This Day In Gay Utah History May 19th
19 May
1888 Ogden Standard Examiner More Local News page 4 An indictment charging Charles Thomas with house breaking was read to defendant. He plead guilty. He had served two years and five months in the penitentiary for committing a crime against nature. Sentence was deferred until today
1891 Court Case 27 May: The People vs James Hamilton: Crime against nature. Deseret New
1945 Manuel Cordova, 20, Penasco, NM convicted of attempted sodomy Feb 2 1944 and served 1 year and 3 months of a 18 months to 10 year sentence. Paroled. Salt Lake Telegram
1950-The US Senate authorized an investigation into the employment of homosexuals by the federal government.
1971 Gregory Bartley of New York City was sentenced to three months in the Davis County jail on a guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of sodomy. Bartley had already served s ½ months in jail pending the sentence and was given time off for good behavior. He was remanded to the custody of the Clearfield job corps center for disciplinary action and transportation to New York. Ogden Standard Examiner
1983 - News program 20/20 did its first show on AIDS. It had been a forbidden topic until
executives learned that children were getting the disease.
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| Leonard Matlovitch |
1987-Mormon Convert Leonard Matlovich, among the earliest Gay men to challenge the US military's policy against Gays and lesbians, announced on Good Morning America that he had AIDS.
1991 The SL Tribune featured a news story “Salt Lake cross-dressers look to support group” The Society for The Second Self (Tri-Ess), a nationwide club was founded in the 1950s for transvestites. A Salt Lake chapter was formed in 1988. There are 25 members from Utah, Nevada and Idaho which represent a cross section of occupations including a school administrator, lawyer, janitor, plumber and computer programmer. Tri-Ess is specifically for heterosexual cross-dressers and their spouses. Though female cross-dressers are invited to join, the Salt Lake chapter is all male for now. There are clubs -
though not local - which cater to other members of the "gender community" including transsexuals and homosexuals who like to dress as women - sometimes called drag queens. A transsexual is a person who feels trapped in the wrong body and wants a sex change. The gender community has its own organization called International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE), which functions like a chamber of commerce. IFGE meets regularly with representatives from all groups and publishes a magazine called Tapestry.
1995 The 12th annual candlelight vigil will be held in Provo on Sunday to remember those
who have died of AIDS and those living with HIV or AIDS. Provo will join 230 cities in more than 40 nations in celebrating the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial and Mobilization. The service begins with an Ecumenical Memorial Service at 7:30 p.m. at the Provo Community Church University Avenue and 200 North. Following the service, there will be a candlelight procession down University Avenue to the Utah County Building
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| Barbara Shaw |
1996 -
Daniel K. Evans 12/30/58 to 5/19/96 listening to the call I'm guided home. I dwell now in your past and will call to you from your future; your memory holds me ever-present. As we mourn for Danny, we celebrate also the joy that his passing has brought him to. Through many trials Danny prevailed. Never despairing, he relied upon the many friends who filled his small world. He cultivated love and brought forth kindness and peace. We will remember a friend who never faltered a spirit true. Daniel Kenneth Evans passed from us May 19, 1996. Though he lost the battle, he won the war, for AIDS could not conquer his spirit, his faith in God or the unconditional love that radiated from him. Special thanks to Dr. Kristin Ries and Maggie Snyder and all the Clinic 1 staff, and the Journey Home Team at Community Nursing Services. At Daniel's request, no services will be held. Family services pending. In lieu of flowers, make donations to the Utah AIDS Foundation.
