This Day In Gay Utah History November 16th

November 16

1882 Third District Court The People vs Sidney Sidmore, “Crime Against Nature”, indictment ignored; and defendant discharged Salt Lake Herald

1938-In the case of State v. Keckonen, the Montana Supreme Court court struck down a 35-year sentence for sodomy due to insufficient evidence. Alexander Keckonen 1902-1964) was a 36 year old Montana man who  had been sentenced to 35 years in prison for sodomy, based entirely upon circumstantial evidence. He was a former Marine who had served in China during the 1920's who in Missoula had been very close to a teenage male and who kept moving when the younger one’s family moved. When reported missing once, the teenager was found by police sleeping in the same room as Keckonen, but in a different bed. The 3-2 majority of the Court felt that, as to the claim of prejudice made in the appeal, there was probably little doubt. Crimes against nature are naturally revolting to a normal person, and the subject is truly a loathsome one. In such cases, jurors are sometimes moved by abhorrence of the offense to convict upon slight evidence. The two dissenting justices felt that the above evidence was sufficiently corroborative and ordered a new trial. In 1940 Alexander Keckonen was arrested in Salt Lake City on charges of robbing Missoula Montana's financial institutions. He was sentences to 15 years in jail.

1950 James Timmons charged with sodomy pleaded guilty in Second District Court in Ogden before Judge John A Hendricks.

1962-The State convention of the Utah Committee on Children and Youth held at State Capitol discussed the problem of pornography and action to curb it. Dr. Vaughn M. Hall executive secretary of the committee said petitions urging tightening control on pornography will be presented at the mass media department session of the convention.

1967 The venereal disease rate in Utah is ”considerably below the national average”, said a report submitted by the State Board of Health Wednesday by Dr. Robert W. Sherwood director of Preventive medicine in the State Division of Health. During Calendar year of 1967, 80 cases of syphilis were reported. Syphilis has declined but gonorrhea has gradually risen. (11/16/67 SLTribune page C1)

Bruce Voeller

1971-Bruce Voeller, chairman of the Gay Activist Alliance State and Federal Affairs Committee, questioned Sen. Ted Kennedy. Kennedy said he would support efforts to end policies which deny homosexuals the right to work gainfully in their professions.

The Sun Tavern

1978 First annual Mr. Gay Utah held at The Sun Tavern 1 South 400 West Showroom. It was Utah’s first entry in the national Mr. Gay America Contest.  Grover Smith, a native Utahn was winner of the Mr. Gay Utah Contest.

1984 2 Admit Perjury In Parsons Trial -Pam Parsons, the

Pam Parson

former women's basketball coach at South Carolina, and one of her former players, Tina Buck, pleaded guilty today of having perjured themselves in Miss Parsons's unsuccessful libel suit against Sports Illustrated. The maximum penalty is five years' imprisonment and fines of $10,000 each. Miss Parsons and Miss Buck, both of Atlanta, were charged with perjury last month for having denied in the trial here last May that they had patronized a lesbian bar in Salt Lake City. The trial dealt with a Sports Illustrated article, published soon after Miss Parsons had resigned under pressure as coach in 1982, that depicted her as Miss Buck's lover, that said she had recruited players with sex in mind and that described the women's basketball program as riddled with drug abuse and recruiting violations. The Federal jury decided that Miss Parsons had not been libeled.

1987 Dr. Reuben W. Rhees (Zoology, BYU) and Dr. Donovan E. Fleming (Psychology, BYU) "Stress feminizes male rats", BYU's Daily Universe, 16 November, 1987 "If the male brain does not receive enough testosterone to fully masculinize it, the brain retains female characteristics.  In some instances, even though the rats are anatomically male, ‘they are significantly less masculine and more feminine,' said Rhees."

1990 Friday- The Utah Lesbian Task Force held a book share at the YWCA. “Come and share favorite Lesbian Novel. Meet new people. Woman oriented jewelry, novelties and books available.

