August 10th
1892 A TRAMP RAVISHES A YOUTH Charged with Sodomy
John Mack was arrested shortly after midnight in the brush near the old iron
works by Officers Sleeth and Gill, for sodomy committed on the person of Frank
Howard, a young Californian. A bunch of
skeleton keys was found on Mack’s person and are in possession of the officers.
1967 Thursday- Third District Judge Leonard W. Elton (1910-1970) declared invalid a Salt Lake City ordinance that banishes women convicted of
prostitution from city streets, parks, and other areas from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.
for 2 years after conviction. (08/10/67 SLTribune page B1)
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| Rita Hauser |
1970-Rita Hauser, Republican US representative to the United Nations, spoke
to the American Bar Association in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage,
saying laws against it were based on the mistaken notion that the purpose of
marriage must be procreation.
1979 Pastor Robert Waldrop and two church members of the Metropolitan
Community Church of SLC attended the 10th Anniversary General Conference of the
Universal Fellowship of the Metropolitan Community Churches.
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| Ina Mae Murri 1953 |
1986 Ina Mae Murri, (1935-2010) National Coordinator of Affirmation was keynote speaker
at Wasatch Affirmation. Murri was the first Lesbian to hold this position in an
organization that was about 80% male. Affirmation's Tribute
1986 I walked down to Liberty Park to lie out in the sun. I wasn't there but a
short while when this kid from LGSU named Jake Smit came over to sit and visit
with me. Jake is a writer for the Triangle Magazine. I had seen him at the park
before and at the Lesbian and Gay Student Union. I asked him if he had eaten
yet and he said no so I invited him back to my place for lunch. Jake is so intense. An
angry young man. I love it. He's only 21 years old but on the Weber state
debate team. He appears to run on pure energy and damn near wore me out just
visiting with him. But he was an intellectual high for me to be around. He said
that he's against the practice of "Safe Sex" because he feels that it
doesn't promote safe sex or Gay Rights. I
told him I had to leave for church at MCC which was nice but perhaps I should have stayed home with Jake. After the meeting I
went
home and got ready for Affirmation's fireside. Ina Mae Murray, from
Oakland California, who is the national director of Affirmation was visiting
Salt Lake City and she was the keynote speaker. Jim Pender and I arrived at
Affirmation at the same time so we sat together. Russ Lane was in all his giddy
glory, prancing around Ina Mae. I was bored. While at times interesting she was mostly just another cultural Mormon type. I was
tired and it was very warm in the packed Crossroads Urban Center that I almost
fell asleep at times.
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| Russ Lane |
Additional Material: Jacob M Smit born
14 December 1964 died 8 January 1995 in Longview, Washington of AIDS
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| Melvin Dean Baker |
1987- Mel Baker and Ben Williams interviewed Ben Cabey promoter of the
Fusion II Show, an AIDS benefit on Concerning Gays and Lesbians. Host Becky
Moss interviewed Graham Bell about Utah's conservative Health Department chief,
Dr. Craig Nichols.Bell claimed Nichols lied
to the Center for Disease Control
about what is really being done for the Gay Community of Utah. Mel Baker was co-host with Becky Moss on Concerning Gays and Lesbians for several years in the mid 1980's. He left the show to work on the March on Washington campaign in September. I replaced Mel as a co-host because Becky Moss was tired and not sure she wanted to to the program alone. We were co-hosts today for 7 years 1987-1994 doing a weekly half hour program on local Gay news and features.
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| Ben Cabey |
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1990- Gay Pravda
made its debut in Moscow.
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1991 Queer Nation
Utah held an action called "S.H.O.P -Stop Homophobic Oppression
Participants" at Valley Fair Mall.
1992- In an open
letter to several daily newspapers by the Mexico City gay rights group El Circulo
Cultural Gay requested intervention by Amnesty International because of the
failure of police to solve a year-long series of anti-gay murders.