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1999 Salt Lake City Schools Superintendent Darline Robles rebuffed a petition calling for disciplinary action against East High School Principal Kay Petersen, saying it is time to put an end to the latest controversy involving the school's Gay Straight Alliance. 1Page: D2 Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake City Schools Superintendent Darline Robles has rebuffed a petition calling for disciplinary action against East High School Principal Kay Petersen, saying it is time to put an end to the latest controversy involving the school's Gay Straight Alliance. The petition stemmed from Petersen's decision to allow members of the GSA to participate in the school's annual multicultural assembly April 20. The student presentation lasted about six minutes and highlighted historical events involving gay, lesbian and bisexual people and offered definitions of commonly used words such as gay, faggot and dyke. Enraged parents stormed a meeting of the School Community Council the following week and asked Petersen to step down. Petersen, who has planned for months to retire at the end of the school year, accepted complete responsibility for the presentation and apologized for offending students and parents. Still not satisfied, parents circulated a petition and presented it to Robles, who had remained silent until Tuesday. "I do support the administration's intention to assist the GSA students by allowing students to present their concerns about harassment," Robles said in a prepared statement she read to the board. "The way it was handled and the content they allowed did come close to raising issues about human sexuality guidelines and did give me cause for concern." However, she said attorneys for the district and the state Office of Education viewed the presentation and determined it did not violate state law or the district policy. "The administration could have, and should have, exercised more control over the content of the presentation," she said. Parents and students were especially critical of the administration's decision to make attendance at the assembly mandatory without offering another activity for students who might have been offended at its content. Also during Tuesday's board meeting, a group calling itself The Coalition for Safe Schools offered its services to educate parents and students. "One of the biggest problems is ignorance. We don't feel our community is educated enough to speak. It's embarrassing to hear them. They aren't educated on this issue," said member Robb Steffensen, a retired educator. Emmaleigh Wheeler, an East High School student and member of the GSA, echoed the coalition's concern about safety at East High. Her friends are routinely pushed and taunted in the halls. One was even pushed down the stairs recently, she said. "The hall monitor saw it and didn't even do anything," Wheeler said.
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| Michael Chase |
2002 A Tribute to Michael Chase by John-Charles Duffy On May 19, 2002, Norman Michael Chase passed away of a heart attack in his apartment in Salt Lake City. For the last ten years, he had made major contributions to the gay and lesbian community in Salt Lake City. Although Michael was not LDS, he was a supporter of Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons, Reconciliation, and any cause for gay and lesbian spirituality. The following tribute was published in the June issue of The Pillar: Michael Chase came to Salt Lake City because he believed God had called him here. He believed he had a work to do: to minister to the needs of gay/lesbian people in Utah. That's not to say Michael was an activist. On the contrary, Michael felt highly ambivalent about the gay rights movement. Because he believed that we are all created in God's image and are therefore good, as God proclaims in Genesis 1, Michael was appalled by the way gay/lesbian people are made to feel "less than" or "unworthy." At the same time, Michael worried that the gay rights movement represented an impulse on the part of gay/lesbian people to extract from society and church a feeling of acceptance or validation that he believed ought to come only from God. You see, Michael was a mystic. Powerful spiritual or revelatory experiences during a time in his life when he had lost everything that had been important to him--his wife, his money, the trappings of success--convinced him that the material concerns which occupy so much of our attention do not truly matter. All that matters is God and our connection to God. God is everywhere, Michael believed. God shines through each of us like sunlight through a window pane. Unfortunately, we get in God's way. Our fear, our insecurity, our jealousy, our anger, our pride, prevent us from being what we were created to be--what we already are, if we would only see it. Michael wasn't much interested in changing society's attitudes towards gay/lesbian people. He was more interested in changing gay/lesbian people's attitudes about themselves. Michael didn't like the word "gay." It was limiting, he insisted. Watching The Birdcage, Michael winced when Robin William's character declared: "All right, so I wear make-up. So I'm a middle-aged fag. But I'm proud of who I am." If defiant acceptance of the epithets and stereotypes people hurl at us is "gay pride," then Michael wanted nothing to do with it. He rarely appeared at gay pride celebrations. He refused to label his sexual identity. In his writings for the Pillar, and in the talks he gave to groups like Affirmation, Reconciliation, and MCC, Michael kept coming back to the same simple message: We are children of God. We are made in God's image. God shines through us. That some of us happen to experience love with someone of the same sex rather than someone of the opposite sex is irrelevant. Implicitly, Michael was trying to say: We don't need society's acceptance. We don't need the churches' acceptance. All we need to know is that God accepts us. This message is simple, even problematic; but it would be a mistake to blow it off as dime-store spirituality. Saying "I know God accepts me for who I am" is easy. It's quite another matter to feel that knowledge so deeply that nothing--rejection by your family, condemnation from your church, anti-gay rights politics, anti-gay violence--can make you react with fear, hate, or despair. "Let nothing disturb you, let nothing alarm you," wrote one of the great Western mystics, Teresa of Ávila. "They who have God lack for nothing." Michael came to possess this kind of unshakeable confidence as the result of his own mystical experiences. His ministry in Utah was to do what he could to inspire that same unshakeable confidence in the gay/lesbian individuals to whom he spoke and to whom he addressed his writings.
