This Day In Gay Utah History AUGUST 24th

August 24th

79 AD The destruction of Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius preserves many homosexual graffiti: "Secundus felator rarus" translation Secundus is a fellator of rare ability. On the bar-brothel of Innulus and Papilio is written "Weep, you girls.  My penis has given you up.  Now it penetrates men’s behinds.  Goodbye, wondrous femininity!" On the house of the Citharist below a drawing of a man with a large nose: "Amplicatus, I know that Icarus is buggering you.  Salvius wrote this." On the basilica: "Phileros is a eunuch!" On the Eumachia Building: "Secundus likes to screw boys." On the house of Orpheus: " I have buggered men." "We two dear men, friends forever, were here.  If you want to know our names, they are Gaius and Aulus.  Recently  a pair of nuzzling figures

which had been assumed to be two females have been revealed by scientists to each have male DNA and researchers are now suggesting that they may have been male lovers. Two bodies found wrapped in a poignant embrace in their final moments were covered beneath molten rock and layers of ash in the ancient city of Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius violently erupted in 79 A.D. The bodies were dubbed "The Two Maidens" when they were first discovered but in a startling discovery scientists found the two bodies were actually male ... raising speculation that they may have been Gay lovers. Extensive anthropological tests of the bones and teeth reveal that the men were about 18 and 20 years old, not related to one another and found wrapped in an embrace in their final moments.  

This scene from the 1935 Last Days of Pompeii fascinated me as a young boy. Its the Christians and slaves being marched into the arena right before the eruption... Feudian. 

John Wolfenden

1954-The Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution better known as The Wolfenden Committee was appointed to investigate laws in Britain relating to homosexuals offenses. At the end of 1954, in England and Wales, there were 1,069 men in prison for homosexual acts, with a mean age of 37. 

1966 Captain J.L. Smith, Salt Lake City vice control commander, charged Sam Richard, a bartender at the Jocor Lounge, 115 East 2nd South, with permitting a woman to wear indecent attire and permitting herself to make indecent exposure of her self. Obituary of owner of the Jocor Lounge

1969 Sunday-A seven day North America Conference of Homophile Organizations [NACHO} held in Kansas City Missouri. NACHO held its 4th Convention with 24 independent Gay groups sending delegates to the conference. NACHO operated much as civil rights groups worked through the first half of the Sixties; Through education, legal action, and voter education, through winning over straight majority by appealing to their consciences, through building ‘good public image’ through lobbying with Congress and State legislators through ‘respectability.’ In the 1969 conference its respectability was impugned by a radical caucus that emerged midway through the convention. Following a showing of the “Seasons Change”, an ACLU documentary on the demonstrations and police tactics at the Chicago 1968 Democratic Convention, a radical caucus was formed. Supported by the NACHO Youth Committee the radicals labored through the week and on Thursday [August 28] afternoon presented a RADICAL MANFESTO-THE HOMOPHILE MOVEMENT MUST BE RADICALIZED’  The Manifesto stated  “Our fate is linked with these minorities. Therefore we declare our support as homosexuals or bisexuals for the struggles of the black, the feminist, the Spanish American, the Indian, the Hippie, the Young, the Student, and other victims of oppression and prejudice. Our enemies, an implacable, repressive governmental system, much of organized religion, business and medicine, will not be moved by appeasement or appeals to reason and justice, but only by power and force. We demand the removal of all restrictions on sex between consenting persons of any sex, of any orientation, of any age, anywhere, whether for money or not and for the removal of all censorship. We call upon the churches to sanction homosexual liaisons when called upon. We call upon the homophile movement to be more honestly concerned with youth rather than trying to promote a mythical non existent “good public image.” The homophile movement must totally reject the insane war in Viet Nam and refuse to encourage complicity in the war and support of the war machine, which may well be turned against us. We oppose any attempt by the movement to obtain security clearances for homosexuals, since these contribute to the war machine. The homophile movement must engage in continuous political struggle on all fronts.  We must open the eyes of homosexuals on this continent to the increasingly repressive nature of our society and to the realization that Chicago may await us tomorrow. “ After 3 hours of debate the radicals lost all votes to the conservative competition.

1970-The New York Times ran a front-page story with the headline-HOMOSEXUALS IN REVOLT. The article reports "a new mood now taking hold among the nation's homosexuals. In growing number they are publicly identifying themselves as homosexuals, taking a measure of pride in that identity and seeking militantly to end what they see as society's persecution of them."