1998- San
Francisco city officials voted unanimously to expand the city's domestic
partnership policy.
2002 Geoff Partain :Pride Rumblings and Pride Merger: It is surprising how
some people will construct whole scenarios based upon a few facts offered by
veiled sources and without consideration of those source's motivations, and
that are in contradiction to those offered by individuals who's identity is
known and who's motives are clear. To accuse GLCCU [Gay and Lesbian Community
Center of Utah] and Utah Pride Inc. of "machinations" and to
base
those accusations on conjecture and rumor, supported by comments like "it
looks suspicious" or "where there's smoke..." does little to
promote responsibility and accountability among community based organizations.
Some facts that should be understood are: 1) Merger of GLCCU and Utah Pride
Inc. is one of several proposals being considered by both organizations. Far
from being a fait accompli, Utah Pride Inc. is still attempting to determine
the relative pros and cons of this and other proposals. 2) There have been no acquisition or
take-over attempts by GLCCU of Utah Pride Inc.. 3) Some individuals have asked
to address the board members of Utah Pride Inc., and have done so. Only board members have been in attendance at
closed doors meeting. 4) Final accounting reconciliation of the Utah
Pride Festival is pending. Any reports
(whether of profit or loss) cannot be anything other than inaccurate and
premature. 5) Taking into consideration asset management and accountability,
bottled water was stored on GLCCU property.
It was deemed acceptable by both organizations to co-operate in this
manner. It would be absurd to merge two
organizations based on bottled water. 6)
Despite numerous calls to businesses over the days following the Pride
festival, only one bar expressed interest in buying two cases of bottled water.
7) There are no guarantees of increased sponsorships and therefore are not a
factor in consideration of a proposed merger. 8) InterPride was contacted by
Utah Pride Inc. to obtain statistical information. 9)
What a City Weekly writer said of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center
of Utah in an article several years ago has no
relevance in the hypothetical merger of Utah Pride Inc. and GLCCU. Now
to respond to specific comments made in previous commentary. In a previous post
David Nelson wrote: "Board member Geoff Partain wrote in his message of
July 31 that the board must meet within 48 hours after the resignation of its
officer." This is inaccurate. What
I did say was "Our bylaws require a minimum of 48 hours notice to call a
meeting. When a co-chair of any board resigns, a meeting of the board is
appropriate, and that is the reason for a closed meeting -meaning a board-only
meeting excluding committee members who are not also members of the board of
trustees." Regarding budgets and specific budgetary items, David Nelson
has commented: "In fact, the pride budget from which a financial report
must be developed was reportedly never made to the board members and was
rumored to be known only to the corporate executive-committee members who
proscribed divisional budgets vaguely." This is far from fact. Utah Pride board and committee members
received regular budgets and budget updates.
However as many records were missing or otherwise corrupted by the
former board chair [Kim Russo], expenses from previous years were unavailable
to base accurate budgetary projections. Many budgetary items were necessarily
estimated. Further regarding the budget, was this comment: "One such
divisional-budget expense which was questioned involved a $500 payment to the
state government for T.I.P.S. registration of alcoholic-beverages volunteers
despite the willingness of registered bartenders and servers to work free of
charge. When they volunteered, they were told that their work schedules were
presumed to be in conflict with the pride events and were never asked. Utah
Hospitality Association leaders often negotiate a reduced price for their
T.I.P.S.-registered members, but were also never asked." Five hundred dollars is indeed too much to pay
for T.I.P.S. certification, and Utah Pride knew of alternatives to keep the
expense down. I don't have the budgetary
paperwork in front of me, however, and cannot offer the exact amount paid. A
general call for volunteers was made, and by the time any specific offers to
tend bar were made, the positions were filled. Though the following comments
may have been just wondering aloud, I will respond: "When did the decision
to acquire Utah Pride Inc. shift for center leaders? Center Executive Director
Paula Wolfe reportedly said in January that center leaders had no interest in
acquiring the pride franchise, but center Assistant Director Darin Hobbs was
also a pride board member and other Pride leaders were understandably
supportive of the center as well. How Supportive seems to be what others are
wondering." As was mentioned earlier merger is only one possibility being
studied By Utah Pride Inc., and presumably by GLCCU. GLCCU and Pride Inc. are
two great organizations, doing great things. Each organization thinks highly of
the other and wants the other to succeed in their endeavors, in that respect
both groups are mutually supportive. Because this is a continual theme, I will
reiterate what I've said before: "The niggling question is why. Why would
the pride board members believe that this is better for the group than going it
alone? Why would the center board members, after twice saying they had no
interest, suddenly be moved to take over this kind of debt?" There are
many pros and cons of staying independent, of merging, of any action or
inaction Utah Pride Inc. may take. Utah Pride Inc. has not decided anything.
