This Day in Gay Utah History AUGUST 18th

August 18th

1935-The Yew York Times published a review of Gale Wilhelm's lesbian novel "We Too Are Drifting." The reviewer referred to reading about "Sapphic intimacy" as downright chilling, and said that while the author had a poetic style and was clearly talented the subject matter was the book's major fault.

Carol Lynn Pearson

1986 Monday Carol Lynn Pearson author of Goodbye I Love You was interviewed by Bruce Lindsey on KSL’s Prime Time Access. Lindsey asked, “Is it a mistake to think that marriage would correct that in a person?” Pearson replied “That is a great error. Marriage in and of itself is not the cure for the homosexual person and we have an enormous amount of marriages that have failed because of that.”

1988-The Centers for Disease Control announced that syphilis and hepatitis B among Gay men decreased dramatically since 1982, but had increased among heterosexuals.

Anti-Amendment 2 Rally

1992-Rocky Mountain regional United Methodist Church bishop Roy Sano urged Colorado Methodist ministers to oppose Amendment 2, which sought to ban laws against anti-gay discrimination. Colorado voters later approved by referendum an amendment to the Colorado state constitution (Amendment 2) that would have prevented any city, town, or county in the state from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to recognize gay and lesbian individuals as a protected class. That amendment was approved by a vote of 53% to 47%.

Brian Barnard 1945-2012

1993 The Utah solicitor general has sided with two women suing the state over its statute banning marriage with an AIDS-infected partner. ``I don't know what the court will rule,'' said Utah Solicitor General Carol Clawson. ``But we don't intend to put these women or their families through a trial.'' Attorney Brian Barnard filed the suit last month on behalf of two married couples and their children, who would be considered illegitimate if their parents' unions are voided. He said the 1987 law was unconstitutional and violated the Americans With Disabilities Act. Mr. Barnard asked the judge to consider the suit a class action representing all Utahns in similar situations. Health workers estimate nearly 6,500 Utahns have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS. State officials agreed that the law -- which has not been enforced -- was probably unconstitutional. They asked the women to postpone their lawsuit until the Legislature could repeal the statute during its next session in January. The women refused, fearing that an unscrupulous insurance company would take advantage of the statute and refuse to pay health benefits in the event of their deaths. So, in a document filed Monday, the state asked U.S. District Judge Aldon J. Anderson for a summary judgment declaring the law invalid.  ``Well I'm glad to see they've come to their senses,'' said plaintiff Cindy Kidd, Obituary, who contracted the virus more than 10 years ago from a former boyfriend. ``It's about time. They only got around to joining us because we wouldn't back down.'' Ms. Kidd, 36, did not know she was ill when she married in Alta in 1991 and her husband adopted her 8-year-old twins. But under current law, the children would have no legal claim to their adoptive father's estate should their mother die, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. Another woman, identified in the lawsuit as ``T.E.P.'' (Peggy Tingey,) Obituary was married in Farmington in 1989. She has since been diagnosed with AIDS. The couple's biological child could be considered illegitimate under the law. The couple's child, who also has HIV, is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. The HIV virus is spread most often through sexual contact, contaminated needles or syringes shared by drug abusers, infected blood and from pregnant women to their offspring. Utah is the only state that invalidates marriage if a partner has AIDS. Other states have passed mandatory HIV testing for couples who wish to marry, but most of those laws were overturned by state supreme courts. Utah's law has never been tested in court. ``If the state had done this last month, it would have saved a bunch of attorney's fees,'' said Mr. Barnard, who said he has spent about $10,000 on legal research and interviews with prospective witnesses. ``It was probably the negative publicity that brought them around.'' Ms. Kidd and another plaintiff had been contacted by several national radio and television talk shows and appeared on a few programs, including the ``Jane Whitney'' show, which has yet to be aired  (08/18/93  Page: B1 SLTribune)'