1986-A new LDS group called "People Who Care" (a Mormon type Parents and Friends of Gays ) was formed by straight members of the LDS Church. Straight Women involved were Gerri Johnston and Lucille Warren.

1986- The Royal Court of the Golden Spike's annual Carnival was held at Club Backstreet this year. Located at 108 South 5th West SLC

Rev. Bruce Barton

1986 Sunday At MCC Rev. Bruce Barton gave an excellent sermon on the Book of Esther. Rev. Barton is thin as a rail and very flamboyant. I suppose he believes he has to be dramatic to keep the seats filled. He taught us a really powerful song while I can't remember the title some of the lyrics went like this, "If I perish! I perish! For I am going to see the King! If I perish I perish For I am going to see the King. No more trials! Tribulations! Persecutions! Troubles and Woe. For I am going to see the King!" Church was barely over when I sped away to be at the Crossroad Urban Center for Affirmation. Mike Anderson gave a talk on Spencer Kimball's Miracle of Forgiveness, reading the most vile passages. The group consensus was that Kimball was expressing his own prejudices and homophobia rather than speaking the mind and will of God. [Journal of Ben Williams]

Additional Material-Esther Chapter 4 Verse 16 “and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.”

Bayard Rustin

1987-Bayard Rustin, an African-American Gay man who organized the March on Washington for Civil Rights in 1964 for Martin Luther King Jr., died of cardiac arrest in New York City.Lambda Lore Article on Rustin 

• Did you know that the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington was not Martin Luther King, Jr., but rather Bayard Rustin, an openly gay man? Two decades after his death, Bayard Rustin, one of the great heroes of the civil rights movement, is all but forgotten. A long time aide to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rustin helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott of the 1950s, suggested to King the formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and was the principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington where King gave his famous “I Have A Dream” speech. Today, few people know about him because of his sexual orientation. Rustin was born into a Quaker family in 1912. He was an integral part of the African-American civil rights movement, and one of the leading advocates of pacifism and passive resistance. Rustin became active in the civil rights movement when he moved to Harlem and began studying at City College of New York. He became a member of Fifteenth Street Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) where, at age 25, he joined the American Friends Service Committee. Here got involved in efforts to defend and free the Scottsboro Boys, nine young black men in Alabama who were accused of raping two white women. That same year he joined the Communist Party and organized the Youth Communist League. In the 1930s the Communist Party USA was a strong supporter of the African-American civil rights movement. However, in 1941 Joseph Stalin ordered the CPUSA to abandon its civil rights work and focus on supporting U.S. entry into World War II. Thus Rustin, who was a pacifist, became disillusioned with communism. He began working with anti-communist socialists such as Philip Randolph, the head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and A. J. Muste, leader of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He then became Race Relations Secretary for the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Although Rustin had quit the Youth Communist League and become anti-communist, LDS Church President Ezra Taft Benson would, in the 1960s, accuse Martin Luther King, Jr. of being a communist and associating with communists because of Rustin. Segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina similarly denounced Rustin as a “Communist, draft-dodger and homosexual.” In 1942, Rustin assisted George Houser, James L. Farmer, Jr. and activist Bernice Fisher as they formed the Congress of Racial Equality. Although Rustin was not a direct founder, he was referred to as “an uncle of CORE.” As declared pacifists, Rustin and other members of CORE and FOR were arrested for violating the Selective Service Act. Rustin was imprisoned in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary for two years, where he organized protests against segregated dining facilities. After being released, Rustin helped organize the Journey of Reconciliation’s “freedom rides” in 1947. These Freedom Rides were done to test a Supreme Court ruling of Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia, which banned racial discrimination in interstate travel. On this ride, Rustin was arrested for violating Jim Crow laws that mandated segregated seating on public transportation. He then served 22 days on a chain gang in North Carolina. His experiences there were chronicled in the New York Post and initiated an investigation that eliminated chain gangs in North Carolina. CORE was conceived as a pacifist organization based on the writings of Henry David Thoreau and modeled after Mohandas Gandhi’s non-violent resistance against British rule in India. In 1948, Rustin traveled to India and learned nonviolence techniques directly from the leaders of the Gandhian movement. The conference had been organized before Gandhi’s assassination earlier that year. Rustin was arrested in Pasadena, Calif., in 1953, for homosexual activity. Charged with vagrancy and lewd conduct, he pleaded guilty to a single, lesser charge of “sex perversion” and served 60 days in jail. This was the first time that Rustin’s homosexuality had come to public attention even though he had been, and remained, candid about his sexuality. After his conviction, he was fired from FOR. He then put his energy in the War Resisters League. Rustin took leave from the War Resisters League in 1956 to advise Martin Luther King, Jr. on Gandhian tactics. At that time, King was organizing the public transportation boycott in Montgomery, Ala. known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The following year, Rustin and King began organizing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Rustin, however, was considered a liability by many civil rights leaders who were concerned that his homosexuality and his past Communist membership would undermine support for the movement. U.S. Representative Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who was a member of the SCLC’s board, forced Rustin’s resignation from the SCLC in 1960 by threatening to discuss Rustin’s “morals charge” in Congress. And despite his friend King’s support, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chairman Roy Wilkins did not want Rustin to receive any public credit for his role in planning the march even though Rustin served as the deputy director and chief organizer. A year before his death in 1987, Rustin testified on behalf of New York State’s Gay Rights Bill. In a speech before the New York legislators, he asserted: “Today, blacks are no longer the litmus paper or the barometer of social change. Blacks are in every segment of society and there are laws that help to protect them from racial discrimination. The new “niggers” are gays. … It is in this sense that gay people are the new barometer for social change. … The question of social change should be framed with the most vulnerable group in mind: gay people.” Rustin wrote several essays, recorded songs and received numerous honorary doctorates while continuing his involvement as an officer on numerous human rights committees. He was survived by his partner of 10 years, Walter Naegle.

