Sunday, June 1, 2014

This Day In Gay Utah History June 1st

1 June
1880-[CRIME] According to the United States Census, 63 men in 22 states had been incarcerated for crimes against nature.

1928 Winnie Kimball Hudnut and Teresa Kimball Werner, two of Heber C.
Winnie Kimball Hudnut
Kimball’s granddaughters, accompanied by George Wehner, a Gay spiritualist medium from New York held a séance in the Salt Lake Tabernacle wherein he said he received messages from Joseph Smith, from Brigham Young, as well as from many of the sister’s dead Mormon relatives.  Wehner claimed "I saw the whole interior of the Tabernacle shimmering in a glorious blaze of golden light, in the midst of which appeared in the air above the organ, the figure of a young man in blue robes holding a long trumpet of gold. From my clairvoyant description of this radiant being my friends recognized the spirit as that of the Angel Moroni . . . who led his people across the plains and deserts to ultimate safety ... as a beacon light of faith and love." Winnie Hudnut was mother of Natasha Rambova and Rudolph Valentino’s mother-in-law.

1945  "Any Latter-day Saint who denounces or opposes, whether actively or otherwise, any plan or doctrine advocated by the 'prophets, seers, and revelators' of the Church is cultivating the spirit of apostasy.... Lucifer... wins a great victory when he can get members of the Church to speak against their leaders and to 'do their own thinking.'... "When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done. When they propose a plan — it is God's plan.   When they point the way, there is no other which is safe. When they give direction, it should mark the end of controversy." (Improvement Era, June 1945, p. 354)

1968  Park Theater in Los Angeles originally the
Park Theater
Alvarado became the first theater to commercially show films with male nudity and gay themes. The first homosexual hard core film showing male nudity were shown at the Park Theater in Los AngelesRenamed the Park Theatre on April 6, 1966, the theatre switched to porn, and then gay porn. In the 1970’s, the Park Theatre returned to mainstream films. The theatre closed in 1986 and was gutted. Today, the building houses a swap meet

1968  A man on "the list" named Frank  was expelled from BYU because of a "security report indicating he was a homosexual". Five days after his suspension, Frank was sent a letter from Security Chief Kenneth Lauritzen detailing that he was restricted from "BYU campus at all times unless he received permission from the Dean
Spencer Kimball
of Students" or Lauritzen himself. During the intervening year, Frank had been to see Spencer Kimball but had "not received clearance from him to return to BYU" and had denied to Kimball that he was "homosexually inclined". Frank had also informed Kimball that "he could supply the names of a hundred students and faculty at BYU who were involved in homosexual activities", however Kimball had informed Laurtizen that ultimately Frank had provided no such list. On April 30, 1969, Frank "was observed on campus without permission" so a complaint for trespassing had been filed against him by BYU, and he was to appear in Provo City court on June 20, exactly one week before the infamous "Stonewall Riots" in New York City would initiate the Gay Liberation movement nationally. Frank also had called Lauritzen to tell him that he would be taking this matter to LDS president David O. McKay, since Frank was a hair stylist and had cut the hair of McKay's daughter-in-law many times. Frank had arranged through one of his female clients to get an appointment with McKay for June 18, 1969.  (Connell O’Donovan)

1968  E. Donald Attridge left Provo Utah to return to New York state after having a harrowing experience his 2nd semester at BYU. “I found a job working in the Harris Fine Arts Center as a janitor. My cleaning area was near the costume room. In the room the workers busily prepared costumes for the upcoming opera production, The Masked Ball.  There I
Harris Fine Arts
met George a flamboyant costumier. It wasn't long before we were talking and I was made aware of a group of homosexuals who spent time together on campus but were very secretive. George asked me over to his apartment. We ended up being affectionate to each other. He informed me that I had passed the "test." I was introduced to the other members of the society. There were rumors that one of President Wilkinson's relatives cruised the streets of Provo was one of the bits of gossip I was told from the group. We would often meet in the stand down lounge in the Wilkinson Center to be introduced to other homosexual members of the student body.  Often our group would drive to Salt Lake City and attend a bar known as Radio City, the Lounge. This was the first Gay bar I had ever been too. There were also after-bar parties where I met an assorted group of people. I was
Wilkinson Center
looking for love but I did not know how to do that and found further confusion. The group at the Wilkinson step down lounge seemed to taunt me in whatever I was experiencing. In their paranoid hysteria they seem to mock my problems. I wanted friends. I wanted to find a companion. Many of them found life time companions as I would learn later in life but I found less than my expectations with them. Then in the early part of 1968 I met Brent. He was an anthropology student. We were listening to music in the library at separate study booths across from each other. One day our shoes touched and I smiled. He smiled. We talked. I thought we were developing a friendship. I grew to like him. But I just did not understand how to build a relationship. I didn't realize for a long time I was trying to have dessert before dinner. I also forgot the appetizers. Where were my role models? There were none. No one in the Church could ever realize I just wanted to love and be loved. They kept making me think that all I could attain in homosexuality was sex. So I acted according to the prevalent knowledge of the times. One of the guys in the gay group was going out of town and I asked him if I could stay at his little cottage. It was closer to downtown Provo. He agreed. So I took Brent there to share some intimacy with him. There was some awkward moments but essentially we both shared affection and a form of sexual intimacy. I thought Brent enjoyed our experience. We both went home. I expected to see him in the library the next week but he was not there. My studies continued. I sang in the Oratorio Chorus Concert in the Mozart Requiem. I looked forward to growing closer to Brent but I could not find him anywhere on campus. Toward the end of winter [March] I was called into the University Security for an interview with Mr. [Kenneth] Lauritzen. I didn't have a clue what security wanted with me. I was brought into an office where Mr. Lauritzen informed me of a complaint lodged against me. There were no names mentioned. I was accused of seducing some girl's boyfriend. It still didn't dawn on me. This girl learned from her boyfriend that he had a homosexual experience. The girl went to her Bishop. The Bishop notified B.Y.U. security. From the information given to me that day I denied all the allegations and left the office.  I really did not even think that this was Brent or his girlfriend or his Bishop. I didn't even know he had a girlfriend. He never mentioned anything about girls. After a while I came to realize I had been caught. I had been trapped in a sad situation which put me in legal jeopardy now according to Mr Lauritzen's second interrogation of me. It was an implied threat of a prison sentence in the guise that Brent was under age. It was impressed upon me by Mr.Lauritzen to reveal the names of other homosexuals attending Brigham Young University. I thought this was ironic
Brad Lauritzen
since one of the people in our group was his nephew. [Brad committed suicide in 1971 after being committed to a psych ward by his family] I was suspended from the University and instructed to go to Salt Lake City for an interview with Apostle Kimball. I don't remember the interview, but in a series of phone calls he encouraged me to turn in other homosexuals at B.Y.U. I felt abandoned by everyone. I received no comfort from my homosexual friends. I was broke financially and emotionally. I was more than broke. I was angry. I could not face this alone. I was in a panic. It seemed I started to believe all the things straight people and the leaders in the Church were telling me over the years about homosexuals. It made me feel that we were mentally ill. I decided to reveal names to Elder Kimball, hoping I would understand more of what our place was with the Lord and in His Church. How would I be dealt with? What were the answers for being homosexual? If I were so repulsive to God maybe now the leaders could show me how to change? Maybe there would arise a plan to help all of us work out the situation of being homosexual and being members of the Church. I imagined a discussion group with all of the gay group attending with Apostle Kimball helping us all. I was to turn in a list of people to Elder Kimball at my apartment. Then Elder Kimball called changing the place to meet as the Ernest L. Wilkinson Center. He told me to meet him in the basement Lobby of the center. I later would learn from a Provo therapist I went to see that one of the students in my apartment complex was homosexual and I believe this might have stopped Elder Kimball from meeting me there. I went to the Wilkinson Center. Elder Kimball was an unassuming man. No one seemed to recognize him as he walked up to me. He knew I lost my college job by being expelled from the University, that I had lost my college loans (essentially my support ) so he said he would give me a loan. It was thirty dollars. I handed him the list. I then felt like I had betrayed everyone, even from the beginning. I was to learn later that my name was revealed inadvertently to the people who were on the list by Elder Kimball. This put my life in trauma. The people on the list were very angry. One of them reported that another on the list would do me bodily harm. At that point I thought perhaps I deserved the worse but the people showed much self control. I didn't know where to go. I chose to run away. I went to Salt Lake City just sixty miles away to look for a job. I had little money. I seemed to have no friends left, so I ran. I can remember trudging through slush and snow in Salt Lake City interviewing for jobs. I remember one job was working in a west-side warehouse. I wasn't hired. I felt like I had been given a death sentence. I didn't know where I was going to sleep. I decided to go to the house of someone I had met in the

Radio City Lounge. He was a security guard for the Church and a reported relative of Apostle Kimball. He took me into his apartment. He and his room mate let me stay for a few nights until I felt I had to return to the Moon apartments to get my belongings. When I did return to my college roommates I explained I had some troubles and had left school. They seemed shocked but suggested I stay with them and find a job in Provo. I worked for some professors doing yard work. I had lost my student loans. I was expelled from the University I had attended. I was lost. I got a lot of comfort from my roommates and little judgment. They knew little about my being gay and the experiences I had at the campus. I believe I told Lynn and his girl friend what had happened. Somehow I made it through the trauma of that Spring of 1968. Other people on the list started calling me. I was told that one of the persons on the list was up for an ROTC officer promotion and lost that commission. Another's teaching credentials were denied. Still another's file was permanently altered so that his career choices had been seriously curtailed. Many were expelled from school. I remember Jason a relative of a general authority was able to deny the accusations enough as to have not been expelled. It was Jason who later in life told me that Brad, a relative to Mr. Lauritzen, from campus security was hospitalized in a mental institution. He was one of those on my list. Jason told me that Brad was placed on the psych ward of the hospital but later escaped. He ended up committing suicide. I shall forever be reminded. [We’ll Find a Place by Donald Attridge chapter 9]

Dick Michaels
1969  Dick Michaels [Richard T Mitch] editor and cofounder of the Advocate wrote “L.A.’s homosexuals could be a very potent economic and political force IF UNITED. The time has come for a new leadership to rise from the wreckage of the past. Here and there are signs of a new movement dedicated to achieving a place in the sun for all homsexuals not just for this or that individual egoist” In the same issue Jim Kepner wrote “ A new kind of homosexual movement is shaping up bypassing the corpses…Homosexuals are beginning to move freely and surely in their own milieu- and accept their sexuality(the old ones never did).  Dick Michaels died in 1991 at the age of  65.  He became a gay rights activist after he was arrested in a Los Angeles Police Department raid on a gay bar. Joining the group PRIDE, Mitch became editor of its newsletter, which evolved into the Advocate in 1968. Mitch and two co-founders sold the paper in 1975. 

1970- At the
Second Congress to Unite Women in New York City, radical lesbians distribute an epoch-defining manifesto entitled “Woman-Identified Woman." The manifesto, which is also published in the June 1970 issue of Come Out!, is among the first to advocate lesbianism as a (feminist) political choice and solidarity with separatism.