2003 David Thometz to Ben Williams-Ben, I realize that many in the community see me and David Nelson as interchangeable (or, perhaps, as the same person), but you neither posted to any of my groups, nor did I edit such a post. If you are referring to a post made to the GVUNewsTalk group, then you want to send your complaint to David Nelson, not to me. By the way, thanks for your contributions to the discussion on both Dem-UT and GVUNewsTalk. :) David Thometz
Moderator, Dem-UT Yahoo! Group (Utah affiliate, Democrats.com online service)
- Ben Williams to David Thometz- You mean you and David are not Janus? LOL Sorry..Chad told me that you were the one editing. Wrong again. I will redirect to David Thanks By the way are you still living at home? How are you doing? I haven't seen you since last October I think! Ben
- David Thometz to Ben Williams Heh heh... Sometimes I wonder.... :D I constantly get
e-mail from people thinking that something David wrote or did was done by me, and vice-versa. (We are David. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. >;] ) Yeah, I'm still trapped in South Jordan, thanks to slow business (partly Dubya's fault, partly the fault of some character assassination by Paula Wolfe, Jackie Biskupski, Michael Picardi and Doug Wortham, et al). But things are gaining momentum. I'm taking my design business online, and this month I'll release some original digital fonts that I have designed. With luck, I'll be able to ditch the graphic design business altogether and be a full-time typographer and font-designer. I've also been getting witchy again. I've even set up an altar in my parents' basement. They just seem to think it's an interesting display of incense, candles, chalices and rocks.... Heh heh....I haven't been able to come to the USHS meetings, but I've been lurking & following the discussion & posts on the Yahoo! Group. It's great to see the subscriber roles growing. Keep up the great work.David T. -- the other one ;)
David Thometz
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| Chad Keller |
2003 CHAD KELLER I would like to introduce Chad Keller, our co-director and Executive Chair to those who do not know him. From the moment Chad arrived in Utah he has worked his incredible imagination for the benefit of the Lambda community of Utah. Not one to be a wilting flower, Chad with bounding energy, appeared on the Gay scene and said, "Can I play?"Chad cut his "Gay activist" teeth as a member of the Gay and Lesbian Cache Valley Alliance where he became a member of the board after holding several positions. From the fall of 1987 to the Spring of 1990, Chad was an active member of Logan's Gay community serving as activity coordinator and as a student representative. Chad left Logan in 1990 and moved to Salt Lake City where, after settling in, once again became an asset. He joined LGSU and became an LGSU representative while he worked at the university in catering. At the same time he became a member of the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire of which he still is a member in good standing. It was his early years with the court, where his talent for organizing events and fundraising was developed. A few of his more important projects for the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire were Coordinator for the Snowball Banquet for the 18th Reign of Sheneka Christie Princess Royale, and Victory Brunch Coordinator for the 18th, 19th, and 20th reigns. Chad is the creator and host of the Xmas Sock Auction, which is an annual gift to the RCGSE to raise money for Snow Ball. He served as advisor, as CZAR XXVII, to the current Emperor His Majesty Bob Childers. But beyond the glitz and glamour of the court Chad, more importantly, took upon a project to help "At Risk Kids" celebrate and enjoy the gift of reading. He founded the Golden Spike Literacy Project in 1997 with the help of Yvette Empress XXII, and has continued to work with people to donate used books to the homeless and at risk kids. He has created a partnership with downtown businesses and banks to provide annual gifts of books for this cause. As an educator I feel for this project alone Chad deserves the award however there is considerable more. Chad, to experience all the various dynamics of our community, joined a host of organizations besides LGSU and the Royal Court. He was even a member