This Day in Gay Utah History AUGUST 7th

Henry Labouchere

AUGUST 7th

1885- The Labouchere Amendment was passed in England. Henry Labouchere introduced a clause to the Criminal Law Amendment Act in England which allowed a sentence of two years imprisonment at hard labor for males convicted of "gross indecency" with another male as well as the procuring of such acts.  The Labouchère Amendment was a last-minute addition to a Parliamentary Bill that had nothing to do with homosexuality. His amendment outlawed "gross indecency"; sodomy was already a crime, but Labouchère's Amendment now criminalized any sexual activity between men. Ten years later the Labouchère Amendment allowed for the prosecution of Oscar Wilde, who was given the maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment with hard labour. Labouchère expressed regret that Wilde's sentence was so short, and would have preferred the seven-year term. The law was not repealed until 1967. The "Labouchere amendment" was known as the "blackmailer's charter".

1964- A bill requiring known sex offenders to register with police officers was drafted at the request of law enforcement agencies and was given to Utah lawmakers. State Atty. Gen. A. Pratt Kesler said the bill would require any person convicted of sex crimes or an attempt to committee a sex crime since July 1950 and who has since been paroled or discharged from any institution in which he was confined to “register with the chief of police or Marshall of the city in which he resides.”  (08/07/64 Page B1 col. 5 SLTribune)

Sharon Kowalski
and Karen Thompson

1988-Rallies were held in twenty-one American cities for Free Sharon Kowalski Day. Kowalski was a lesbian severely disabled in a car accident in 1983, and her parents barred her lover, Karen Thompson, from visiting her.

1988 Benjamin Cabey's show Fusion, an AIDS benefit, performed at

Ben Cabey

Backstreet a Gay bar located at 108 South 500 West SLC. Location eventually became Club 108, and Club Axis until eventually torn down. Article on other charitable work by Cabey Crossroads Urban Center's food bank

1989- OutWeek magazine published a list of sixty-six allegedly closeted homosexuals causing controversy over the ethics of "outing" people. OutWeek is probably best remembered for sparking the "outing" controversy. This began in Michelangelo Signorile's "GossipWatch" columns, in which the fiery writer railed against then-closeted public figures like David Geffen and Liz Smith for what he considered their complicity in a culture of silence around AIDS and gay rights. On the death of tycoon Malcolm Forbes in early 1990, OutWeek pushed the issue to the limit by publishing a cover story by Signorile titled "The Secret Gay Life of Malcolm Forbes." Since Forbes had been one of the most famous men in America, the story became a media sensation, the term "outing" entered the vocabulary, and a huge controversy erupted within the gay community. Ironically, OutWeek outed only a handful of public figures during its existence, mostly in Signorile's column. But its vigorous defense of the idea that the media should treat the homosexuality of public figures the way it treats any other aspect of their private lives galvanized supporters, outraged opponents and forever stamped the magazine as the place where outing began.

1992- A New York City federal judge rejected a request to dismiss a lawsuit against three Drug Enforcement agents for an anti-Gay assault against two men. DEA attorneys argued that the bias-related portions should be dismissed because the constitution does not forbid anti-Gay harassment or discrimination

1995 -In the Washington D.C., transsexual Tyra Hunter died from injuries sustained in a hit and run accident after an emergency medical services technician chose to ridicule her rather than treat her. Emergency medical technicians at the scene of the accident uttered derogatory epithets and withdrew medical care after discovering that she had male genitalia, and ER staff at DC General Hospital subsequently provided dilatory and inadequate care. On December 11, 1998, a jury awarded Hunter's mother, Margie, $2.9 million after finding the District of Columbia, through its employees in the D.C. Fire Department and doctors at D.C. General, liable under the D.C. Human Rights Act and for negligence and medical malpractice for causing Tyra's death. While $600,000 of the amount was awarded for damages attributable to violations of the D.C. Human Rights Act associated with the withdrawal of medical care at the accident scene and openly denigrating Tyra with epithets, a further $1.5 million was awarded to her mother for Tyra's conscious pain and suffering and for economic loss from the wrongful death medical malpractice claim. Doctors at D.C. General failed to diagnose and treat Tyra who died of internal bleeding in the hospital emergency room. Evidence at the trial demonstrated that had Tyra been provided with a blood transfusion and referred to a surgeon, she would have had a 90% chance of surviving. The case against the District of Columbia was tried by Richard F. Silber. Dana Priesing, an observer at the trial, wrote that the evidence supported "the inference that a stereotype (namely that Tyra was an anonymous, drug using, TG street person) affected the treatment Tyra received," and that the "ER staff, as evidenced by their actions, did not consider her life worth saving." Tyra had transitioned at the age of 14 and lived entirely as a woman. Over 2,000 people attended her funeral. T.Y.R.A. (Transgender Youth Resources and Advocacy), a program of the Illinois Gender Advocates and Howard Brown Health Center, is a Chicago area transgender youth initiative named in the memory of Tyra Hunter.

