This Day In Gay Utah History May 20th

 20 May

1782-Deborah Sampson joined the American army under the name Robert Shirtliff. She had previously fought in the Continental Army. Her true sex was discovered the following year.

1888 Ogden Standard Examiner First District Court page 6 May 19^th Charles Thomas convicted on his guilty of housebreaking was called for sentence. He had eleven months and ten days to serve under previous sentence for a crime against nature. He had escaped from the penitentiary and while at liberty had stolen a pair of shoes by breaking into a store. After being admonished  to do better by the judge he was sentenced to six months imprisonment

1889 Teenagers William Paddock, William Rooney and Henry Fisher pleaded guilty to having burglarized Pembroke’s store, the amount of the complaint as having been taken was $5 but Paddock said only they only got $1.25 They were held to await the action of the grand jury. The trio pleaded not guilty to charge of petit larceny and were sentenced 30 days in jail.  When they were disposed of Paddock turned to an officer and said, “Are going to use anymore  of the charges?” The officer answered in the negative where young Paddock remarked “I don’t think you ought to for you’ve got enough to send us up fo six years now”. Deseret News [Paddock was institutionalized in the state mental hospital for sodomizing a jail prisioner]

1899 Moses Jones sentenced at Provo to ten months for sodomy, was taken to the penitentiary yesterday. [ Deseret News]

1891 MORE JURORS NEEDED Assistant United States Attorney Stephens stated that the case of James Hamilton charged with the crime against nature was set for trial next week This case had been tried before and twelve of the jurors on the regular panel were disqualified. He therefore asked that a venire for additional jurors to try this case be issued and made returnable next Monday. The request was granted and the following venire was Issued J Barnett, C T Stevenson, George Roberts, G M Onion, R H Nichols, James Young, Henry Booth, J H Rogers, Jabez Birkenhead, L Buckland, Walter Scott, E E Casady, Felix Riley,,David John, J W Donnellan, Charles V Jenkins, A Gebhardt, J M Ricketts  salt Lake herald

1968 Police Chief Dewey J. Fillis reported that lesser crimes in SLC including sex crimes, vice, and gambling were showing an increase over last year. (05/20/68 SLTribune pg. 22)

1969 Committee For Homosexual Freedom picketed Tower Records in San Francisco because they fired a Gay employee.

1971-Try catching the Boys In The Band at 11:30 p.m. The Marc Crowley play is directed by Douglas Dutton.  The story centers around a Gay birthday party for Gay boy Harold played by Lare Shultz. The party is somewhat interrupted by visit of supposedly “straight” Alan (Craig Cook) to his friend Michael (K. Brandford Miller) as Theater 138. Co-hit with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. (05/20/1971 Utah Daily Chronicle pg. 6)

1976 The Young Gay Association held a private skating party and had the whole rink to themselves. Afterwards they met in a member’s home and had refreshments, and rapped and played games.  Youth Group met every Thursdayand was the first Gay Youth group.

Marita Gayle
aka Marty Pollack

Bob Stevens

1982 The 7^th Coronation of the Royal Court was held with Bob Stevens and Marita Gayle stepping down. The new elected officers were The Stallion Emperor, Emperor VII Michael Ball and Empress VII Wilma Empress. In December Wilma resigned and Princess Royale Tina Sinclair succeeded her to finish out the reign. Wilma later gave the title The Mad Woman Empress.  The Star Empress, Empress VII Tina St. Clair is the official Enpress of the VII reign. The Madwoman Empress,who was  the 7^th Elected Empress was recognized as by proclamation. The 7th

