This Day In Gay Utah History February 8th

8 February

1927-A secret midnight performance of The Drag was held in New York City. The play had previously been performed only in Bridgeport, and was written by Mae West about Gay men.

1931-James Dean, actor born

1974-The Chairwoman of the Mississippi Gay alliance attempted to publish a notice in the Mississippi State University's student newspaper The Reflector. The announcement was refused. The MGA would later file suit, however the court would find that because homosexual acts are illegal, any notice which refers to homosexual related activities does not have to be accepted in Mississippi.

1977-Officers from the National Gay Task Force met with White House aide Midge Costanza to discuss how the Carter administration could help advance gay rights. It was the first time White House officials had met with representatives from the gay community.

1982-Sports Illustrated carried an article on Pam Parson, alleging that she had "sexual improprieties" as head coach of South Carolina women's basketball team. Pam Parson's files a $75 million libel suit against the publishers of Sports Illustrated, and Times Warners Inc. “Stormy Weather At South Carolina” In the wake of Coach Pam Parsons' departure come alarming charges of misdeeds involving lesbianism, recruiting, drugs and academics by Jill Lieber, Jerry Kirshenbaum-  For the University of South Carolina's women's basketball team, these have been tumultuous times. Barely a month ago the Lady Gamecocks boasted a 7-0 record, the No. 2 ranking in the national polls and a future so rosy that Coach Pam Parsons was openly talking about embellishing her already successful, if oft times stormy, career with the national championship. That dream now lies shattered. Parsons is out of a job, having resigned last month under initially mysterious and still troubling circumstances. Since her departure, the Lady Gamecocks have lost six of 11 games to fall out of the Top 10. They have been so decimated by dropouts that at one point last week, the team had just six players. As a result, the man who succeeded Parsons, former Assistant Coach Terry Kelly, was reduced to placing a notice in the campus newspaper, Gamecock, announcing open tryouts for new players. Explanations for the stunning reversal in the Lady Gamecocks' fortunes vary with who's talking. One interpretation is offered by Parsons, 34, a Brigham Young-educated, self-styled pioneer of women's sports who breezily describes herself as "a simple little redheaded, left-handed, pigeon-toed girl from Utah." Parsons believes that the troubles that have befallen her are a matter of persecution, pure and simple. "In men's basketball, they want coaches who produce," she says. "In women's sports, they want women they can mold, women who will roll over and die. And I won't die." Be that as it may, the more immediate reason that Parsons' high-flying program self-destructed is a staggering array of allegations of financial, academic, recruiting and sexual improprieties, exacerbated by her own knack for stirring up controversy and emotions. Beyond what they say about Parsons' own program, the details of her downfall suggest that women's college basketball, having only recently gone big-time, is still suffering growing pains and that women still aren't always comfortable in the fiercely competitive caldron of high-powered team sports. Those details also are a reminder of the enormous influence that coaches wield, for good or ill, over the young people in their care. The central figure in the sorry saga, Parsons, has a career record of 151-73. She formerly coached at Old Dominion (1974-77), where her success in recruiting Nancy Lieberman, Inge Nissen and other stars laid the groundwork for the Lady Monarchs' national championships in 1979 and '80, although by that time Parsons had moved on to South Carolina after a public squabble with Old Dominion Athletic Director Jim Jarrett. Parsons immediately made herself conspicuous at South Carolina—a trim, immaculately groomed figure who appeared at courtside in low-cut dresses or ensembles consisting of, to take one eye-catching example, disco pants slit at the ankles and a purple tube top. One of her team's media guides, as slick as a Saks Fifth Avenue catalog, bore the credit line, "Ms. Parsons' fashions furnished by Rackes," the latter being a Columbia, S.C. clothing store. After she arrived on campus the nickname of the team was changed from Chicks to the slightly ludicrous Lady Gamecocks. She unsparingly berated referees and players, and when sports-writers therefore referred to her as the Bobby Knight of women's basketball, she berated them, too, asking heatedly, "Why aren't there any women they can compare me to?" Parsons' operation at South Carolina was volatile from the start. In contrast with NCAA rules, which provide that transferring athletes ordinarily must sit out a year before playing at a new school, the AIAW's code makes it possible for such athletes to play immediately, one proviso being that they can't always receive an athletic scholarship during their first year at the new institution. The rule is well-intentioned, predicated on the notion that as students first and foremost, athletes should be able to participate immediately in all student activities, including intercollegiate basketball. But the rule has resulted in shameless raiding by coaches and in wholesale ship-jumping at the slightest hint of a leak. The revolving door has been especially busy at South Carolina. Before this season, no fewer than 18 players had quit the Lady Gamecocks during Parsons' reign. To be sure, one of the fugitives from Parsons' program, Cheryl Autry, a guard from Rome, Ga., says that she transferred to the University of Georgia only because she was homesick, adding, "Coach Parsons was good to me. That lady was sharp. She dressed so well. She wouldn't let us wear jeans on the plane. She wanted us to look like ladies. Our team was classy. Everybody commented on our dresses." Now working as a mechanic in a textile mill in Calhoun, Ga., Autry says, "I grew so much as a person under Coach Parsons." But other South Carolina players, past and present, say that Parsons was erratic, dictatorial and inclined to play favorites. Parsons also was loose with the rules. In 1980 the Lady Gamecocks were put on probation because, among other things, she had sent flowers to a high school star, a breach of an AIAW rule prohibiting "inducements" to recruits. On another occasion Parsons was so devastated by a loss in a tournament at the University of North Carolina that she confined herself to bed in a motel and refused to coach the next game, relenting only after her players, hoping to cheer her up, sent flowers to her. "She was so mentally drained that she made herself physically ill," recalls a former player, Suzanne Woolston, who eventually fled South Carolina for Old Dominion. Another critic of Parsons is Forward Evelyn Johnson, a junior on the current South Carolina team and kid sister of Magic Johnson, who also lost a coach this season, for reasons, some say, of his own doing. Says Evelyn, "Under Coach Parsons you couldn't stand up and voice the way you feel. It was her way or no way." Parsons sometimes liked to leave the impression that she took such complaints in stride. "You have to close your eyes to criticism," she said after her resignation. But, in fact, Parsons was anything but mild-mannered, often seething when things didn't go her way. During the 1979-80 season, in which the Lady Gamecocks finished third in the nation with a 30-6 record, Parsons angered team members following a galling defeat to Clemson by forcing them to wear T shirts bearing the legend CHICKEN CHOKE to practice and on campus. Last season the emotional roller coaster the Lady Gamecocks often seemed to be riding took some new dips and turns. During a game in a tournament in Los Angeles, All-America Guard Frani Washington, who had transferred at the start of the season from Ohio State, refused to return for the second half after Parsons upbraided her at courtside and in the dressing room for asking for advice on strategy from the team's assistant coach, Karen Brown. Two weeks later, after a 78-57 home-court win over North Carolina State, it was Parsons who didn't return to the court with the team at the start of the second half, and after the game, threatening to quit, she rushed into the Carolina Coliseum parking lot crying, followed by her tearful players, who pleaded with her to stay. The mother of one South Carolina player says that she later asked Parsons about the incident and that the coach replied, "I had my period." Other sources say, however, that Parsons was still unhappy about the influence of Brown, who was left at home when the team departed the next day for Ohio State. Brown thereupon quit, as did, six days later, Administrative Assistant Linda Singer, with whom Parsons had been sharing a house. Parsons continued to feud both with Washington and with another player, Pat Mason, who had transferred at the start of the season from Kansas only to have a rift develop between herself and her coach. According to Mason, Parsons frequently told team members, "You'll never be anything without me." At a team meal in Knoxville before a 65-54 loss to Tennessee, the coach asked players to bow their heads in prayer for Washington and Mason, "for they are troublemakers." After the next game, an 82-54 win over Mercer in Columbia on Jan. 15, Mason's mother was visiting the dressing room when, Mason says, "Parsons walked in and said, 'O.K., everybody out. I don't want anybody in here but my team.' She looked at my mother and said, 'Moms out.' That was so cold. I thought, if that's all the respect you have for my mother...." Mason quit the team the next day, claiming that Parsons had told her she'd "ride the bench forever." Mason told the Gamecock that the team was "a cult and she is Jim Jones. I wasn't willing to be manipulated to the point that I don't have a mind of my own." In another jolting development. Washington was declared ineligible by the AIAW five days later, following the discovery of discrepancies relating to her academic record at Ohio State. The Lady Gamecocks forfeited eight games, making a 21-9 record 13-17. The public turmoil surrounding the 1980-81 season can be at least partly explained by allegations that, SI has learned, were being lodged against Parsons with university officials. One accuser was Brown, who at one point hired a private detective to shadow Parsons. Now the women's basketball coach at Winthrop College in Rock Hill, S.C., Brown says she turned on her boss because she knew of many transgressions, wanted them stopped and was conscience-stricken about her own role in the wrongdoing. Brown says she told university officials, including William F. Putnam, associate dean of business administration and NCAA delegate, and then-Athletic Director Jim Carlen, about financial dealings that Parsons allegedly had had with Mason and Washington. As transfer students, under AIAW regulations they weren't permitted to receive housing allowances for playing basketball during their first year at South Carolina, but Brown claims such payments were made to both women. Mason and Washington say so, too. "I told the university that Parsons gave me $800 in cash to pay Pat Mason's housing and that she or Linda paid for Frani's housing," Brown says. Brown, Washington and Mason call the university's response to that information unsatisfactory, and Mason terms it a "cover-up." Washington and Mason say they were told by athletic-department higher-ups that any funds they received were loans and that they were expected to pay back all the money. The extension of loans to first-year transfer students could violate AIAW rules, too. At any rate, both women deny that the payments were loans, and both also tell of other improper transactions. "I was told that in coming to South Carolina I wouldn't have to pay a cent," says Washington, now a non-basketball-playing student at the University of Toledo. "Then all of a sudden Parsons comes to me and says I owed $865 for housing." Washington says she was also given money for a flight home to Toledo, another probable violation of AIAW rules. On leaving the team, Mason publicly complained about a housing bill she'd received from the university and said that Parsons had promised her that all such expenses would be "taken care of." Parsons denied making any such promise. Associate Athletic Director John Moore said at the time he hadn't yet made a "thorough examination" of Mason's claim. Today Moore says he eventually determined that "no huge examination was needed." Mason, who now plays for Oklahoma City University, says, "Parsons told me everything would be taken care of moneywise—books, housing. She said some alumni would be looking out for me." Mason also says that as a recruit she made both an official visit to Columbia and one on her own and that Parsons improperly underwrote part of her expenses during the second visit. She further maintains that Parsons improperly gave her $80 toward rent during the summer she spent in Columbia before enrolling at school. Brown says she also told university officials that she believed recruiting rules were being violated. It was to substantiate one such charge, she