1997 08/07/97 Page: B1 Advocate for Abused Children Accused of Molesting Children; Scouter Facing Charges in Abuse of Boy Byline: BY TOM ZOELLNER THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Albert J. Cramer was known as a man deeply concerned with the welfare of abused children. His resume was loaded with volunteer child-advocate positions, and he drew a regular paycheck from the Boy Scouts of America as a district supervisor. Now, Cramer is an accused child molester with a warrant out for his arrest. A 7-year-old boy told his parents that Cramer, 37, touched him on the genitals for two minutes at a swimming pool in Murray, police said. The boy and his 10-year-old brother also say that Cramer was aroused when he made them sit on his lap, according to court documents.    He was charged Wednesday with felony sex abuse and misdemeanor lewdness, and now faces up to 15 years in prison. The trip to the swimming pool was a Boy Scout event, but the two boys were not Scouts, said Murray Police Det. Alex Huggard. They had been invited along as part of a larger group.   Cramer has told police the allegations are untrue. He did not immediately return a Tribune phone call to his house Wednesday afternoon. Huggard said he expects Cramer will put his affairs in order and surrender within the week. ``I don't think he's going to run,'' said the detective. ``If I thought that, I'd be waiting outside his house.''   Cramer worked for three years as a ``court-appointed special advocate'' for the Utah Attorney General's Office, and acted as a liaison to at least two children whose parents had a court petition filed against them, officials said. He was also the chairman of a foster children's advisory committee to the Utah Department of Child and Family Services.   ``I'm shocked. I know Albert Cramer as a positive force rather than a negative force,'' said Scott Clark, the chair of the Child and Family Services board. ``He spent a lot of time and energy in the community of those who are concerned with child abuse,'' said Virginia Higbee, a Cedar City children's advocate who knew him through his interest in the state Child Abuse and Neglect Council. Cramer's position of trust over children makes the case against him especially note worthy, Huggard said. ``You would hope their standards and moral conduct would be beyond reproach,'' he said. ``The bad thing about these cases is they give the whole system a black eye.''   Cramer, who has no prior criminal offenses on his record, passed all of the background checks required for his Boy Scout job and most of his volunteer positions.   ``I don't know how to change the [backgrounding] process. That's the scary part,'' said Kristin Brewer, the director of the Guardian Ad Litem program, which oversees the CASA program at the state Attorney General's Office. ``He had a clean record and seemed appropriate,'' she said of Cramer, who has since been released from the program. Cramer was fired July 1 from his full-time job at the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America for ``conduct unbecoming a professional Scouter,'' according to spokes man Kay Godfrey, who could not elaborate on what had triggered Cramer's termination.   He referred further questions to Scouting executive Marty Latimer, who is at the national Scout Jamboree in Virginia and could not be reached.   Cramer had been with the Scouts as a district supervisor over the West Jordan district for 10 years. It was primarily an administrative job and did not involve regular contact with Scouts, Godfrey said.   Cramer is the second Utah Scouting official this year to be charged with sexual  misconduct.   In May, Sandy Scoutmaster Jeffrey Donald Jennings agreed to plead guilty to second-degree sexual abuse of a child after police said they uncovered evidence that he may have molested up to seven Scouts. Prosecutors said they only charged Jennings with one count to spare the young victims the trauma of testifying in court.

1998-The US House of Representatives voted 227-192 to prevent unmarried couples, including same-sex couples, from adopting children in the city of Washington DC.