Wilma

reign was one of firsts, traditions and turmoil.  The late Michael

Michael Ball

Ball and Wilma were lovers when they ran and won.  They did not run as a ticket, that was not allowed, but won together just the same. Michael started the Gay Bowling League and it is still in place today. In December of 1982, at a court function, Wilma called Marita Gayle, President of the Board at the time, up on stage, and had her read Wilma's resignation speech which she had notarized by a Notary Public. The audience and Marita went into shock. An immediate meeting was held in the office of The Sun Club to dismiss and ignore the resignation, but because of it being notarized, nothing could be done.  The community was outraged, Wilma was a very popular empress and a rally was soon sponsored to

Tina Sinclair

show support for Wilma not to resign her duties.  To no avail, she stuck to her guns and in January of 1983, the reigning Princess Royale, Tina Sinclair, was crowned Empress VII Regent. Prince Royale VII was  Brett and Princess Royale VII was  Phoenix.

1995 HOMOSEXUALITY COMES OUT DESPITE MORMON DOCTRINE HOMOSEXUALITY EMERGES DESPITE RELIGIOUS FAITH Byline: By Peggy Fletcher Stack Page: D1 THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Steve, a Mormon professional in his 40s and former bishop, was married for 20 years before he acknowledged to his wife that he was gay. He first experienced same-sex attraction as a teen-ager, but a well-meaning Mormon bishop urged him to go on a mission and marry. Such feelings, he was assured, naturally would evaporate in the midst of heterosexual union.  After his mission, Steve met Allison in college. They became friends, fell in love, married, and had four children. But after the diapers disappeared, so did their

sex life. Allison ``launched into an aggressive campaign to fix everything in the world there was wrong with me,'' she said. When that failed, she started a ``slow and sad descent into self-loathing.''  Eventually, Allison learned of Steve's sexuality. He had thought that if he were faithful enough, prayed enough, tried enough, he would be transformed into a heterosexual.  It didn't happen. ``God isn't going to rescue us,'' Allison told Steve. ``We have to play the hand that we've been dealt.''  Theirs is a story told again and again in Mormon circles. And it was one of several such tales at Thursday's quarterly B.H. Roberts Society lecture at the University of Utah. The independent Mormon group sponsored a panel discussion titled: ``How Do Latter-day Saints Accommodate Homosexuality and Their Mormonism?''  ``This entire experience has touched every aspect of my faith,'' Allison said. Perhaps one day, she said, a church leader may have a divine revelation to ``accept gay members of the church as human and as full participating brothers and sisters in the gospel.'' But members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints too often rely on ``second- or third-hand information filtered through the fears, prejudices and homophobia of others,'' Allison said. Others at the forum agreed.  Keith Frogley, a Salt Lake retired businessman, compared such ignorance about homosexuality to past myths about diabetes. When Frogley was a boy, his friend had a diabetic seizure in school. After the boy was taken out of class, the teacher ``began to unload upon us baskets of fear for every piece of candy we had ever eaten or would ever eat,'' Frogley recalled. ``In order to save us all from the ravages of diabetes, which was very real at that time, she used fear and ignorance as her atlas.'' Decades later, when Frogley's son announced he was gay, ``I was armed only with the misconceptions of my own experience.''  Frogley said he was ready to ``protect, cure, eradicate or change any of the problems he was facing with a sure knowledge of the subject, that in reality was based entirely on prejudice, little fact and how I wanted things to be.' After extensive reading, Frogley said he learned that the ``preponderance of both social and scientific research from the last two decades indicates homosexuality is not chosen.'' Gary Watts, the evening's moderator, a physician, scientist

Mille & Gary Watts

and father of a gay son, also has studied the literature about homosexuality. He cited a recent brochure by the American Psychological Association that says, `Psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals agree that homosexuality is not an illness, mental disorder or emotional problem.'' Those same professionals, Watts said, agree that sexual orientation is set very early in life and that attempts to change it do not work and can do more harm than good. Yet the LDS church social services department ``continues to suggest otherwise,'' Watts said. A 1992 brochure published by the church says that ``change is possible. There are those who have ceased their homosexual behavior and overcome such thoughts and feelings.'' Bishops and other ecclesiastical leaders who believe that change is possible will continue to urge gays and lesbians to marry and thus become straight, Allison said.  ``What kind bishop, of good conscience, will give up and say to any member of his ward that change is not possible when policy insists that it is?'' she asked. ``What family will abandon hope for normalcy when advice insists that with enough faith, enough bloodied knuckles, change is possible? No one.' Such advice ``guarantees that my experience will happen again thousands and thousands of times,'' she said. There may be some element of choice for gay women, said Kody Partridge, an instructor at Salt Lake