said, that she hired a Columbia detective to stake out Parsons' residence. The detective reported that he established surveillance of Parsons' house at 6:50 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2, 1980 and that Tina Buck, a visiting high school recruit from Atlanta, left the house with the coach and Singer at 9:58 a.m. Brown concluded that Buck had spent the night at the house, which is a 20-minute drive from campus, in apparent violation of an AIAW prohibition against off-campus recruiting. Last May Parsons was relieved of her duties as women's athletic director and replaced by Ron Dickerson, a former Miami Dolphin defensive back, who took charge of all women's and non-revenue sports. But Parsons stayed on as coach, and there was no indication that school officials tried very hard to get to the bottom of the allegations made by Brown, Washington and Mason, or to hear what else they might have had to say. For example, all three have told SI that Parsons appeared to be "stoned" on marijuana during a road trip last year. In a particularly disturbing allegation, Brown says that she and Parsons collaborated to write as many as half a dozen term papers for players "if it meant the difference between passing and flunking. It was Pam's idea. She did the majority of the writing. I typed them." Evelyn Johnson is another witness who contends that Parsons appeared to be stoned on a road trip. Johnson also makes an allegation about Singer. "She gave me money to buy drugs for her," Johnson says. "She wanted me to buy speed, pills—like uppers and downers. Not pot. She gave me $15 or $20 each time, once a week, for about two, three or four weeks. But I just kept the money. I felt funny about that. I asked her if there was anything she wanted me to do for her—like move something or help her clean. I told her my sources dried up. I knew Linda could have gotten the drugs herself. It's not that hard on a college campus. When she approached me, I thought, 'Now how stupid does this look? I'm sure you know just as many people as I know.' I felt like Linda and Pam were trying to set me up. It just wouldn't have looked good, Magic Johnson's sister caught for buying drugs." Singer, now living in Atlanta, declined to comment on any charges arising from her work at South Carolina. What ultimately forced Parsons from her job was yet another stunning charge: that she had sexual relations with a player. Such an accusation would be no less unsettling if it involved a male-female or male-male liaison between coach and athlete. But it happens that speculation and anxiety about lesbianism are common among women basketball players and parents who fear that their daughters will be compromised by lesbian coaches. Not all women basketball coaches, certainly, are homosexual, nor do those who are necessarily get involved with, or impose their sexual preferences on, their players. Nevertheless, Kansas State Coach Lynn Hickey isn't alone in admitting that she has tried to allay fears on the subject by publishing photos of herself with her husband in media guides. The South Carolina team had been awash with speculation that Parsons was "involved" with players or had made passes at one or another of them. One former team member who was rumored to have been propositioned admits that she's a lesbian and says that homosexuality is "all over the place," not only in women's sports but also in men's basketball and football. She says that Parsons had indicated she was a lesbian in their conversations. "She used to say to me, 'We have to be careful. If people knew, they'd hang us for what we are.' She told me she was in love with a particular woman but had to break up because it got to the point where the other woman was picking out her clothes for her." But the former player also says that while Parsons once invited her to accompany her to a gay bar in Atlanta, she declined the invitation and that Parsons had never made overt sexual advances toward her. Brown and Mason draw damning inferences from some of Parsons' words and actions. "Pam recruited with sex in mind," says Brown. "I talked to a high school coach in Georgia the other day and he said, 'Karen, I never believed any of those stories about Pam. Until now. Pam is interested in Jane [fictitious name for the coach's star player]. She called and said, "Is Jane good-looking?" And I said, "Good-looking?" And she said, "Yeah, I only want good-looking girls on my team." And I said, "Well, coach, I only know how she plays basketball." ' " Mason: "On my first recruiting visit to campus, Parsons felt my arm and said, 'It's so strong.' I looked at her and thought, 'What is with this lady?' In her office, she patted me on the rear end. It wasn't like it was in any athletic context or was a sending-me-off-in-the-world kind of thing. It really freaked me out. I got out of there fast. I didn't say anything to anybody about it. I tried to excuse it. She was always giving us compliments about our bodies. I felt funny about it. She thought Philicia [Philicia Allen, a 6'6" sophomore who quit the team last week] had nice legs. Philicia and I were together when she told Philicia that. And the way she looked at Philicia when she said it, I don't think she was joking." It's conceivable that allegations by Mason and other players that Parsons acted suggestively toward them were the product of the vivid imaginations of young women who feared, or were infatuated with, so high-powered an authority figure. As Evelyn Johnson perceptively says, "A young girl might actually think she's fallen in love with Parsons, I guess. Maybe she never felt good about being so tall, so boyish, an athlete. And maybe she could never talk about it with anyone—then she meets Pam. And maybe she thinks she's in love." And maybe, in such cases, a player misconstrues a compliment or a smile or a squeeze of the arm. Johnson notes that Parsons herself may have fueled speculation by "always inviting the same favorite people out to dinner." Nor did Parsons end the whispers when, according to two witnesses, she embarrassed a player on a team bus last season by saying, in a loud, mocking tone, "What happened? You didn't come to my room last night." Johnson also says, "It seems to me that Parsons recruited very naive, almost dumb players and tried to bring them under her influence." Pat Mason concurs: "Some of her players were there physically, but mentally they were zombies." Parsons' departure was melodramatic. The loss of Mason and Washington had been offset this season by the arrival of new stars, and the Lady Gamecocks were rolling right along until Dec. 31. That afternoon Dickerson paid a call at Parsons' house. When he emerged, he had in his possession a two-sentence handwritten note in which Parsons said she was resigning "due to serious conditions with my health." On New Year's Day, her 34th birthday, Parsons phoned the university and attempted to revoke the resignation. She also called reporters to say that she hadn't resigned and was in "perfect health." But James B. Holderman, president of the university, pointedly said that her resignation had been accepted. On Jan. 2, after beating St. Joseph's 50-48 in Philadelphia to run their record to 8-0, the Lady Gamecocks, now coached by Kelly, flew back to Columbia and were greeted in the middle of a drizzly night by the sight of Parsons holding a banner that read, in part, WELCOME HOME. I HAVE NOT RESIGNED! The message was signed YOURS IN SPORT, P². Mike Nemeth, the school's assistant sports information director, later said, "When I saw her holding that sign, I thought, 'Uh, oh, here we go again.' " That night Parsons sent a single silk red rose to each of her players as "a sign of love." Two days later, she resigned anew, this time for keeps. She had reached a settlement under which the university agreed to pay her $20,111.68. She cited "philosophical" differences with the school as the reason for her leaving. But Chris Vlahoplus, senior vice-president for university relations, offered a different explanation. On Jan. 7 he told SI that the mother of one South Carolina player, freshman Brantley Southers, had complained to the university that Parsons was having relations with a second player. "Ron Dickerson talked at great length about it with Parsons." Vlahoplus said. "At first she denied being a lesbian and having an affair with a player, then she finally admitted it." Vlahoplus added, "We have nothing against anybody who's gay. But to have a coach carrying on with a student...we just can't let that go on." Two weeks later, Paul J. Ward, a university attorney, learned of Vlahoplus' statement. Ward called SI to say that Vlahoplus now denied making the statement. However, Ronni Keisler, Southers' mother, said she had indeed complained to the school about Parsons' being involved with a player and that Holderman had "told me on the phone that Pam admitted it to Dickerson." The incidents Brantley Southers told her mother about allegedly occurred in Parsons' home, where Southers had gone in recent weeks to watch TV and where once, when Parsons was out of town, she had, by her own account, spent the night. The incidents, Southers says, involved Parsons and one of Southers' teammates. "I saw them kissing on more than one occasion," says Southers, a 6'1" forward whose jumping prowess accounts for her nickname, the Great White Leaper. "They were long kisses. It really spooked me. And I heard them say they loved each other." Referring to the other player, Southers said, "I'd heard a lot of rumors about her and Parsons, and she told me the rumors were all true." It should be noted that Southers acknowledges that she told her mother about Parsons and the other player only after having been caught in a lie by her parents; she said she'd spent the night at a friend's house when, in fact, that was the night she'd stayed at Parsons' house. Although this circumstance might be seen as calling into question Southers' truthfulness, university officials acted on the information she provided. Attempts to question Parsons about allegations of payments and false representations to Mason and Washington, recruiting violations, ghost-writing of term papers, marijuana use on team trips and other matters were unavailing. Parsons' attorney, Jean Toal, ruled out phone calls to her client and said of the allegations, "This is all Karen Brown's hatchet job." On the subject of lesbianism, Parsons had earlier said to SI, "What does 'being gay' mean? I've had close relationships with women, but when does a relationship become 'gay'?" However, when The Greenville News reported Jan. 20 that Parsons had quit after being accused by the mother of an unnamed player of "being involved in a lesbian situation with one player and making sexual advances toward another," Parsons denied the allegations, and Toal denounced them as "unsubstantiated rumor." As far as SI could determine, the accusation made by Southers' mother involved just one player. The conclusion is inescapable that Parsons committed a serious betrayal of trust. This is a subject that Southers' mother spoke of with more than a little bitterness when she said, "What would you say if Pam Parsons came into your home, all dressed up, with pretty clothes and makeup and nice hairdo, and said, 'In a year from now you won't even know your daughter'? You'd think, 'My little tomboy is finally going to learn how to be a lady.' Instead...." There was no need to finish. In her temperamental outbursts and psychological ploys, not to mention possible rule infractions, Parsons belied her own avowed mission, as she once described it in a newspaper interview, to "reinforce the principles Mom and Dad taught." Parsons also had, at the very least, violated a fundamental principle of coaching ethics—that coaches treat all players equally. Whatever the truth of Southers' allegations with regard to sexual improprieties, Parsons was closer to some players than others. And she was especially close to the player with whom Southers linked her. Friends say the two of them went skiing together after Christmas. Following Parsons' resignation, according to that player's mother, they traveled together to Atlanta. More recently that player—or rather, ex-player, since she, too, has quit the team—was seen driving in the Columbia area at the wheel of Parsons' new silver Honda Accord. Parsons implies that she's not interested in landing another coaching job and says, "I may write a book, get into broadcasting, or go into the chiropractic field." She hasn't been attending Lady Gamecock games because, she says, "I don't want to be an outside interference. I want them to win." But victory may not come as easily for the Lady Gamecocks in the future. Last week's tryouts produced three new team members, but they weren't likely to make up for the five players, two of them starters, who have departed since Parsons' resignation, some out of loyalty to her, others because they reportedly find Kelly, her successor, less than forceful. But Kelly sounded forceful enough when he spoke the other day of three of the departed players, none of whom had been previously implicated in any wrongdoing. "They're mad at me because I cut off their money," Kelly said. "Pam was paying for them to go home, giving them money." The accusation had a depressingly familiar ring to it.

