This Day In Gay Utah History March 13

13 March 13-

1906-Suffragist Susan B. Anthony died.

1970 Friday Glen H. Kelser age 28 years, Ray G. Dodge age 33, and Lindell Newton, no age given, three inmates of the Utah State Prison testified in federal court that Utah’s prison administrators had been insensitive to numerous reports of homosexual attacks by fellow inmates in behalf on a petition by fellow inmate Patrick Perez. Judge Sherman Christensen took under advisement a write of habeas corpus petition by Patrick Perez, age 28, sentenced 12 May 1969 to 3 to 20 years by 2nd District Judge Charles G. Cowley after a plea of guilty to sodomy and assault with a deadly weapon. Richard W. Giauque  SLC attorney for ACLU said petitioners due process rights were violated as well as constitutional prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment in that a person with a known emotional and sexual deviation problems was “thrown in a pen of wild dogs” where conditions “do not provide adequate protection from homosexual attack.” Lauren N. Beasley, chief assistant Utah Attorney General argued that state remedies had not been exhausted.  “No one enjoys being locked up and if characterlogical disorders are worsened by imprisonment, everyone would say they should be set free.”  Giaugue contended that Perez was denied a mental competency hearing as required by Utah statutes regarding persons convicted of sodomy. But Beasley claimed that an evaluation at Utah State Hospital had revealed Perez mentally competent. He originally pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.  Robert Phillips, Ogden attorney who defended Perez in 2nd District Court testified he had known the man and his family for 8-10 years and believes Perez became homosexual attacks in prison were Kelser, Dodge, Newton. Newton said “the warden (John W. Turner) has told us to handle the problem ourselves.”  Dr. Peter L. Nielsen SLC a consulting psychiatrist at the person subpoenaed by Giauque testified he had treated Perez at the prison and his patient told him of homosexual advances by other prisoners. (03/14/1970 SLTribune page 19)

1976 Saturday- “Larry called me today and we went out on a date.  We found some deserted country farm road south of Springville and we made out and just talked about us. It is like fireworks whenever I am with him. “[Journal of BYU Student ] 

1983- The Backstreet Tavern is opened by Mac Hunt and partners at 108 South 500 West Salt Lake City. It becomes a favorite of the Royal Court for it’s stage and  behind stage dressing area. Building razed in 2010.

1988  I didn’t leave the house all day working on the AIDS quilt panel and I finished it. I dropped it off at 7 p.m. at RMCC because Bruce Barton said that he would hem it for me since I don’t have a sewing machine. [Journal of Ben Williams]

1988- Wasatch Affirmation’s Fireside address was “The Homosexual’s Wife: A personal Story.  Debbie Fairchild speaker wife of Ted Fairchild partner of asst. Pastor Kelly Byrnes of RMCC.

1990 Tuesday [Deseret News] Misunderstanding: Sponsor of 'Anne Frank' display says it thought education officials wanted information kept out. - Librarian note: Cutline for photograph taken by Garry Bryant should identify Mr. Moss as James R. Moss, not James E. Moss. EXHIBIT PACKET WON'T EXCLUDE  MATERIAL ON NAZIS' GAY VICTIMS Material on the Nazi persecution of homosexuals will not be withheld from education packets distributed about an international exhibit that debuts in Utah later this month. Utah schoolchildren and others attending "The World of Anne Frank," an exhibit exploring the tragedy of the Holocaust, will be able to learn about the hundreds of thousands of homosexuals who died in the Nazi death camps. The corporate sponsor, Geneva Steel, originally deleted the information on homosexuals at what the firm thought was the request of state education officials. But late Monday afternoon, after a day of statements and press conferences where education officials, gay-rights advocates and others tried to sort out who said what to whom and when, the final word from Geneva was that information on homosexuals and the Holocaust would be sent to teachers.

