1975-The Colorado Attorney General ruled that same-sex marriages were illegal and ordered Clela Rorex of Boulder to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
1980-CBS Reports aired "Gay Power, Gay Politics" hosted by Harry Reasoner. It resulted in openly Gay reporter Randy Alfred presenting a 9,000 word complaint with the National News Council, accusing CBS of biased and potentially harmful journalism. Producer George Crile had presented S & M as an activity so dangerous that there were S & M parlors which had doctors and nurses on duty, and interviewed a man who claimed that it was the sort of thing that everyone who was Gay participated in. San Francisco journalist Phil Bronstein recognized the torture chamber as The Chateau, which was exclusively heterosexual. San Francisco mayor Diane Feinstein wrote a scathing letter to KPIX, saying it was unfair to present glory holes, bathhouses, S & M, sex in parks and toilets as typical of the Gay experience.
1 |
| Maureen Reagan |
980-Maureen Reagan addressed a group of Gay Republicans in Los Angeles, telling them her father Ronald Reagan believes in fair play.
1981- Golden Spike Humanitarian Award was given to Thelma Ensign, a non-Gay woman by the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire of Utah
1986-Saturday- Gay Pride Day organizational meeting held at the Salt Lake Public Library. In attendance were Beau Chaine, Donny Eastepp, Ben Williams, and others
1987-Sunday- Wasatch Affirmation had guest speaker Mark Potter from Highland Hospital who talked about Alcoholism, Depression, and Acceptance of being Gay in the Gay Community.
1987- The Golden Spike Humanitarian Award given to T. Parry and Gail A. Garcia by the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire of Utah
1988 Tuesday I went to Unconditional Support in the evening and taught a lesson on The Biological Causation of Being Gay. We had a good turn out and Randy Olsen came for the first time in a very long time. [Journal of Ben Williams]
1992- Golden Spike Awards held at Club 108. Community Service Award went to |
| Robert Rosvall |
Concerning Gays and Lesbians Ben Williams accepting the award in behalf of Becky Moss and himself and Humanitarian Award to Robert Rosvall, Executive Director of the People With AIDS Coalition for his "Hands ON Stop AIDS Program".
1993-The US Holocaust Memorial Museum opened in Washington DC. Despite efforts to include Gays, the difficulty museum officials faced in finding and authenticating materials kept the Gay displays to a minimum. Most of the difficulty stemmed from the need for Gay concentration camp victims to destroy evidence of why they had been imprisoned as they were still considered criminals until 1969..
26 April 2000 LDS Ultimatum on Gay Scouts? BY MARK EDDINGTON THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE If the Boy Scouts of America is forced to accept Gays as scoutmasters, the LDS Church will withdraw from the organization and take more than 400,000 Scouts with it. That's the contention of Salt Lake City attorney Von G. Keetch, who has filed a brief with the Supreme Court supporting the Boy Scouts' ban on homosexuals on behalf of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and four other religious organizations. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today on a controversial 1999 New Jersey high court ruling that stated the Boy Scouts could not exclude Gays. The nation's justices are expected to rule on the matter in June. Keetch, with the Salt Lake City firm of Kirton & McConkie, predicts dire consequences if the Scouts lose the case. "The Scouting movement as now constituted will cease to exist. . . . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . . . would withdraw from Scouting if it were compelled to accept openly homosexual Scout leaders," Keetch said in the Feb. 28 brief filed on behalf of the LDS Church, the National Catholic Committee on Scouting, the General Commission on United Methodist Men of the United Methodist Church, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the National Council of Young Israel. The LDS Church is the single largest sponsor of Scouting units – more than 30,000 -- in the nation. That amounts to 400,000-plus Scouts. The United Methodist Church, with more than 424,000 Scouts, has the most youths involved. The Catholic Church sponsors 355,000 Scouts. In the brief, Keetch said no final decisions have been made, but all the religious organizations could follow the Mormons' lead and bolt from Scouting if the ban on Gays is struck down. LDS leaders would not comment Tuesday about the church's possible exodus from Scouting. Boy Scouts of America national spokesman Greg Shields did not want to speculate on the impact such a pullout would have on the movement, which involves roughly 6.2 million youths and adults across the nation. "We value the [Mormon] church and its contribution to Scouting and the young people who participate in Scouting." he said. "The only thing I can say is that we will abide by the law." A Utah Scout leader, however, did not hesitate to say what effect an LDS exit would have on Scouting. "The impact would be dramatic," said Ron Nyman, spokesman for the Utah National Parks Council of the Boy Scouts that oversees 58,000 Scouts from Utah County to the Arizona border. He said 98 percent of his council's troops are LDS-sponsored. The LDS Church is closely connected to Scouting throughout Utah. The church uses the program to help instill fundamental values in its male members, ages 12 through 18. Scout leaders in Mormon congregations are appointed by their bishops. "The ramifications of losing this case should be the scariest thing that could ever happen to private society," Nyman warned. "If they can do this to Scouting, they can do it to churches and everything else." The New Jersey ruling last August stemmed from a 1992 lawsuit filed against the Boy Scouts by James Dale, who was expelled as the assistant scoutmaster of a Middleton, N.J., troop in 1990 after it was learned that he was involved in a Gay student group at Rutgers University. Boy Scouts exclude homosexuals from participation. Scout leaders maintain homosexuality is immoral and out of harmony with the group's values. They further argue