Kody Partridge

Community College and the panel's only lesbian. But it is a choice that the church ought to respect.    Partridge rejects ``the condemning dogma of Mormonism, a dogma that defines an intimate, nurturing relationship that I share with another woman as immoral.''  Watts said that many gays and lesbians face the choice of church versus relationships. ``People with same-sex attractions have been characterized in church brochures as vile, sinful, immoral and an abomination and are enjoined by the church to forsake and abandon these feelings or be subject to church discipline,'' he said.  Worse, he said, most devout members with same-sex attractions opt to leave the church. But some choose to stay and struggle.  ``For a long time, I hated the church…and I hated God for what he had allowed to happen to me,'' Steve said.  But then he took a clue from his wife. ``I had unintentionally hurt Allison deeply and profoundly, yet she continued to love me,'' he said. ``The church had unintentionally hurt me deeply and profoundly. How could I expect Allison to love and forgive me while I remained bitterly angry with the church?''   

1996-The US Supreme Court voted 6-3 in favor of declaring Colorado's anti-Gay Amendment 2 unconstitutional. Opponents of Amendment 2 gathered that evening at the state capital to celebrate the victory.

1998- Franklin Covey Company has changed the wording of its nondiscrimination policy to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. The move was praised by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest Gay and lesbian organization, which earlier had criticized the company's co-chairman, Stephen R. Covey, for speaking at a fund-raiser for a Hawaii group fighting same-sex marriages

Mark Swonson

2003 Mark Swonson to Chad Keller-  Hi Chad-  I agree that none of us own any organization or  position in the community. We are here to serve the needs of the community for a time, then leave. Let others take over and see if they can improve on what we did or did not do within that organization. It's all part of Change and Growth. Chad, you and I agree that no one organization should never be in complete control of our Community. Whether it’s The Center, Unity, or UAF or any other big organization. Just because they are bigger doesn't mean they know what’s best for all of us...As for the Leadership Forum I don't see it happening and organizations don't grasp what its was for. Otherwise I think they would flock too it but they don’t can't see its potential. Chad, I am happy to work with on these organizations.  But know this I don't want to be in the cross fire of something you may say or do regarding the Stonewall Democrats or UGRA anymore.  The Stonewall Democrats have a better reputation now and openness than it did with Nelson. We are working with RCGSE and I am making contacts with other orgs in the community. We are respected in the Demo Party too due Mike Picardi and his work there. In the past Year since I have been on the Board we have made great strides and I don't want torn down on any site. If people have problem with The Stonewall Dems or any organization then they should go there Board and not  air it on the internet.  I will see ya tomorrow night at 7pm at USHS meeting.  By the way what is The Pillars Fax number?  A Friend,  Mark:-

• CHAD TO MARK But I never tore you down.  So why blast me.  As I pointed out it was

  