1986- Elders Antonio A. Feliz, Pamela Calkins, and David Ewing addressed a dozen curiosity seekers in Salt Lake Public Library representing The Restoration Church of Jesus Christ. Purpose was “to see if there was a need for a branch of the church here, and if so, what the reception would be.” Antonio Feliz co-founder stated: “We have established a church based on the Mormon beliefs set forth by the first prophet of the Mormon Churches, Joseph Smith…We feel that the Lord is guiding our steps for the blessing of all people, including Gay and Lesbians. The Restoration Church viewed itself some what like the Reorganized LDS church, believing that God had to raise up a new church because the LDS branch refused to preach the Gospel to active homosexuals, and thus not keeping the commandment to preach the Gospel to all people. Tony Feliz taught that Gay folk are like a separate nation like gypsies, only discernible to others of the same nation. "New Offshoot of LDS Church Springs Up-On February 8, 1986 three people representing The Restoration Church of Jesus Christ spoke about their organization to a small audience at the Salt Lake Public Library. The Restoration church was established less than a year ago in Los Angeles by a group of people who had been excommunicated from the LDS Church for homosexuality. The group is called by some onlookers "The Gay Mormon Church." The "Temporary Presidency" of the new denomination is headed by Elder Antonio A. Feliz (Presiding High Priest), who once served as a bishop in the LDS church. Feliz and others felt they had received a revelation to create the new church. The church was officially organized on August 28, 1985 and has approximately twenty members. Counselors in the presidency are LaMar Hamilton (Presiding Bishop) and John R. Crane (Presiding Patriarch/Evangelist). Feliz and Crane have collected their revelations in the book Hidden Treasures and Promises, The Restoration church differs from the LDS church in several significant ways. Its membership is dominated by lesbians and gay men. Also, it refuses to declare itself the only true church. The Restoration church believes in the ordination of women into its priesthood; Elder Pamela J. Calkins was ordained a minister in the church. An interesting concept in the new the new church is gay polygamy. Triangle magazine quotes Feliz as stating, "If a group of people feels that a plural relationship is confirmed by the Lord and the presidency has no objection, a sealing will be performed." However, the Restoration church does maintain practices that are similar to the LDS church. They believe in paying tithing, holding Family Home Evening, and in having a lay clergy. The Restoration church plans to implement a missionary program to proselytize gay people. They plan to have temples in which endowments and marriage sealings can be performed. The leaders of this new denomination stress that The Restoration Church of Jesus Christ follows the doctrine presented by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and those found in the four standard works. The gay Mormon community itself has not totally embraced the Restoration church. Some members of Affirmation, a support group for Mormon gays and lesbians, oppose the new church because they maintain a belief in the LDS Church. Affirmation and the Restoration church are decidedly separate organizations with completely distinct goals. The Restoration church is not allowed to solicit converts at Affirmation gatherings. When asked if the LDS Church had made any official statement about the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ, Jerry Cahill-- spokeman for the LDS Church-- said, "I’ve never heard of it." [1986 Sunstone Magazine News and Review pg 42-43

