This Day In Gay Utah History AUGUST 30th

August 30th

1928-The New York Times reported that US publisher Alfred Knopf had purchased the American rights to Radclyffe Hall's novel about lesbianism, "The Well of Loneliness."

Murray Park

1950 Wednesday- Two 15 year old boys taken into custody for the sadistic beating of a 9 year old Murray boy are to answer to three felony charges Wednesday in 3^rd District Court. Peace Officers circumvented juvenile court action in filing charges of assault with intent to commit murder, assault  on a child under 14 years old and sodomy, against the pair, Karl Marx Black (age 16) of 56 Columbia Ave., Murray, and Franklin R. Westerfield of 869 Pueblo Street.  The two are charged in separate complaints with sodomy and one assault with intent to commit murder. The victim was severely beaten and mistreated Saturday afternoon while returning from a swim in Murray Park, a stone’s throw from the Salt Lake County Fair.  He told Chief Deland and County Deputy Sheriffs two youth beat him with rocks and sticks, cut him with a knife, bound him with his underwear, and tossed him into Big Cottonwood Canyon Stream which winds through the park after committing sexual indecencies. Hearing set for September 13. (SLTribune 08/29/50 pg. 13 col. 4, 08/30/50 page. 17 col. 4, 08/31/50 pg. 17 col.1)

1987 Gay Day at Lagoon was held sponsored by Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah.

Geoff Partain

Ben Williams

1987-"Mike Anderson, Jeff Partain, Brent Fotheringham, and I were out at 3:30 a.m. and went to Broadway and Main Street. Lots of people were out this last weekend before school starts Monday. Anyway we are out having fun. Still slightly drunk, singing show tunes, oblivious to any danger. Salt Lake is so pure, so safe, even at 3:30 a.m. So we were standing in front of Broadway Music Store on Broadway and feeling tired, I sat down a concrete bench. I looked out at the street then at Jeff Partain and suddenly I see this guy hitting Jeff in the face calling him "Faggot"! Then he ran over and surprised Mike, hitting him with an upper cut to the nose. I just went berserk. I screamed “You dumb ass fucker What the hell do you think your doing you bastard”, and I took after him running. He turned around and said “Come for me Faggot” and he charged at me, legs kicking, hands out like he knew karate but I didn't care. I

Michael Anderson

was enraged. I dove on top of him, grabbed his arm behind him and I pulled his long hair so hard his head snapped back. I then threw him down of the concrete sidewalk. I wrestled him down pinning him and screaming at him all the time “You Bastard”. I really don't remember if I hit him or anything because it all happened so fast and my adrenaline was rushing like mad. However later I had a goose egg size bump on my forehead and my left hands had cuts across the knuckles which I am not sure whether I got from hitting him or scraping my hand on the sidewalk as I pulled him down. While I had him on the ground Mike grabbed the kid's bike and was going to smash him in the face with it after recovering from the stunning blow he got. But these two guys who had been with this asshole stopped Mike, and it is just as well. We are better people than that, but I told the basher that if he wanted his bike back he better get the hell out of here. He gave up struggling and we let him ride off with him shouting back at us "Faggots!" I was so angry I stupidly yelled at the top of my lungs "You're the Fag!" then yelled "Coming here trying to prove your masculinity you piss ass bastard! You are the fag!" I was totally out of it. Strange though, it was not in us to hit him once he was down. Truly we are a gentle angry people. Jeff Partain was okay just stunned and everything happened so fast that Brent never had a chance to respond to the situation. It’s something you don't expect to happen. That's not exactly correct. We do expect to be attacked because we are Gay but when it does it’s still a shock. Later some other Gay men came over who had witnessed the attack. Bobby Childers said that he knew this guy

Bobby Childers

was looking for trouble and over heard him say to his friends that he had a knife. Earlier before the attack I saw three cop cars cruising around the block hassling Gays who were out but when we were being bashed not one came around. About 4 a.m. this woman cop pulled up next to us and we were still shaken from the attack and she said to us "Take the Party home" and I looked right at her and said "We have just been attacked!” She said she recognized the description of the dude and said she wished we would have apprehended him and turned him over to the cops because yesterday he had hit someone with a rock and put him in the hospital. What really disgusted me was that the cops had this guys description and he rode around us several times on his bike before he attacked us so why didn't those cops who were hassling Gays for being on the corner talking, spot him? He was not hard to miss, a kid about 17 years old with long black stringy hair riding a land cruiser bike.[Journal of Ben Williams]

Connell O'Donovan

1989 The Utah Gay and Lesbian Historical Society met at the Quaker Meeting House on 2nd Ave. Rocky O'Donavan and Liza Smart discussed the presentation given to the Berkeley Gay Historical Society in California.