Geneva officials and State Superintendent of Public Instruction James E. Moss said there had been a gigantic "misunderstanding" and that the three-page section in question, "The Fate of Homosexuals under Nazi Rule," will be mailed out to the 70 schoolteachers who requested the supplementary materials in preparation for taking their students on tours of the exhibit. The exhibit opens at noon March 25 at the City-County Building and runs until April 22. Geneva is spending between $40,000 and $50,000 to sponsor the exhibit, which is being hosted by Salt Lake City. Geneva Steel director of media relations Mary Kay Lazarus said her firm "was saddened" by the flap surrounding the exhibit and hopes that the controversy doesn't mar the exhibit's opening. "We feel very bad about the pain and that some groups feel they were being disenfranchised (from the exhibit). Our hope was to make the exhibit as universal as possible," she said. She said a volunteer committee asked the State Office of Education to review the supplementary materials sent to teachers. The committee felt such a request was appropriate because the state office oversees classroom instruction. The committee believed that state education officials wanted the material on homosexuals pulled because of a State Board of Education guideline that says "the acceptance of or advocacy of homosexuality as a desirable or acceptable sexual adjustment or lifestyle" may not be taught in the public schools and should be excluded from textbooks. When the information packets were mailed to teachers, the three pages on homosexuals out of a total 38 pages describing the exhibit were deleted. The other 35 pages deal with Nazi treatment of Jews, blacks, gypsies and the disabled. The state school superintendent said the misunderstanding arose when his staff alerted Geneva officials to one page that deals "with current homosexual activities" and warned that it "might cause concern on the part of individuals or groups in the public." That page depicts a symbol, a triangle with words "Gays Against Fascism," that was developed by the Gay Liberation Movement as a tribute to the gay victims of Nazi persecution. Nazis forced homosexuals to wear pink triangles as a form of identification. "While the State Office of Education has no concern about teaching the historical facts about the terrible persecutions which affected homosexuals, there was concern about sending teachers information about a symbol which, while retaining some historical roots, has nothing to do with Anne Frank's era, but is a symbol for a potentially controversial contemporary social-political movement. Our staff merely advised Geneva Steel of this concern," Moss told a press briefing. Following a meeting with the press, Moss spoke in private to a coalition of community groups, including gay-rights groups, about the controversy. Coalition spokesman Robert Austin said while Moss didn't apologize to the group, he spoke frankly about what he called "misunderstandings." Austin said the coalition will not protest the exhibit, as was announced earlier Monday, but will "witness" to the suffering of homosexuals at the hands of the Nazis. He said "witnessing" will include wearing pink triangles and perhaps carrying candles and distributing information. Victims of the Holocaust included "not just Jews and gypsies but gay people too, " Austin said.

Carla Gourdin

1994 SAME-GENDER UTAH COUPLES INVEST TIME AND MONEY PROTECTING ESTATES, FINANCES Byline: By Steven Oberbeck THE SALTLAKE TRIBUNE Page : G1  Carla Gourdin and Debbie [Rosenberg] exchanged wedding

Debbie Rosenberg

vows before family and friends almost two years ago. The financial history of their life together already fills two drawers in the light-tan filing cabinet that sits in a nook just a few steps away from their kitchen table. ``We have a paper trail five miles long,'' said Debbie. ``Formalizing our financial and personal affairs was just something that had to be done when we decided to stay together as a couple.''   For same-gender couples like Carla and Debbie, who do not have the advantage of being ``legally'' married in the eyes of the law, financial and estate planning can be a nightmare of seemingly endless paperwork and legal jargon.   ``At the very least it is an annoyance,'' said  Carla, a program analyst for Salt Lake City Corp. ``We are not protected by the law the way most married couples are protected.''   For nontraditional couples, setting up their financial affairs to accomplish goals that heterosexual couples take for granted can cost hundreds of dollars or thousands of dollars and take many long hours.   ``What do you do when the law does not recognize your relationship?'' asks Salt Lake

Marlin Criddle

attorney Marlin Criddle. ``You take the legal steps necessary to see you are protected, that everything is set up exactly the way you want it.''   And couples must make sure that all the i's are dotted and the t's crossed, he said. Unlike traditional couples, the surviving spouse in a nontraditional relationship cannot always retain interest in homes, stock portfolios and other assets. While the law for the most part looks on partners in traditional heterosexual relationship as their spouses’ next of kin, non traditional couples cannot count on that protection. Even in divorce, the courts are there for traditional couples to see that common property is distributed equitably. A same-gender couple has no such assurances, unless it has taken the time to jump through all kinds of legal hoops. The consequences of failing to spell out in minute detail who has the rights to assets, or who can make critical decisions if a partner becomes incapacitated, can mean disaster for such couples -- not just in financial, but in emotional terms. ``The gay and lesbian community is full of horror stories on that subject,'' said L. Dean Hay, a retired Presbyterian minister and a volunteer at the Stonewall Center, a gay and lesbian community center in Salt Lake City. ``I've seen instances where someone who has been in a long-term relationship has fallen ill, and his partner could not even get into the hospital room to see him,'' Hay said. ``I've watched as families rushed in upon the death of a son from AIDS -- a son who they hadn't talked to in years because they disapproved of his lifestyle-- and taken property from their son's partner, property that took the couple years to build up together.'' ``I have seen wills challenged on the theory that the relationship was not legal to begin with,'' Hay said.  Attorney Criddle says such things are best not left to chance, even though it may take a whole slew of documents to ensure that tragedy does not happen. There is, however, hope that nontraditional couples will someday find it a bit easier to arrange their financial affairs. A new body of law is gradually emerging that recognizes the rights of nontraditional couples.   ``It is not happening in Utah, but it is happening elsewhere,'' Criddle said. ``Most of it is coming from younger judges.'' And there is also the chance that same-gender marriages may eventually be recognized in at least some states.   That hope was born in May when the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled the state's ban on same-gender marriages may be unconstitutional because it is illegal sex discrimination.   However, in response to what was happening in Hawaii, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints urged members in mid-February to stand up against homosexual marriages.   A statement urged ``members to appeal to legislators, judges and other government officials'' to reject any efforts to approve same-gender marriages.