Jim Dabakis

1998 Trevor Southey came back to Utah to promote his book, Reconciliation, which contains beautiful writing, poetry, and reproductions of his most important works. The launching of Southey's book was held at the home of art collector Jim Dabakis. Dabakis himself is a force in both the international art scene, and the international philanthropic scene. ``Jim saved the art of Russia from the Soviets,'' said Springville art curator Vern Swanson, who is also quoted in Southey's book. ``The regime didn't permit emotion in their paintings, and Jim was instrumental in creating a market for their impressionistic art, and getting it out before it could be hurriedly destroyed.'' Dabakis also saved countless Russians from being destroyed by hunger, poverty and disease. He brings many to the United States for medical treatment, and provides jobs and education for many more. Although he is a popular AM radio talk-show host currently doing an afternoon stint on KWUN when he's in the country, Dabakis is not one to blow his own horn.

The Christus

1998 SLC Travel Agent Rex Lynn Nilsen, caused controversy  when he stated `It's common knowledge that the sculptor who created the big white statue of Christ in the Visitors Center on Temple Square is Gay. As a matter of fact, you can see the original in Copenhagen, where you can also see his remarkable collection of phalluses, which had been whacked off classical statues by less-appreciative conquering cultures.''  Nilsen married long time partner Ron Richardson

1999 Joe Watts, Gay Rights proponent wrote a commentary in the Ogden Standard-Examiner saying "Allowing Gay marriages would harm no one." 