1990 Thursday CONTROVERSY OVER FRANK DISPLAY SELECTED AS CENSORSHIP EXAMPLE The controversy surrounding an Anne Frank exhibit in Salt Lake City, which included materials regarding the Nazi persecution of homosexuals, has been selected as an example of school censorship by People for the American Way. The organization recently distributed a list of 244 incidents it believes amounted to school censorship during the 1989-90 school year. The Anne

Frank incident was the only Utah incident cited. People for the American Way is a watchdog group concerned with constitutional liberties. The Salt Lake incident, which occurred last March, was attributed by state school officials to a "misunderstanding" but raised a furor, particularly among gay-rights groups. The State Office of Education was asked to review educational materials associated with the Anne Frank exhibit, which was sponsored by Geneva Steel. Three of 38 pages of the materials were originally deleted because they dealt with the persecution of homosexuals during the Nazi regime. James R. Moss, who at the time was state school superintendent, said the state office merely cautioned the sponsors about the sensitivity related to materials that promote "acceptance of or advocacy of homosexuality as a desirable or acceptable sexual adjustment or lifestyle." The sponsors responded by removing the references to homosexuality in the exhibit materials, but later they were stored. [Deseret News]

1992-David Niels Stoker died age 36 years of AIDS survived by companion, Patrick Baggs. -I, David Niels Stoker, bid good-bye to you for now. I was born May 25, 1956 in Ogden, Utah. I earned my Eagle Scout and was a member of the Order of the Arrow. I graduated from Clearfield High School in 1974. I later worked as manager for B. Dalton Bookstores and thoroughly enjoyed my years there.  I have loved traveling to new places. I treasured the pleasant hours I've spent in my hobby of stained glass, and working in my yard and garden. My dog, Skittle, has been my faithful and beloved companion. To my loved ones I am leaving behind, I will wait to receive you and help guide you to a much happier sphere. My son, and my friend and companion, Pat Baggs; you each have my best wishes in your lives. My love and spirit will always be with you. You will know I am there. My family has been such a great help. Your support and understanding has been tremendous and has encouraged me to keep thinking positive. I wish to thank Dr. Kristen Reis, Maggie Snyder and all the staff of Med. III at Holy Cross Hospital who have helped me through my valiant battle with AIDS. To all of you who have donated blood to me, I deeply thank you. This is not the end, but maybe a new beginning for others. I am going to a different dimension and I will meet you there.  

1992  FARR WEST EX-MAYOR FINED FOR LEWDNESS Associated Press  Sunday, Aug. 30, 1992 The former mayor of Farr West has been ordered to serve two days in jail, to be followed by 90 days of home confinement, and fined $300 for his conviction on a lewdness charge. John R. Stewart, 48, appeared for sentencing Friday before 2nd Circuit Judge Parley Baldwin, who also told him to stay out of Ogden River Parkway. Baldwin suspended all but two days of an 180-day term, saying he wanted the threat of jail to motivate Stewart to continue counseling and avoid any repeat of the April 16 incident in which an Ogden police officer observed Stewart and another man at the parkway, committing a lewd act. Deseret News

1993 Micheal Paul Larsen age 27 died after a brave battle with AIDS. He is survived by his partner, Brian L. Keener; A candlelight vigil was held in Memory Grove in his honor.

1996 Deseret News- Convention includes shock as well as thrills for Utah's delegates By Lee Davidson and Bob Bernick Jr., Staff Editor Writers Utah's Democratic convention delegates were exultantly thrilled and disappointingly stunned at the same time Thursday - thrilled with Bill Clinton's speech, and stunned that his chief campaign strategist resigned amid a new sex scandal. "I wish it didn't hurt, but I'm sure it does," said delegate Ted Wilson about the resignation of Clinton strategist Dick Morris amid allegations he had a long affair with a