1970- Sexology magazine reported that a study shows that Gay men have larger penises than heterosexual men.

Victor Brown
1971  Victor L. Brown Sr., 2nd Counselor in Presiding Bishopric "The Meaning of Morality", Ensign, June 1971, p. 55 "The Lord defined some very basic differences between men and women. He gave the male what we call masculine traits and the female feminine traits. He did not intend either of the sexes to adopt the other's traits but, rather, that men should look and act like men and that women should look and act like women. When these differences are ignored, an unwholesome relationship develops, which, if not checked, can lead to the reprehensible, tragic sin of homosexuality. In other words, we have a responsibility as priesthood bearers to be examples of true manhood."

1974- Playgirl magazine admitted that 20% of its readers are male. In June issue actor Christopher George
Christopher George
was the centerfold.

1975 – Gay Freedom Day was held at City Creek Canyon Site Number 10 sponsored by the Gay Community Service Center with better than 400 people in attendance”.  Festivities begin at noon with beer, food, and soft drinks provided. Included in the day’s activities will be volleyball, an all day “do your own thing” talent revue and sing a-long, games for prizes, and a white elephant auction. Artists, craftsmen and anyone wishing to may set up areas to display their wares for sale or show. A shuttle service will run to and from the site at 12:00, 2:00, and 4:00 for those who don’t have transportation. Pickup points will be Radio City, The Sun, and Perky’s.  Tickets are available at the bars and churches. Donation, for the event, are $2.00 per person with proceeds to go to Gay Community Service Center. Our thanks to the bars for donating beer, everyone for donating time, food, talent, and a special thanks to the beer distribution companies (M&M-Coors) (General-Bud), (Better Brands-Millers) for their support and donations.

1975  The Gay Community Service Center opened its doors to the public. Proposed services available will be a “Gay Line” 24 hour answering service manned by trained volunteers to aid in crisis intervention, alcohol and drug related problems, emergency food and housing, employment, medical services, legal aid, and referrals. Other than providing human services a purpose of this organization will be educating the Gay individual and the general community. It is felt that educating the Gay person seeking to learn about himself or herself is needed as much as educating the general community. The Gay person will be aided in defining his /her sexual orientation toward a positive self concept that will confront the negative ideas transferred by society, family, and church.  The general public will be educated by publications, the electronic media and a proposed Speakers Bureau that will be available to any interested groups. In this manner it is hoped to dispel the myths associated with the Gay life style and promote community relations unifying the Gay community by providing social alternatives in addition to the Gay bars and churches will be a further purpose of the center. Proposed activities will be canyon party dance marathon, art shows, and other fund raising events. Anyone wishing to volunteer services particularly in the area of counseling should phone the center after June 1. Also needed are furnishings for the center.

1976  The Imperial Court of the Wasatch Empire of Utah would like to inform the Gay Community of Utah of the birth of the court. In October 1975 five people were chosen to represent Salt Lake City and Utah to the rest of the Gay World. The judges picked Deanna (Henry) as Empress I. Upon accepting the responsibility, Deanna picked the rest of her court to work with her.  She picked Pepper to be her Emperor, Terry j. As Princess Royale, Gordie as Czarina, Jay as Grand Duchess, Marty as Queen of the Realm and Bruce as Prime Minister. Pepper Emperor I picked Chad as Prince Royale, Larry as Czar, and Ron as Grand Duke.  After the court was chosen they wrote the Articles of Incorporation, so they could be registered with the state as a non profit corporation. This is necessary to be recognized by other states and courts.  In December Empress I visited Denver for their court Snow Ball and made arrangements to have the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire of Colorado to officiate over the coronation in Utah. Deanna also made visits to the Lilac Court in Spokane, while she was still registered in the state of Washington she entered Miss Gay Washington Contest and received Miss Congeniality and best performance awards.  The court was busy in January preparing for their coronation. On January 14, 1976 1st coronation was held and Empress I  Deanna  and Emperor I Pepper took the honors. Since January, Utah was represented by our Empress I in Seattle, Spokane, Denver, and in Nevada during various sessions with their courts.  The entire court visited Denver on the 24th, The court is now preparing for the coronation of Empress II and Emperor II in January of 1977.  Several money making projects are planned during the year. (The SALT LICK Vol. 2 Number 3 June 1976 Editor Babs De Lay) The court was originally Called "The Imperial Court of Utah" with the first crowing of Emperor and Empress taking place at The Rusty Bell, in June of 1976.  The courts "roots" stem deep, being primarily a social group providing fun activities for Salt Lake City. The organizations first year in existence sparked curiosity and interest. The dedication of its small membership and, at the time, their new monarchs, were exciting for Utah.  Today, the dedication of Pepper, the first Lesbian Emperor, is still prominent.  She is currently an active board member and driving force in the Royal Court.

1977  Women Aware has existed seven months. In that time we have had a dance, a couple of parties, and a lot of meetings. We have accomplished nothing. Up until now, our activities have been safe. They have kept the Lesbian community just where the community wants it out of sight. We have been polite and legitimate and powerless. Some of the establishment may be slightly uncomfortable with us, but that is because they don’t know us as yet. We are at a crossroads. We can continue as we are.  The community will get to know us, grow comfortable with us, throw us a crumb from time, and relax. On the other hand, we can become vocal and active. The community will get to know us, fear us, fight us like hell, and do everything it can to destroy us. By choosing the first alternative, we could exist for eons. We could live in harmony with all the powerless, pitiable, and pathetic token organizations that the establishment allows to exits in the name of freedom and equality.  Or we could choose the second alternatives. We may be destroyed, that is the risk. Or we may accomplish some real goals and gains, some real power; that is the reward. Choosing our course of action concerning the Boise women may decide which direction Women Aware will flow. If we allow this opportunity, this responsibility, to pass by, we have lost just that much community respect. If we grasp the opportunity we are in for a fight.  But win or lose, we have shown that we will fight, we will be heard, we will push, we will not accept tokenism. I am asking each of you to reach inside and grasp any shred of self respect or dignity or anger and use these tools to fight the cancer in Boise. For just like cancer, it erupted in Idaho, but it is just a matter of time before it spreads to Utah and you and me.” A.A. [Andrea Ashcraft] (The Open Door June 1977 Volume 1 No. 5 [actually No. 6] Editor Ray Hencke )

Cloy Jenkins
1977- Cloy Jenkins, a Gay BYU student, after attending an anti Gay lecture by BYU psychology professor I. Reed Payne, a member of The Values Institute quickly prepared a thoughtful response to Payne’s lecture. Now known as The Paynes Papers or Prologue,  the paper called for a “well reasoned dialogue on these issues”.  After getting help from two friends in editing his response, Jenkins had copies of it mailed anonymously to various church officials. Jenkin’s paper was soon circulating among faculty and administration at both BYU and Ricks College, as well as television and radio stations, and newspapers throughout Utah and Idaho (The Abominable and Detestable “Crime Against Nature””: A Brief History of Homosexuality and Mormonism 1840-1980 by Connell Rocky O’Donovan)

Carla Gourdin
1977A lovely BYU student from Orem celebrated her 19th birthday by being chosen Miss Wheelchair Utah 1977. Carla Kay Gourdin who said she felt “terrific  just great” was picked from a field of ten during a pageant at the Salt Lake Hilton, 150 West 500 South. (06/02/77 Salt Lake Tribune page G5) Carla Gourdin is a recognized artist and lesbian activist.

David Monson
1977  Issues of morality and the rights of homosexuals dominated questions posed by a vocal group of University of Utah students to Utah Senator Orrin G. Hatch and Lt. Governor David S. Monson. Speaking before an open forum sponsored by the university’s Daily Utah Chronicle, both Republicans said constitutional rights of homosexuals should be protected but they often c
Orrin Hatch 
onflict with the rights of others.  Lt. Governor Monson responded to questions by representatives of the Salt Lake Metropolitan Community Church who have contended his Feb 16 decision to bar the church’s use of the state capitol rotunda for an April 22 dance was based on the church’s acknowledgment that some of the members are Gay. Lt. Governor Monson said his decision was based on regulations rejecting us of the rotunda that may incite demonstrations or pose a threat of damage to the building or hazards to people attending. “Based on  investigations and information from the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s office, we felt there was a possibility outside sources would try to disrupt the dance,” he said. However Kendall Perkins, Attorney for the church said he was unaware of any instances that would demonstrate a potential for such disruption and asserted that Mr. Monson’s decision to bar the church from the rotunda was made before any investigation took place. Sen. Hatch said he felt homosexuality is marked by a “Psychological deficiency” and therefore homosexuals should not be allowed to teach in public schools. “I do not advocate the denial of constitutional rights, but I believe the constitutional principle that says parents shouldn’t have to subject their children to any unusual educational practices,” Sen. Hatch said.  “I wouldn’t want to see homosexuals teaching school anymore than I’d want to see members of the American Nazi Party teaching school,” the senator said. (06/02/77 SLTribune pageB7)

1978 Rev. Ken Storer, former director of the Gay Community service Center, and his spouse
Ken Storer
Roger Hurd called to move to Boise, Idaho to assist in starting a Metropolitan Community Church in that city. It was 1978 when Reverend Ken Storer founded the Metropolitan Community Church in Boise, Idaho. His journey with the gay community had been interesting so far but it was about to get a lot more challenging for the next ten years. His commitment to his faith and the GLBT community soon took him to Portland and then on to Tacoma where he continued to serve with the MCC church. In the 1980’s, after relocating to Eugene, Reverend Ken found himself in the midst of the AIDs epidemic. Ken was called to a new ministry. He helped found “Shanti in Oregon”, a ministry/service organization designed to offer services to rural gay men suffering from AIDs. In 1988, after burying close to 100 men, Ken found himself at a Radical Faerie Gathering at Breitenbush Hot Springs, broken and exhausted. Breitenbush Hot Springs healed his heart and he found a new path there as a spiritual guide and teacher. We now know him as Jamshed and for over 20 years he has extended gracious hospitality for many groups and individuals including Women in the Woods and the Radical Faeries. Jamshed has given to our Pacific Northwest Community for over thirty years. We at SHARE would be honored to be of service to him. Jamshed Storer has been instrumental in laying the foundation for our community today. Now it is our responsibility as a community to build upon that foundation. [13 June 2009 Just/Out]

1979 The Uptown Club located at 15 South 400 West SLC was Utah's main women’s bar. Located just south of the old Sun Tavern. Now torn down and part of the Jazz Center complex. 

1980- After a year of swollen lymph nodes and a rash,
Gaeton Dugas
Gaeton Dugas was diagnosed with "gay cancer" in New York City. So called "Patient Zero", a young Canadian airline steward named Gaeton Dugas, is portrayed by Randy Shilts in the Band Played On as the promiscuous Gay man "who brought the AIDS virus from Paris and ignited the epidemic in North America." Shilts, who later died of AIDS him self, never explained where or how Dugas got his infection. What Shilts probably did not know is that when Dugas was diagnosed in 1980, over twenty percent of the Manhattan Gay men involved in the Hepatitis-B experiment were HIV-positive. This 20% infection rate was discovered after the HIV blood test became available in 1985, and after Dr. Wolf Szmuness’ stored blood at the New York Blood Center was retested for HIV antibodies (JAMA, Vol. 255, pp. 2167-2172, 1986). These New York Gay men had the highest recorded incidence of HIV anywhere in the world for that time. Even in African populations, where AIDS has been theorized to exist for decades, or even millennia, there were never reports of such a high incidence of HIV in 1980.

