am curious how the selection process for the choosing of the 25 people who will be meeting with Larry Miller is being handled. What are the qualifications to be on the list? Will they be a cross representation of the community or just U of U representatives?” I am staff at the University and I have never seen the movie . . . yet. I just became aware today that this movie is causing some serious conflict in my family back home. I am sure that Mr. Milne, if he is responsible, will want a good cross section of representation and since he has his pulse on the University lambda community, I would like to voice my confidence in his choices of representatives to meet with Mr. Miller. Ben, I hope that you are among that group as you have a long history of involvement in the community and was a stalwart supporter of myself and Angela Nutt when we were co-presidents of LGSU so long ago. Ruadhan

 
2006 Metropolitan Community Church Easter Egg Hunt! Where; Liberty Park, North-East corner When; April 15 at noonish Why; Because it's Easter, it's for the kids and it's fun Who; Children up to 12 years old. 3 age groups, so we don't have 5 year olds looking up 20 foot tall trees. That's not fun!! Light refreshments will be served by the church. There will be real eggs and surprise eggs. We hope for about 200 people to be involved.

2009 Becker lauds 1-year-old mutual-commitment registry, but fear persists Salt Lake City's mutual-commitment registry has dodged a legislative torpedo fired by Sen. Chris Buttars, drawn accolades from gay-rights advocates and established a first-of-its-kind index for Utah. On Friday, the registry celebrates its first anniversary. Forty-four pairs, most of them same-sex couples, have enrolled. That's a "nice success," says Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, who fulfilled a campaign promise when he launched the registry...Author:    Rosemary Winters The Salt Lake Tribune

2018 Dr. Kristen Ries Community Service Award Recipient Nominations for 2018 were the following:
 

Rose Carrier

Rose Carrier was the bartender at many Salt Lake gay bars during the '70s and '80s. Although straight, she was a great listener for many gay Utah men during an era when it was still dangerous to be out, especially if you were closeted and had to go back to your wife and family, maintaining a double life. Rose was often the only person these men felt that they could tell their troubles to, someone they could confide in, someone who actually saved lives just by being there and listening to them. And then there was the night when a woman stormed into the Radio City Lounge on State Street looking for her closeted husband -- and waving a gun around. Rose talked her down which allowed many of the bar's patrons to escape out the back.
 Jorgen Madsen; Utah is now home to the nation’s second-ever free PrEP clinic. And it’s

Jorgen Madsen

thanks to a medical student at the University of Utah. Jorgen Madsen came out as gay while attending med school, wanted to make a difference. In just a few months, and with the help the community, he put together a clinic that provides all medication, testing, and clinic visits entirely for free. It’s a resource for all members of the LGBT community, and is a game changer for the underserved populations in the region.
 

Stephanie Larson

I am nominating Stephanie Larsen because she has devoted her life completely over the past couple years to establishing Encircle in Provo. She has faced constant resistance but she has persevered in her effort to create support and a community of love for LGBTQ individuals. So many families has been brought together instead of torn apart from the LOVE that is shown at Encircle.
 Karen Deysher has been relentless in making Utah Valley

Karen Deysher

University and the surrounding community more hospitable and accepting for people identifying along the LGBTQ Spectrum. Karen was able to initiate and develop the University’s first services for students identifying as LGBTQ+. Karen is an intuitive advocate of issues and identities, both intersecting and interlocking. Karen is powerful, yet understanding. Karen is the embodiment of the Kristen Ries Community Service Award. Karen has a Masters in both Social Work and Public Administration.
Dr. Rixt Luikenaar has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to provide desperately needed Healthcare for the Transgender community. She has

Dr. Rixt Luikenaar

contributed hundreds of hours in trying to educate the public on Transgender health and saved countless numbers of lives. She also contributes to the immigrant population by providing Healthcare in a safe space. I would love to see her get some recognition for her efforts that she has donated. Dr. Luikenaar has tirelessly stuck her neck out for the most marginalized group, the trans community. She gives her all and nothing gets in the way of her helping anyone affected by financial hardship. She stands with the trans community even when other organizations don't. She puts her heart into it. The most important need for the trans community is a reliable ally. She is at every event supporting our community consistently. She considers us. That deserves something.
 Jared Ruga Jared produced and directed a beautiful and thought provoking film about

Jared Ruga

Kristen Ries and Maggie Snyder which debuted at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
 John Johnson embodies volunteerism. He donates his skillset, and deep understanding of the LGBTQ community to make events sing. He has brought his intelligence, career savvy, and precision to the Utah Pride Center for decades. His work on first the Board and then the Utah Pride Festival, has taken that event from a money losing well-intentioned concept, to a high visibility, tightly run, fundraiser. His deft organization skills are remarkable in that they are both highly detail-oriented but never lose sight of the big picture - the mission of the organization. 
Terry Gillman