1999 Saturday Aug 07, 1999Mormons raise cash to stop gay marriage Church leaders ask the faithful to fund ballot campaign By Zachary Coile OF THE EXAMINER STAFF Putting aside concerns about its tax-exempt status, the Mormon Church is putting check-writing muscle behind an initiative to ban gay marriage. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in California are answering the calls of church leaders to back the measure financially. "It's not going as fast as I hoped it would, but it's happening," said Merrill Higham, a Mormon from Belmont who serves as spokesman for the church in the Bay Area. The measure, which voters will decide in March 2000, would affirm that only heterosexual marriages are recognized in California. To many gay couples, the initiative is seen as a direct attack. But to Higham, an accountant who contributed $2,000 to the campaign, it's an issue of biblical law. "When we talk about traditional marriage — that is, marriage between a man and a woman — we are talking about one of the core beliefs of our faith, our religion," Higham said. "So we're talking about something we consider sacred. Not just important, but sacred. "The Mormon Church signaled its interest in the campaign in a May 11 letter, signed by three church presidents, to be read to the state's 740,000 Mormons by local church leaders. The letter urged members "to do all you can by donating your means and time to assure a successful vote" on the measure. This week, a former church member released a second letter, dated May 20, from a top church official detailing how the leaders of California's Mormon congregations can solicit donations to the campaign. The letter gives detailed instructions on a fund-raising operation, including urging leaders not to raise funds on church property, through use of church letterhead or at church meetings. Donation level unclear In the past three months, however, it's unclear how much money Mormons in California have contributed because campaign disclosure reports do not require donors to state their religion. The most recent reports, filed this past week, show the campaign for the Definition of Marriage Initiative had raised about $840,000 through June 30. But anecdotally, church members say they have been urged to give and have responded. Paul Edwards, 62, a Napa resident and member of the Mormon Church, said he had given $200 to the campaign after reading about the measure in the newspaper and on the Internet, and hearing about it from members of his church. "I just believe that's the proper way to go," Edwards said. "If you're a member of the Mormon Church, your thinking is that the relationship of marriage needs to be between a man and a woman. That's the belief we have in the church." Contributions have been spurred on by a well-orchestrated effort by church elders in Utah and California to solicit money from members. The effort has drawn sharp criticism from opponents of the initiative, including San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno. He drafted a resolution, passed by the Board of Supervisors in July, calling on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether the Mormon Church violated its tax-exempt status by getting directly involved in raising money for the initiative campaign. This past week, Kathy Worthington, a gay activist and former Mormon in Utah, released the May 20 letter from elder Douglas L. Callister to 159 stake presidents in California, who represent the roughly 1,000 Mormon "wards" or congregations in the state. "No undue pressure of any type should be applied," to gain donations, Callister wrote, but church leaders should explain to members that "this is a moral issue, not a political issue, fully justifying the support of LDS families." Where to find the rich    The letter, which gives the name and address where checks can be sent, even advises church leaders to contact wealthy Mormons first. "Experience shows that it is generally more successful to begin with the more affluent members, suggesting an appropriate contribution and thereafter extend the invitation to those of lesser means," Callister wrote. Leno said he was shocked by the letter, which he has forwarded to City Attorney Louise Renne to pass to the IRS. He cited it as more evidence that the church was abusing its tax-exempt status. "All Americans get to take part in the political process," Leno said. "Churches and other... charitable organizations get to speak their minds and advocate a position. "But to take an active role in raising money, that means that these individuals are collecting salaries from an organization which exists off of tax-deductible contributions, and on church time and letterhead (they) are raising money to weigh in on a political ballot measure. ... I think that crosses the line." Callister, reached on vacation near Mammoth Lake, said he had written the letter to tell local church leaders how to avoid even the appearance of wrongdoing. And though he is a high-ranking Mormon leader, with authority over wards in California and Hawaii, he says he is not paid in any way by the church. Asked why he directed church leaders not to raise money on church property, Callister explained, "I felt our church meetings had been dedicated for worship and prayer, and in large part we should use them solely for that, and this could be more comfortably discussed in homes and other settings." Tax accusation denied Callister, a tax lawyer in Glendale, reacted sharply to Leno's accusation that the letter violated the church's tax-exempt status. He said IRS rules allowed churches and other tax-exempt groups to get involved in political issues on two conditions: Their involvement is not a significant part of their overall activities, and they do not back any particular political candidate."(The church's) involvement with political issues is rare and does not involve a significant fraction of its total activities and assets when one considers the substantial resources committed by the church to missionary work, temple and meeting-house construction and maintenance, family history, education and so forth," he said. "Further, the church maintains strict neutrality regarding political candidates. "It is not unusual for religious groups to get involved in politics. The Catholic Church has weighed in heavily on issues from abortion to San Francisco's domestic partners ordinance. But the IRS in June revoked the Christian Coalition's tax-exempt status after ruling the group's support of Republican candidates and causes was too overtly political. Callister, whose firm gave $4,000 to support the initiative, called Leno's attack "a distraction away from the true issue, which is: What should the definition of recognized marriage in California be?" Contributions from Mormons have helped power the initiative campaign, known by the name of its author, state Sen. Pete Knight, R-Palmdale, to an almost 4-to-1 early fund-raising advantage. The No on the Knight effort opposing that campaign, released a memo Thursday charging that the initiative campaign and the Mormon Church had conspired to hide the church's support. Church's role cited The memo cited several examples of the church's role, including: The campaign paid $32,400, its single largest expenditure, to Wirthlin Worldwide of Maclean, Va. The company is a Republican polling firm headed by Richard B. Wirthlin, an elder in the Mormon Church who advises the church on public relations. The concentration of contributions to the campaign — $69,150 — from four nearby towns in Southern California: Temecula, Murrieta, Vista and Fallbrook, which have large Mormon communities. One donor, Roger Connors, a stake president for the church in Murrieta, gave $10,000. "What are they afraid of?" said Mike Marshall, manager of the campaign against the initiative. "Why aren't they disclosing that the Mormon Church is actively raising money?" Rob Stutzman, spokesman for the initiative campaign, said the campaign had acknowledged the role of the Mormon Church, which joined the effort after the initiative qualified for the ballot in November. Last year, the Mormon Church gave $500,000 to a successful ballot initiative banning gay marriages in Alaska, and $600,000 to another winning effort in Hawaii. But to date, the church has not reported spending any money on the California measure. "At this point, we don't have any expectation that the church will directly contribute," Stutzman said. "We don't know what they may be planning." One Bay Area Mormon leader said he had talked to church members about donating, but denied they would be "assessed" or harassed if they did not give."I may get a list at some point as to who has contributed, but I have no idea, nor do I really care, who has been contributing and who has not," said the longtime church leader, who asked not to be identified. "It doesn't affect how the church feels about them or how I feel about them in any shape or form."While most Mormons strongly support the measure, Higham said it has been hardon members who have gay or lesbian friends and relatives. "Even within the LDS community, there are families that have members of their family who are involved in a lifestyle that is contrary to the church," said Higham. "I know that has been agonizing for them." The church's support of the initiative has driven some Mormons away from the church. Worthington, the Utah activist, has collected 50 letters from Mormons around the country asking their names be removed from the church's membership. Carolyn Bell, 36, and Genelle Cate, 34, of San Jose are two Mormons who have asked to remove their names. Bell, an architectural consultant, and her partner, Cate, a software engineer, met in relief society, the Sunday meeting for Mormon women. After three years of trying to help each other get over their same-sex attraction, they decided to leave the church, but never took their names off church lists. "We had never really felt a strong need to have our names removed from the church rolls until they started basically denying us rights," Bell said. "We didn't want to be numbered among the people of the Mormon Church when they started saying they don't believe in equal rights."