of the Wasatch Leathermen's Motor Cycle Club from 1991 to1993 where he served in the position of Scribe in 1992. That year (1992) Chad along with Bob Childers attempted to start a community magazine after the Triangle had folded. It only lasted three months but it showed Chad's willingness to take risks. While no longer a publisher, Chad is currently a regular contributor to the Pillar. He has recently found a niche for his creative organizational skills by teaming up with Todd Dayley, publisher of the Pillar to create organizations and services for the betterment and enrichment of our community. In 2001 he was Community Service Project Coordinator, a project to sponsor a day of community service from the Gay community to the general community at large. In 2002 Todd and he were the creators and founders of the Community Leadership Forum, and were creators and founding members of GBLT Business Guild. Together Keller and Dayler also have teamed to organize a "Sponsorship Program" to help worthy community organizations get greater exposure and financial support by featuring monthly articles in the Pillar.In 2003 the dynamic duo have created a Utah Stonewall Sports Authority, a Lambda Arts Alliance, and became the sponsors of the FABI, Betty and DIG Awards, an important community award originally created by Kevin Hillman and Brenda Voisard, past Dr. Kristen Ries Award recipients.In 1998 Chad joined the Utah Gay Rodeo Association and was that organization's fundraising Coordinator for three years, 2000, 2001, 2003. He was the UGRA Rodeo Director in 2001.At the same time as his involvement with UGRA, Chad also became a member of the Utah Gay Pride Committee in 1997. He served the community for five years in various positions with Utah Pride from 1997 to 2002. He was a Utah Pride Parade Volunteer for three of those years (1997, 1998, 1999) where he implemented the procedures to move the official color guard around from organization to organizations and created an Honor Guard to welcome all organizations to walk with the their flag immediately following the Color Guard. Chad founded the first Children's area for the Pride Festival in 1999, and was the 2002 Chair of The Pride Parade, Grand Marshall, and Reception Committee. With all this involvement, Chad found time to serve as Art Chair in 2001 for the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Utah where he revitalized the struggling art program and improved the quality of works shown. In the fall of 2002 Chad badgered me to come out of retirement and become involved in the community again. Relying on his endless supply of energy I recrudesced and he and I became the Co founders of Utah Stonewall Historical Society. Chad has a vision to rebuild our once massive historical collection, and more importantly preserve our present history. I have a vision to go to bed early. I have rambled on for some length about Chad's involvement in our Lambda Community which many of you may know; but I suspect that what you don't know about Chad is his involvement in the community at large. Chad is a member of the Downtown Alliance of Salt Lake City. In 1999 Chad served as Children's Activity Coordinator (Finger puppets) for Salt Lake City's Downtown Alliance First Night. For the Downtown Alliance First Night 2003 he was Chair of the Family Processional Children's Gathering Committee and he is currently serving on the Downtown Alliance First Night 2004's Event Council as Chair of Family Processional and Children's Gathering committee again and Main Celebration area Entrance designer. Currently Chad sits on the development committee of the Downtown Alliance to create an "In Search of the Best" project. It will be launched this summer with events at the Gallivan Plaza in an effort to enliven downtown. He is also serving on a new holiday committee working with other Alliance members to create better Holiday lighting and displays. I might add also that in an effort to keep Salt Lake beautiful Chad has personally adopted three flower planters by the Downtown Alliance offices in the names of Mixed Media, Utah Stonewall Historical Society, and the Julie Wright New Millennium Chapter, City of Hope. No corner of Utah is too small for Chad to devote his attention. On a larger scale then flower planters, Chad also served as creator, and promoter of the "Adopt a Monument Program