David S. Young

1994- Many Utahns are justifiably angry that David Nelson Thacker will spend no more than six years at the Utah State Prison for hunting down and fatally shooting Douglas C. Koehler last August. Such leniency implies that life --not just Mr. Koehler's, but everyone's – is worth relatively little in this society. Because the victim's homosexual behavior was cited as the killer's motive, David S. Young, the 3rd District judge who chose the six-year sentence, has been accused of bias against gays. While bigotry would be difficult to prove, Judge Young's courtroom comments raise other concerns.  He said that if the victim had not supplied Thacker with drugs and alcohol, he may still be alive; that Thacker might not have killed had he not lived by the rule, ``Don't get mad, get even,'' and that killers are less likely than other offenders to repeat their crimes.  There is no assurance Thacker killed because of alcohol and drugs; most people don't. If Judge Young's reasoning were carried to its logical conclusion, people might be permitted to kill anyone who serves them alcohol or gives them drugs. But in a society ruled by law, individuals cannot take the law -- and others' lives -- into their own hands. Recidivism is not the issue ere. Punishing murder -- or manslaughter -- is a matter of morality and justice. And if Thacker does live by the ``get even'' code, he would seem especially prone to future violence. Americans may disagree on the reasons for criminal punishment -- whether it's a deterrent against crime or retribution for a wrong – but they do generally regard punishment as just and essential for organized society. The severity of the punishment reflects common values, with the harshest penalties traditionally reserved for those who would deny the life and liberty of others. The death penalty and life imprisonment, for example, have become statements of the value that society places on human life. Murderers may be expected to pay for their crimes with their own lives. But even murderers' lives are not treated lightly, as the Constitution guarantees a fair, impartial evaluation of the evidence against them. Thacker's sentence defies the premises that life is precious and that the American justice system is fair.  Because he pleaded guilty to second-degree felony manslaughter, Thacker would have avoided the death penalty or life imprisonment in any case. Prosecutors apparently reduced the charge from first-degree murder because Thacker may have been influenced by drugs and alcohol when he shot Mr. Koehler. But Judge Young's six-year sentence goes even beyond the lenient terms of the plea bargain, which called for up to 15 years in prison.  Utah killers have received their share of light sentences over the years. Jason Garcia, sentenced for 1 to 15 years for shooting Monica Vigil while she lay sleeping last November, is one of the more recent examples. But at least in that case, Judge Frank G. Noel recommended that Garcia serve the full 15 years of his manslaughter charge.  Whether Judge Young is guilty of prejudice against homosexuals, his decision at least has offended principles of justice. (08/18/94  Page: A12 SLTribune) Thacker demonstrated extreme cruelty and depravity.

1996 Page: B7 Gay Republicans Endorse Democrat Anderson   Utah Log Cabin Republicans, an organization of gay and lesbian Republicans, is crossing the aisle to endorse Democrat Ross Anderson for Congress in Utah's 2nd District. The group cited Anderson's ``business sense.'' And the ``fact that Ross recognizes all human beings worthy of every constitutional provision of this country's citizenship is an extra added bonus.'' The bylaws of the national Log Cabin organization do not allow any chapter endorsements of Democrats for president. Indeed, the national group just endorsed the Dole-Kemp ticket for president. ``However, this is fortunately still a free country, and my local bylaws and c

DJ Thompson

hairpersons are a little less restrictive,'' local Chapter President D.J.Thompson said. Anderson, an outspoken gay-rights advocate, is running against Republican Merrill Cook. Anderson also received an endorsement this month from the largest AFL-CIO affiliated labor union in Utah. The Utah Steelworkers Union said it would ``educate'' the 15,000 voting-age members of steelworkers families on the issues in the 2nd District. Subdistrict Director Dallas Alexander said the union's analysis of Anderson and Cook showed Anderson to be ``head and shoulders above his opponent in his concern for middle-class working people.'' The full AFL-CIO is still studying the candidates and will make its endorsement in September. It was a short-lived stint on the Anderson campaign for new manager Tom Price. The Democratic congressional candidate hired Price, a Washington D.C.-based grassroots coordinator for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, in late July. Within three weeks, the two agreed it wasn't working out. Price is the second SUWA type to leave the campaign. Finance Director Chris Edwards, a SUWA fund-raiser, also has left. Anderson would not elaborate on the departures, but said it was not a sign of disarray in his campaign organization. ``Just the opposite. The campaign is running more smoothly than ever.'' His new manager is Steve Harper, a school teacher, who first showed up as a nearly full-time volunteer at Anderson's headquarters and now is taking a leave of absence to head the effort.   House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, is coming to Utah to campaign for3rd Congressional District candidate Chris Cannon. Armey will spend a couple hours in Provo Thursday, attending a fund-raising reception being hosted for Cannon by Nu Skin executive Keith Halls. The reception is from 6 to7:30 p.m. at Halls' home in Provo. Armey will give a short speech and answer questions, then will be available to the news media immediately after the reception. Tickets are $100 per person. For more information contact the Cannon campaign, 374-8880. Utah Democrats will take part in a nationwide celebration of President Bill Clinton's 50th birthday via satellite tonight from the Port O' Call Social Club in downtown Salt Lake City. The president will be honored at New York's Radio City Music Hall and over 80 sites around the country. The group at Port O'Call will have a live link to the entertainment program in New York, with festivities set to run from4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The musical lineup includes Tony Bennett, Jon Bon Jovi, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Carly Simon, Kenny Rogers, Jennifer Holliday and Shania Twain. Money raised at the events across the country will be used to help elect Democrats. Clinton's birthday is Aug. 19. He shares a birthday with Tipper Gore, wife of vice president Al Gore, who will turn 48.