Chad Keller 1969-2007

2002 Chad Keller to David Nelson Subject Pride Merger: My favorite excerpt to this point “Pride is more screwed up than a child with severe social problems”. Like you my response is at 20+ years old Pride is no longer a child to be taken by the hand and lead down its parents chosen path, or guarded like a pre pubescent teenager.  It is time that it stands up take full and further accounting of its actions and walk side by side with the community creating change.  Its problems were not resolved when we disclosed the missing money. The organization after years of neglect and manipulation for personal agendas was in shambles.  We still sat on our butt and did nothing to build and strengthen the organization.  We kept functioning as business as usual, just with more idea due to checks and balances where the money was going, why and to whom. The money was only a part of the problem.  Sadly we kept telling ourselves we would have to get to the structure later as we were too damn busy  or tired putting out phantom fires or being shrinking violets from the issues to take the time to set the organization back as it should be.  No one wanted to do the dirty work, just wanted the prestige.

Gene Robinson

2003    Page: B1 SL Tribune Gays hope stigmas fall with barriers By Holly Mullen  In a typical tangled-in-traffic moment, I am inching along Interstate 15, punching radio buttons, trying to find an engaging talk show. (Is that an oxymoron?)    I am struck not so much by the topic du jour, but that a half-dozen shows are covering the subject so thoroughly, so exhaustively. Gay marriage. Gay commitment ceremonies. Gay priests. Everything is spinning off the 11th-hour allegations on Tuesday against the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, who, while only steps away from confirmation as the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop, stood accused of inappropriately touching a man and of involvement in a support group for gay, lesbian and bisexual youth whose Web page is four mouse clicks from a pornographic site. Robinson was cleared of the allegations and confirmed. Last week, Sen. Orrin Hatch was gathering

Orrin Hatch

steam for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage (diverting his attention, for now, from flag-burning). Almost simultaneously, President Bush was turning lawyers loose to write legislation stipulating marriage as a strictly male-female union. All of this, of course, follows the groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court decision on June 26 to overturn a Texas antisodomy law, which some say opened the possibility of same-sex marriage.    Summer of 2003. It's a scorcher all right, and not just the temperature. In just six weeks, gay rights has shot to the top of this country's domestic agenda  --  right up there with the dismal economy and growing unemployment. No matter how it turns out  --  whether someone, somewhere ends up in a legally recognized same-sex marriage  --  there is no question the earth has moved this summer on human rights. Kevin Grgurevic feels the shift. My favorite coffee barista is 32 and came to Salt Lake City by way of birth in Croatia and college in Seattle. He landed here for a master's degree in modern dance at the University of Utah.    Kevin splits his time between working the counter at the Stonewall Coffee Company at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Utah, waiting tables at a downtown restaurant and preparing to move to Palm Springs, Calif., to start a dance company. So he's crazy-busy, tending to his life. But the politics swirling around him are impossible to ignore. Kevin was astounded, along with most of America, when a conservative Supreme Court overturned itself from 17 years earlier and decriminalized sex between gay partners. Not only did the ruling toss out the antisodomy law, its language emphasized the right to privacy in intimate adult relationships  --  gay or straight. Suddenly, the highest court in the land had painted gays as human. Kevin, who has a serious relationship with a 37-year-old man, isn't thinking about marriage, even if the law allowed it. Seeing how so many heterosexuals have screwed up the institution hasn't made him hungry to try it. It's more than that. "For the first time since I knew I was gay, about age 10 or 11, I feel like the world might start looking at me as first, a human being," he says. "Yes, I am gay. And I have blue eyes and a beard, and I'm a dancer and I work and I pay bills. "If the law starts recognizing gay unions, people might start seeing all the aspects of my identity." This is a moment worth freeze-framing. Faced as they are with the real possibility of codifying gay marriage, people may at last see Kevin Grgurevic as more than cardboard flat, one-dimensional, just gay. He hopes. "It would be great to see gay couples who have been together for 25 years be truly visible. They could show their lives as normal and, yeah, dull as everyone else's. I'd like that." hmullen@sltrib.com