Trevor Southey
1982- Trevor Southey illustrator for Carolyn Pearson’s books, spoke at Salt Lake Affirmation showing slides of his work and speaking on why he is so controversial in Utah.

1984- Salt Lake City’s Women collective 20 Rue Jacob closed due to low attendance and debt. Located at 232 East 800 South, Salt Lake City, Utah.  Named after Natalie Barney’s salon in Paris. "Men have skins but women have flesh—flesh that takes and gives light."-Natalie Barney.

Natalie Barney was born in Dayton, Ohio to Albert Clifford Barney and Alice Pike Barney. Both parents came from extraordinary wealth and provided Natalie with every possible advantage. Like most young women in her class in the height of Victorian Imperialism, she was haphazardly educated and encouraged to promote her personal charms in the pursuit of a suitable husband. Extremely independent in her ideas, Natalie questioned such convention and proceeded to live her life in accordance with her beliefs. Her pursuits included French culture, French literature, Greek literature and romancing women. Of these enterprises, her quest for women has been the most notorious. Her endeavers in French and Greek influenced her earliest writings: Quelques portraits-sonnets de femmes, Cinq petits dialogues grecs. These works focused on the idealization of Pre-Raphaelite feminine beauty and romantic love between women. Her most acclaimed works, Pensees d'une amazone, Traits et portraits, Souvenirs Indiscrets, Selected Writings, Adventures of the Mind, and A Perilous Advantage reflect the witicisms and observations of the salon room. Her darkest novel, The One Who is Legion, was influenced by her intimate relationship with Romaine Brooks. The theme of the book may also reflect Ms. Barney's attempt to resolve Renee Vivien's death.

Michael Aaron
1984
Michael Aaron, age 22, is recognized as first openly Gay delegate to the Salt Lake County and Utah state Democratic conventions earlier this year

1985- Metropolitan Community Church of Salt Lake board voted to
Bruce Barton
change name to Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church with Bruce Barton serving as Pastor.

1985- Becky Moss and Mel Baker used pseudonyms Mickey (Becky Moss) and  Dean (Mel Baker) as co-hosts of Concerning Gays on KRCL. Afraid of professional retaliation if used real names.

1985- Salt Lake Chapter of Affirmation began meeting at the Crossroads Urban Center on Wednesday nights. Began promoting themselves as an organization for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Mormons. They met at a building at 347 South 400 East near downtown in Salt Lake City which officially became Crossroads Urban Center on February 8, 1966.  In the spring of 1905 the building at 347 South 400 East (originally built as a private home in 1903) was purchased by the Women's Home Missionary Society and dedicated for use as Davis
Deaconess Home. Named for Mrs. Eliza Given Davis, the second president of the Society, the building served as a residence for women, serving local Methodist parishes and their surrounding neighborhoods, until 1936. Davis Esther Hall was established in the building in 1937 after the Deaconess Home was closed the previous year. Esther Hall was a home for young women working or attending school in Salt Lake City, and part of a network of boarding homes operated by the Methodist Women. Davis Esther Hall closed in 1965. Crossroads Urban Center, was organized to utilize the building in 1966. The building continues to be owned by what is now come to be known as the Women's Division of the United Methodist Church. The building is maintained through the National Division of Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church by the Board of Directors of Crossroads Urban Center. Crossroads Urban Center's Mission is to serve and empower the disadvantaged in Utah. Its work is supported both locally and nationally by individuals, businesses, foundations, and numerous faith communities.

1987- Lois Lane [Tracy Ross] The Liberty Empress of the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire  died of the AIDS epidemic. She was elected Empress if the Imperial Court of Utah in May 1979 but after contention with Emperor Gordon Steele she resigned in August of that. She was given the honorary title of Liberty Empress. The first AIDS panel for the AIDS quilt was made for her by Ben Williams as part of the AIDS Commemorative Quilt Project.

1988- Salt Lake City Vice Squad cited Hyatt Book Store with distributing pornography for carrying Gay men magazines Jock and Black Beauty.   “Its not the first time Vice has done this. They do it every year.  Its just a form of harassment.  They usually drop the charges,” said a magazine store employee. Other stores cited were The Magazine Shop, Books Etc.

1988  While laying out at Memory Grove writing in my journal, Curtis Jensen and Joe Dewey tracked me down and Curtis jumped my case over my pulling my support from the Youth Group. I asked him did he want to talk to me or yell at me. When he allowed me to tell him my reasons surprisingly Joe Dewey said to Curtis, “You ought to stop jumping all over Ben and get after Garth Chamberlain because what Ben says makes 100 per cent sense.” Joe and I usually do not see eye to eye so he totally redeemed himself in my estimations because what he said showed maturity and that he was trying to be objective about the whole issue.  Anyway when we were through, Curtis and I resolved our differences but I still said I could not support or refer people to The Youth Group as it is presently constituted. I wrote my historical column for The Triangle today on Aristogeton and Hermodius, ancient Greek men whose homosexual love founded democracy in Athens. Why aren’t we taught this is school? Homophobia strikes again.  Who wants their children to know that fags created the democracy from which sprang our own democratic traditions?

1991 The Utah Stonewall Center, the Gay and Lesbian Community Center opens its doors with Craig Miller as its first Executive Director. Located at 450 South 900 East.  Robert J [Bobbie] Smith establishes the Utah Stonewall Library which eventually was
Craig Miller
one of the largest lending libraries in the country with more than 2,500 volumes. “Jimmy Hamamoto and I went to the Grand Opening of the Utah Stonewall Center at 3 o’clock. Helium filled white balloons tied to streamers gave the place a very festive look. I was really pleased to see JR [Gray-Lee]and Jason show up at the open house. It was fun being with them and the hard to
Robert Smith
take my eyes off JR [Gray-Lee]. He came up with a great idea about having a video night at the center to bring people down to the center and raise some money. Kathryn Warner sang a couple of songs at the Open House and
Kathryn Warner
Rocky O’Donovan gave a brief address on the need of Gays to gather together. I think probably 100 peope were at the center off and on. Jimmy had to leave for some party he was invited to, so we left before the open house was over but that was okay because I had to get ready for the Disco Night Show at the In-Between [a benefit for the Utah Stonewall Center] which was so much fun. I danced primarily with Bobbie Smith but it didn’t matter, we all were out on the floor disco-ing to “I Will Survive”, “I Love to Bogie” and “YMCA” Lots of fun! Lots of Fun! But I am extremely exhausted. [Journal of Ben Williams]

Chastity Chaz Bono
1996 CHASTITY BONO PLANS TALK AT S.L. MEETING Deseret News Published: Saturday, June 1, 1996 Lesbian activist Chastity Bono will headline a town meeting of the Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 8, at the Red Lion Hotel. The daughter of entertainer Cher and U.S. Rep. Sonny Bono, R-Calif., Bono will provide the national perspective on events that have transpired in Utah stemming from the formation of the Gay-Straight Alliance at East High School.Bono joined the Human Rights Campaign in 1996 as spokeswoman for the National Coming Out Project. A panel discussion on local gay and lesbian issues also will be conducted.

1996 Page: C5   Art Show, festival and fund-raiser for Utah's  lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities, Nunemaker Place, Westminster College, 1840 S. 1300 East, Salt Lake City,5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Admission by $5 donation.

1996 Page:  SL Tribune A12 Public Forum Letter Non-Mormons Are Active in Community Affairs   Connie Buie (Forum, May 14) poses questions to us non-Mormons who appear to do nothing but complain in Forum letters about our sorry state of affairs in this dominant LDS culture(i.e., do we attend community meetings, do we vote, are we involved in the political process?).Emphatically, yes!   The recent Salt Lake City school board meeting at Hawthorne Elementary was packed with people who overwhelmingly supported the   Gay/Straight Alliance, but all to no effect --the board voted 4-3 to ban all clubs rather than allow the alliance to meet (a vote that strongly follows LDS voices on the matter).   Second, the opposition was outnumbered 4-1on the issue of continuing Salt Lake County funding for the YWCA Teen Pact Program and the West Valley Planned Parenthood Teen Counselors Program, but the commissioners voted on party lines 2-1 to end funding after being deluged by disgruntled Eagle Forum voices. Our views were expressed, again, to no avail.   Do we support political candidates who will represent non-Mormon interests? A majority of the state legislators from Salt Lake City proper are non-Mormons; i.e., Frank Pignanelli, Dave Jones, Bob Steiner, Loretta Baca, Steve Barth, Blaze Wharton, Pete Suazo. Non-Mormon voters like to know that there are some representatives and senators who will be concerned about the spoon-feeding of Mormon doctrine that always gets mixed up with state and local legislation. And, finally, a question Connie forgot to pose: Why does this ``great state'' have so many progressive organizations that represent the liberal views of non-Mormons (and independent Mormon thinkers), organizations like Utahns for Choice, UPNet (that stands for Utah Progressive Network), Utah Human Rights Coalition, Citizens' Alliance for Hate-Free Schools, Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats, JEDI Women and others? Could it be because Mormons in this state just don't want to acknowledge the existence of other ways of thinking and living? If you don't think the non-Mormons are organized and interested in electoral politics, think again. Were we not always vigilant, we non-Mormons wouldn't have any rights at all.  GREGG HAMILTON   Salt Lake City

1997 Journeyman 3 Academy During the summer of 1997, several people who took the leather lifestyle seriously decided they wanted to learn more about it. So they went to Michael A, who is a highly regarded and respected member of the community, and they convinced him to create a class for those founding members to be able to learn and improve their knowledge of the leather lifestyle. They started holding classes in June of 1997 and continued until they graduated in March of 1999. During this time they had to read several books varying from self-improvement books to books that dealt directly with the leather community and its history, and many other varieties in between. The purpose of this was to help the students broaden their knowledge of themselves, as well as learning about the leather community as a whole. They had several national presenters who came and did presentations for the class on various theories and techniques that were their specialties. They also had to learn the art of boot polishing, which was no easy task: in order to graduate, a student would have to get his or her boots polished so that it would pass inspection. This inspection consisted of holding a quarter to the boot with a flashlight and the date had to be readable in the reflection. This may seem simple at first glance, but many students learned about patience through this process. This part of the class later became a form of recognition: when people from different areas would go to events together, people would see their boots and ask if they were from Salt Lake. Not only did they have book reports and presentations to give, they would also cover things such as spirituality and energy and how it plays an important part in the community. There were eight students who graduated from the first class two and a half years later. The idea was for them to pass on what they had learned to others and improve the community. There have been several classes since then and Michael A has taught each one. The majority of the curriculum has remained the same. However, the length of the time it takes to graduate and the order of things that were done in each class has varied due to the dynamics of how each group bonded and their willingness to learn. Also taken into consideration was the fact that these classes would have guest presenters from out of town who would teach on various topics as well. Not everyone who has started taking the classes has graduated. Several find that they don't like the idea of learning about themselves. Others simply decide that it is not for them. Most of those who have completed the class have come to have a greater understanding of and respect for the community.