• Founded by Antonio A. Feliz, Lamar Hamilton, John Crane, David Ewing, Pamela J. Calkins and other members of the Los Angeles Chapter of Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons on August 23, 1985, in Los Angeles, California. Feliz is a former bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), who had been excommunicated for homosexual acts. Feliz had also served as the Director of Church Welfare for what was then called the Andean Region (now called the South America West Area) of the LDS Church during the 1970s. Feliz originally named the church the "Church of Jesus Christ of All Latter Day Saints", but when the LDS Church informed him of their intent to sue, he changed the name to the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ. The RCJC had rotating general officers. At a church conference in Sacramento, California, in May 1987, Feliz resigned as president under pressure. He was succeeded by Robert McIntier, who served as president of the church since 1987 through at least 2009, except for a period from 1997 to 1999 when Douglas B. Madrid served as president. The church was dissolved by the vote of the members of the board of the Corporation in November 2010. Later, two new groups were formed: the Reformation Community of Christ, and the Church of Christ – Community of Christ (based in Uruguay).
• Restoration Church of Jesus Christ by JoSelle Vanderhooft Salt Lake Metro Like many gay and lesbian Latter-Day Saints, Bob McIntire left his church after coming out of the closet. But unlike several gay and lesbian former Mormons, he not only joined a new church, he became its president.  The new church was the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ (RCJC), a gay-friendly offshoot of Mormonism founded in 1985 by members of a Los Angeles Affirmation chapter, a support group for gay and lesbian Mormons. In the same year, McIntire met three of the fledgling church’s members at a meeting of the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire, which McIntire was attending as the local Metropolitan Community Church’s representative.  “Three men in business suits walked in and asked to be recognized,” McIntire remembers. “When they were allowed to speak one of them got up and said, “We’re here to tell you that the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by Joseph Smith has been restored to the gay community.” He laughs at the memory. “I just about fell out of my chair! At first I was a little bit angry, I think. Because I felt like, here’s MCC trying to reach out and help people and this is just another group of Mormon wannabes who are going to… draw away from the MCC that was already struggling for existence.”  Still, McIntire decided to attend the RCJC’s first public meeting in Salt Lake City the following week. Here he says he “experienced some feelings I hadn’t had since I left the LDS church.” Shortly after, he decided to join. Within months he became the leader of Utah’s RCJC congregation; and when then-RCJC President Antonio Feliz stepped down, the church asked McIntire to take his place. He’s held the position ever since, despite the church’s often troubled twenty-year history.  “It’s had a lot of ups and downs,” he says, referring to the Los Angeles chapter’s decision to split from the RCJC in the mid-1990s and the disbanding of chapters in California, New Mexico and Texas. “I would say two years ago we were at our all time low. And from that point we started growing again. We are growing at the moment and I think we’re going to continue to grow. I believe that it’s something that is of value to many people. For those who grew up with an LDS background it fills a need.”  According to Elder Larry Tidwell, presiding patriarch to the church and second counselor to the President, the RCJC initially filled a very real need for its founding members – most of who had been excommunicated from the LDS church because of their sexual orientations. These participants in an Affirmation chapter in Los Angeles bonded through a scripture study group, in which they made a startling discovery.  “In the course of studying the scriptures they came to the conclusion that the priesthood that many of them had been excommunicated from, that the church had told them they no longer had,… [ultimately] comes from God,” he said. “It doesn’t come from the church. And once they realized that, they also realized that the church can’t take away their priesthood. Only God can.”  Eventually, this realization lead some of the group’s members, many of whom had had been excommunicated from the LDS church, to wonder if they should start their own church. At this time, says Tidwell, “they prayed very earnestly to receive direction about whether or not they should form a church. And the conclusion was that the Lord wanted them to form another church, so they did,” originally naming themselves the Church of Jesus Christ of All Latter-Day Saints. When the LDS church in Los Angeles objected that the name was too similar to theirs, the group officially changed their name to the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ, though they still use “the name the Lord gave us” in “all our ordinances and ceremonies” which are similar to those performed by the LDS church and include temple marriages for straight, gay and lesbian couples. Although the RCJC holds sacrament meetings, Sunday school and home teaching and upholds the “basic Mormon tenants” as found in the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and the work Doctrine and Covenants, the church has a number of differences from the LDS faith. Along with familiar Mormon scriptures, the RCJC also uses their own book of scripture entitled Hidden Treasures and Promises. According to Tidwell, this book is similar to Doctrine and Covenants in that it contains “revelations given to the leadership of the Restored Church that they have written down and presented to members of the church.”  Further, women “are total equals with the males of the church,” according to Tidwell. They are able to “hold the priesthood” and have occupied every position in the church save for president. And while the RCJC has a prophet who serves as “prophet, seer and revelator,” RCJC members do not see him as infallible. “As a result of that, it is the members’ duty to live their lives in such a way that they can have the Spirit be with them to determine whether or not the prophet is following the Lord,” Tidwell explains.  Members of the church are also encouraged to use their own consciences in matters of faith, particularly in the case of the Word of Wisdom, the Mormon law of health which encourages members to abstain from such things as tobacco, alcohol, caffeine and immoderate consumption of meat. “We also don’t believe that the responsibility of the church to tell people what they should do in their private personal lives,” Tidwell continues. “What tithing they should pay what the law of chastity means to them. We still believe in the word of wisdom. But how they should apply the Word of Wisdom is between them and the Lord. It’s not the duty of the church to tell them. Basically [we] give them guidelines and principles and then let them decide how the principle applies to their lives.” Although the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ has never opened a formal dialogue with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, according to Tidwell they don’t believe the other church is a false religion.  “We believe the Lord can and does form other churches as there’s a need,” he says. “We still believe that since in the Book of Mormon it says there were many prophets in the land that there can be more than one prophet for the world. The leaders of the LDS church are prophets and we have prophets too. We encourage our members to follow our prophet and the teachings +the Lord has given to us because they’re unique to our people. But what the Lord tells President Hinckley is what the Lord is giving them [the LDS church] and guiding them in relation to their own ministry. We’re not against them at all. We respect them and we appreciate their ministry.”v Currently, the RCJC’s ministry serves not only the Salt Lake chapter, but members vfrom all over the world including Belgium, England and South Africa. The church uses the internet and “telephone conversations… as circumstances permit” to reach these long distance members. Additionally, the RCJC’s website also includes information on a forthcoming Internet Sunday School, which the church is currently considering implementing.v Along with their worldwide membership, McIntire also says his church hopes to reach out to young people.  “We would really like to get some of the youth involved, the gay youth groups,” he says. “Because I think the people that tend to be attracted to us are those who are a little bit older and perhaps went on missions for the LDS church. They already had a solid background in Mormonism before they discovered they were gay. Now we’ve got a whole crop of young people I see out there that haven’t really gotten into their religion, so it’s a lot easier for them to throw the whole thing out. I would like to find a way to appeal to those people and give them a place where they could come and express themselves religiously without thinking they had to give up their beliefs or their orientation.” “I’ve seen a lot of people in our community and in various gay communities who when they discover they’re gay they throw out all their beliefs, especially if they have a strong religious belief,” he continues. “Looking back on it now I think that’s what I was trying to do [when I came out], but I could never shake it off. And then I found something where I don’t have to throw out everything. I just have to throw out the parts that don’t work for me. That’s where the restoration church comes in.” Located at 2900 S. State Street, Restoration Church of Jesus Christ holds services vevery Sunday at 1:00 pm. The church can be reached on the internet at home.netcom.vvcom/~utahdude/rcjc/rcjc.html and by telephone at 359-1151.