1997 Gay people are welcome in the church. President Hinckley said, "Now, we  have gays in the church. Good people. We take no action against such people provided they don't become involved in sexual transgression. If they do, we do with them exactly what we'd do with heterosexuals who transgress" (San Francisco Chronicle March 13, 1997).

1999  COMMUNITY CENTER LESBIAN COMIC

Nancy Norton

Lesbian comic Nancy Norton will be performing at the Center Presented by Lavendar Productions of Evanston Two shows at 7pm and 9pm, reception at 8pm  $20 per ticket to benefit Utah gay youth who are raising funds to attend Boston's Gay Youth Pride celebration  call 539-8800 to find out how to get tickets from the Gay Straight  alliances

1999 ROYAL COURT GAY BAR The Sun and the Royal Court present "Empress Show" 8pm $5 Hosted by the College of Empresses

2004 Subject: Chuck Whyte is a USHS Board Member and long time

Chuck Whyte

Community Activist  “PINK" Its "Cancer Awareness" week for the RCGSE from March 4th through March 13. We hope all well come out and support the RCGSE and help them achieve there goals for this week. On Saturday, March 13th Chuck Whyte is Hosting his 2nd Annual Cancer Awareness show. It will be at The Trapp Door at 8:00pm. There will be a $5.00 cover charge and all proceeds will be going to the RCGSE Cancer Fund. This will be a really fun show with variety of performers from our community. There will also be raffles and lots of surprises throughout the evening. Please join us all to make this a successful show in raising funds for the RCGSE Cancer Fund. I am writing this in support for my friend Chuck Whyte and hope as many of you can make it to the show that night. 

Brandon Burt

2004- BRANDON BURT Correspondence Dear Ben, It's a very fine column. It's interesting and hard-hitting, and I think it sets the tone well for future columns. Thanks a lot! Do you want to do these every two weeks, or every four weeks? Sorry it took me so long to get back to you; I actually wrote an email  weeks ago and then saved it to my drafts folder and forgot I didn't send it.  At any rate, I hope you can attend next week's meet & greet. It will be at  the office at 352 S. Denver Street Ste. 350 (just north of Beto's on 400  South.) Could you have column #2 ready by April 8th? That would be great. Talk to you soon! Brandon Burt Editor Salt Lake Metro