Candace Gingrich

1996 Page: A22 OH, BROTHER   Candace Gingrich said her mother has asked her to ``be nice to your brother.'' Mom and brother Newt may have quite a wait.   ``I'll be nice to my brother and the GOP when they start being nice to immigrants . . . the poor .. . people with HIV and AIDS . . . people of color . . . and women. I refuse to be nice to them until they start being nice to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people,'' Candace Gingrich said.  The lesbian half-sister of the House speaker marched with a noisy crowd of about 400 gay-rights activists through San Diego last week, calling for an end to what they termed intolerance and bigotry at the GOP convention.  

1996 Deseret News GAY PROFESSOR LEAVES BYU FOR POSITION AT WSU A Brigham

Young University professor who has publicly acknowledged he is gay is leaving the school to teach at Weber State University in Ogden. Thomas J. Matthews, 40, had taught in BYU's department of Spanish and Portuguese for five years. He will join WSU's Spanish department this fall. "There are a lot of reasons why I'm leaving BYU," Matthews said Thursday. "Obviously, the most crucial one is that I'm gay and I'm out of the closet and BYU doesn't like it." Brent Harker, director of BYU Public Communications, was surprised by the news of Matthews' resignation, but said, "his conduct was in keeping with our standards, and it was really his own struggle. It was his choice to make." Though never officially asked to leave, Matthews recognized his presence at the school was uncomfortable for the administration. Matthews announced in October that he intended to leave BYU once he found another job. While acknowledging his overall experience at BYU has been positive, Matthews said he was disappointed that many subjects are taboo there. News of Matthews' sexual orientation was publicized in stories last summer. "I am gay and I don't know that I can commit to living alone the rest of my life," Matthews had said. "As long as I stay at BYU, that is a requirement." Matthews, who had been vocal about his celibacy, wasn't pressured by BYU administrators to leave, but did meet with then Associate Vice President Todd A. Britsch last June. Britsch requested the meeting after someone told a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about Matthews' sexual orientation. Matthews said he felt compelled to go public with the fact he is gay because otherwise he felt duplicitous. Every time a student or colleague would ask when he intended to marry or how often he dated, he had to evade the question. "I don't know if I would have come to this point anywhere else," Matthews said earlier. "There's an atmosphere of honesty here that I felt more dishonest than I might have elsewhere."

1997- Michael O’Brien, executive director of the Utah Stonewall Center resigned over debt the center concurred while promoting the Stonewall Community Card.

Kathy Worthington Sarah Hamblin

1997- Kathy Worthington returned as facilitator of the Monday Night Women’s Group.

2003 Kathy Worthington and Sara Hamblin married in Toronto, Canada

Bryan Jordan Smith

2004 Bryan Jordan Smith (1983-2004) Bryan Jordan Smith was born March 27, 1983 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He graduated from American Fork High School and LDS Seminary. He was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served an LDS mission in Omaha, Nebraska. Bryan was a loving son and brother who enjoyed the outdoors, scrap booking, animals, and gardening. He loved cars and especially, his white Ford convertible Mustang. Bryan worked for Alpine School District at the Pony Express Elementary School. He planned on attending Joseph Patrick Academy of Hair this fall. Bryan committed suicide on Wednesday, August 18, 2004 in American Fork. He left a suicide note stating that he could not handle the fact that he was gay and that was at least one of the reasons for his suicide. He is survived by his mother, sister, brother, grandparents, and numerous other relatives. Funeral services were held August 24, 2004 in the American Fork LDS West Stake Center (700 East 500 North). Bryan is buried in the American Fork Cemetery.

• Bryan committed suicide leaving a note stating that he could not handle the fact that he was Gay and that was at least one of the reasons for his suicide.