1987- Former BYU student David Chipman spoke at Wasatch Affirmation about his legal experiences from BYU security’ entrapment of him.

1988 Monday  At the AIDS Quilt Project meeting we talked about getting Norma Matheson, former 1^st Lady of Utah, to be a spokesperson for the Quilt. We spent most of the meeting discussing  how to promote the water slide event.  Bruce Harmon has really taken the reins of the group and its really getting exciting. I went up to LGSU where Mark LaMarr made announcement about the water slide event and registered people their to vote. Tonight was about organizing an April Gay Conference.  Chris Brown also discussed the possibility of forming a Gay Alliance at the U and having separate meetings for the women and the men.  The women are all wanting to have separate meetings feeling that the presence of men even Gay men is tainted because they think we are part of the privileged male Patriarchy.  What they don’t realize is that we gave up that privilege ”Coming Out”. To the patriarch we are women. But to some of these Lesbian separatists we Gay men are guilty for having a penis. [1988 Journal of Ben Williams]

1989 Wednesday-This evening I spent 3 hours from 6-9 p.m. typing up the minutes from the Gay Community Council from January and February and mailing them out. [1989 Journal of Ben Williams]

1990-During a debate in the US House of Representatives on a bill that would require the federal government to compile hate crimes statistics, Rep. Jesse Helms (R-NC) called the bill a conspiracy of the radical homosexuals and a threat to the survival of the American Family. The bill passed 92 to 4.

1991-Massachusetts governor William Weld (R.) surprised many by appointing openly gay Republican Mike Duffy to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

1991-The Washington State House of Representatives approved a measure to add a prohibition against anti-gay attacks to the state's malicious harassment law.

David Sharpton

1992 Saturday In the afternoon I went to see David Sharpton in the hospital at Holy Cross. Today is his birthday. His boyfriend Mike Angotti is holding a birthday/going away party for him in the hospital for David. Its kind of bizarre because Mike can't be there so everyone is kind of dropping by with cakes, flowers, and balloons. Later in the evening I came back with Jimmy Hamamoto, David Ball, Tom Henacy, and Jeff Workman to make an appearance and say our good-byes. [Journal of Ben Williams]

1998-British scientists announced that the fingerprints of gay men are more similar to women's than to heterosexual men.