from 2001 to the present for the Memory Grove Foundation. He is currently working on a Memory Grove Concert Series Launching 2004 From 1999 to 2002 he was a sponsor and coordinator for the Utah Heritage Foundation's "Historic Home Tour" and food and beverage Chair for the Heritage Awards Reception in 1999 and 2000 Volunteering for the City of Hope he was a founding Board Member of the Julie Wright New Millennium Chapter, Salt Lake City 1999 to the-present and Table Host for the City of Hope's "Food For Hope" from 1995 to 2002. Additionally he's been Registration Chair of the City of Hope's "Work-Out For Hope" from 1995-1998, Decorative Chair from 1998 to 2002, and was the recipient of the First Benevolence in Service Buckle in 2001. As great a service to our Gay community Chad has worked just as hard for a variety of notable charitable community events, i.e.- "The Birds Movie Party at Tracy Aviary, The Patriots Ball, The Planet of the Apes Movie Party at Hogle Zoo, House on Haunted Hill Movie Party at McCune Mansion and the upcoming Wizard of OZ movie party. It is easily estimated between the two UGRA rodeos, the City of Hope, RCGSE, WLMC, GLCCU's art sales, and GLA, Chad has helped raise for both the Gay and non Gay communities, though generating sponsorships, donations, parties, and fundraising events, well over $200,000.00 or more during his sixteen active years as a valued member of our community. Sincerely Ben Williams Co-Director and Historian Class of `69
2006y “Mike [Aaron] I heard from Chuck that you received the Golden Spike Award and was touched by your editorial comment in SLQ. You deserve it so very much. Don't worry about my letter to editor...somethings get in somethings don't. Just wanted Kim and Chuck to know how much I respect the both of them for all they have done and I know a horse race can get pretty heated at times. I didn't post it on the forum site until I saw that it didn't make it in. I can always post my opinions here. LOL Besides I haven't stirred anything up since the Immigrant march. Sounds like Donald [Steward] may be having a stew over the parade. Ted McDonough of SLC Weekly was picking my brain for a story on whether the police had been harassing the parade for a long time. I said that in all the time I was aware of the parade in the 1990's they were cool if not downright helpful.” Ben Williams.
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| Kim Russo |
2006 Dear Editor, It been rare lately that we get the caliber of people we now have running for the office of Emperor of the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire. RCGSE is an institution in the community, which functions primarily as a charitable fundraising organization. Anyone who has been active in this community knows that this organization has had its highs and lows over the past 30 years. But this year I am very excited about the candidates for Emperors, yet at the same time, I am very depressed since both are people I would consider dear friends. One will win and one will lose. That's the name of the game but the real loser will be RCGSE and in some respect the entire community for not having the use of these incredibly gifted, dedicated, and talented people. I certainly hope whoever does not win this year will be on the ballot next year. I first met Kim Russo when she was an AIDS information activist for UAF. She was and is a dynamo. She literally beat the bushes to find Gay men to distribute condoms; without judgment. How many lives were saved by her commitment to this community will never be known but her pain of losing her life partner Barb Barnhart to the disease is known. Kim, a past recipient of the Dr. Kristen Ries Community Service Award, served as an executive in the now defunct Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah, she published her own newspaper, the Xchange, served as Prince Royal of RCGSE and served on the Pride Day Committee for years. Kim has served the community for over 15 years and I am and always have been proud to call her my friend. Chuck Whyte is also running for Emperor. Like Kim he is a past recipient of the Dr. Kristen Ries Award, served as an executive in the GLCCU, and having lost his mother to breast cancer, has raised thousands of dollars for breast cancer research, and along with his brother paid for and donated a grieving room at the U of U medical center. Chuck has been actively involved in the community for well over 25 years