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1987-Richard Hefner resigned from President of LGSU at the U of U after financial irregularities. Chris Brown was elected new President with George Marshall and Geoff Partain elected Vice-Chairs.

Leonard Frey

1988-Actor Leonard Frey died of AIDS at age 49. He played "Harold" in both the stage and movie version of  "The Boys in the Band."

1989 Thursday, August 24, 1989 GODFREY REFUSES TO MAKE GAY-RIGHTS QUESTION CAMPAIGN ISSUE  By Robert Rice, Staff Writer The Salt Lake County Republican Party wants Salt Lake City Councilman Tom Godfrey to take a stand on some issues in his re-election campaign - topics Godfrey says aren't city-scale issues at all. "Will he please respond to the following issues," said party Chairman Peter Van Alstyne. "Where does Tom Godfrey stand on the homosexual-rights issue and secondly, where does he stand on strong family values?" Godfrey countered, "The city doesn't deal with those issues." He also complained that Van Alstyne is "interjecting himself" into a District 5 non-partisan council race. "Mr. Van Alstyne doesn't live in District 5 and as I talk to my constituents, they don't like him butting into District 5," Godfrey said. The debate began last week when local media obtained a letter on Republican Party stationery and signed by Van Alstyne in which he urged District 5 voting district officers to defeat Godfrey. The letter charged Godfrey did not adhere to standards of "high moral integrity" and that he supports programs and ordinances that are anti-family. "We must elect a person of high moral integrity to the City Council from District 5," the letter concluded. Central to the charge that Godfrey didn't meet high moral standards, according to Van Alstyne, was Godfrey's decisions to speak at Gay and Lesbian Pride Day in Salt Lake City on July 30. On Wednesday, Van Alstyne said Godfrey's "actions speak louder than words" and challenged Godfrey to publicly explain his position on homosexual rights and family values. "Tom Godfrey has made these campaign issues because as a candidate and as an incumbent, he went and delivered a high profile address to the gay-rights rally. He made this a campaign issue," Van Alstyne said. "Peter's wrong," said Godfrey. "I have not made these campaign issues. If I recall recently it is Mr. Van Alstyne who is trying to make them issues in my campaign." And Godfrey said, if these are campaign issues, "I need to discuss those with my opponents and not with Mr. Van Alstyne." Godfrey said he is "perturbed" Van Alstyne was making an issue of his providing a welcoming address to the gay-rights rally. Not addressing the rally would have been discriminatory, Godfrey said. "If I followed Peter's logic" of discriminating against gays by not addressing their rally, "at some point then I do not address blacks, I do not address Hispanics, I do not address low-income people - I only address those people who fit Peter's description of people who fit Republican values," Godfrey said. Godfrey's failure to recognize homosexual rights and family values as City Council election issues is politcally naive, Van Alstyne said. "He's (Godfrey) in water too deep for his political skills." Van Alstyne also criticized Godfrey for chosing to air a rumor last March that two council members made a deal with Zions First National Bank promising them a $23 million bond package. Later council members W.M. "Willie" Stoler and Florence Bittner denied they had made the bank promises. An independent investigation of the rumor later found no evidence of wrongdoing. Van Alstyne charged that Godfrey was "politcally motivated" in choosing to air the rumor. Godfrey denied that charge and noted that the investigator studying the rumor told him it should have been publicly aired as Godfrey chose to do.  The Republican Party is targeting Godfrey for defeat in this year's election and doesn't plan to involve itself in other district races, Van Alstyne said. © 1999 Deseret News Publishing Co.