  Chad Keller

  odd that Mike was not responding, and he finally did, through another site.  How was I to know that he was banned from Nelson's site?? As for the forum it doesn’t happen because people don’t want to communicate with each other,  They might have to accomplish something greater if theydid.  The Forum is not seen as valuable, I am not seen as valuable because of the acceptability factors placed on us by the self appointed grand councils.  Loud and brazen. I may be wounded, but am not out, and will go down fighting if I am to be taken out.  The UGRA crap, truly you don’t know the factors.  18 months and no news letter?  Membership at its most low on record?  I have not really expressed anything to you on it, other than I was angry that for the third time I got take to the woodshed and screwed by them, socially and politically.  I you choose to abandon ship, then that is your choice.   I will state that nothing is accomplished by sitting silent.  By sitting silent, the rules and agenda get written, and then it is often too late to get things corrected, or make comment later.  This may be just your majority side speaking Personally Mark, I think that the battle between Piccardi and Nelson  has gone on long enough.  Like the Hatfields and McCoys, I think that the parties involved really don’t remember what exactly caused it all to happen. If we are to establish ourselves at society's table, then we must often work with those that we might not always see eye to eye with.  Everyone is  both Asset, and Liability.  Unfortunately we more often than not only the Liability.  Encourage the issues to be set aside, and welcome David to the table.  Yeah he is a pain in the butt on many things, but there is knowledge there that should be used to it fullest. Political and social fall out will be what it will be.  I have learned that it would have happened even if I was taking the other stance.  I would  hope that friends would stay objective rather than cave to peer pressure  from the ruling community parties CK

Toni Palmer

2003-TONI PALMER Subject Utah Pride signs downtown- Another "Utah Pride" is here and yet again we have banners downtown.  Which I am glad to see because I too am Proud to Live in Utah!  Let's all celebrate having Pride in the state we live in.   Well isn't that what the banners appear to be celebrating? Maybe, if we're lucky, we'll get Mormon families arriving in droves, to celebrate their Pride in living in Utah.  They could mistake it for a new day to celebrate "this is the place", or Brigham Young. And hey, what a great chance for us to do a HUGE Queer "visibility action", right?  We could all wear Brother Brig beards to break it to 'em easy.  I'm here, I'm Queer, I'm proud, but shhhhh... don't tell anyone.

2006 PWACU  held their  Food for Life Garden Party

Chuck Whyte

2006 Emperor's Race  I got to see Chuck out mingling and passing out buttons for his campaign. He talked me into going and voting tomorrow. Well, he did not have to talk to me too much about it, actually. He just told me where and when. I have been around long enough to know the dedication and service that Chuck has performed over the years to this community. I guess sometimes it is who you know . . . I have met Kim Russo a few times at various venues, but I am not as personally aware of her dedication to our community (though I can read) as I am of Chuck's. Chuck and I have discussed many issues and community history from all sides. I know that he would definitely do all he could to represent and promote the RCGSE and its endeavors and do anything he could to maximize its impact for our community and the Court's charitable causes. I have not voted in a Royal Court election for years, but I do think I will this time. Best of luck to both candidates and particularly to the winner! Ruadhan [Kevin Warren aka “Ruadhan O’Sheridan ]