specifically within the Court system where he has earned numerous titles, accolades, and honors. He has several life time achievement awards to his credit from various organizations. He has been involved in the straight community as well serving as a Vista volunteer, a board member of Central City Neighborhood Council, board chair of Salt Lake Citizens Congress, board member of Crossroads Urban Center Utah Stonewall Center which spawned the GLBT Community Center
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| Chuck Whyte |
Ben Williams
2006 THE ROYAL COURT OF THE GOLDEN SPIKE EMPIRE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE XXXI CANDIDATES PRESENTS "ITS UP TO YOU" (Anything Goes Theme) AT "HEAD UP"** MAY 19TH AT 9:30 PM $5.00 suggested donation at the door COME AND MEET THE CANDIDATES AND ENJOY SOME OF SALT LAKES FINEST ENTERTAINER'S...TO NAME A FEW EMPRESS XXX KRYSTYNA SHAYLEE PRINCESS ROYALE XXX KENNEDY CARTIER PRINCESS ROYALE 29 PARIS CHILDERS AND MANY MORE, PLEASE JOIN US IN SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLES CONCERN FUND **A Private Club For Members *Suggested Doantion to Benefit The Peoples Concern Fund
2014 Judge: Utah must honor same-sex marriages performed during 17-day window
Courts • Decision takes effect in 21 days, allowing Utah attorney general’s office time to appeal. BY MARISSA LANG THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE A federal judge ruled Monday that Utah must recognize all same-sex marriages performed in the state during a 17-day window when such unions were legal. In a written ruling, U.S. District
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| Dale A Kimball |
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| Jim Dabakis |
2018 (KUTV)- The Utah Pride Center celebrated the grand opening of their new location near 1380 S. Main Street Saturday. Starting with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 5:30 p.m., the center gave tours of the new building and provided snacks and drinks for the community. “We are thrilled to share this gift with everyone. This building will help ensure our ability to provide critical life saving programs and services.” Rob Moolman, the new Utah Pride Center Executive Director said. “We are striving to become a center that serves our whole community by providing a space for different voices and ideas, and by hosting events that cater to all. The Utah Pride Center is one of few LGBTQ+ centers in the nation providing services to people of all ages, and this new building symbolizes the importance of our work and the communities we serve.” The Utah Pride Center offers a wide variety of youth and adult services including mental health services, youth and adult Survivors of Suicide Attempt (SOSA) support groups, Kids Like Me, Teens Like Us, SAGE, PFLAG, Youth Activity Night, Youth Support Groups, 1 to 5 Club, Men's and Women's support groups, Trans Youth and Adult support groups, and many more. The Utah Pride Center unites, empowers, and celebrates Utah’s diverse LGBTQ+ community by providing a safe and welcoming space for education, partnerships, services, and events which advance our collective health, wellness, and success.
- (Fox News 13) SALT LAKE CITY -- Hundreds of people gathered in Salt Lake City
Saturday as the new Utah Pride Center held their grand opening. Utah Pride held a ribbon cutting ceremony at their center's new location, 1380 South Main Street. Rob Moolman, the new Utah Pride Center Executive Director, said the new location ensures their ability to provide critical life saving programs and services, and he said they are striving to become a center that serves the whole community by providing space for different voices and ideas. Moolman also noted that the Utah Pride Center is one of few LGBTQ centers in the US that provide services to people of all ages. "A young person moves into that space and they see themselves reflected in the people that are there, and more than just reflected, they see themselves celebrated," Moolman said at Saturday's event.
Sue Robbins, Carol Gnade, Rob Moolman - What a night... and by “more than 100 people”, I am sure that when the dust cleared it will read “more than 500 people” Thanks to all of the media that was there for our evening.