2005 Gay senator sworn in Article Last Updated: 2/08/2005 Salt Lake Tribune The state Senate welcomed its first openly gay member on Monday, applauding Democrat Scott McCoy as he took the oath to replace outgoing Sen. Paula Julander, who resigned for health reasons. McCoy is the 34-year-old vice chairman of the gay-rights group, Equality Utah. But he vowed in his first floor speech that he will not be a single-issue lawmaker. "The fact that I am gay is certainly one of the characteristics with which I have been endowed by my creator and it is an important part of who I am as a human being," McCoy said. "But it is certainly not the only characteristic that defines me, just as none of my colleagues can or should be reduced to any one of their many characteristics." Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. made McCoy's appointment official Monday morning. - Thomas Burr

2005 Salt Lake Tribune Utah police chiefs and prosecutors asked lawmakers - again - to pass meaningful hate crimes legislation. Senate Bill 181 will get its first hearing this morning in the Senate Judiciary Committee. For the fifth year in a row, legislators will consider a bill to enhance the penalty for crimes motivated by "bias or prejudice." Historically, lawmakers have rejected the legislation as a restriction on thought. They question the need to enhance penalties for crimes like assault and murder. But they also consider the inclusion of "sexual orientation" among a list of protected classes repugnant. Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said those arguments do not wash. "This bill does not punish thought. It does not provide special privileges," he said. "It provides protections equally for everyone." Paul Boyden, director of the Statewide Association of Prosecutors said the important thing is the deterrent effect a hate crimes law could have. "Are we labeling these crimes and saying hate crimes are not acceptable?" Boyden asked. "Under current law, we are not." - Rebecca Walsh

2005  Subject: Utah Valley State College Gay Attention all, we've been having great turn out to our activities and meetings, i'm really excited to see the club back on it's feet. last activity went great, we ate popcorn(Thanks C), apples (Thanks I), and shared some quotes and looked at some pics(Thanks N). On Thursday 2/17/05 we wil be playing board games, make sure to bring your favorite board game, and a treat if you would like, D and K are required to bring treats to redeem their membership, lol jk, We'll meet in room LA 118 at 3:30. Also announcing our new club Vice President, Anastasia. Hope to see you all there, and have a great week. Club President, Kevin Petersen

2006 Wednesday • Deseret Morning News, Wednesday, February 08, 2006 Support sought on gay issues Mark Diorio, Deseret Morning News Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake, speaks Tuesday to members and supporters of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center of Utah during a political rally outside the state Capitol. The rally included representatives of Equality Utah, the Stonewall Democrats and the Utah Log Cabin Republicans. Biskupski urged support of gay issues and for hate-crimes legislation and parental rights. The rally was part of a weeklong Winterfest celebration featuring entertainment, social activities and a gay conference

2006 The Utah AIDS Foundation and KUED present a one hour gay and lesbian newsmagazine public television show: in the life.  This nationally distributed television show is only offered to Utah residents once a month at midnight on KUED Channel 7.  The Utah AIDS Foundation and KUED are bringing this well produced show to you at a reasonable time and day.  This Wednesday February 8th at 7:00pm at the KUED studios (also known as the Eccles Broadcast Center) on the University of Utah Campus, we will begin a 12 part series of in the life.  This month’s episode will focus on “The Right to Love.”  Join us for the 1 hour show followed by a half hour discussion immediately after to talk about topics that were broached in the show.  This is a MUST see event!!  To learn more about in the life, please visit www.itl.tv/inthelife/.  For more information on UAF’s in the life event, please visit www.utahaids.org/ and click on in the life.  We shall see you there!! – UAF Staff –

2006 Winter Fest- Book Talk ~ Sam Weller co-sponsors a night of intriguing queerliterature reviews at the Center Wed Feb 8 th – GLBT Book Talk – Center Space (7pm) Discover what is new in queer literature and which books and authors are the must reads. We will also be looking at queer classics and examining some authors you may not have even realized were gay. This will be a fascinating night for any who are interested in a good read. Hosted by Shari Zollinger from Sam Wellers.

2006 Deseret Morning News, Wednesday, February 08, 2006 "in loco parentis" bill placed on later agenda for comment By Angie Welling Deseret Morning News After nearly an hour of discussion, lawmakers took no action Tuesday on a bill that its sponsor says is necessary to prevent judicial abuse of an ages-old legal doctrine. Though they appeared to support the intent of the legislation, members of the House Judiciary Committee questioned whether HB148, sponsored by Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, is the best way to achieve its goal. The meeting adjourned without a vote or public comment on the bill. The majority of those waiting to speak indicated after the hearing that they opposed the legislation. Committee chairman Rep. James Ferrin, R-Orem, said it would be placed on a later agenda and time set aside for public comment. HB148 would forbid courts from invoking "in loco parentis" — a Latin phrase meaning "in the place of a parent" — to award parent-time, visitation, custody, legal guardianship, child support or adoption to a non-biological adult against the wishes of a biological or adoptive parent. Christensen said he was prompted by recent cases in which the doctrine has been, in his opinion, misused. Particularly, he pointed Tuesday to a case in which a state court judge relied on the doctrine to grant a Utah woman visitation with her former lesbian partner's 4-year-old biological daughter. "The problem has been that 'in loco parentis' has just been floating out there, kind of a blank check," he said, adding that his bill would uphold "our traditional definitions of marriage and family life." But lawmakers questioned whether HB148 might unwittingly affect many other situations. "Don't you worry that by defining 'in loco parentis' that you're removing protections for children?" asked Rep. Scott Wyatt, R-Logan. "It troubles me that we're taking a 300- or 400-year-old legal doctrine and defining a whole lot of circumstances out of it." Stewart Ralphs, director of the Legal Aid Society of Salt Lake, said HB148 would do just that. "What this bill would do would is limit a long-standing legal principle and, with sweeping limitation, substitute the discretion of the court for the unfettered will of a parent," Ralphs said. Giving all decision making power to a biological parent is not always wise, he said, especially in cases where the "good parent" may become incapacitated or die. In those cases, a non-biological adult may be the most suitable person to step into the parental role. "It might be a gay parent, a lesbian partner, it might be an unmarried boyfriend or girlfriend who's raised this child for years," Ralphs said. "To take that away from the court to be able to award those kind of rights . . . I think is bad public policy."

2006 Support sought on gay issues Mark Diorio, Deseret Morning News  Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake, speaks Tuesday to members and supporters of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center of Utah during a political rally outside the state Capitol. The rally included representatives of Equality Utah, the Stonewall Democrats and the Utah Log Cabin Republicans. Biskupski urged support of gay issues and for hate-crimes legislation and parental rights. The rally was part of a weeklong Winterfest celebration featuring entertainment, social activities and a gay conference.