2005 Sunday- Princess Royale 30 Kennedy Cartier and Prince Royale 30 of  Cheesecake Along w/ Danny and Empress 27 Agness Of Cheesecake hosted the People With AIDS  Kick off Luau.  It was an amazing event, the Flowers were beautiful, the cultural entertainment was amazing, raffle prizes were wonderful, and the food was divine!  All of this plus the generosity of everyone the event raised over $1500.00!!!!

2006 Columnists Mark Thrash and Chad Keller- Did you miss us? For those of you who

Chad Keller

thought it was safe to read the pages of QSaltLake, well... we're back. And during our absence, a

Mark Thrash

section of "Q" was dedicated to gay weddings. Now that you've had an opportunity to review the matrimonial highlights in that issue, we've decided to delve deeper into a topic that goes beyond planning a wedding. In the search of the importance of legal marriages, we pondered...”Do we even need ‘marriage’ or is there something better”? 

• MARK: The entire topic of marriage brings several questions to my mind. Most importantly I find myself contemplating if the argument for legalized gay marriage is about equality, or is it based on wanting more approval from mainstream society in order for us to feel that our relationships are valid? 
• CHAD: First off, when did we decide this was going to be the big equal rights issue for our community? There are far more other equality battles  that we could focus on, and out and out win. While I believe we need something to legalize our commitments to one another, I would rather see our community blaze new trails in this area rather than latch onto the already broken concept of marriage. 
• MARK: Taking the time to even contemplate what other label to use as a definition for our committed relationships is still a waste of time and energy. I was recently reading a Canadian publication that discussed the ignorance of gays in America . The author commented how if gays in America were granted legalized marriage, we'd lose our passion for equality all-together.
• CHAD: Well, duh! We lost our passion for the quest of equality long ago. Our paid gays have allowed us to settle for assimilation. I believe we're so stuck on this because we believe it is going to give us approval in "God's eyes." True to the path of assimilation that we've allowed ourselves to be placed on, we now have the first publicized lesbian divorce. Wow, I feel so equal to straight people.
• MARK: Thanks for that candor, but what is your point? That because we have marriage, we're also going to have divorce? Well, duh! You speak as if marriage should be the lockdown - finality - no way out of it union between two adults. Hmmm, maybe that is also why some people call it wedlock. Ultimately, I still think we're too concerned with labels and acceptance. Does it matter if others approve who we love? 
• CHAD: Obviously we are concerned with it, or we would not be having this on-going, national discourse. We miss the opportunity of creating something better for our community than what mainstream has already made a mess of. If marriage is so sacred, then why does it have to be defined in the public arena at all? Would it not have been better for us to push for a national movement to create a civil union across the board for any two consenting adults and allow marriage to remain within the walls of chapels, cathedrals, synagogues and temples? 
• MARK: So, why are civil unions important? Isn’t that just another way of asking for approval from others and possibly even a more cowardly approach? I say, let them have their labels. 
• CHAD: Currently to give to one’s partner certain legal rights and obligations, marriage does save a rainforest in legal documents, not to mention the attorneys’ fees. It also forces insurance providers to fork over benefits for that special someone. Good God, do we want to put  gay lawyers out of business, or will they expand their practice to include gay divorce? 
• MARK: Expansion doesn’t have to hurt… just take a deep breath. So, I guess you’re saying a broadly defined civil union would be viewed the same in legal terms as marriage. Several of your friends have learned the fine craft of translating Kellerese, I’m glad to NOW provide this translation to our readers. 
• CHAD: Okay, the term marriage is fucked-up. The issue of gay marriage would’ve been over with the first squawk of the religious right if we would’ve just said, “You keep the rights to the word marriage but everybody will have a civil union from the government.” It would have been ten times easier on us and other enlightened people of America, who also may need some piece of paper to validate their relationship - no matter what it is. 
• MARK: Now we’re getting somewhere, and only three fourths of the way into the column… WHEW! Finally we’re establishing a resolution to the search. Yes, a legal union is important to ensure fair treatment and equal rights that should be granted to one’s partner. 
• CHAD: RRRIIIIGGGGHHHHHTTTTTT, we just started cramming the marriage issue down our religious foes throats, and pissing them off has long-term ramifications in other areas. Now they’re looking for other ways to keep us as second-class citizens. In the quest for equality and equal rights, the gay marriage issue doesn't come close to taking a seat on the bus. 
• MARK: Was it crammed down their throats, or was it still about assimilation? I still don’t think the main focus for legalized gay marriage was solely based on equality, and that is why it has failed repeatedly. I think the discussion of equality goes beyond how others view us and should be more specifically directed at how we view ourselves. In reviewing this topic, the debate over gay marriage has shown that there is a broader variance into the types of commitments consenting adults should be allowed to make to one another. We both conclude that the term "marriage" should remain within wholly owned religious institutions. Let marriage vows remain the contract in faith based organizations.  Too much time and energy has been wasted on our seeking acceptance of our gay civil unions within so called sacred walls. Going forward in America , gays should be championing that every pair of consenting adults should be entitled to a legalized contractual union recognized by the government as a commitment ceremony. We want your feedback and thoughts, please email us.