The organization is responsibly looking at all options, merger being one of
those options. Here is a question about an asset that's often overlooked. I'm happy to comment about this query:
"And in their negotiations of acquisition, will the center board members
recognize the intrinsic value that more than 20 years of Utah pride have
produced?" Any hypothetical merger negotiations would be just that:
negotiations, not the hostile take-over you've concocted. And who better to
realize the intrinsic value of 20 years of Pride in Utah than the board of
Utah Pride Inc., who have collectively
devoted more unpaid time and effort to Pride than any other group?" Following the above message was this paragraph,
of which I would like To respond
specifically to the latter part: "I doubt it. In fact, I see little
altruism in this whole affair. From the private meeting about shared assets,
deficits resignations and board-member vacancies to the cynical "positive
spin" that an internal pride memorandum had hoped to achieve publicly” Had
your information been complete, you would have known that the issue at hand was
a proposed Pillar article, a proposal that was later rejected because the
merger consideration is not only in its early stages, but also only one of many
other considerations. The only "positive spin" involved would have
been an effort to accurately report Utah Pride Inc.'s concern for the GLBT
community in general and Pride in specific. Lastly, I'd like to reply to this
comment: "I see another cash cow with room for salaries and little hope of
a better pride next year than we had this year." While it is always
difficult to get dedicated, and competent, individuals willing to devote long,
hard hours in positions whose only return is the satisfaction of working for
the community, achieving so much with relatively little, and the appreciation
of community members, rumor mongering and unfounded accusations about fanciful
conspiracies make this especially hard. Still, this year's Pride festival was
terrific, and Utah Pride Inc., Will continue to build on this success to make
future festivals even better. Though I may have been too hasty in declaring
that I would not comment on issues of
Utah Pride in this forum, I hope this helps to quell some apprehension of some
who post in this newsgroup. Geoff Partain Board Member Utah Pride Inc.
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| Geoff Partain |
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| Curtis Jensen Gay Activist |
2006 Curtis Jensen wrote: Ben!
Hello, I got your email from Connell [Rocky O’Donovan]. Just wanted to make sure I keep in touch with
folks from the good old days (I can't believe I have fucking good old days
now!). If you have any current yahoo
group I would love to join, if not just keep my contact information for
reference. If you're ever in SF look me
up - would love to have some lunch or dinner and catch up.
- From: "Ben Williams" To: "Curtis Jensen" So good to hear from you. When people return from SF I usually ask if they have heard from you. Please do keep in touch. I suppose you heard Mel Bailey from Queer Nation Days died of an over dose last Friday. I write a column for for Michael Aaron's QSL. You get get it on line. I do have a Yahoo Group site as well as a Blog. I will add you and you can drop it if it becomes a nuisance. I keep in touch with Toni Palmer this way. Take care and if you need a couch to crash on in SL and you can stand 3 spoiled Schnauzers feel free to come on by. If I ever make it out to SF I definitely will drop by to catch up and go down memory lane. Your friend Ben
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