that they have a First Amendment right as a private organization to choose their own leaders and who they will allow to participate. In siding with Dale, New Jersey's Supreme Court ruled the Boy Scouts are a "place of public accommodation" and therefore are subject to that state's laws barring discrimination against Gays. Evan Wolfson, Dale's attorney, said the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently rejected the notion that the First Amendment gives groups the right to discriminate. "Boy Scouts do not come together to promote an anti-Gay or discriminatory message," said Wolfson in a statement. "Scouts come together around the traditions and values of Scouting, things James Dale always did and still desires to uphold." Michael McConnell, a University of Utah law professor who is helping New York City attorney George Davidson argue the case for the Boy Scouts, said the New Jersey ruling is ludicrous. "The underlying question is if one group can have a message and serve a subsection of the population without the government getting involved and telling it how diverse it needs to be," McConnell said. “This is really about the survival of private groups as elements of society." Kay Godfrey -- information officer with the Great Salt Lake Council, which boasts 75,000 Scouts from Kaysville to Draper -- is confident the Scouts will prevail. He said homosexuality has not been much of an issue in Utah. He noted, though, that there have been a few Gay Scouts and Scout leaders booted from the organization during his 10 years with the Great Salt Lake Council. "We do not feel homosexuals are the kind of role models we want for our youth," said Godfrey, who added that prospective leaders are usually not asked about their sexual orientation. For Andy Baggs -- a psychologist with the Nebo School District and scoutmaster of Provo's Troop 999, which is not affiliated with the LDS Church -- the issue is straightforward: Scouts pledge to be "morally straight" when they raise their right arm to recite the Scout Oath. "I don't see how one can define homosexuality as being morally straight," he said. "If you don't want to adhere to Scout standards, you shouldn't join the club. You don't join the club and then try to change the standards." But former Scout leader Wes Davey of Springville sees it another way. "For us who are LDS, we've been taught to love the sinner but hate the sin. If this teaching is true, then the LDS Church has a moral obligation to accept celibate Gay youth into its Scouting programs and a moral obligation to petition the Boy Scouts to change its policy," he said. "Right now, the church won't even let celibate Gay youth participate. It shouldn't matter if a youth is homosexual or heterosexual, as long as they are not engaging in immoral behavior by having sex."
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| Rev. Steven Epperson |
2001 USU Celebrates Gay Pride Day By Will Bettmann, The Utah Statesman The Rev. Steven Epperson, keynote speaker at the third annual Utah State University Gay and Lesbian Pride Day, urged USU students to acknowledge "the inherent worth and dignity of every person—not some people, not most people—every person." The event was held Wednesday by the Pride Alliance. Epperson, a minister at the South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, said he agreed with his 17-year-old son, who views gay rights as the key social issue of our time. He told the audience about a time when he, his wife and a friend had been verbally assaulted and called "fags," and he said mainstream organizations should take a moral stand. "Religious and civic institutions often contribute to an atmosphere of intolerance and violence," he said. "Sometimes you have to take a stand on an issue a generation or two before the mainstream, just because it's the right thing to do." Other speakers at the event included Pride Alliance Co Presidents Tim Nuttle and Sarah Benanti, Associate Students of USU President Steve Palmer, and Vice President of Student Services Patricia Terrell. Terrell related her experiences with gay students over the years at a couple of different institutions. When she was the assistant vice president for student affairs at the University of Louisville, she had to deal with three students who burned a banner advertising "blue jeans day," a day in which students are encouraged to wear blue jeans in support of gay students. Terrell asked the student if he believed he had a right to destroy private property if he felt an idea was wrong. After some thought, the student replied he did feel he had that right. Terrell ended up referring the student to the counseling center, and said she was criticized by both gay students (who felt she'd been too easy on the student) and some straight students (who felt she may have been trying to "brainwash" the student with counseling). She went on to praise the Pride Alliance for its work on campus. "I applaud the Pride Alliance for helping to make this campus welcoming not just to straight students, but to those who are gay," she said. Palmer spoke mainly about the role of ASUSU on campus and encouraged the audience to get involved with student government. He also said USU was lucky to have a diverse student body, and that clubs like the Pride Alliance were a big part of such diversity. Benanti, wearing a rainbow cape and introduced by Nuttle as "Superdyke," said she was leaving USU to work for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C. She thanked members of the Pride Alliance for their support. "When I came out a year and a half ago, it was easy because I had so much love and support," she said. Nuttle said he was pleased with the event. "I think it's going great. The weather's beautiful. We're getting a lot of support. It was good to hear support from ASUSU and from Pat [Terrell]," he said. U Wire
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| Lee Silva |
2003 Lee Silva's 8th Annual DIAMONDS & SPURS With your hostesses for the Evening: Miss UGRA Tracie Aviary & Chaise Manhattan This Saturday, April 26, 2003 At the Trapp Door* 9:00 P.M. $5.00 Donation to the UGRA * a private club for members There will be raffles for lots of great prizes!!! DVD Players, Vintage Quilts, etc.)