2006  Salt Lake benefits plan gets final OK By Kersten Swinyard Deseret Morning News Pending approval from the city's insurer, Salt Lake City employees will be able to enroll adult siblings, roommates, parents, friends or romantic partners for insurance through the city. The City Council gave final approval Tuesday night for a plan that would allow city employees to designate an adult who can be part of the employee's insurance plan. The measure passed unanimously. "Families (that) are support systems sometimes come in non-traditional packages," said Jill Remington Love, the council member who first broached the idea in July. "With this ordinance, we are offering our city employees the opportunity to recognize someone in their household they can be in a long-term caring relationship with." The city would offer coverage through the Public Employees Health Plan (PEHP), which the city already uses for roughly 2,900 employees, and expand the categories of people who can enroll to allow an additional 58 to 96 people access to the plan. Employees first must show joint financial obligations such as car or house loans, joint checking accounts or credit cards, or mutual beneficiaries on life insurance policies. It's estimated to cost the city between $140,000 and $225,000. Before the council can start enrolling people, PEHP likely will issue a decision about whether the plan meets PEHP's criteria for coverage, said Jennifer Bruno, a policy analyst for the council. If not, the council may have to come up with a new plan, she said. The council developed the adult-designee idea after Mayor Rocky Anderson proposed a similar measure which would have offered insurance exclusively to unmarried couples with a strong emphasis on equality for homosexual partners. Anderson's executive order in September would have covered between 10 and 22 people and would have cost the city between $17,000 and $63,000. "My proposal was simply to provide equity for employees regardless of marital status or sexual orientation," Anderson said. The City Council's plan "dodges the issue of equality altogether." Eric Jergensen, one of the council members on a subcommittee that hammered out the ordinance, said the council did not dodge equality issues and the council's plan does not shun gay or lesbian rights. "We are pro-employees, pro providing quality of life," Jergensen said. PEHP asked a judge to decide whether Anderson's order was legal, and then an Arizona law group and several Salt Lake residents sued to block the order. Third District Court Judge Stephen Roth heard the case Jan. 5 and has not yet ruled. Since the council last considered the benefits plan at its Jan. 10 meeting, a state representative has proposed a bill that would alter the way the city pays for the additional insurance coverage. Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, is waiting for House floor debate on HB327, which would require employees to completely pay for coverage beyond what is traditionally offered to spouses and children. The Salt Lake City Council approved the use of city money to offset the cost of insurance premiums, similar to what it administers now for its employees. At the bill's first public hearing Feb. 1, Christensen said it's his place as a lawmaker to direct what tax money pays for rather than "watch piecemeal adoption of public policy (through) random court decisions." Christensen also wants the legislative bodies of cities and public entities, rather than mayors or executive officers, to decide whether to offer additional insurance coverage. With three weeks left in the legislative session, the council plans to work around whatever legislation passes between now and March 1, said Dave Buhler, council chairman.  A lot of things could happen, but we can't be paralyzed by that," Buhler said. "I'd like to be an optimist. We're acting very appropriately under our authority."

2007 Former Jazz player says he is gay By Linda Hamilton Deseret Morning News Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said Wednesday that he did not know John Amaechi was gay when Amaechi played for the Jazz, but it would have made some difference to him if he had. "Oh, yeah, it would have probably mattered. I don't know exactly; I always have peoples' feelings at heart," Sloan said before Jazz practice Wednesday morning when asked about his part in a book that is to come out next week in which Amaechi proclaims his homosexuality — the first NBA player to ever do so — and accuses Sloan of using "anti-gay innuendo" to describe him. Amaechi is to make a public announcement of his homosexuality on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" Sunday, and the book, published by ESPN's books division, "Man in the Middle," is to be released shortly thereafter. "Man in the Middle" is to be excerpted in ESPN The Magazine.  ESPN.com's Chris Sheridan, with knowledge of what is in Amaechi's book and in the "Outside the Lines" interview, wrote late Wednesday that the book and TV interview also find Amaechi charging that Jazz owner Larry H. Miller is a "bigot," former Jazz player Karl Malone is a "xenophobe" and that Sloan "hated" him.  Miller created an international stir last year when he ordered his theaters to not show the acclaimed gay-cowboy movie "Brokeback Mountain." Amaechi did have kind words for former Jazzman Greg Ostertag and current player Andrei Kirilenko.  Sloan said he had heard that Amaechi had a book coming out and that it would be critical of him. "I don't have a problem with that. Life goes on. A lot of people are critical of me," he said. "People can do what they want to do. I don't have any control over that." He said he likely wouldn't read the book. Word about the book began surfacing at a Super Bowl party, hinted at by Amaechi publicist Howard Bragman, who managed such announcements for other gay athletes. "He is coming out of the closet as a gay man," Bragman told The Associated Press Wednesday. Sloan refused comment on whether he ever made homophobic statements but said his relationship with Amaechi was "shaky, as a player. We didn't see eye to eye on a few things as far as I was concerned."   The highly intellectual 6-foot-10 Amaechi, now 36, was not known for inspired play with the Jazz, for whom he averaged 3.2 points and 2.0 rebounds in 54 2001-02 games. He dropped to 2.0 points, 1.4 rebounds and a team-low .314 field-goal percentage in 50 games in 2002-03. In a prepared statement released by the Jazz late Wednesday, Sloan said, "John is one of 117 players I have coached in the past 19 seasons, and it has always been my philosophy that my job is to make sure Jazz players perform to their maximum ability on the floor. As far as his personal life is concerned, I wish John the best and have nothing further to add." NBA commissioner David Stern told The AP that a player's sexual preference is unimportant. "We have a very diverse league. The question at the NBA is always 'have you got game?' That's it, end of inquiry," Stern said.  Amaechi, a center/forward, was signed to a four-year Jazz contract in July 2001 and traded to Houston in September 2003 for Glen Rice and three future draft picks. He never played for Houston and was traded to the New York Knicks, who did not play him and eventually bought out his contract. He retired to England, where he grew up, and does television appearances and works with children. He funded the Amaechi Basketball Centre in Manchester. Amaechi played for Cleveland and Orlando prior to Utah. Sheridan's ESPN.com story said Amaechi thought Kirilenko, a Russian, was aware and accepting of his lifestyle and that Kirilenko invited Amaechi and a partner, if he had one, to a 2002 Christmas party but that Amaechi declined because he was having his own party. Amaechi said he sent Kirilenko a $500 bottle of champagne in thanks for a gesture "that meant the world to me, especially in the middle of a dreadful season in a strange desert state that in the end provided some of the best days of my life.  "It also showed that in my own paranoia and overwhelming desire for privacy, I'd failed to give some of my teammates the benefit of the doubt," Sheridan quoted Amaechi as writing.  An article Tuesday in Outsports.com, which obtained a copy of the book, mentioned other things about Amaechi's time in Utah, including this about Sloan: "Unbeknownst to me at the time," Amaechi said in the book, "Sloan had used some anti-gay innuendo to describe me. It was confirmed via e-mails from friends who worked in high-level front-office jobs with the Jazz." Sloan's only comment on e-mails was that he doesn't know how to turn on a computer. Outsports.com also said Amaechi wrote of "spirited and friendly political arguments with Karl Malone," though he, in Sheridan's article. called Malone uncomfortable with foreigners. Outsports.com also told of Amaechi's "regret that he never told Greg Ostertag, 'the gentle big man' whom he respected, that he was gay when Ostertag asked him."  Sheridan's article mentioned the same and said Amaechi's reply to Ostertag was, "You have nothing to worry about, Greg." The Outsports.com Web site also said Amaechi had a "regular boyfriend for a time in England" after having played for the Cavaliers and for three years in Europe. But when he returned to the NBA in 1999, the Internet account said, Amaechi "was celibate until he went to the Jazz." A guaranteed Jazz contract, it said, "set his mind at ease, and it was there that he began venturing out to gay establishments and building a mostly gay circle of friends." The Web site said Amaechi writes of his first sexual experiences in the United States and "how the Utah Jazz and Salt Lake City, controlled by the Latter Day Saints, was an odd backdrop for what felt like his coming out party." It also quotes him as saying he was "practically daring reporters to take the bait and out me, but it never happened." Jazz beat writers Tim Buckley of the Deseret Morning News and Phil Miller of The Salt Lake Tribune said Wednesday they didn't notice Amaechi trying to bait them. He did not openly ask them to report such news. It was fairly common knowledge within the team about what Amaechi terms his "open secret." Only a few male professional athletes in major American sports have announced publicly that they are gay. Pro football player David Kopay did so in 1977, followed more recently by former NFL linemen Esera Tualo and Roy Simmons. Also, baseball players Billy Bean and Glenn Burke and baseball umpire Dave Pallone. WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes made such an announcement, with Bragman's help, in October 2005. Amaechi's was born in Massachusetts. His Nigerian father was not in his life, and he was reared in England by his single mother, a doctor. He returned to the U.S. for a final year of high school and spent a year at Vanderbilt before transferring to Penn State.