2001 The 2nd Utah Gay Rodeo Association held at the Utah State Fair Park. 

  


2002  The 3rd Utah Gay Rodeo Association held at the Utah State Fairpark


2004 Tuesday Subject: History of Kristen Ries Community Service Awards  THE KRISTEN RIES COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD The first Pride Day community service award was created by Donny Eastepp, Emperor XII of the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire while serving as Gay Pride Day Chair in 1987. The award was established to recognized outstanding service to the Lambda Community. It was presented to Dr. Kristen Ries for her humanitarian efforts in dealing with the AIDS crisis and being the first Utah physician to serve the AIDS community. The award was afterwards named in her honor. The 2nd recipient of the Kristen Ries Award was Rev. Bruce Barton former pastor of the Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church of Salt Lake City. Rev. Barton was recognized for his ministry to the entire Lambda Community of Utah, not just his church. In 1989 the 3rd honor was given to KUTV Channel 2. The choice was controversial since many felt the award should be given only to members of the Lambda Community. However the Pride Day Committee felt that KUTV's contributions in bringing the AIDS Quilt to the Salt Palace merited recognition. Afterwards however, the Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah voted to have the award given only to individuals or organizations from the Lambda community. The first award of the 1990's was given to community activist Chuck Whyte. He received the 4th award for his annual Unity Show fundraiser and for helping to establish a food bank for the Salt Lake AIDS Foundation. In 1991, the Kristen Ries Award was offered to three individuals, Nikki Boyer, Becky Moss, and Ben Williams. Boyer was honored for her 20 years of Community Service. Moss was recognized for hosting Concerning Gays and Lesbians" on KRCL FM91 since 1983. Williams was acknowledged for creating a summer retreat, Beyond Stonewall and for building community organizations. The 6th Kristen Ries Award was presented to the College of Monarchs of the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire and to Craig Miller. Miller was recognized in 1992 for serving as first director of the Utah Stonewall Center and the Royal Court's Monarchs for their charitable contributions to the Gay and straight communities since 1975. After some concerns over the selection process of recipients for the award, in 1993, Pride Day Co-Chair, Kevin Hillman established the procedure for choosing recipients, which is still followed today. Hillman established an award committee made up of past recipients. This committee chose the recipients rather than Gay Pride Day committee members doing the selecting. Nominations of candidates for the award however was and still is open to anyone from the Lambda community. Ben Barr, Val Mansfield, and Kathy Worthington were all honored in 1993 under this new procedure. Barr was honored as an AIDS educator and executor director of the Utah AIDS Foundation. Mansfield a long time Gay Activist and artist was acknowledged for his Outreach Program and political activism. Worthington was honored as founder of the Women's Community News and for her service to the Utah Stonewall Center. The 8th Dr. Kristen Ries Award was presented to Kim Russo for her AIDS education outreach and service to the Lambda Community. The following year, 1995, Bruce Harmon, Emperor XV of RCGSE, was bestowed the Dr. Kristen Ries Award for his long term charitable service and for his efforts with establishing the annual Gay Pride Day Parade. Harmon joined his partner Rev. Bruce Barton as an honoree. In 1996 the 10th Kristen Ries Award was shared by Clariss Cartier Empress XI of the RCGSE aka Doug Tollstrup and Charlene Orchard. Orchard was honored as co-chairwoman of the Utah Human Rights Coalition and promoter of the Utah Stonewall Center. Tollstrup was honored for his raising money for charity under the stage name Clariss Cartier. In the 11th year of the award, it was presented to four individuals, Barb Barnhart, Rev. Kelly Byrnes, Jeff Freedman, and Maggie Snyder PA-C. Barnhart was acknowledged as a tireless AIDS Activist. Rev. Byrnes was recognized as pastor of Bridgerland Metropolitan Community Church and Cache Valley activist. Freeman, Emperor XVII of the RCGSE, was complimented for his charity work, founding the Goodtime Bowling League, and being chair of Pride Day committee. Snyder was praised for her devotion to the care of People With AIDS. Barnhart, a partner of past recipient, Kim Russo, later passed away that year. In 1998 the Kristen Ries Award was presented to LaDonna Moore, former executive director of the Utah AIDS Foundation. Dr. Patty Reagan was awarded the 1999 honor for her pioneering AIDS education and founding the Salt Lake AIDS Foundation. The new Millenium saw Marlin Criddle, Laura Millikin Gray and Brenda Voisard received the 2000 for their activism and service to the Lambda community. Criddle was honored for his service as Chair of the Board of the Utah Stonewall Center, his creation of a Lambda Film Festival, and his devotion of countless hours of pro bonum legal service to the Lambda Community. Voisard was valued as chair of the Lambda Community Council of Utah and a heavy involvement in womyn issues. Millikin Gray was credited also as an attorney using her considerable talent to strengthen our Lambda Community. In 2001 Brook Heartsong was honored with a Kristen Ries Award for being a past chair of the board of directors of the Utah Stonewall Center and for over seeing the transition of the Utah Stonewall Center to the GLBT Community Center and Stonewall Coffee Shop. Kevin Hillman, long time activist and member of Utah Gay Rodeo Association, GLCCU, and past co chair of two Pride Days was honored in 2002 on the 15th anniversary of the award. Finally in 2003 Doug Wortham, a co founder of GLISTN, interim director of GLBTCCU, and political activist was given the award. The Kristen Ries Community Service Award Recipients while seemingly diverse have the commonality of having given time, service, and commitment to the Lambda Community. They are positive role models and like Dr. Kristen Ries "exemplified everything that the award has stood for: compassion, leadership, and courage."

2005 Kristen Award Nominees Dear Friends, Well, it's that time of year again to select this year's Dr. Kristen Ries Community Service Award Recipient.  Below are five nominations for the Dr. Kristen Ries Community Service Award: Melissa Larson, Capt. James Tingey, Jane and Tami Marquardt (one vote for a joint nomination), Scott McCoy, Michael Picardi The nominations that I received are included in the text below. (For ease of reading, I've attached the same information as a Word document.)  Please read through these and respond to me by 2:00 PM Wednesday, June 1, 2005, with the name of your preferred recipient. At that time I will tally the votes from all the responses I’ve received.  If you cannot email me, you may call my home number 801 355-5239 and leave a message if I’m not there.  Also, if you can contact other past recipients of the Dr. Kristen Ries Community Service Award whom I have not been able to reach, please encourage them to contact me. I've also attached the whole list of past recipients.  I'll contact some of you by phone if I don't have your emails.   Thank you, and I hope to see you at the Grand Marshall reception Friday, June 10, at the Salt Lake City Library from 6:00 - 9:00 PM where this award will be announced publicly, and at Pride on Sunday, June 12.  Thanks to you all, Craig [Miller] 
  • Melissa Larson: Missy has been one of the most active members in multiple non-profit events ranging in diversity from The Hope Alliance, to the League of Women Voters, to Utah Families Coalition (under the GLBTU umbrella), to name just a few. She exemplifies what an activist should embody & does not limit her service to just that of the gay, lesbian, and transgender community.  She truly deserves to be recognized for her un-wavering efforts to promote compassion, leadership and courage.  Last year she received the GLBTCCU’s Volunteer of the Year Award.  She embodies what it means to be a humanitarian. Nominated by Jodie Johnson.  
  • Capt. Tracy Tingey: I would like to nominate a friend of mine, my partner’s, and the GLBT community for the Dr. Kristen Rice Community Service Award: Capt. Tracy Tingey, South Salt Lake Police Department. I feel he deserves such public recognition for being: * an openly gay police officer, for starters - ranked fourth highest in his department; * active with the GLBT Public Safety Liaison Committee; * a co-organizer of a group of gay and lesbian cops in the Salt Lake Valley, allowing for safe socializing and networking; *   a visible (and popular!) law enforcement presence at the Queer Prom 2005; and, * open and honest about his involvement in alternative (fetish) activities, having served several terms as an elected officer of Wasatch Leathermen's Association (an affiliate group of the GLBT Community Center of Utah), a social group for gay leathermen that raised several hundred dollars for The Center during his term as President (May '04 to Apr '05). I am glad to see Salt Lake Metro's latest edition (volume 2, issue 10, page 10) includes an extensive article about gay and lesbian police officers - with significant coverage of Capt. Tingey. Respectfully submitted, Jay Heuman 581 Douglas Street  Curator of Education Ogden, UT   84404   
  • Scott McCoy (nominated 2004): Craig, I nominate attorney Scott McCoy.  He's a board member of Equality Utah, and has led the charge to stop (or at least slow down) the hateful anti gay marriage legislation that came out of the session.  He's worked, and is working, tirelessly on our issues, and has now taken a leave of absence from his law firm  to head up the "Don't Amend" campaign to fight the proposed change to the Utah Constitution banning gay marriage and civil unions.  That will be on the ballot this November. Nominated by Regards, Laura M. Gray 
  • Jane A. Marquardt and Tami E. Marquardt (nominated 2004) I nominate Jane A. Marquardt and Tami E. Marquardt for the Dr. Kristen Ries Community Service Award.  Jane and Tami are tireless activists who are committed to bringing about political and social change in Utah.  Jane and Tami have successfully put a human face on the political controversy surrounding gay marriage.  In addition to celebrating their relationship with a ceremony here in Utah, they have entered into civil union in Vermont, been married in California. Their various commitments and marriages have been publicly recognized in the local newspapers, including a front page article (with picture) in the Salt Lake Tribune.  They spoken publicly about gay marriage and their own personal relationship at rallies, lectures, on television and on radio.  Jane and Tami have also spoken with dozens of politicians regarding equal rights including but not limited to Orin Hatch, Bob Bennett, Jim Mattheson, Rocky Anderson, Oleen Walker, and Scott Mattheson. Additionally, Jane and Tami are active volunteers in the community.  Jane serves on the Equality Utah board of directors and has worked tirelessly to help  launch the Don't Amend campaign.   Last year Jane served as the President of  the University of Utah law school alumni association.  Jane also serves on the national Rainbow Foundation Board. Tami serves on the HRC Steering committee and is presently volunteering her time as the interim director for the Gay Lesbian Bi-sexual Transgender Community Center of Utah.  Earlier this year, Tami and her daughter, Jacee traveled with HRC to Washington to speak with Utah's delegation about equal rights same sex couples.  Tami also serves on a committee for the Gill Foundation's Outgiving program.  Tami formerly served on the board of directors for the Gay Lesbian Bi-sexual Transgender Community Center of  Utah. Jane and Tami  are generous donors to various local and national GLBT organizations and to various GLBT friendly political campaigns.  They have hosted dozens of fundraisers, including, but not limited to, fundraisers for  The Center, The National Center for Lesbian Rights, The Don't Amend Campaign, Equality  Utah, Jackie Biscupski, and Rocky Anderson. There could be no more worthy recipient of the Dr. Kristen Ries Community  Service Award than this married couple.  They are role models who exemplify everything that the award has stood for:  compassion, leadership and courage. Nominated by Douglas K. Fadel
  • Michael Picardi (nominated 2004) I respectfully submit the name of Michael Picardi as a nominee for the Dr. Kristin Ries Award. I met Michael during the 2003 session of the Utah State Legislature.  As the chair of the Utah Stonewall Democrats, he lobbied for the passage of an effective hate crimes law for Utah.  Michael was one of the few advocates of the bill who was at the Capitol on a daily basis.  His persistent and friendly nature was instrumental in winning a few legislators to our side.  Even though the bill did not pass, Michael did not give up the fight. During the fall of 2003, I was honored to serve with Michael on a coalition of community advocates.  This coalition was formed to help pass hate crimes legislation during the 2004 legislative session.  I vividly remember sitting around the table of our first meeting and thinking that only a few advocates would stick it out to the end.  Michael was one of them.  He brought to the coalition new ideas we had not tried before.  His endurance and passion about the issue inspired all of us on the coalition. Again, during the 2004 legislative session, Michael was one advocate lobbying on a daily basis.  This year, however, not only was hate crimes an issue, but also gay marriage.  He organized and taught others how to lobby their elected officials.  On the last night of the session, when over 100 members of the GLBT community were at the Capitol, Michael was there giving direction and encouragement to those who had come.  With the passage of the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage as well as the defeat of a hate crimes bill, Michael vowed not to stop his fight.  In his capacity as a leader in the GLBT community, he has proved to be an invaluable asset.  He has shown time and time again his dedication and perseverance to fighting the injustices placed on the community by those in power.   Michael was recently chosen by Democrats statewide to represent Utah at the Democratic National Convention in July.  The look of shock on his face when the results were announced is one I will always remember.  This honor shows that Michael is an excellent representative of Utah’s GLBT community. Helen Keller once said, "I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do something I can do."  Michael Picardi is the embodiment of this quote.  He is always willing to stand up for the rights of everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation.   He will do anything to help another, even if he does not know them. Michael Picardi is, in my opinion, very deserving of this award.  Thank you for your consideration of this request. Sincerely, Megan Risbon
2006 Gays fighting marriage amendment They hope to rally support through Utah Pride events By Deborah Bulkeley Deseret Morning News Gay and lesbian activists hope to use this weekend's Utah Pride Celebration to counter the LDS Church's latest campaign in support of traditional heterosexual marriage. In an e-mail to about 4,000 people on Tuesday, Jere Keys, coordinator of Utah Pride, asked those joining the Utah Pride Celebration to "send a message for fairness and equality" to their elected officials by expressing their opposition to a proposed federal marriage amendment to ban same-sex marriage. The e-mail was in response to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' First Presidency statement reaffirming its support of the proposed marriage amendment, which the Senate could debate and vote on next week. "Let's not be coy, when the LDS Church says jump, thousands of Utahns ask 'how high?' " Keys' e-mail said. The church's statement, which was to have been read Sunday to congregations throughout the United States, said in part, "We urge our members to express themselves on this urgent matter to their elected representatives in the Senate." Keys said as many as 20,000 people could attend the annual Utah Pride Celebration in downtown Salt Lake City on Sunday and predicted more will watch the Pride Parade. "I think it is important that people get involved," he said. "There is a real difference that can be made. . . . We are a large and thriving community." Pride festivities will include a political stage with speeches on issues ranging from candidate endorsements to national issues. Two years ago, the events were aimed largely at defeating a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of "a man and a woman." That amendment was later approved by two-thirds of Utah voters. "Pride is always, in my view, a political statement," said Valerie Larabee, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center of Utah, which sponsors the annual event. While it is a coincidence the federal marriage amendment debate is taking place at the same time as the Utah Pride celebration, organizers expect it will dominate conversations. This won't be the first time the U.S. Congress has debated a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. A previous federal amendment was passed by the House but not the Senate. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, co-sponsor of the current federal amendment, said after a Judiciary Committee meeting earlier this month that it is needed to "defend traditional marriage from being undermined." "The bedrock of society is the family, and it is traditional marriage that undergirds the family," Hatch said. "But recent court decisions have proven that some courts are usurping the role of legislatures by creating their own definitions of marriage." Apparently in response to the LDS Church's statement, Hatch's office received more than 1,000 letters on the amendment over the weekend and about 300 calls from Utahns Tuesday, said Peter Carr, Hatch's spokesman. "Virtually everyone has been in favor of the amendment," Carr said. Utah's other Republican senator, Bob Bennett, supports allowing the debate on the federal marriage amendment to go forward, said his spokeswoman, MaryJane Collipriest. Bennett's office didn't report an unusually high number of calls on the topic. To be added to the Constitution, the amendment would need approval of two-thirds of the House and Senate and of three-fourths of the nation's state legislatures. The Utah Pride Parade will start at 10 a.m. Sunday at 300 South and State. The Pride Festival at Washington and Library squares will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission to the festival is $5 or $3 for seniors. For more information, visit www.utahpride.org.