2009  Logan Brueck: Before the Pride Parade Passes By QSalt Lake In a matter of weeks, 

Logan Brueck 

downtown Salt Lake City will come alive as drag queens, Speedo-clad swimmers and suburban lesbian moms alike march towards Library Square in this year’s Utah Pride Parade. And while it may not look it as these revelers pass by in an orderly fashion with their signs, strollers and rainbow balloons, parades just don’t organize themselves. Logan Brueck can attest to that. For the past three years, he’s made sure the annual celebration of gay and transgender Utahns has gone off without a hitch or a busted high heel. “We’re shooting to get this one to be the biggest one yet,” said Brueck, noting that last year’s parade entries caped out at almost 100, a number he hopes to exceed in the last few days before parade registration closes. As the co-founder and leader of Utah’s gay-friendly color guard, the Righteously Outrageous Twirling Corps – Salt Lake City, Brueck is a natural and obvious choice for parade organizer, which they asked him to become in 2007. “With my background in parades and marching and stuff like that [Pride Festival 2007 Director Terry Mitchell Nani] asked if I’d be interested in doing it, and I went ahead and accepted the offer,” said Brueck. Before the day of the parade, Brueck contacts local gay and gay-friendly groups, clubs and organizations to gage their interest in participating, and to help brainstorm with people who want to participate, but don’t know what to do for an entry. “People think they have to have a big float, but that’s not true,” said Brueck. “Just get a group of guys together, get a banner, and carry pots and wooden spoons and bang on them.” On the day of the parade, he said he takes the list of entrants from the Utah Pride Center and lines up the entries as they arrive. While the job may sound simple, it’s far from that when you consider what it must be like to wrangle hundreds of marchers and large floats. “I have an assistant now,” laughed Brueck. It’s also a long way to have come in the eight years Brueck has called Utah home. Before he led ROTC SLC to victories in the Las Vegas Pride Parade for three years running, Brueck lived in Charlotte, North Carolina. He moved to Utah in December of 2001 — shortly after his then-partner’s death. As Brueck explains it, he was looking for a change of scene, and he found it when he came to Utah to spend time on a friend’s houseboat. “I was coming out for a gay cruise on Lake Powell and fell in love with the area,” he said. “It’s the only place I’ve ever been able to see the Milky Way and shooting stars.” Upon returning to the South, Brueck packed his possessions in six boxes and bought a one-way ticket on US Air. As Brueck explains it, he had always had an interest in color guard. He started out just “playing around” with the color guard’s rifles when he was a member of his high school’s marching band and eventually joined his school’s squad as a junior in 1978. He later became the squad’s captain and went on to train color guards at different high schools after graduation. During his ten years as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, Brueck also served in the Air Force’s color guard. “I just had a natural aptitude for it,” said Brueck. “It’s one of the few things I never stopped doing.” After his move to Utah, Brueck decided he’d like to share his love for flags, riffles and marching with other interested people. After reading an article about ROTC-Chicago’s performance during the opening ceremonies at the Gay Olympics, Logan and his friend Kaye Christensen decided to start a similar group in Utah to open this state’s annual Pride Parade. “We put our feelers out and had a couple of people sign on, and we debuted in 2006,” he said. Since then, the group has twirled, spun flags and danced for a number of Utah events, including Salt Lake City’s Farmer’s Market and the People With AIDS Coalition’s annual barbecue. They have also performed with other gay-friendly color guards and even competed in Las Vegas’ annual Pride Parade, where they have always walked away with an award — Second Place Marching Unit in 2007, Best Overall Marching Unit in 2008 and Best Use of Lights this year. Along with ROTC-SLC, Brueck is also the co-founder of the Spicy Dinner Group, a monthly social dining group for gay and bisexual men, which he ran for five years. In the past year, he has turned over the reigns to Kelly Albright so he can focus more of his time on the color guard — for which he has some very big plans. “We are looking at going back to Florida in the first week of December for the Christmas Parade on the fifth,” said Brueck, adding that the group is also discussing doing a fundraiser for Southern Utah Pride, Inc. to help the organization build a community center for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Southern Utah. In his spare time, Brueck enjoys spending time with friends, cooking and being at home with his partner Don Demke “giving him the time he deserves to have.” He also enjoys his two cats and two dogs (all four are rescues), and donating his time to the Utah Animal Advocacy Foundation. Brueck has even held dinners for UAAF’s volunteers in his back yard. The group specializes in rescuing, rehabilitating and placing pets, including those that are disabled, aged or that have other “special needs.” “We really are close with them, the outreach and the work they do with the animals [is great],” he said. So will all of the time and energy Brueck has donated to this year’s Pride Parade result in the creation of the largest parade in the event’s history? He’s not sure. “Well, it doesn’t look promising for 100, but there’s so many people who wait until the last minute [to sign up] …” he said. Then again, few people thought that little Salt Lake City would take home the top award in such a huge Pride Parade as Las Vegas’. Which just goes to show that, under Brueck’s leadership, anything is possible.