2017 It's a QUAC Attack! Proceeds this month will support TheQueer Utah Aquatics Club. To help make things more interesting, the QUACers will collect party fowls in their Speedo's. BINGO and POT LUCK DINNER IN SUGARHOUSE PARK It's Summertime and just Too Darn Hot in the church building so we're moving outside for July and August. Let's have a pot luck dinner party and play bingo in our best pioneer tradition. The Matrons of Mayhem Slc will provide hotdogs, buns, condiments paper plates, napkins and utensils. We encourage the audience to bring a pot luck supper item to place on what becomes one of the largest buffet tables in ...SLC.  Bring Your own Non-Alcoholic beverages. Remember Salt Lake County Parks are alcohol free zones. First Bingo card per person is $5 each additional card is $3. This is a family friendly event, children are welcome and encouraged. This is a non-alcoholic event.

2017 Neon Trees’ Tyler Glenn welcomes Mormon backing of LGBTQ concert, but says ‘PR

Tyler Glenn

move’ doesn’t atone for church policies SLTRIBUNE Peggy Fletcher Stack The LDS Church’s endorsement this week of a fundraising concert for LGBTQ support groups sends a mixed message, says former Mormon Tyler Glenn, the outspoken lead singer for Neon Trees. Glenn, who is gay, is referring to a statement posted Wednesday on the church’s website that praises the Aug. 26 LoveLoud Festival in Orem as an effort to unite participants in addressing LGBTQ “teen safety and to express respect and love for all God’s children.” “We join our voice with all who come together to foster a community of inclusion,” the church goes on to say, “in which no one is mistreated because of who they are or what they believe.” But Glenn, who will be performing with his band at the concert, sees the LDS endorsement as little more than a “PR move,” he writes in an email. “Is it enough? No. Is it a step? Absolutely. Is it confusing? Absolutely.” The Utah County-born musician and former Mormon missionary resigned his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has been harsh in his criticism of the Utah-based faith’s platitudes and policies toward its LGBT members (married gay Mormon couples are deemed “apostates,” for example, and their children are excluded from religious rites until they are 18). Last year, Glenn released a solo album called “Excommunication,” whose main number, “Trash,” excoriates Mormonism and church founder Joseph Smith. LDS Church “rhetoric and treatment of its gay members historically, not to mention its LGBTQ members as a whole,” Glenn writes in the email, “lead me to see that the church itself is a fraud.” Still, Glenn applauds LoveLoud organizers — including Imagine Dragons’ frontman Dan Reynolds, himself a Mormon — for trying to create an inclusive event, one that will benefit four LGBTQ groups in their efforts to help at-risk youths. “Am I wanting every walk of life possible at Loveloud? Yes. A million times yes,” Glenn writes. “Because everyone needs to be there. It’s beyond the big music acts playing. It’s beyond some of the star power coming to Orem. It’s because we need peace and we need LGBTQ men women and children and all the in-between to keep living.” In this case, his politics and beliefs are irrelevant, Glenn says. “This is all bigger than any of that. This is about my community. I am proud to be gay, and I do love my Mormon friends and family. I’ll pick my battles with Joseph Smith and the big 12 [LDS apostles] another day.” The musician’s aim for the Aug. 26 festival at Utah Valley University’s Brent Brown Ballpark is simple, he says: “Humans loving as loud as possible through word and music.” For his part, Reynolds hopes the show reaches a wide audience.“LoveLoud has always been about conversations that ignite better understanding of one another. We want everyone involved to remain respectful, inclusive and operate from a place of love,” he says. “We are thrilled to have Tyler and Neon Trees in this show, and we’re thrilled with the support of the LDS Church and the participation of its members.” The event’s ability “to bring a whole community together around this cause,” Reynolds writes in an email, “speaks volumes about where everyone’s heart is.”

2018 LGBTQ Big Family Picnic  Hosted by HRC Utah, Utah Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, Utah AIDS Foundation, Equality Utah, and Utah Pride Center at 1 PM - 4 PM Fairmont Park 1049 E Sugarmont Dr, Salt Lake City, Utah Join us for the third annual LGBTQ+ Big Family Picnic, jointly hosted by your favorite LGBTQ+ organizations. This cost-free, family-friendly event is an opportunity for us to gather as a community and share food, fun, and laughter. Please bring everyone you know and your (well-behaved) dog! (Also, PLEASE be sure to RSVP so that we have plenty of food and drinks for everyone. Thanks!)