2006 Pride Film Festival To kick off and celebrate Pride, the Salt Lake Film Center and Utah Pride present the Damn These Heels Film Festival. All films are free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. This schedule is subject to change, so check back for the latest information. June 1, 7:30 pm: Lover Other @ the Broadway Theatre (111 East 300 South). June 2, 10:00 pm: Say Uncle @ Brewvies (677 South 200 West). June 3, 5:00 pm: Boy Culture @ the Broadway Theatre (111 East 300 South).

2007 Grand Marshal Reception, Festival Grounds (main entrance opens 6:00pm) We begin our festivities with the annual Grand Marshal's Reception. This year we are proud to announce as our esteemed Grand Marshal, Mr. John Amaechi. Our reception will open at 6:30pm with cocktails and hor d' ouerves, as we mix and mingle with Mr. Amaechi, city representatives, and important sponsors. As a fundraising activity for the Utah Pride Center, admission to this delightful evening is $100 (or part of the Gold Pride Passport for entry to all events). An Evening with Sheena Easton, Pride Main Stage at Festival Grounds (opens 8:00pm) To attend this event, you must either purchase the all-weekend event Pride Passport (see Ticket Info), or enjoy the show for $25 at the door. After the concert, feel free to socialize, have a brew, and then when we close at 11:00pm, head out to support your favorite community bar. But take 'er easy - it gets even better starting tomorrow. 

2009 Cheney backs gay marriage, says it should be states' call - Washington Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday he supports gays being able to marry but believes states, not the federal government, should make the decision. 

2010 WVC approves legal protections for LGBT people \Ordinances » Mayor Winder, who is LDS, says he is just following Christian beliefs. By Jennifer W. Sanchez The Salt Lake Tribune Updated:06/01/2010 The West Valley City Council, in a 5-1 vote, approved Tuesday an anti-discrimination ordinance similar to those recently passed in other Utah cities. About 60 people attended the meeting at City Hall. Rep. Janice Fisher, D-West Valley City, and about seven others spoke in favor of the proposal to protect gay and transgender residents from housing and employment discrimination. No one spoke publicly against it. The ordinance will go into affect Tuesday when Mayor Mike Winder signs it during a 4 p.m. ceremony at City Hall hosted by Equality Utah, a nonprofit gay advocacy group. Winder called it a "historic day" for the state's second largest city. As a Mormon, he said supporting the ordinance is following in his Christian ways to treat people the way you would want to be treated. "It was the right thing to do," Winder told the crowd. Councilman Corey Rushton agreed, saying it was about time city leaders pulled their heads out of the sand and demand "equal protection" for all residents. "It's unfortunate when we have to legislate niceness," Councilman Steve Vincent said. Councilman Russ Brooks, who was the only member to vote against the ordinance, said he's been on the council for 14 years and the issue had never come up until Salt Lake City brought it up. It seems like West Valley City is just "following the streams that go down the river" and being "like our big sister Salt Lake City," he said. "We're being asked to do something that we're not ready to do," he said, adding it might be more work for the city. Several of the people who supported the ordinance were affiliated with Equality Utah. Todd Olsen, an Equality Utah board member, said the ordinance will show that "West Valley City treats everyone equally and fairly." Larry Gonzalez, a West Valley City landlord, said the ordinance is "necessary." Stacia Ireland, a West Valley City resident, taught in area schools for 30 years. She said she knows the city's growing diversity, but it's not just about including people's various traditions and cultures. "Diversity is not just in skin color," she said. "We are all tax paying citizens and deserve the same protection." Winder suggested the ordinance at an annual planning retreat in January. The 12-page ordinance is essentially a compilation of Salt Lake City's two anti-discrimination measures on housing and employment, passed in November. Violations by West Valley City landlords with four to 20 units, or by employers with 14 or fewer workers, will carry a $500 fine. The fine will be $1,000 for landlords with 21 or more units or employers of 15 or more workers. Salt Lake County, Park City and, most recently, Logan also passed similar measures. Other local governments, including Ogden, Taylorsville and Summit County, are considering similar ordinances. jsanchez@sltrib.com