1992-Judy Kay Moore, age 33, of Salt Lake City, died at her home. Judy worked for the People With AIDS Coalition and was a spokesperson for the Utah AIDS Foundation.  Survivors include Kent Wardle; and two children

1993-Summit County Sheriff's deputies arrested two men Monday night in connection with the shooting death of Douglas C. Koehler, the county's first homicide in three years. Deputies arrested the pair at their Park City condominium, said Summit County Sheriff Fred Eley. Mr. Koehler, 31, had been visiting bars in the Park City area with friends Friday night and decided to go on alone after others wanted to quit, his friends said. The decision cost him his life. A newspaper carrier on morning rounds found Mr. Koehler's body in the parking lot of the Cedar Lane condominiums in Park West early Saturday. A single gunshot to the head caused instantaneous death, authorities said.  Summit County Attorney Bob Adkins said charges could be filed against the two suspects today. The men, ages 26 and 21, remained in the Summit County Jail. Mr. Koehler was a 6-foot-4 ``gentle giant'' who frequently rode his horse, Fred, in the Utah mountains, his friends said. He was articulate and talented and had many friends, his Salt Lake business partner said Monday. James Cornwall, co-owner of the Frame-It Shop, 3149 S. State, said he was still trying to understand why someone shot Mr. Koehler, execution-style. Monday, Summit County Det. Joe Offret said investigators were interviewing persons who had last seen Mr. Koehler to piece together where he had been. Officers are still puzzled over a motive.  Said Salt Lake tavern owner and friend John Paul Brophy: ``He was a hell of an artist and someone who wouldn't harm a fly. This is such a shock.'' (08/25/93  Page: D3 SLTribune)

Mikhil Baryshnikov

 1993- Tuesday Mikhail Baryshnikov the Russian superstar danced for the first time in Utah night to a sellout crowd at Salt Lake City's Capitol Theatre. The performance was repeated Wednesday night, again a sellout. Baryshnikov made his Utah debut with the White Oak Dance Project, a troupe of seasoned modern dancers who have been touring the United States for the better part of three years. After the Show: Baryshnikov and his entourage made the trip to the elegant Capitol Hill home of Salt Lake City restaurateur Tom Sieg, Obituary who was host for a post-concert party attended by 400 guests. Baryshnikov posed briefly for pictures – one with Ballet West artistic director John Hart and another with LaDonna Moore, executive director of the Utah AIDS   Foundation, the recipient of a $5,000-plus donation from performance/party proceeds. Would you pay 125,000 rubles to see Mikhail Baryshnikov?  400 people paid $125to see the Russian-born dancer at the Capitol Theatre and rub elbows (literally) at a post-performance cocktail party. On opening night Tuesday, the ``Misha'' magic was much in evidence as a capacity crowd applauded every move of the lithe and delightsome star, lead dancer of the eight-member White Oak Dance Project. Salt Lake restaurateur Tom Sieg lent Ballet West his spacious, gracious digs on the city's north side for the party, a benefit for Ballet West and the Utah AIDS Foundation. For Utah AIDS Foundation executive director LaDonna Moore, having the famed dancer put the spotlight on AIDS is as important as the monetary donation.UAF development director Maxine Margaritis agrees.08/26/93  Page: A1 SLTribune) (08/29/93  Page: B8 SLTribune)