Gordon Church

1995 Thursday '88 MURDER VICTIM'S FAMILY WANTS SLAYER TO STAY BEHIND BARS FOR LIFE  By Amy Donaldson, Staff Writer  When the Church family gathers around the Thanksgiving Day table, there is a deep sadness that fills their hearts despite their blessings. They try in vain not to think about what happened to them seven years ago this month. Kevin Church remembers being away at school in November of 1988 when his father called him and told him his brother had been tortured and murdered by two prison parolees. It is a holiday "forever marred" by his older brother's violent death. At a parole hearing for one of the men convicted of killing Gordon Church Nov. 21, 1988, Kevin Church said there is no justice for his family. Church's father is still so distraught about the murder that he didn't attend the parole hearing. "Not a day passes that we don't think about (the murder)," Kevin Church testified. "We've changed in a very negative way . . . I've had to teach my children far to early in life about death and that there are evil people out there." He and his brother, Craig, begged state Board of Pardons Chairman Mike Sibbett to keep Lance Wood behind bars for the rest of his life. "Lance was never made to be accountable for his actions. He will never be rehabilitiated. He's only an expense for those of us who pay taxes," Kevin Church said. Wood was convicted of first-degree murder in the torture slaying of Gordon Church, a Southern Utah State College student at the time of his death. Wood and Michael A. Archuleta were on parole from the Utah State Prison when they abducted Church, took him to a remote area of Millard County and tortured and killed him. An autopsy showed Church was brutally beaten, kicked, raped with a tire iron and eventually left to die of his injuries. Archuleta received the death penalty based on physical evidence that said he delivered most of the injuries that caused Church's death. Wood maintains that he didn't beat Church, he just didn't stop Archuleta. "I'm no killer," Wood said during a telephonic hearing. He is housed in an Idaho prison. Wood said he remained in the car and at a distance while Archuleta beat Church. Sibbett asked Wood about Church's hair and blood that were found by investigators on Church's shoes. "I don't know," he said. "All I can do here today is express my sympathy. . .I want to express how truly sorry I am. I found in the last two years I've come a long way in the way I think, the way I feel and who I am . . . I wasn't the man I am today." Sibbett, visibly disappointed that Wood refused to admit his part in Church's death, told Wood the evidence contradicted his story. "The murder of Mr. Gordon Church . . . is one of the most brutal crimes I've had to study," Sibbett said. He said the only mitigating factor for Wood is that he turned himself in and led police to Church's body. "I have a hard time finding any others," he said. He took Wood's case under advisement but told him he planned to recommend Wood spend the rest of his natural life behind bars.

1998 At The Sun (700 W. 200 South) a play ``Untold Decades’’ was performed. The Dance Theatre Coalition presented A Girlfriend Production of these previously ``untold'' tales of the 1920s, '40s, '60s and '80s.   Patrick's four clever gay snapshots display a boldness clearly not palatable for everyone. In fact, these four short plays would be more expected on New York City's off-off-Broadway stages where Patrick made his mark than in a Salt Lake City private club 

2004 16^th COMMUNITY DIALOGUE: BUILDING COMMUNITY: MOVING

Michael Mitchell

FORWARD FROM AMENDMENT 3 Tuesday Nov 16, 2004 7:00 p.m. University Union West Ballroom (200 S Central Campus Drive) Salt Lake City The LGBT Resource Center and Equality Utah proudly co-sponsor a community dialogue night focused on Amendment 3. Now that it has passed how do you feel? Where do we as a

Scott McCoy

community go from here? Come to the Community Dialogue to express your thoughts, feelings and opinions on what we need to be doing as a community to strengthen ourselves. We want to hear your input!! The dialogue will be hosted by Michael Mitchell, Executive Director Equality Utah, Scott McCoy, Campaign Manager Don't Amend Alliance, and Charles Milne Program Coordinator U of U LGBT

Charles Milne

• Members of Utah’s gay community say they want a protest or some other show of the anger and frustration felt by many after the November 2 election and the passing of Amendment 3. Several people made a call to action at a November 16 forum held at the University of Utah addressing the amendment, which defined marriage as only between a man and a woman and denied marriage-like rights to other couples. Following the remarks of several Utah gay and