James Bennion
2010 Fighting Homophobia in a Bountiful Junior High Once denied, students look to next year to launch gay-straight alliance. By Jesse Fruhwirth  City weekly 1 June 2010 Then barely 15 years old, James Bennion found himself wandering the halls of the EnergySolutions Arena during a Jazz game that he attended with family around Thanksgiving 2009. He finds sports less than thrilling, so he was killing time. Something he can’t quite explain compelled him to write the words “Gay Rights Now” on a paper towel and carry it prominently as he continued his stroll. A security guard asked him to stop—which he did—but it didn’t stop Bennion’s quickly budding passion for gay-rights activism.  The Bountiful resident and South Davis Junior High School ninth grader has struggled since January to build support for a gay-straight alliance club (GSA) at his school. He’s had successes—like gathering about 120 student signatures in support of a GSA—and setbacks, especially finding a willing faculty member to advise the group, as district policy requires. He began his mission more or less alone—his Mormon parents are leery of his efforts—but he’s found supporters as young as seventh grade joining him in his call for a more peaceful school environment, which he believes would result from a GSA. “I just think people should be able to go to school without fear of being assaulted,” Bennion says. “[Students] shouldn’t have to miss days of school for fear of being bullied.” It’s not the first junior high GSA in Utah. “Every year, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are coming out younger and younger,” says Utah Pride Center director of youth programs Jude McNeil. According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), 86 percent of LGBT students in a 2007 national survey complained of being harassed at school and 60 percent said they felt unsafe there. The same survey found that 32 percent of LGBT students had missed a day of school in the past month because of feeling unsafe, compared to only 4 percent of students generally. Shortly after the incident at the Jazz game, Bennion was at the public library researching student activism. He found It’s Your World—If You Don’t Like It, Change It, a guide for teenage activism by Mikki Halpin. The final 35 pages are devoted to “promoting tolerance toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning youth.” He said he felt “partly responsible” for homophobia on campus because until he learned, about a year earlier, that a friend was a lesbian, he’d considered homosexuality to be “gross and weird.” So, Bennion took action. He sent a text message to many friends saying that he would be gathering signatures the next day in support of forming a GSA. Soon after, he presented the signatures to school administration, who informed Bennion that students wanting to establish a new club must meet particular requirements. For example, as per Davis School District policy (pdf), new clubs can be established only in the first 20 days of a school year and students have to find a willing adviser. He was discouraged. “I just moved on and said I would try it next year at Woods Cross [High School], which I’m planning to do.”  Bennion’s political activism is not confined to gay rights. While working to bring to his school the We Are Not Your Soldiers Tour, sponsored by anti-war group The World Can’t Wait!, he met a high school student from Washington state who later wrote an article about his efforts. Bennion posted the story on Facebook and other Websites and sent it to Utah media and advocacy organizations. He was re-energized by the response and now hopes to have the GSA almost completely formed in South Davis Junior High by the time next school year starts, even though he won’t be there. But there’s still one problem: He can’t find an adviser. He says seven teachers have already turned him down. One nonteacher employee, Bennion says, expressed some interest in helping, but fears that leading the group could have professional repercussions. Joel Briscoe, a former teacher at Bountiful High School and former Salt Lake School Board member, says those fears are real. He advised a GSA at Bountiful High for one year and said, “There are prices to be paid for teachers who do this. … It was mentioned to me that it was one reason why I didn’t get a position in the district. But, you know, I’d do it again a thousand times over.” Briscoe is a Democratic candidate for House District 25 in Salt Lake and Summit counties, facing off against fellow Democrat Anthony Kaye in the June 22 primary. Briscoe initially ran for the Salt Lake City School Board in 1998, he says, in large part to overturn the district’s 1996 decision to eliminate all student-run clubs, which was eventually overturned in 2000. McNeil says the Pride Center is forming a statewide Queer Straight Alliance, a network of GSAs across the state, which will also organize a yearly summit. In 2007, a new state law required students get parental permission before joining clubs, among many other changes. The impact of the bill, McNeil says, has been to spread misinformation. “We actually called every public high school in Utah and just asked, ‘Do you have a gay-straight alliance?’ … A lot of responses were, ‘No, that’s illegal now.’ ”  That’s not true, although a school district can remove the possibility of having a GSA if it eliminates all noncurricular clubs—like Salt Lake City did in 1996. That stems from U.S. Supreme Court precedent set in 1990 after a student Christian club complained that they were discriminated against when their public school denied them access to school resources. South Davis Junior High School Principal Bryon Nielson did not return phone calls requesting comment. (A secretary said his schedule was full.) But Davis School District spokesman Chris Williams said the district’s student-club policy applies identically to seventh through 12th graders, so junior high and high school students have equal opportunity to form a GSA. In regards to faculty fears of advising such a group, Williams said, “I would hope that’s not the case.” As for Bennion, he will move on to high school before a GSA can be formed in South Davis Junior, but a new crop of kids plan to take over. “People tell me they’d rather beat up a so-called homo than look at one,” says South Davis seventh-grader Bella Eckenrod. “There are these uninformed little kids—they’re my age—but they’re so closed minded, and I think having a GSA would say just because we grew up here doesn’t mean we have to take all the ideas and attitudes that Bountiful has.”

2012  Jim Dabakis : There are few people (maybe no one) who have spent as much time and devotion,completely volunteer, to building up our community over the last 40 years as Ben Williams.  Generations from now, it will be Ben's work, in intricate detail, that will tell our story.  Without Ben little would be left to document our lives and our progress. His thousands of pages of journals and boxes of programs, tickets, meeting notes, magazines and defunct newspapers are the document the backbone of what has happened to LGBT people in Utah! He can get a little crusty, especially if someone is messing with history or overlooking someone's contributions but it is impossible to find someone who has given more. But few have a bigger heart. Between HRC, Equality and Pride we ought to recognize his work--Ben is a quiet hero. Maybe that will motivate him to get out of the hot tub, pull out those tens of thousands of documents and turn them into our history book!




2017  Salt Lake City Weekly The PRIDE Issue Be bold. Be brave. Be proud. Be you.

By City Weekly Staff and Enrique Limón @EnriqueLimon The quote "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken," is often attributed to Oscar Wilde, though some could argue it was perhaps a marketing ploy by the brilliant minds at Hobby Lobby to sell more ready-made art.

Still, the queer playwright and poet's words carry with them a dose of self-acceptance heft. Despite many misconceptions, LGBTQ culture in Salt Lake City is thriving, and this week's Pride festivities are a testament to that—from the 8th annual Miss City Weekly on Thursday, to Sunday's parade, to a series of splinter festivities across town—SLC's rainbow colors run deep. This issue is licensed as a celebration, not a condemnation. To wit, subjects highlighted in this extra-special edition range from locals celebrating breakthrough milestones, to festival mainstage headliner Big Freedia, to a group of golden gays living life to the fullest, plus a revealing conversation with covergirl Alaska Thunderfuck. In these pages, you'll also get chummy with some of the city's top bartenders, learn to embrace often-misunderstood bisexuality and look back at some of the past 365 days' landmark headlines. This is for you: the different, the outsiders, the weirdos. Go ahead and relish in the oddities that shape your individuality and remember to be bold. Be brave. Be proud. Be you. —Enrique Limón
The Year in Queer, from A-Z  By Enrique Limón
A is for allies. Be them from inside the LGBTQ community (lesbians played a huge role helping out their gay brothers during the height of the AIDS crisis), or outside, the queer movement owes a lot to those who've lent their voice when they didn't have to. Think the revolutionary flame has extinguished? Just last March, students at Mount Ogden Junior High School got approval from the Ogden Board of Education to start the district's first gay-straight alliance club.
B is for bathrooms. In February, the current administration rescinded former President Obama's pledge that transgender students in public schools could use the bathroom that matched their gender. "This is a mean-spirited attack on hundreds of thousands of students who simply want to be their true selves and be treated with dignity while attending school," Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said at the time. As recently as last week, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) once again implied that he'd press legislators to return for a special session on the matter.
C is for Cox. Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox. Though he shares a party affiliation with his Texas counterpart, their values could not be any more different. On June 15, in the wake of the savage Pulse shooting, Cox addressed a crowd of devastated locals outside the City and County Building, identifying himself as a straight, white, middle-aged, Republican "with all of the expectations and privileges that come with those labels." Six months after the watershed, headline-making speech, Cox told City Weekly he thought it was sad that "a no-name, nobody lieutenant governor from a small state in the middle of nowhere" would get so much attention just by preaching kindness, adding, "I think that's how far political discourse in our country has fallen, and people are just hungry for us to stop calling each other names, and to try to work together, and to be kind."
D is for dichotomy. Last October, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints launched Mormon and Gay. The move came almost a year to the day after the church declared that married same-sex couples should be considered apostates and that their children cannot be baptized until they turned 18 and were out of the household. Many, like Mormons Building Bridges' Kendall Wilcox were quick to point out the message was far from timely, though he did note the website represents "a huge step forward."
E is for Ellen DeGeneres. It's hard to believe, but last April marked 20 years since the comedian came out publicly on the cover of TIME magazine. As witnessed by her perennially popular TV show and the $1.068 billion global box office Finding Dory garnered last year, the move clearly ruined her.
F is for film. A little more than a decade after Brokeback Mountain made a splash, Moonlight became the first LGBTQ movie to receive a Best Picture Oscar. Locally, the Damn These Heels festival, whose mission it is to provide a "safe, supportive environment that empowers historically marginalized LGBT voices and [to] facilitate discussions crucial to inspiring positive social change," has educated and entertained audiences for 14 years. Watch out for their latest iteration July 14-16.
G is for Gilbert Baker, the man behind the rainbow pride flag. Prompted by Harvey Milk, Baker designed the iconic flag in 1978, with each colored stripe representing different qualities (red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art and indigo for harmony). Before passing away on March 31, Baker saw his creation become an emblem of the gay liberation movement, a crosswalk adornment—in streets from the Castro to Saskatchewan—a Facebook filter and an emoji. Following his death, California State Sen. Scott Weiner said Baker's work "helped define the modern LGBT movement."
H is for HIV. According to a City Weekly story published in February of this year, the Utah AIDS Foundation estimates that approximately 3,000 Utahns are living with HIV. Of those, between 200 and 400 could be carrying the virus and not know it. No longer synonymous with a death sentence, prevention, early detection and treatment continue to be paramount in preventing its spread. Unsure of your status? The foundation offers twice-weekly free STI screenings on a walk-in basis. Best part: It's conducted in a completely welcoming, sex-positive and nonjudgmental environment.
I is for Interfaith service. Contrary to popular belief, we're not all boozehound deviants (at least not since that damn .05 DUI bill passed). Designed to "celebrate the sacred in all of us," this year's Pride-sponsored worship service takes place Thursday evening at First United Methodist Church. So get off the apps and nurture your spiritual side before the party kicks into high gear. What's that? Jesus is less than 25 feet away?
J is for J. Stuart Adams. Call him a man of contrasts. Sure, the Layton Republican vocally opposed April's decision by a federal judge in Chicago to expand the definition of workplace sex discrimination to include LGBTQ individuals. Yet, at the same time, he led a cross-country tour promoting a "Fairness for All" ideal. The concept, Adams says, is an extension of the basic "Love thy neighbor" principal. "Now I'm living my religion," he told The Christian Science Monitor. "I'm being more compassionate and tolerant, and I'm getting respect back from the other side."
K is for Kids. The Bad ones. Founded in June 2012 as a response strict gender norms and even stricter nightlife regulations, the Bad Kids Collective continues to be a shining beacon for any and all that march to the beat of their own drum. Follow them on Facebook, and if you see they're throwing a party, go. Your vision of SLC's nightlife will never be the same.
L is for Luxemburg. The small, landlocked European nation seldom makes headlines, so people paid attention when it started trending on social media last week. The reason? In a picture depicting NATO WAGS, the White House failed to acknowledge first husband Gauthier Destenay's existence. "Is there a reason the @WhiteHouse didn't include the First Gentleman of Luxembourg in this photo caption?" Weekend editor for The Daily Beast, Scott Bixby, tweeted. "Like, a non-homophobic one?" The gaffe was corrected 9 hours later.
M is for Misty K. Snow, the self-defined "true Progressive" who last year became the first openly transgender candidate to win a major party's U.S. Senate primary. Snow lost to Republican incumbent Mike Lee in November, but don't count her out yet. On April 13, the Salt Lake City native announced she plans to run against incumbent Rep. Chris Stewart for Utah's 2nd Congressional District seat in 2018.
N is for "No promo homo." While this year's legislative session included few surprises, the Republican-controlled assembly approved Senate Bill 196, sponsored by Mr. J himself—Sen. J. Stuart Adams—with inordinate bipartisan support. Squashing the state's dated "promotion of homosexuality" stature, the bill passed both houses and was signed into law by Gov. Gary Herbert. "Today is a historic day for Utah's LGBTQ youth," Troy Williams, Equality Utah's executive director, said in a statement. The measure goes into effect July 1, 2017.
O is for Orlando. Salt Lake City and the world shared the gut-wrenching pain on June 12, 2016, when an armed gunman opened fire at Pulse nightclub leaving, 50 dead. We honor your legacy. We will forever remember your light.
P is, for the second year in a row, for Pre-exposure prophylaxis. Taken once daily, PrEP has proven to be more than 90 perfect effective in preventing HIV exposure. Get the facts, and if it's right for you, get on it.
Q is for Queer Prom. Being gay is hard enough, but being gay and young—and living in Utah for that matter—is quite the trifecta. Luckily, Pride's Youth Activity Center circled the wagons and staged the 12th annual event last April. With a carnival-theme, Queer Prom represented a safe-space for youth ages 14-20 to experience the right of passage with their chosen attire and dates without fear of ridicule.
R is for resistance. As a nation, we collectively saw the worst and the best of people in the aftermath of last year's presidential election. One positive side effect was that a sleeping giant was awakened. A new slew of queer activists was born, lending their energy to a variety of topics, LGBTQ-related or not. In January, for example, Ella Mendoza passionately addressed the crowd gathered at Salt Lake City International Airport protesting the current administration's travel ban against visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries. "I want you to know that when they come for us, you need to be there," Mendoza, a defender of gender-nonconforming, PoC and Latinx voices, said over a megaphone. "The time is now!"
S is for sodomy. Fourteen states, including ours, still have obsolete anti-sodomy laws on their books despite a 2003 Supreme Court ruling nullifying them.
T is for Trump. At a rally in Colorado last October, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump held up a rainbow flag emblazoned with "LGBT's for Trump." A spokesperson later said Trump was "proud to carry the 'L.G.B.T. for Trump' rainbow flag on stage," being his aim was to be "president for all Americans." Insert collective sigh here.
U is for uterus. Aka a place where no crusty, white, male politician has a say. On the campaign trail, Trump said he intended to defund Planned Parenthood and overturn Roe v. Wade. Since then, people like Karrie Galloway, president/CEO of Planned Parenthood of Utah, have been working tirelessly to keep providing health services—including cancer screenings and birth control—for free or at a reduced cost. "Women need a safe and confidential place to get their reproductive health care," Galloway told City Weekly in January. "We can't let them down."
V is for visibility. On March 31, the Utah Pride Center joined others across the world to commemorate Transgender Day of Visibility. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 2016 was a record-breaking year for violence against transgender individuals in the U.S., registering 22 deaths. This year, violence has already claimed 11 trans* lives.
W is for wedding registry. Utah's ban on same-sex marriage was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court on Dec. 20, 2013. After a series of legal maneuvers, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Utah's appeal on Oct. 6, 2014. And guess what? The world hasn't ended.
X is for X Factor. Sophia Hawes-Tingley has it, and she's hoping it'll take her all the way to the Midvale Mayor's office. If she wins, she'll be the first transgender mayor of a Utah city. Read more on her here.
Y is for youth suicide rates. They're the principal cause of death for people under 24 in the state, and while no official statistic exists pairing them with conservatism and the mainstream religion, the dots aren't hard to connect. "Please make a space for your gay members," Neon Trees frontman Tyler Glenn said in an emotional Facebook Live video in July 2016. "Please tell them they are OK and they're made in the image of God and they're not flawed. Please stop telling them that they are abnormal. Please, please, please, how many more? How many more?"
Z is for President Obama's Zero-Fucks-Given wrap-up tour, which on June 24, 2016, included a National Monument designation for the Stonewall Inn. Learn your history, kids, and bow down to those who opened the watershed. Had it not been for those brave pioneers your school probably didn't teach you about, there would be no Pride.