Kim Russo

1995  Kim Russo of the Utah AIDS Foundation distributes condoms outside a Salt Lake bar. About 1,000 condoms are handed out on any given weekend. Armed With Condoms, Foot Soldiers Battle AIDS on Utah's Front Lines AIDS Warriors Give Condoms and Counsel. It's Saturday night at Exchange Place in downtown Salt Lake City. With a boom box as centerpiece, a pack of teen-agers commands a concrete corner, working hard to look casual under backward baseball caps.  Armed with knapsacks full of Sheik Elite, Kim Russo and two volunteers offer the crowd free condoms. Most shyly accept. Some say thank you. One girl asks for a bunch to give friends. As Russo heads down the Salt Lake City sidewalk, the neon sign on a magazine store catches her eye.  ``Ideally,'' she says, ``I would like to go into one of those shops and put a condom in every magazine.''  Russo would put a condom just about anywhere -- if she thought it would do some good. As outreach coordinator for the Utah AIDS Foundation, her job is to devise creative ways

to reach Utahns at risk of contracting HIV. That includes most young people, Russo says -- straight, gay, bisexual or undecided. With a team of 40 volunteers, Russo travels the state. She has given educational talks at Utah State University in Logan and a private swingers' party in St. George. Since AIDS does not discriminate by class, neither does Russo. One weekend, she mingles with the theater crowd at the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City. The next, she visits highway rest stops, homeless shelters and state prisons. ``We are here to serve,'' says Russo, ``not to be judgmental.'' This aggressive strategy means even those on the fringe get the word -- from drag queens to drug users to homeless teens. The anonymity of the encounter often allows strangers to ask sensitive questions. According to the latest figures, 1,092 people in Utah have been diagnosed with AIDS and 772 have tested positive for HIV. The disease has killed 652 people in the state. Some of its victims were diagnosed elsewhere and returned home to Utah to die.  Additionally, the state Health Department estimates several thousand Utahns have HIV but have not yet been tested. AIDS is the leading cause of death among Salt Lake City men ages 25 to 44. Nationally and in Utah, HIV-infection rates are growing fastest among women. While AIDS education in public schools begins in third grade, Utah teachers may not discuss condoms in the classroom without parents' prior written consent. There are no school-based health clinics in Utah, so sexually active young people must buy their own. They are expensive. While the Centers for Disease Control sells 1,000 condoms for $80, the same condoms on the supermarket shelf cost $8 a dozen.  Conservatives argue that easy access to contraceptives will encourage youths to have sex. Russo recalls a furious father who called her after finding a condom with a Utah AIDS Foundation wrapper in his daughter's pocket. ``I told him, `You should be proud of your daughter.' He was very angry with us. By the end of the conversation, he was pretty good.'' Barbara Shaw, executive director of the foundation, emphasizes that workers advocate safety, not sex. No state tax dollars are spent on condoms. ``Those of us who work here are just as interested in responsible sex as anyone else,'' says Shaw. ``We are also realistic about what is going on.'' On Saturday nights, AIDS Foundation workers ply Salt Lake City's gay hangouts --The Sun, Bricks, the Deer Hunter and The Trapp.  Like trick-or-treaters in reverse, the team members stuff condoms in shirt pockets, place them beside beer glasses and ask lesbians to give them to a friend. Later, J. Chris Robertson, a regular volunteer, drops condoms into cruising cars and goes to The Bay, a mixed dance club, where he tosses condoms over the balconies toward outstretched arms.  A sense of humor is mandatory. ``We get a lot of flirtatious things, like `Could you help me put it on?' '' says Robertson, 23, a Westminster student. ``Some people have come up to me at Smith's and said, ``Hey, you are the condom guy.' ''Adds Tina [Marie] Nelson, 22: ``I always get asked, `So where is the guy to go with it?' '' Some folks turn down the freebie. Out by Exchange Place, a red sports car screeches to a halt. The driver declines the condom, saying he is looking for acid. Other night owls say they brought their own or will not be having sex. ``I am seven months pregnant,'' a teen-age girl explains. ``I won't be needing it.''  Three hours and 1,000 condoms later, workers call it a night. While Robertson concedes there is no way to know if people use the condoms, he is not discouraged.  ``If it saves one life a month,'' he says, ``it's worth the time.'' (08/24/95 Page: A1 SLTribune)

1997- Zions Camp, A family Reunion Presented by Wasatch Affirmation.

2000-A U.S. federal court of appeals ruled that a transgendered Mexican woman had reason to fear persecution and was entitled to asylum.