Terry Gillman

has been actively volunteering and doing community service for 25 years more beginning as a teenager as an officer in the Gay and Lesbian Youth Group. As an adult he has been involved politically and socially in organizations expanding the rights of LGBT people in Utah. In 2017 he helped organize a rally to support the national march in Washington DC. as part the Equality March for Unity and Pride. He helped run the concessions for the 3rd Friday Bingo as well as created a Resource site on Facebook that has over 1200 members. He represents the very best for what the Kristin Ries Community Service Award was established.
 Alan Anderson: Dear Honored Past Recipients of the Dr. Kristen Ries Community Service

Alan Anderson 

Award, It has come to my attention that Alan Anderson is not among your esteemed fellowship. Alan has been an “out of the closet” activist and community servant to Utah since the late 70’s. He has shared his talents, funds and time with the LGBTQIA+ Community, Utah Democrats and non-profit Utah organizations. Alan served as Treasurer for multiple organizations. If you want your funds to be safe and secure, Alan is the person to trust. His service to his community has resulted in some personal highs and lows. He is one of very few individuals to serve more than one term as an Emperor of The Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire. Alan met Michelle Obama and according to a “reliable source” the flirting between Alan and FLOTUS was interrupted by Barack Obama. The President whisked his lady away from Alan’s seductive influence. The straight community was under the impression that Alan was married to a woman. He failed to maintain his normal calm demeanor when he was informed that he and Becky Moss were a perfect married couple. To set the record straight (pun intended) Alan is happily married to Kyle Daniels and the proud papa of two fur babies. Believe it or not, this is short list of some of Alan’s activities: Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire (RCGSE): Emperor VIII Emperor XXXII Past President of the RCGSE Past Treasurer of the RCGSE Secretary of the RCGSE Past Administrator of the PWA Fund of the RCGSE, working closely with Maggie Snyder and Clinic 1A Past Board Member and Treasurer of the International Court System Odyssey House: Board of Directors Community Politics: Openly Gay Candidate for Midvale City Council Midvale (2011) Elected Delegate to the Democratic National Convention (2012) Past Treasurer for the Salt Lake County Democratic Party Past Legislative Chair for Democratic Party HD46 Past Board Member and Treasurer for Utah Stonewall Democrats In conclusion, Alan Anderson has shown our community that “living out of the closet” is healthy, sane and liberating. He is quietly courageous.

Rob Goulding

Rob Goulding I cannot think a better candidate for this year’s Kristen Reis Award that Rob Goulding. Sometimes when you take a look at how someone could help change and build a community in their lifetime – you realize that it might not always be the loudest person in the room. Rob was far from loud.  I first met Rob back in the early 1990’s where he was already a fixture in the Gay Community. Rob agreed in 1993 to take over coaching the Renegades Softball Team. The Renegades Softball team was a Gay & Lesbian Co-Ed Softball Team that played in the Salt Lake County Softball League. During his time of coaching the team, it was Rob’s idea to start a Gay & Lesbian Softball League in 1995. It was Rob’s direction that would seed the new league with splitting the 16 Renegade members into 4 teams of 4. Rob remained Coach of the Renegades and the Commissioner of the new Pride Softball League for many years to come. We are happy to report that the Pride Softball League is still in existence today and this year it is celebrating its 24th Season.  Rob also was involved in the Utah Gay Rodeo Association. He was President of the Organization when it held its first Rodeo on June 2-4, 2000 at the Utah State Fairgrounds. This was quite the significant marker for the organization and took a lot of years of planning.  Rob remained active in the Community for years and then word got out that Joe Redburn was finally getting ready for a well-deserved retirement and was ready to sell the Trapp. Rob wanted to keep the Trapp in hands of the Community and he and a partner bought the Trapp at the beginning of 2014. In keeping with his dedication to our Community and our history – Rob renamed the bar the “SunTrapp” so that we would honor not only the legacy of Joe Redburn but also the rich history of Salt Lake’s Gay Bar scene. The new name was a wonderful tribute to both. The Sun-Trapp would remain welcoming to all those that enter.  There are many fundraising events staged at the Bar each month including a weekly Sunday Dinner given to various local nonprofits. Rob has even been generous enough to donate from the Bar back to these organizations. Rob liked helping and building his Community. He was glad to help.  Like I said earlier - Rob was not a loud man. He was quite subdued and mellow. Perhaps that is what made him so approachable and liked. He did have a look though. And with that look came with a smile. And the smile was usually followed by a “big ole hug.” OH….and there were lots of hugs to go around. Everyone loved themselves one of Uncle Rob’s genuine hugs. It was a heart to heart hug.  What is inspirational the most about Rob’s story is the fact that people called him “Uncle Rob.” We have our family of origin and then we have our family of choice. To many people – Rob was that family of choice. What an incredible level of respect one deserves to be called “Uncle” in our Community. I can only remember a few people deserving of that. It is quite rare and exceptional. That is the type of respect that Rob had within our Community.  Unfortunately for all of us, Rob lost his life this month. Cancer. So when we look back at Rob’s life – he is the perfect example where you don’t have to be the loudest person in the room....sometimes it just comes with ‘a look, a smile and a big ole hug.”