2018 The Third Pride Spectacular Award Banquet was held at the Union Event Center at 235 North 500 West and was sold out at $110 a ticket. 100% of the proceeds from Pride Spectacular underwrite the life-saving programs of the Utah Pride Center. "The Pride weekend kicked off in style and with panache and flair second to none"  Mona Stevens and Matthew Landis were the emcees for the evening.  Michael Aguilar in 2016 created the event to replace the Grand Marshall Reception and Matthew Landis. Alan Anderson received the Kristen Ries Community Service Award and Carol Gnade received a life time achievement award. Formerly the Grand Marshall reception, the Pride Spectacular was introduced in 2016 as the Sapphire Spectacular. 
  • Excerpts from the Journal of Ben Williams: "I barely had time to feed the hounds and take Coco home before getting ready for the Pride Spectacular Award Banquet that started at 5. It was over where Michael Aaron held the wedding reception after marriage equality came about. Before the crowds were let into the banquet area, Luci Malin and I ducked under the tape that was there to keep people out to find our table and sit down...They had us mingling for about an hour upstairs and we were tired LOL. My ticket said table 16 so I went and sat and when people started arriving all these Lesbians began sitting down and then Carol Gnade came over and said they had me sitting at the wrong table. I then sat next to Dr. Kristen Ries and Maggie Snyder. Their energy puts me to shame... they just got back from a 3 week adventure in China and then they went to New Orleans. Dr Ries and I visited like Magpies... she is such a dear, dear woman. She said she follows me on my FB account. I gave her a kiss on the cheek. I did not eat a thing but a dinner roll and butter but heard the food was good. I had them take mine away and I guess someone else got it LOL. When I was waiting to come inside at the start I gave a souvenir button to Carol Gnade from the 20th Anniversary of Stonewall and she was upset that it had fallen off somewhere. We laughed when she said it turned up in a salad of someone at her table. She received a richly deserved Lifetime Achievement Award. Mayor Biskupski presented the award to her. I also gave a commemorative button to Robert Moolman from the 25th anniversary of Stonewall. My battery in my phone went dead so I didn't get to record the acceptance speech Alan Anderson the big boobie made. He got a standing ovation when Todd Bennett presented him  with the Dr. Kristen Ries Community Service Award. Well deserved I might add and he was doing all he could to keep from tearing up as he spoke. So thankful that Carol Gnade gave me a ticket so I could witness his special night. At my table was Dr. Ries, Maggie Snyder, Connell O'Donovan, and the man who directed Silent Heroes, Craig Miller and Ernie, his husband. There were also Linda Hunt and two others whom I didn't know. It was fun to watch Gil Sims rocking out to one of the entertainers. After Carol’s acceptance speech, it was getting tiresome for Chuck Whyte’s old body so he asked for a ride and I took him home... truth be told I was tired too. Kudos to those who put it all together. Much of the cost of putting it on  was donated like all the cost of the printing by Alphagraphics and Mark Miller Suburu...they raised nearly $20,000 tonight night... the place was packed, up and downstairs, so I am sure there was a good profit margin just from ticket sales...all money raised went to support the center. I think there was more people in that space then was at the 1st pride I attended in 1986 at Pioneer Park."