Michael Sanders

2018 Kink up your boots for the inaugural Utah Leather Pride Festival. Michael Sanders, a chief organizer of the Utah Leather Pride Festival said the idea of a leather pride fest surfaced three years ago following a disruption by some “uptight gay men” over the Utah Pride Committee allowing a smaller leather festival within Utah Pride. Sanders also said the “uptight” men emailed the Pride Festival donors, calling the inclusion of a leather section would be inappropriate and like a “Folsom Street Fair exhibition.” The idea subsequently was yanked. Though the Pride Committee offered to try to get it in the next year, Sanders said, “No thank you. I’ll do this myself.” “I believe this segment of LGBTQ population is misunderstood and misrepresented, though a lot of our traditions have intersected with the gay community,” he said, then added, “Our community does have its problems but the openness of our sexuality is kind of a big deal here in Utah.” Hence, May 20, 2018, launches the First Annual Indoor/Outdoor Utah Leather Pride Festival, celebrating the diverse LGBTQ and pansexual leather/kink/BDSM community in Utah. The one-day celebration features leather/kink/BDSM and LGBTQ groups, local/ national vendors, full bar, entertainment, a sandbox, Bootblacks, giveaways/prizes, and more. MR. LEATHER SL❤UT TITLE AND MS. LEATHER SL❤UT TITLE COMPETITIONS

Following the festival, the annual Mr. and Ms. SL❤UT competitions commence at 8:30 p.m. The mission of the Mr. and Ms. Leather SL❤UT contests is to promote leather culture among the Salt Lake City community. We are looking for leather men and women that will act as ambassadors to work with various segments of both LGBTQ community and multiple layers of the radical sex communities. Additionally, titleholders are passionate about activism, charity, and community building. They can articulately express their platform and excite those around them to get involved. Sanders is the current Mr. Leather SL❤UT master, and though stepping down in May, he will participate in the IML event this year in Chicago.  His legacy as Mr. Leather, includes but not limited to being a dynamic HIV/AIDS prevention crusader, including the testimonial of PrEP, which helps prevent HIV infection — he currently manages PrEP Talks, an initiative dedicated to educating on the wonder treatment. Over the last year, he traveled the state speaking about the leather community and HIV/AIDS, including twice at a BDSM symposium to Westminster College students. Sanders also is co-founder of the Urban Flea Market in downtown Salt Lake, opening its 8th season on May 6.

• Michael Sanders "Uptight" is an understatement for the main cause of that "disruption" I am grateful though, we are autonomous and the UPC have been very supportive. Additionally, my work educating our community and creating sex positive programming have lead to a rethinking of sexual health and well being issues all the way up to the State level so I guess I should say thank you for lighting the fire.

• blackBOOTS   is a sex-positive social and educational group for men in Utah with
  
  Leather, Kink, BDSM and Fetish interests since 2013. blackBOOTS hosts social events, munches, workshops/classes and an award winning bar leather gear night CODE on the SECOND FRIDAY of each month at Try-Angles in Salt Lake City all for adults only 18+ For three years in a row, 2015/2016/2017, blackBOOTS was awarded two QSaltLake Fabby Awards: Best Social Group and Best Monthly Bar Night (CODE) blackBOOTS strives to unite the men's Leather/BDSM/Kink community through creating safe places to meet, network, learn and share experiences with other men. The curious are welcome, as well experienced kinksters. In order to help achieve our mission to help men learn, communicate more effectively and play more safely with each other, blackBOOTS has created blackBOARD, our educational program. blackBOARD hopes to create a stronger sense of fellowship and camaraderie in the Utah men’s Leather/Fetish/Kink community, foster ‘Leather’ ideals and values; and promote the core belief that BDSM play should always be Risk-Aware and Consensual. Our classes/workshops strive to help men better understand the wide varieties of physical and mental play, increase safety by improving BDSM play skills and risk assessment aptitude, refine communication/negotiation abilities, as well as encourage the proper etiquette and protocols of our Leather/BDSM culture.