• March 14 2004 Dear Ben, Thanks very much for the columns. I wanted to talk to you about the Dreaded Issue: I've been talking to Chad Keller and it sounds like he's been needlessly pitting us against each other (possibly without meaning to.) I think I understand the reason you want  to capitalize the words "Gay" and "Lesbian" and as far as I'm concerned,  if that's how you want those words capitalized in your column, I'm not  going to argue with you about it. It's not as though you're making careless Style errors or haphazardly capitalizing random words--you have valid and Well thought-out reasons for it, so as far as I'm concerned it's part of  your writing voice. Frankly, I'm amazed how so far you've been able to  pretty much avoid using the words altogether! My main concern is only that we are consistent with it. You may want to address in one of your columns the reason why you choose to capitalize these words. I am of course sympathetic to the political goals of our movement, and I had to make the difficult decision of adopting the stylebook supplement that is currently issued by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and I feel it is genuinely useful.  I am recommending that all writers follow AP style supplemented by the NLGJA guidelines. Although you have leeway for the reasons stated above, I would appreciate it if you would take a look at the AP stylebook and the NLGJA supplement, and adopt as many of these guidelines as possible within  your political framework. If, through the efforts of writers like you, the capitalization of "Gay" and"Lesbian" catches on and is adopted by the NLGJA, then our paper's Style guidelines will reflect that change. I think it would be really cool if that were to happen. However, one of the ways that I can help make our publication stand out is by giving it a professional and consistent editorial style, and for me that's a source of personal pride, which is why I chose to adopt the NLGJA supplement. For the sake of consistency, when you get a chance, please let me know exactly how I can fit the capitalization thing into my own anal-retentive editorial schema. (I'm nitpicky, but that's how I'm supposed to be!) I just need to know things like whether the words are capitalized only when used as  nouns or if they are also capitalized as adjectives (is there any time that the words "gay" and "lesbian" are not capitalized?) Please also let me know exactly what groups are included in the "Lambda Communities," how that should be capitalized, if the plural is correct, and how the term differs from other attempts at creating short inclusive terms, such as "queer community." This way I'll be better able to edit your columns the way you want them edited, instead of guessing. Thanks very much! (By the way, in the future it will help me if you either send MS Word attachments or set your email client to use plain text rather than  formatted text because it's mapping certain character codes, like for curly  quotes, in a way that makes them show up as odd characters on my computer. If you need to use plain text, and you want to italicize something, you can _underline_it_this_way_, or else _simply like this_ if you'd like.) Thanks  again. Sincerely, Brandon
• 15 March 2004 Ben -I just don't understand any newspaper's decision to lower case it in the first place. Remember it took years for the establishment to even use the word in the first place. I come from the old school where we get to choose how we define ourselves rather then let outsiders do so. Notice no one uses Negro anymore.
• Brandon: You know, I've been listening to Jefferson Airplane a lot lately--I've Got it set as the CD that plays in the morning to wake me up. (I feel the CD I choose to wake up with has an effect on my subconscious.) Anyway, it's a two-CD set and the one I've had in the player starts out with one of their older love songs. That's worked out really well, so today I switched CDs--tomorrow morning I'm going to wake up listening to "We Should Be Together" which I really love. After a few mornings of that inspiring  "up against the wall motherfucker" goodness, I may end up with enough  positive, anti-establishment anger that I'll start capitalizing "Gay" myself.  LOL. It's true, nobody uses "Negro" and the clinical "homosexual" is becoming more and more rare. A news story today wouldn't refer to police breaking up a "homosexual ring," for instance. The AP Stylebook specifically says to avoid the infuriating term "lifestyle." There is a bit more respect in the language if not in the intent of people's words. These changes didn't  happen because people were willing to sit back and wait for the media to stop being mean. They happened because people were willing to put their lives and  their livelihoods on the line in order to demand change. Without those people, I would have had a much different life than I have had. I wouldn't have had access to a book in the Price City Library collection (of all places) published by Sunshine Press that showed pictures of happy gays and lesbians working arm-in-arm for the cause of liberation, and I wouldn't have known how important it was for me to come out of the closet at an early age. Anyway, I hope you realize that this minor style issue is not meant to be a slap in the face to those people who, through their courage, hard work, and sometimes even blood, have helped transform the lives of gays the world over.
• Ben Williams: My 6th grade grammar books state that all proper nouns and proper adjectives are capitalized. I'm I missing something here? Gay as a state of being "happy and gay" I can understand but if we are a people---if we have redefined ourselves as a distinct community or folk we are proper nouns and adjectives. Too bad we don't do the German style where all nouns are capitalized!!!ha! Again you know I am capitalizing Gay to say fuck you as much as anything. If Mormons get capitalized then so do we!! ha! We are just as important.
• Brandon: That's very cool. You know that I am (of course) fully sympathetic to the political goals of our movement. I do have my own tactical reasons for wanting to follow AP Style, though. Until now, I've been kind of using the type of bumper-sticker argument much like "The Bible says it, I believe it, and that's all there is to it"--except in my case substitute "AP Stylebook" for "Bible." That's really not what I'm doing, however. I want our paper to establish itself as a full-fledged, professional weekly (eventually) and I'm keeping in mind the fact that other editors and journalists are going to be reading it. I want them to excerpt our articles and pick up stories from us, because then they will be obliged in their publications to give us an attribution. This is not just marketing. It will send the implicit message that the gay and lesbian media is mature in this market, and I think it will do much to transform society's thinking about us as a people. I know editors and journalists, though, and they're not going to pick  up stories from a publication that doesn't follow AP style. It's not just a matter of having to re-edit; it's an issue of confidence. AP style is painfully quirky, and it's only through long years of using it that journalists pick up the spirit of it--at that point, it becomes something of a badge of honor. Either you're a member of the club or you're not. For  some reason, even if we have well-written hard journalism and high-quality entertainment features, those people won't be able to see past the capital G, and will regard us as another club newsletter with big ideas and  little else. Really, I guess this is only subtly different from letting other people dictate how we refer to ourselves, but I prefer to regard it as an insidiousplot! ;) Also, if the paper were to spend a lot of energy trying to change not what people call us, or even how it's spelled, but how it's capitalized, to me it would seem very reminiscent of the kind of PC quibbling that sapped our community's energy for too long. (I know this is not what you are doing, though.) We're going to describe ourselves the way we want to, on our own terms, even if we have to use conventions we didn't choose in order to do so. Anyway, enough of that. I'm glad there aren't any hard feelings about this!
• BEN Williams: I use Lambda in the historical sense as it was adopted by the Internation Gay Alliance in Scotland in 1974 to include same sex attraction, love, and world perpective. As a wordsmith yourself every word as its own nuance and denotation as well as connotation. Besides I can't abide the political correctness of GLBTQQITT blah blan blah... I am convinced this acronym is the bastard brain child of a social movement gone amok..ha! (Don't quote me)
• BRANDON: LOL! Wicked. Hehe. That's the sort of thing we'll keep amongst ourselves. I'm mainly just curious whether Lambda includes everybody in the alphabet-soup acronym (an acronym which writers will not use in a  literal sense under pain of death in a figurative sense) or if it's just gays and lesbians. (As an aside, letters in the Greek alphabet were associated with various symbols; the symbol corresponding to Lambda is the yoke.) Talk to you soon. XOXOX Brandon
• 2018  Brandon Burt:I think the time is ripe to bring back the lambda symbol. It's can symbolize real Gays' commitment to the cause and the community, as opposed to those who wouldn't notice or be bothered anyway. Let me clarify that: It could symbolize the commitment of the real Gays to the cause and to the community. Those who don't give a crap about our history and culture won't notice or be bothered anyway.. I wonder if being capital-G Gay can become defiant and sexy again. I think men are rejecting it because they see it as little more than old Queens like me  passing judgment and telling longwinded stories about the good old days. I was just realizing that it's meaningless for me to say things like "Let's bring back the lambda" because 1. It hasn't gone anywhere, it's part of our history, but 2. These days, my 1990s-era media savvy and eight bucks will buy me a cup of coffee. I have no power to popularize any symbol anymore, and it's a relief not to be expected to. Just remaining true and authentic is enough of a challenge.
• I think the young "LGBTQ" men will have to find their own tribe again before they can regain the concept of a community...I have used the term "Lambda Folk" for a long time but as long as people choose to be identified by outsiders and not by themselves nothing will change. I ever heard a reporter on a local news station say "LGBTQ" the other day... I almost gagged.  When will the alphabet be enough? Trying to fit in just makes one disappear in my opinion. I think the young "LGBTQ " men and women and Trans will have to find their own tribes again before they can regain the concept of a community among themselves. But recording history rather than making it. is easier... but not nearly as much fun as when we were young and full of piss and vinegar.   