2009 Governor endorses civil unions Here is a sentence you probably never expected to read: Utah's governor supports civil unions. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., a spokeswoman said Monday, backs Equality Utah's Common Ground Initiative, a legislative effort that would provide some rights to gay and transgender Utahns. Even more, the Republican governor favors civil unions. It's a position that runs counter to his political party and against the majority of Utahns -- 70 percent of whom are Mormons...

2010 LGBT to hold forum on gay-rights movement status The Salt Lake Tribune A one-year moratorium on pro- and anti-gay-rights legislation has produced mixed reactions among Utah's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. The Utah Pride Center and the University of Utah's LGBT Resource Center will stage a LGBT forum Thursday to discuss current events and opportunities for political involvement. "We want to create a space that encourages thoughtful questions and respectful commentary during a time when there are many questions about what's next for the LGBT community here in Utah," Valerie Larabee, executive director of the Utah Pride Center, said Monday in a statement. "This forum will be dedicated to sharing points of view that can shape our powerful movement forward." The forum will be from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Saltair Room of the University of Utah's Olpin Student Union Building. In an effort to halt bills that would have overturned Salt Lake City's and Salt Lake County's anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender residents or stopped other cities from following suit, Democratic lawmakers agreed to drop, for the 2010 session, four gay-rights bills -- including one that would have extended anti-discrimination protections statewide. "This session has been different than any other session we've engaged in," said Equality Utah Executive Director Brandie Balken, who will participate in the forum. "It's important that we have an opportunity to speak to each other." -Rosemary Winters

2013 Mormon church in talks on statewide law to protect gays from bias Gay rights • After months of discussion, sources say parties are close to agreement on legislation. BY ROBERT GEHRKE THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Attorneys for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are in quiet discussions with leaders of Utah’s gay and lesbian community, trying to hammer out language for a statewide ban on housing and employment discrimination that the church could support. Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, opened a bill file on Thursday — the last day to request attorneys draft legislation — titled Housing and Employment Amendments and will sponsor the legislation should an agreement be reached. If the LDS Church, the state’s largest faith to which nearly 90 percent of the Utah Legislature belongs, were to endorse the anti-discrimination bill, it would be a major boost for efforts to pass the legislation, which has failed the past several years. The church had previously supported a similar ordinance passed by Salt Lake City in 2009, saying that it is “fair and reasonable and does not do violence to the institution of marriage.” The ordinance also exempted religious institutions from the ban on discrimination. Since then, 16 Utah cities and counties have passed similar ordinances or policies. Brandie Balken, executive director of the group Equality Utah, would not comment specifically on the discussions with the church, given their sensitive nature. “We have been working with many community partners, but we’re not ready to release a bill,” she said. The talks have been going on for eight months and she assured that a bill would be introduced, hopefully next week, but she said the groups will “take the time necessary to work on the language until we have the best possible bill.” Scott Trotter, a spokesman for the LDS Church, said the church has been contacted as “one of many community stakeholders.” “The discussions are very preliminary. At this point there is no bill for anyone to respond to,” he said. But sources aware of the discussions with the church, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the discussions have been going on for some time and one source said that attorneys for the church have been consulted in trying to put together final language for the legislation. “We are hopeful that statewide passage will create uniformity for the business community,” said James Humphreys with the group Log Cabin Republicans. “This is not only the right thing to do for all Utahns but speaks to our conservative values as we want simplicity in government and equal treatment, under the law, for each of Utah’s citizens.” Last year, Utah businesses made a major push to pass the ban on housing and employment discrimination, but the bill was voted down by a Senate committee. This year, the business community, through the Salt Lake Chamber, has again made it one of its legislative priorities. Gayle Ruzicka, president of the Utah Eagle Forum, said it is difficult to comment on the current round of discussions until she sees legislation. The LDS Church, she said, never tips its hand until it’s listened to all sides and the hierarchy is in agreement. “If the law looked like the Salt Lake [City] ordinance, that would be very, very upsetting and something that, as always, I have opposed and will continue to oppose in every way possible unless I get some kind of revelation,” she said. LDS Church discussions about an anti-discrimination law proceed even as the faith continues its efforts to oppose gay marriage. Last week, the church filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing to uphold the national Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, the ballot initiative banning gay marriage that the church publicly supported. Paul Mero, president of The Sutherland Institute, a conservative think-tank, said discussions about an anti-discrimination law have been going on for years, and said that the church’s representative and attorney on Capitol Hill keep “ shooting the request up to the Quorum of The Twelve and First Presidency, trying to get them to agree to this.” So far, Mero said, his understanding is church leaders are not all in agreement, and the LGBT groups may have to give up too much to get the church’s support. Mero said one of the sticking points is whether churches as institutions should be exempt from the discrimination ban, or if adherents to the faith should be, as well. Giving followers of the faith an exemption guts the bill. Whatever the final bill looks like, Mero said his group will fight against it. “We’ve opposed [the anti-discrimination law] since the beginning and we’re going to oppose it,” he said. “It would be unfortunate to create a war among friends, but that’s exactly what will happen.” — Salt Lake City ordinance as model? The city law » Forbids housing and employment discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. » Exempts religious organizations, businesses with fewer than 15 employees and some small landlords. » Creates a complaint and investigation process. » Requires annual reports by the city’s Human Rights Commission on the effectiveness of the statutes.

• "If the law looked like the Salt Lake [City] ordinance, that would be very, very upsetting and something that, as always, I have opposed and will continue to oppose in every way possible unless I get some kind of revelation," Gayle Ruzicka said. Oh now she is a prophetess? Paul Mero is right though what is the Gay community having to give up? Who are these "gay leaders" that can bargain away our rights? I don't recall electing anyone to speak for me... I do remember Christine Johnson telling the legislature the community would be quiet if the legislators don't pass anti-Gay bills.... I remember David Litvack taking all mention of Gay people out of a anti-hate bill to get it passed... How come its the Gay community which has to compromise to get want is do to them as AMERICANS!?