2011 A sea of red to descend on Q Lagoon Day One day each summer Utah’s queer community floods Lagoon theme park with red. Members of the LGBT community and their supporters will take over the park for the QSaltLake Day at Lagoon on Aug. 7. Although it is not sanctioned by the park, the event attracted hundreds last year and is expected to be even larger this year. Supporters are encouraged to wear red shirts and stop by the QSaltLake pavilion for a group photo at 4 p.m. and to mingle with other queers and allies. This year’s event is sponsored by the latest in mobile dating, GuySpy, and at the pavilion there will be a representative helping people sign up for the service and answering questions. For 39-year-old Salt Lake City resident, Tyler Bennett, the Q Lagoon Day was one of his first interactions with other gay people. “I’d never been to gay pride day or a gay bar. I was too nervous,” Bennett said. But last year the recent divorcee saw the event advertized on Facebook and he decided to show up. “I debated with myself for hours about whether or not to wear a red shirt. I couldn’t decide what to do because I didn’t know if I would fit in,” Bennett said. “Seeing all the groups of gay people, just hundreds of them right here in Utah, it gave me the courage I needed to come out to my ex-wife and my kids.”

Q Lagoon Day is open to all participants and there will also be many people who are not aware of the day, but the overall atmosphere is very open and accepting. “I couldn’t believe it. I saw two cute young guys eating cotton candy, wearing matching red T-shirts and holding hands walking through the park. It was a life-changer for me and I’ll never forget how happy they looked,” Bennett said. Lagoon is Utah’s largest amusement park with nine large roller coasters, 38 carnival games and two original shows. From the fast-paced ride, Wicked, to the wet and wild Rattle Snake Rapids, there’s something for everyone at Lagoon. The park was founded in 1886 and is still located on its original plot of land. Park admission coupons are available at Cahoots (878 E. 900 South), Café Marmalade (361 N. 300 West), Club Try-Angles (251 W. 900 South), Off Trax Cafe (259 W. 900 South) and the QSaltLake offices (1055 E. 2100 South,  Suite 206). 

2018  Trans Inclusion 101 Hosted by PFLAG Provo/Utah County 7 PM - 9 PM  Mary's Episcopal Church 50 W 200 N, Provo, Utah 84601This month we will discuss what trans inclusion looks like in families, schools, and public spaces. We will be educated by a panel of transgender and gender non-binary individuals to understand what we all can do to make transgender inclusion possible. The second hour of our meeting will be devoted to supporting one another. If you are seeking love, support, education, and community--join us at PFLAG.