  

  Jane Marquart

  lesbian political leaders (Jane Marquart, Scott McCoy and Michael Mitchell of Equality Utah, and Charles Milne of the University of Utah LGBT Resource Center), some audience members flatly told the leaders there should be plans for protests, sit-ins and the like. Attendee J. Davison de St. Germain said he felt there needed to be more visible signs of the community’s strong feelings. Others echoed his comments at the forum, like attendee Frank Williams who took issue with the speakers looking too much at the silver lining, and not showing enough anger. “Why aren’t you all really mad? No one sounds like it!” Williams said. “Why hasn’t anyone said the ‘B’ word tonight? This is bigotry plain and simple.” McCoy, who directed the Don’t Amend Alliance in the fight against the amendment, argued that protests weren’t always the best means to the end. “It’s not that we’re not angry or stupid. There are ways that we can move forward to achieve the objective. When you’re in the water, you can thrash around so much that you actually drown,” said McCoy. Earlier in the evening, McCoy, and his colleagues provided the forum with a long list of “little victories” that the fight against Amendment 3 had won. McCoy told the group that more people voted against the amendment than for Democrat Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, that six of the other eleven states with similar amendments passed them with higher percentages, and that two Utah counties (Summit and Grand) defeated the amendment altogether. “This issue isn’t over. We’re going to have to live with this. But we’ve positioned ourselves much better for the future.” Some audience members at the forum had taken issue with Marquart’s statement that there are no plans to sue over the Amendment, and that lawsuits would only happen “as life happened” and the amendment is challenged. Marquart and others told the group that if there were a lawsuit planned to fight state anti-same sex marriage amendments, it wouldn’t start in a conservative judicial system like Utah’s. But while some are talking, others have begun acting on plans to demonstrate. A group loosely affiliated with the Utah Stonewall Historical Society held a preliminary planning meeting November 14 and is now soliciting others who want to help plan the protest. The protest is tentatively planned for the first day of the state legislative session in 2005. “A protest, a demonstration, a show of solidarity are all appropriate ways to describe it. It’s a way of capitalizing on the frustration we feel,” said co-organizer Ron

  

  Todd Bennett Ron Hunt

  Hunt. Mitchell, executive director of Equality Utah, said at the forum he supports the idea of a protest as long as it serves a purpose. Anyone interested in helping plan the protest is encouraged to join the yahoo group or call Todd Bennett [Salt Lake Metro]
• Too often we in the Gay community turn over our power to those we feel have some legitimacy or influence within the heterosexual power structure. While building bridges between the Gay and Non Gay world is important must we be twisted into the heterosexual mold in the process? As an older timer in the SL Community I truly see the need to revamp the Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah. GLCCU was a grassroots, community organizer, community builder, and more importantly a forum where people who are passionate about taking charge of their destiny could dialog with one another. After reading the SL Metro article on the Nov 16 forum held by Scott McCoy, Michael Mitchell, Charles Milne, and Jane Marquardt I first asked myself who appointed these people our leaders? The answer is no one. They have no more authority or power than the community is willing to give them. It seemed apparent from my interpretation of the article that these so called leaders were not at all responsive to the call to action by the very people who were willing to go out on a cold November evening to be heard. In fact McCoy seemed very patronizing so I certainly hope he was misquoted.  But the article made me wonder if McCoy has his own personal agenda and ambition beyond the scope of the people in the audience. A letter written to the Metro by Deborah A. Pavek also complains that leaders in the community had a misplaced “emphasis on the fact that straight couples were affected by the passage” of Amendment 3.  “My immediate gut reaction was I wasn’t thrilled by the message of Don’t Amend.”  “We need to focus our energies and resources on larger issues facing this community.” It is clear that people in our community are feeling frustrated by the lack of any leadership from the self designated “Center” and the single minded political agenda of Stonewall Democrats, Log Cabin Club, and Equality Utah, all who are driven to elect candidates and build influence within the Status Quo establishment.  I’ve heard don’t rock the boat so many times in my life that the next person who says it I am going to drown.  Muffins we aren’t even in the boat in Utah and if I have to pretend to be heterosexual I’d rather swim. The GLCCU began in 1986 with just a handful of people with a bitch and a gripe. From there we created a community council similar to SLC neighbor councils where are issues were addressed and “voted” on (hey that’s a novel concept) and we elected out spokes people. We had a liaison from the police department, we had AIDS committees when the state was doing nothing, we had a community center committee (Utah Stonewall Center and later GLBTCCU), Pride Day Committees, Anti Violence Committees, Media Outreach Committees, Youth and Aging Committees but more than all this much more we had US! We knew the faces of those making a difference, we knew the Cache Valley Alliance people, we knew the Utah Valley Men’s Group and Provo Men’s Society (PMS). We were able to monitor fraud when people swooped into our community wanting our resources, and disperse vital information back to constituents like at the Anne Frank’s Holocausts Exhibit’s removal of the mention of Gays as Nazi victims. Perhaps there can never be another GLCC of UTAH but couldn’t we at least have a Wasatch Front one?  I know I am just an old man living in the past, but I do believe that at GLCCU meeting a call for a Protest would not have fallen on deaf ears. Ben Williams