2005 Tuesday 7 pm - 9 pm Film & Discussion Center Space Embracing Our Homosexual Children is a documentary about an LDS family with 11 children, with three gay sons and a lesbian daughter. The parents, John and Ilse Horstmanshoff, share how they were able to put their arms around each of their gay children in a loving and supportive manner. One of the gay sons, Ernie also tells his personal story of being raised LDS, serving a mission, marriage in the LDS temple and his subsequent coming out. The documentary is narrated by BYU professor, William Bradshaw.
2007 I will outline a very proactive different promotional plan for the 2ND Annual Gay Freedom Day. That will follow in the days to come. I hope that we will be more open about the event and the Center Board and Pride are well aware of the event serving as a compliment to its efforts. Your Suggestions will be welcome. Again this will be kept very simple. Our promotional focus will be the Perfect ending to a month of Celebration. Do we want a theme--or is that to prideish?? Ben [Williams]could you please proof?--Could one of your History Articles be on Freedom Days of the Past? Kevin [Hillman]--Could you add suggestions? Micheal [Aaron]---Could you approve--and can we possibly a little equal promotion time--kind like politicians? I did ask Joselle [Vanderhooft] I could get us an interview. Hope that was okay? Love to all Chad [Keller]- "Michael Aaron" I’m afraid I can’t promise “equal time” but I will be happy to promote as much as we think is prudent. Heheh. I love that word. It sounds so “fatherish” Our sponsorship of Pride returns us exposure to tens of thousands of people, therefore we offer them quite a bit. We do this event because, like the reason we have a history column, we find it important to maintain a relationship with our past. We also do it provides a less formal, more intimate way to interact with our readers. I’m much less concerned this year about the event being perceived as the anti-Pride event. Let’s make this a fun place for everyone to be. I’d love to see more community performers, more community booths, etc. Thanks for taking the reins on this. –Michael
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| Weston Clark |
2009 Weston Clark Seeks Common Ground Among SL County Dems. Written by JoSelle Vanderhooft Sunday, 26 April 2009 15:58 As many Utahns know, Salt Lake City is becoming decidedly more gay and transgender-friendly even if the state legislature is dragging its feet on bills that would offer such citizens more legal protections. So is Salt Lake County, for that matter. This year, the county’s council voted to extend health care benefits to the same-sex partners of county employees. Democratic mayor Peter Corroon enthusiastically supported the vote and just as enthusiastically stood behind statewide gay rights group Equality Utah’s move to get local businesses to support its Common Ground Initiative. During a February press conference for this initiative at Café Oasis, Corroon also unveiled the county’s new logo—which now features the word “diversity.” As the openly gay chair of the county’s Democratic Party, Weston Clark is now part of the mayor’s vision for a more diverse, more inclusive county. Earlier this month, Clark again won the position at the Party’s convention, where he ran unopposed. “It’s not the easiest job in the world,” Clark remarked, noting that chairing the party is “an unpaid super volunteer position. “It’s not one people readily seek if someone’s willing to do it and does a good job.” Clark has been doing a good job in the position since 2008, when his predecessor resigned just before that year’s convention. Then vice chair of the party, Clark stepped up as acting chairman and into a whirlwind of excitement. The Clinton/Obama race for the Democratic Presidential Nomination was heating up and with it, several local Democratic campaigns. For the first time in years, Clark said he felt that his party “had a chance across the board.” As acting chairman, Clark had to coordinate and manage several “moving parts in the county,” including over thirty Democrats contending for positions from mayor to legislator. And then there was the fact that Barack Obama had opened up a campaign office in the capitol. “I don’t even know when the last time was that that happened,” said Clark. Soon he found himself working with Utah for Obama and individual campaigns towards a common goal: to see more Democrats elected across the board. “It’s a hard job,” he said. “There’s a lot of expectations that are on the party and the leader of the party, and not a lot of resources to fulfill those expectations,” including not just money but volunteer hours. “I enjoyed it and thrived on it,” he continued. “It was very enjoyable to see the results of our work and see we were successful.” These results, as most know, were as equally across the board as Clark’s efforts. In November, Obama won a mandate and many county positions shifted from red to blue, including the majority of the council. Pleased with this success and feeling that he had learned a lot during the election, Clark then decided to run for a full term as chairman in order to “take more ownership of the process.” Although a few other Democrats had voiced interest in seeking the position, Clark said they deferred to him when he announced his intentions. (Elections for party positions are held during odd-numbered years — that is, non-election years.) So far, Clark said that his sexual orientation has not been an issue to any of the Democrats he serves. “The Democratic Party is generally so welcoming of diversity that within the party I really haven’t experienced any problem at all,” he said. “Not even once have I been confronted by somebody.” Still, even within the so-called party of inclusion, Clark said there are Democrats who are not “fully understanding or accepting of gay people.” And these, said Clark, are Democrats with whom he endeavors to find common ground. For example, he discussed the case of a precinct officer who emailed him expressing upset over what she saw as the party’s support for gay marriage. “She was really offended and made remarks to gays being immoral,” said Clark, who noted that he drafted a lengthy response which he ended up not sending. “It wouldn’t have been beneficial to write her back and condemn what she had said,” he explained. “That was hard to do because prior to being in the party I considered myself a pretty strong, politically-minded activist. Equality and gay rights was one of my personal issues and something I believed in [deeply].” And while these issues are still important to him as a gay man and a Democrat, Clark notes that they must “step to the side a little” in order to find agreement. In this sense, he favors Equality Utah and Obama’s approach to politics. “As Democrat, especially in Utah, we have to be accepting of a larger tent,” he said. “While some people may not completely agree with me on gay rights, they probably do agree with me on 95 percent of other Democratic issues. We have to take baby steps if gonna make any movement in this state. We have to listen and work with each other to come up with something that works but still includes our ideals … It’s a very gray area to walk in.” But what isn’t gray at all for Clark is the mid-term elections in 2010. His biggest fear, he said, is that Democrats in Utah and across the nation will lose their hard-won gains in the face of a continually slumping economy and fall-out from the Bush administration. “The American public is generally very impatient, and if change isn’t happening immediately, there’s a political price to pay for that,” he explained. “I think Obama’s going a good job in saying change won’t come immediately, that it’s a process and it’ll take awhile to see an effect, and I’m hoping he’s doing enough. So far it seems to be that way. Looking at the polls people are still loving Obama … but there’s always a bit of a backlash. A lot of the time it’s who’s most excited to get out and vote, and usually the backlash is the most excited.” While Clark is currently the only gay officer in the Salt Lake County Democratic Party, former Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire emperor Alan Anderson also ran for treasurer. Anderson, however, lost to Holly Martak. Clark said that he is hopeful Anderson will run again, or at least remain active as a volunteer in the party.
2011 MoDiggity's Location: 3424 State Street, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Closed: September 2008? According to About.com, MoDiggity's was just one of two lesbian bars in Salt Lake City (the other being Paper Moon Nightclub) when it shut down, apparently in 2008. Judging by the photo, About.com's description of MoDiggity's as being "in a drab strip mall on the south side of the city" seems pretty accurate. They go on to describe the place as a "no-attitude, easygoing women's sports bar" airing games and movies on television screens. It also featured "dancing on weekends, karaoke on Wednesdays, and Texas Hold 'Em poker nights on Tuesdays." In fact, clubfly.com boasted that MoDiggity's was the "only women's sports bar in the U.S."--though I find that hard to believe. Yahoo only went so far to claim that it was "the premier sports bar in U.S, exclusively for women," which at any rate, is a matter of judgement that leaves a little wiggle room. Regardless of the veracity of the only women's sports bar claim, Clubplanet.com gave the place a general thumbs up: Mo Diggity's Pub - Boasting excellent service and strong drinks, Mo Diggity's Pub, located at 3424 S State St, has a good crowd of regulars and a decent-looking clientele. As an added bonus, there’s no cover, so this is a good place to hit without blowing your budget. It appears that for MoDiggity's to function, it had to bill itself as a "private club for women," which had as much to do with Utah's arcane liquor laws as "discrimination" claims. I'm having a hard time determining just when MoDiggity's opened or closed, only that it was in business between 2005 and 2008 or so. Websites clearly indicate that MoDiggity's is closed now, but none of them say as of what date. Where are the gay and lesbian journalists, historians, and bloggers of Utah? [Posted on Lost Womyn's Spaces]
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