Chad Beyer

2004 The Gay and Lesbian Community Center hired Chad Beyer as new director. The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender Community Center of Utah has hired a new executive director, Chad Beyer, who is spearheading efforts to launch a new strategic plan using feedback from surveys and focus groups. "We're seeking community input," Beyer said. "What is it we can do that nobody else does?" Beyer said feedback will be collected through September, with an organizational meeting in early October. He said that meeting will help create a solid mission plan for the nonprofit community center. The center, established in 1991, provides a meeting place, youth activity center, library and coffee shop. It also sponsors the annual Utah Pride celebration. Beyer said the center, 361 N. 300 West, acts as a resource for youths, and several groups use it as a meeting place, including the Don't Amend Alliance, which opposes a proposal to write a ban on same-sex marriage into the state's constitution. Beyer replaces interim director Tami Marquardt. Executive Director Paula Wolfe resigned in April after 4 1/2 years at the post. At the time, Wolfe said she stepped down, in part, to spend time with her children in Seattle and because of the recent legislative session, in which lawmakers approved the proposed marriage amendment, which will be on the ballot this November. Beyer said the state's political climate isn't new to him. He's from Grand Rapids, Mich., an area with similar dynamics to Utah, in terms of its size and religious conservatism. Beyer is a graduate of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and has a master's degree of social justice education and advocacy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Deseret News

Rocky Anderson

2005 Rocky set to extend benefits to partners Gay, straight: Approval from the City Council may not be legally necessary By Heather May The Salt Lake Tribune No lobbying or emotional debate necessary. Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson apparently can extend health benefits to unmarried partners of gay and straight city employees anytime he wants. And he said Tuesday that he will "absolutely" offer the benefits once the city finishes its research on the plan and he gets formal word he can do it without a City Council vote. Still, Anderson hopes the council passes a symbolic resolution supporting the idea. "As long as we're going to do this, we should demonstrate unity on this issue," he said. "Providing for equality should not create more division in our community." Even a symbolic resolution is hardly a sure thing. The city's seven-member council leans conservative, and this is an election year for four of them. If the council rejects a resolution, Anderson said he would go ahead and offer the benefits anyway. Barring quick action from another city, Salt Lake City would become Utah's first government to offer domestic-partner benefits. Mike Picardi, chairman of the Utah Stonewall Democrats, was excited about the news and said it could spur more governments and companies to follow suit. "It's about time that we have this," he said. "It gives recognition to a group of people in existence - you can't wish them away. They're a different type of family, but they are family." Picardi stressed the benefits would aid heterosexual couples, too. "People like to spin this into a gay issue. . . . It's an evolution of the nuclear family." On Tuesday, Anderson met with Councilwoman Jill Remington Love to talk about domestic-partner benefits. She was looking at extending benefits via a council vote, but research by council staff found the mayor can "pick up the phone and do it," she said. "I encouraged him [Anderson] to move ahead," she recalled. "My main goal is that it gets done." The City Attorney's Office has yet to issue an opinion. Anderson said he wants the plan in place before November, when employees change their benefits package. "It's a matter of getting it drafted," he said. Brenda Hancock, director of the city's Human Resources Department, said a task force is studying which benefits could be offered to employees' partners, how to implement the program and the legalities. Possible benefits include health, life and dental insurance. Just like employees' spouses, the domestic partners would have to pay about $2,200 a year to join the health plan. The city might also offer partners the chance to buy auto insurance and legal assistance - benefits now offered to employees' spouses. Other cities and employers offering domestic-partners benefits see 1 percent to 2 percent of the work force apply. If that holds true in Salt Lake City, it could cost the city up to $121,000 more a year to cover domestic partners and their children. That's a 0.6 percent increase in the city's $18.7 million benefits budget. And it's equivalent to what the city spends when employees get married. Anderson predicted the price tag would be even less. While at least one lawmaker believes that offering domestic-partner benefits runs afoul of state law - and Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, said he would be willing to sponsor legislation to stop the city from proceeding - Salt Lake County attorneys already have found it would be legal, according to County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson. After

Jenny Wilson

an emotional debate last month, the County Council rejected Wilson's plan to offer domestic-partner benefits to county employees. While Love wants benefits extended to siblings and parents as well, the mayor is seeking benefits for only gay and heterosexual partners. "I'm fine with that," Love said. Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is continuing work on creating a domestic-partner registry, which would allow gay and heterosexual couples to register their relationships at City Hall. Employees are researching if the registry could provide any legal rights, such as hospital-visitation rights. "I'd like to go as far as we can to provide for equal treatment regardless of sexual orientation," Anderson said Tuesday. Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, has likened the registry to gay marriages. Supporters of such registries say they aren't the same. If a registry confers legal rights, Anderson said he would need City Council support. If it doesn't, he thinks he can create the registry on his own.

- Heather May