2005 Bear Brunch with Contest Winners .location is Cafe Med. The winner of the Mr. Utah Bear & Cub will receive entry into the 2006 International Bear Rendevous Then on Sunday March 13th, we will be having a special brunch at Cafe Med where we can all get together, followed by the Bear a.k.a. Beer Bust at Club 161. 

2018  University of Utah Health has opened Salt Lake City’s

first free PrEP clinic, one of only two in the nation. HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, known as PrEP or its brand name Truvada, is taken once a day with minimal side effects and has proven to be more than 90 percent effective at preventing HIV when taken as directed. At a cost of more than $15,000 a year, however, Truvada is expensive. Most health insurance plans cover the PrEP drug, but the people most at risk for acquiring HIV—young men ages 18 to 25 are the least likely to have health insurance.

2018 The Utah County Commission delayed a funding agreement with America’s Freedom Festival Inc. in light of the festival’s 2017 decision to exclude an LGBT youth organization from its parade. The proposed contract has the county providing $113,000 in funding for the annual festival, a multi-day patriotic-themed festival held in Provo and centered around the Fourth of July. Utah County Commission Chair Nathan Ivie said he wanted to hold the item for discussion because of events which transpired last year in which Encircle, a Provo organization dedicated to preventing suicide in LGBT youth, was prevented from marching in the parade at the last minute after previously having been approved. The parade guidelines included in the contract state that the festival’s executive committee can “refuse an entry into the parade if, in its sole judgement, it determines that the entry is controversial, unlawful, obscene, vulgar, defamatory, offensive to local community standards, or otherwise considered to be inconsistent with the standards, theme, quality, or purposes of the Freedom Festival.”