2018  How Salt Lake City, of All Places, Built America's Most Impressive Pride Celebration By Kastalia Medrano Utah’s first Gay and Lesbian Pride March, in 1990, drew maybe 250 people. It went more or less unopposed. The biggest issue it ran into was that the route took marchers past a bunch of parked horse carriages, the sort tourists ride around the downtown. “We were marching by, chanting and screaming,” says Connell “Rocky” O’Donovan, the march’s founder and a man introduced to me as “the local gay historian.” The horses, naturally, were startled -- presumably at the sight of a vocal gay march in Salt Lake City, or perhaps at the ruckus itself. “That actually got really dangerous,” O’Donovan continues. “I felt really bad for the horses. And the drivers and the police had approved the route, but then they said, ‘Oh, shoot, this wasn’t a good idea, was it.’” But aside from the horse encounters, it was, in fact, a pretty good idea. At the second march, in 1991, turnout roughly doubled. O’Donovan led marchers on a new route from the state capitol down to the city council building, where the Salt Lake City Pride Festival is held today.  And this time, they arrived to find a handful of neo-Nazis waiting. “They’d taken over the premises, and they had not gotten permits to be there,” O’Donovan says. “I was so angry that I had gone through all these hoops to get a permit and they just showed up. We went to the cops, and the cops were like, ‘they were here first.’ And I was like, ‘but they don’t have a permit to be here!’  O’Donovan, bullhorn in hand, outwardly maintained his composure as he blared the message to his marchers that Nazis, too, had the right to free speech and freedom of assembly. Inwardly? “I’m freaking out,” he says, “thinking if any of them have a gun they’re gonna shoot me.” No state was in need of a big, gay party quite like Utah Today, Salt Lake City Pride is most definitely A Thing. The parade draws well over 30,000 people each year. And the lead-up to the parade is stacked with events: an interfaith service; a youth dance; a 5K. When it’s time for the parade itself, marchers carry rainbow flags the length of a city block. Marriages are officiated from moving floats. As is the trend, this year’s festivities will feature former contestants from RuPaul’s Drag Race -- including Aja, the queen who re-emerged from the ashes of an unremarkable performance on Season 9 with a Season 10 debut so gag-worthy (i.e., excellent) that she made the entire internet look foolish (myself included). If you’re looking for a good time June 2 and 3, visit Salt Lake, it’ll be lit. Pride here is now so large and so commercialized that old-timers like O’Donovan can feel estranged. (Its many, many sponsors include Goldman Sachs, which employs thousands in the city and which played a substantial role in making the city more cosmopolitan.) That’s a pretty typical dialogue around the nation’s largest, most established Prides. What makes Salt Lake City Pride quite atypical, though, is where it was established. Across just about every metric, you've got to put Utah firmly among the most conservative states in America. The last time its electoral votes went toward a Democrat for president was 1944, FDR's final term, and its senior senator today is Orrin Hatch, who votes with Donald Trump roughly 97% of the time. Since Karl Malone retired from the Utah Jazz -- since 1979 the most ironically name in American professional sports, after the team moved from New Orleans -- the national face of the state has been Mitt Romney, a Mormon and private-equity multimillionaire who tempts his faith’s bans on alcohol and caffeine by enjoying the occasional coffee ice cream. Even if you’re not Mormon, and you’d like to enjoy so much as a Bud Light, things can get dicey in Utah. If want to buy beer with more than 4% alcohol in Utah, you've got to buy it from a state-run liquor store, and no one can sell alcohol after 1am throughout the state. Until last year, bartenders had to stand behind a frosted window called a Zion curtain to prepare drinks; the idea was to keep alcohol out of sight of people who weren't drinking. In Salt Lake, the Pride parade is free, but the Festival itself has an admittance charge -- the state’s liquor laws won’t allow Bud Light et al to sponsor free events (proceeds go to the Utah Pride Center). It can skew a bit uptight, is what we’re saying here. No surprise, Mormonism is a powerful theme in Salt Lake City’s queer community. But it’s that variable, and the state’s unique religious identity, that has made the city’s Pride so bold and so trailblazing. It’s also what has made it an inspiration to anyone invested in seeing equal rights become the norm for queer Americans. Certainly for dispossessed people who grew up in a strict religious environments, it has been a godsend. Those tensions don’t exist elsewhere in this precise way because no other city is home to the LDS headquarters, and perhaps no other American city of Salt Lake City’s size (1.15 million metro area) has so much power concentrated in its church. That original march route, the one that startled the horses, O’Donovan chose because it would take marchers past two sides of downtown’s Salt Lake Temple -- a startling, Gothic castle-like so sheer and upright in design it looks like a 3-D puzzle, almost digitally superimposed on its surroundings. About half of Utahns are affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, the American religious group that Gallup has found is most likely to identify as conservative. The LDS church adheres to a law of chastity specifying that the only acceptable sex is straight sex, and those edicts show in the state’s politics. In 2004, for instance, Utah voters approved, by a two-to-1 margin, a state constitutional amendment that withheld legal recognition from same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships. Obviously, something had to give. Gay pride in Utah (before there was Gay Pride in Utah) In the late 1980s, the different factions of Utah’s queer community were loosely organized under an umbrella organization, the Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah. By democratic process, each group across the state could vote to send three members to what amounted to an LGBT summit to represent their vote in various matters of the gay agenda, as it were. It was in this manner that the council came to appoint O’Donovan its director of public relations. “I chose to interpret that title very broadly,” O’Donovan says now. “And used it to organize the first march.” That’s a term distinct, he points out, from a parade, which is more celebratory. The march carried more overt political overtones. “I wanted to do a march -- ‘we’re here, we’re visible, we exist’ -- which had never been done before in Salt Lake.”  O’Donovan was the one who applied for city permits, hired security, planned the route, went to the police department to get the necessary permissions. Thus it was that in 1990 he led that first Gay and Lesbian Pride March, the precursor to what would later become the Salt Lake City Pride Parade. Between the 1990 and 1991 marches, O’Donovan had founded activist group Queer Nation Utah to help radicalize the Salt Lake City community, and its members had taken non-violent activist training with a local Quaker church. O’Donovan instructed Queer Nation to form a line in front of the neo-Nazis -- who were bearing swastikas and chanting “Sieg Heil,” some of them in full Nazi Party uniform -- and keep them away from the marchers. Also present were a few additional protesters who did not appear to be Nazi-affiliated, but who milled around with signs denouncing homosexuality in general (“oh, you know, ‘AIDS IS GOD’S PUNISHMENT FOR FAGGOTS,’ that kind of thing,” O’Donovan says). It is good to remember this rule of thumb in life: Even though you may not consider yourself a Nazi, if you find yourself standing on the side of the Nazis it is time to commit to some self-reflection. Those first two years the march was held on June 27, to honor the anniversary of the Stonewall riots. O’Donovan moved away, and for the next two years, no march took place. Then, in 1994, a small handful of activists stepped forward to pick up where he’d left off, and the Gay and Lesbian Pride March was reborn as the Salt Lake City Pride Parade. Over the course of the 1990s, Queer Nation Utah proved instrumental in galvanizing and mainstreaming Salt Lake City’s LGBTQ community. Today, the Pride Parade coexists with the Dyke March, the Transgender March, and the Interfaith March.  “The impact an event like Salt Lake City Pride has on the community is powerful,” says Sara Grossman, communications manager at Matthew Shepard’s Foundation. The foundation’s name honors an LGBTQ+ student that was victim to a fatal hate crime, so Grossman understands how important it is to recognize the influence Pride has on youth. “This is who gay pride is for, after all. Not those of us who have lived in NYC or LA or SF, and have had no problem being our true selves because we were safe, but for those who live in places like Salt Lake City or Laramie, WY, or any other red dot in America.” Salt Lake City is a liberal island in a sea of red  “The first Pride festivals actually go back in the ’70s and ’80s, and those were met with Nazis, people throwing rocks; it was a nasty time,” says Wyatt Seipp, Utah Pride Festival media director and a volunteer at the Utah Pride Center. [Not necessarily true… Ben Williams note]  “Now, Salt Lake has the reputation of being one of the friendliest places for gay people. People who don’t live here always think they know what Salt Lake is like, and then they actually come here and find out it’s a lot different. Salt Lake is to Utah what Austin is to Texas: a very liberal island in a very conservative state.” The tensions remain, but the overall vibe today is “super-supportive,” Seipp says. Even with 30,000+ people turning out each year, the Pride parade is just the second-largest in Utah. The largest, which takes place every year on July 24, is Days of ’47, the commemoration of the day the first Mormon settlers came to Salt Lake Valley. If you were to attend both, you’d notice one a bit more dour than the other, with lots of pioneer cosplay and hand carts and such. “Ours is as over-the-top and colorful as you’d expect,” Seipp says. “And on a Sunday morning -- when all our LDS friends are at church.”  The church will still only accept self-identified queer members if those members have promised to be celibate. Festivals and parades are ultimately the sum of the people who are in them; Salt Lake City Pride is a singular phenomenon because the city’s population is, too.  “Oh, honey, we’re all ex-Mormons,” O’Donovan says. “The Episcopalians, the Unitarians -- they’re all ex-Mormons. I’m being a little flippant, but yeah, I can’t think of any of my fellow activists or colleagues back then who didn’t have a Mormon background. Ninety-nine percent. Most left on their own, or they came out and then were kicked out.” The newer guard, he says, is more religiously diverse. That includes the city’s current (since 2015) and first openly gay mayor, Jackie Biskupski, who grew up Catholic. In 2016, she married her fiancee Betty Iverson on the same day the Mormon church saw a mass resignation -- more than 100 people -- over its anti-LGBTQ policies. Such resignations are common enough that organizations such as QuitMormon have sprung up to help handle the transition. For many who leave the church, its refusal to accommodate its LGBTQ members has been central.  “I was in and out of [the church] for a long time,” O’Donovan says. “It’s such a part of your conditioning and your sense of identity. I’d get angry and leave, and then I’d find a cool congregation and attend for a while, and then they’d find out I was gay and there’d be, y’know, problems, and I’d leave. It took four or five years to actually leave.” Mormons Building Bridges is a model for allies everywhere O’Donovan requested excommunication in 1990. But while huge contingents of Salt Lake City Pride Parade attendees were born into the Mormon Church, it is not the case that all of them have left it -- several different active LDS groups now march each year. The most visible of these is Mormons Building Bridges, which has sent a float and hundreds of active LDS members to the parade each year since the group’s inception in 2012. “It was a big moment, when you first had 350 Mormons in their Sunday best marching in the Utah Pride Parade,” says Mormons Building Bridges co-founder Erika Munson. “And I think that indicated, hopefully, to church leaders that members wanted to use the principles of their religion to initiate LGBT outreach. Because of their religion. Not in spite of their religion. We want Mormons who aren’t a part of the parade to see us marching on a Sunday in our church clothes and say, ‘Oh, those people are my family. Maybe I’ve taken some distance but that’s my family.”  Utah has the nation’s highest youth suicide rate, and that specter hangs lowest over the state’s Mormon LGBTQ youth. “It’s on everyone’s mind here,” Siepp says. “In part, it’s because of the predominant religion here teaching that being gay is wrong.” Mormons Building Bridges is now joined by an increasing number of active-Mormon groups like Affirmation, a support group for queer Mormons, and Mama Dragons, a network of Mormon mothers advocating for their LGBTQ children with a particular focus on preventing suicides. Munson (who is straight) says it’s dangerous to blame the LDS church for suicides -- and suicide experts would caution that such rhetoric is dangerous for those who are at-risk -- but that it’s something the church must reckon with honestly. No matter LDS policy, Mormons are going to continue having gay and trans children. "Salt Lake is to Utah what Austin is to Texas: a very liberal island in a very conservative state." True to its name, Mormons Building Bridges has applied for a float in the Days of ’47 parade in each of the past four years. Days of ’47 has rejected them each time; maybe the fifth time, this year, will be different. Munson says they’re patiently looking forward to the time when Days of ’47 recognizes their commonalities and accepts them. “We’ve seen initiatives on the part of the church that have helped,” Munson says. “We’ve seen church speakers be loud and clear about, ‘Don’t kick your gay kids out when they come out to you.’ But at the same time, there’s no doubt that they’re sticking to [their stance] that there’s no place in Mormon theology for same-gender couples.” It is no longer the church’s view that one can and should pray the gay away. And yet, in 2015, the church enacted a massively controversial new policy subjecting same-sex Mormon couples to excommunication and barring their children from baptism until they turned 18 (Mormon children are traditionally baptized at age 8). “Working for LGBT acceptance within the church, it’s a matter of learning how to live, in a healthy way, with dissonance,” Munson says. “But I’ll tell ya, committing yourself to a faith community where many have different perspectives than you? It’s a fabulous spiritual experience -- it is amazing how much you can learn about faith, about patience, and loneliness and connection. That’s what I see in gay and trans Mormons now.”


 2019 Saturday Ben Williams Journal Excerpts " It was breezy and damp this morning so I had no idea how to dress today for staffing the Pride Day Booth. I ended up wearing jeans, my old pioneer shirt and hat. I had to be down at the Pride Center at 8 to pick up another small table. So Happy "flippin'" Pride Day... A lot of HUMBUGGERY. I hope all the spectators enjoy all the hard work we gladiator put in to it... It was such a busy day. I was down at the Pride Center at 8 to pick up another display table, then down at Pride Day grounds to set up at 8:30. I was able to get a handicap spot right on the corner of state and 4th South. Owen Edwards was already at our booth wanting to volunteer and he helped me carry the table over to our pavilion and helped, Randy Hoffman, Roy Zhang and Cristi Hebert set up. All of them are on the Utah Queer Historical Society's board and were there to help except Connell O’Donovan. He begged off saying he had to work. I bought a dozen Dunkin Donuts for all the workers in our booth. We did a great job with lots of visitors looking at our displays. So great to see people like David Nelson and Dominique Storni I had not seen in ages. I visited with Dominique Storni today. It was interesting to hear her talk about how she is not happy with the Social Justice Warriors aspect of the Trans movement. The 1-5 Club even had the gall to demand that Police and Security not march in the parade as it “triggers” them. I say if anyone is Gay or Gay friendly let them march. Washington Square was packed and. Biggest crowd ever, so I heard.  By 5 I went home to feed my pups and decompress with them. Will do it all again tomorrow and have to be downtown by 9 to be in the Parade but thank God I am not walking but riding LOL. I told my committee folks...this is a marathon weekend... let’s just get through it than we can collapse. BTW We're Here We're Queer and some of us are really tired. We have a great team of Committee Chairs and we pulled off a great pavilion for Saturday's Pride Day. Daniel Cureton and Cristi Hebert's writing project was a hit with lots of folks using a typewriter for the first time. It was cute when this young girls asked where's the "enter" button. We have several stories from that project. Thanks to Randy Hoffman and Roy Zhang for staffing the booth all day and helping me solve the world's problems. Special thanks to Owen Edwards of the Zion Sisterhood for volunteering at the booth and agreeing to be the chair of the Oral Histories Project. He's itching to interview this Lesbian named Bonnie who was at Stonewall the night of the riots. It sure makes a task easier and lighter with so many hands helping. I am so proud of what was accomplish as well as we all should be. About 9 tonight a huge storm blew in out here at the airport. It was gusty, with Lighting and pounding rain. I heard the featured performer at Pride had to be canceled as the storm hit just as she was ready to perform. Sue Robbins said "Surprised many of us at the festival. Came in with blasting winds sending things flying and while we were gathering that, the skies opened up. At least it was late."



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