Nicola Riley

2005 Tuesday,– Potluck Social & Office Warming for Dr. Nicola Riley – St Marks (7-9pm) Are you a transgender individual without a knowledgeable health care provider? Or no provider at all? This is your chance to come meet Dr. Nicola Riley, who is a physician who understands and responds to the health needs of the transgender population and is also a delightful human being! Come meet her, tour the facilities and get information on your specific health needs as a transgender individual. Bring a dish to share and socialize in a relaxed atmosphere. Riley was a founding member of a now-defunct nonprofit called Gender Advocacy Board, created in 2006. The same year, the Transgender Education Advocates of Utah, or TEA, named Riley "Individual of the Year." Sl Tribune article on arrest Loses license in 2013 for botched abortions

2006 Thursday, Guest Speaker, Mara Keisling Transgender Victories and Challenges

Mara Keisling

Reception 6:00p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Main Event 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Please join Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, for a workshop on transgender political issues and advocacy. This event is essential for all progressive organizations, individuals and allies, the elected officials of Utah, and others interested in transgender-related legislature and policies. A reception with light refreshments will be provided at this event. Location: Room W135 in the House (West) Building, Utah State Capitol Complex *Please RSVP to teaofutahevents@...

2013 Hello! We are writing to you today to invite you to attend the 5th Annual Genderevolution Conference on Saturday November 16th, 10am-5:30pm at Rowland Hall (843 Lincoln Street, SLC). 

We welcome members of the trans* community, experts and students of gender, enthusiasts and allies and anyone interested and committed to gender and to equality.  

Some of the workshop topics from last year include; Accessorizing Our Self-Image, Interactive Legal Q&A, Trans Love: Building Intimate Emotional Relationships and a Healthy Sex Life, Beyond Glitter and Glam: The Femme Experience, Medical Rountable: Trans

Health and Q&A and Visions of Variance: Alternative Genders in Ancient Myth and many more. This year, we are excited to include Spanish Speaking workshops! Please consider facilitating a workshop! Click to submit a workshop proposal. This is a great time to meet professionals and peers in the community, access health and legal advice, make friends and explore and learn about the wonderful world of Gender and Celebrate and Affirm Trans* and Gender non-conforming identities.  We are excited to offer a FREE Kids Like Me Day Camp, staffed by volunteers, for children who are potty-trained and older. This is a family friendly conference and caregivers are encouraged to bring their children, they can accompany them to workshops or spend time playing games and doing art at the Kids Like Me Day Camp. Lunch is included.  The cost of the conference is just $25 and this includes breakfast and lunch. Scholarships and discounts are available for anyone for whom the cost is an obstacle. Just email trans@utahpridecenter.org to request a scholarship. Click here to register for the conference. Thank you! Sincerely, The Genderevolution Planning Committee