Ted Wilson

prostitute, and allowed her to listen in on presidential conversations. "People don't vote for presidential staff members. But it does bring up memories of other character issues," said Wilson, the former Salt Lake City mayor who is co-chairman of the Clinton-Gore campaign in Utah. However, Wilson was upbeat about Clinton's speech at the convention. "He was like a Ronald Reagan with substance," he said. "He hit many issues that should play well in Utah, including eliminating capital gains tax on selling your home." State Democratic Party Chairman Mike Zuhl lamented about the Morris scandal, "I knew something like this would happen because everything had been going too smoothly, and we're Democrats." But he pointed out, "It wasn't the president. It was a paid consultant. But the timing is disappointing because we were building momentum, then this happens." Delegate and Salt Lake County Commissioner Randy Horiuchi predicted the fallout from the scandal will be small over the long run, "and there's probably going to be serious credibility problems as it is investigated more ... It comes from the same tabloid that did the Gennifer Flowers story (alleging she had an affair with Clinton)." "It was perfect," delegate David Nelson said of the speech. Nelson also

David Nelson on right

said he was disappointed the scandal broke the same day, but, "This is Dick Morris' problem, not the president's." Dollars for Bill, dross for Ross: Rep. Bill Orton, D-Utah, will get the full financial, moral and administrative help of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Mark Lotwis, DCCC campaign planning director, told the Utah delegation Thursday. But Ross Anderson in the 2nd House District needs to raise more money and do a bit better in the polls before the DCCC can make the same commitment to him. Lotwis said he believes Anderson can and will win. "We know (Republican) Merrill Cook. We've watched him run many times," Lotwis said jokingly. "The best way you Democrats in Utah can help Anderson is to write him a check," he said.

Simon LeVay

1998 Sunday- Simon LeVay Ph.D. Author of The Sexual Brain, his 1991 report on brain differences between Gay and straight men, spoke at a forum on homosexual at the Behavior Science Auditorium at the University of Utah. His presentation was entitled Queer Science: the Use and Abuse of Research into Homosexuality. The forum was co-sponsored by Family Fellowship and the Salt Lake Chapter of PFLAG

1999-The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a new blood test that estimates how recently a person was infected with HIV.

Maureen Davies, Chuck Whyte Brenda Voisard 

2002 Brenda Voisard Steps Down From Women's Resource Center By Sheena McFarland Daily Chronicle Brenda Voisard is leaving the Women's Resource Center to take another job at Intermountain Health Care. Voisard, who has been counseling coordinator at the resource center for the past four years, says she's ready for a change. "I love the people I work with, and the U, but I've been at the U since I was a graduate student, and I needed something new and challenging," Voisard said. Although she is excited for the new job, she feels like it was a quick decision. "It just seemed so fast, I'm still trying to get used to the fact that I'm not going to be here next week," she said. She will be missed by coworkers for her hard work and caring personality. "Brenda is just great…I'm really sad to see her go," said Donna Hawxhurst, who has worked with Voisard on her counseling endeavors. Voisard worked with all of the graduate counseling practicum students, and also ran the lesbian and bisexual support group as well as the career change support group. She co-directed these programs with Hawxhurst, who will take over the program in an interim capacity, but the length of the interim position has yet to be determined. However, Voisard also helped advise the Lesbian Gay Student Union as well as helped set up the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center. Other staff members will take over her advising positions. At IHC, Voisard will be in charge of creating a new career counseling program, where she will help employees find new positions within the company. An employee who no longer wants to be a medical technician could become a computer networker, but still stay with IHC.  "Helping people with their careers, along with LGBT issues, are the two areas I want to focus on, and since I've focused on LGBT issues here, I can now focus on career issues more intensely," she said. However, Voisard said she may return to the U after IHC, but she doesn't know how long she'll stay at IHC. "I could just set up this program and be done, or I may end up back at the U," she said. "We'll just have to see how it goes."

2019 Bob Waldrop passed away today. He was pastor of Salt Lake MCC in the late 70s, publisher of the Open Door, head of the Salt County Libertarian Party, and I considered him a friend. He was an Gay activist during his time in Utah and was instrumental in pioneering our community 40 years ago. I called him a couple of weeks ago but he was too weak to really talk. He wanted to come to SL and asked if he could come stay with me but he evidently took a turn for the worse with his cancer. Bobby Max was one of a kind and fought to make the world more just. Bob confirmed Bruce Barton as a member of the MCC. He also led the charge to find out who murdered Tony Adams, instrumental in stopping the Mormon Church from having their dances in the state Rotunda and popularized the saying "Legalize Adulthood in Utah. He was quite the character. Ben Williams. Kelly Byrnes added, "He made a difference. And he could play anything. Brilliant man."