- Michael Aaron I was verklempt a few times tonight as I thought about how the community is excited about the new Utah Pride Center, shown by the overwhelming crowd that showed up at the grand opening tonight. Then, for the stories I keep hearing of how a community came together to make each element happen. Hundreds of small stories that make up a large one. Yes, it takes a village, and Salt Lake is a wonderful village. Congrats to the leaders of the Center, congrats to the capital fund donors, congrats to the individuals and businesses who helped in a thousand ways to make it happen. That will be my story in the next issue: It took a village. "I am brave, I am bruised I am who I'm meant to be, this is me Look out 'cause here I come And I'm marching on to the beat I drum I'm not scared to be seen I make no apologies, this is me."
2018 Utah Pride Center opens doors of its new 'beacon' By Marjorie Cortez Deseret News May 19, 2018, SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Pride Center finally has a home of its own. Friends and supporters gathered Saturday for the ribbon cutting of its new home at 1380 S. Main, just south of Smith's Ballpark. "It's just such a fabulous day for us. When I say us, I'm talking about our community. We waited a long time, I think since the early '90s, to have a place to call our own that we own, that we can grow all of our programs and save lives and make life entertaining. Now we have it," said Carol Gnade, who recently retired as the center's executive director. The building, which was once a bank (the vault remains inside) and the Mexican Consulate, features an open flow and is flooded with natural light. The center includes meeting spaces, inviting common areas and offices for small groups and individual counseling. Sue Robbins, who leads the center's board of directors, described pride centers as beacons for the LGBT community. "It's where our community comes together, where we find community. If you don't know where else to go, you go to your pride center. You move to another city, you come to the pride center. It's our safe place, if you can call any place a safe place," she said. Robbins added, "This amazing building is our beacon. This is the place." The Utah Pride Center offers a wide variety of services to youth and adults, including mental health services as well as support groups for people who have attempted suicide, transgender youths and adults and others. It is a "safe and welcoming space for education, partnerships, services and events which advance our collective health, wellness and success," a Utah Pride Center press release center says. Rob Moolman, the Utah Pride Center executive director, explained his accent is "deep, deep South," which in his case means South Africa. Moolman borrowed a term often used by Nelson Mandela, a political leader and anti-apartheid revolutionary, ubuntu, which is from the Nguni Bantu. "Ubuntu means, I am because we are. Another way to look at it is, a person is a person through other people," Moolman said. "We are here because we are connected. We are connected through our history, through the struggle, through our highs, through our lows, through love and through joy. We stand here because we see each other." Moolman, in a prepared statement, said the Utah Pride Center is "thrilled to share this gift with everyone. This building will help ensure our ability to provide critical life-saving programs and services.”
2018 Excerpts from Journal of Ben Williams "After eating we all went to the Grand Opening of the Pride Center and there was huge turn out and very impressive waiting to go in after the speeches were made. We were somewhat in the back so didn’t hear much. We saw Walt Larrabee out and about and that was fun. He looked well. There were lots of others I knew and a lot more I didn’t. Once inside, it was so crowded that didn’t get to see Connell’ O'Donovan's gallery of Gay and Lesbian Pioneers but for a glimpse. The food was set up in that room and so it was the most crowded. They were serving wine so that was packing in the people as well. Since I had been in a few weeks before, I kind of took people around. Kent Scadlock was there volunteering for Pride Day. I saw Liz Pitts whose in charge of Pride Day and we hugged. I've known her since her LGSU days. She said she was 50 now…Wow that made me feel old. I introduce the new director Robert Moolman to Charlene Orchard the person who helped established the old Utah Stonewall Center for a bit of continuity. Mike Romero said that the center was filled with Trans people so I guess they found their space.
Kent Scadlock wrote; "The Grand Opening of the new Utah Pride Center was fantastic. The new space is incredible and it was an honor to volunteer for this event. Hundreds of people showed up to celebrate the opening of this facility that will change lives of members of my community. Thank you Liz, Carol, Robert, Sue for letting me volunteer and thank you Dennis Lee for being a great volunteer partner!
Robert Moolman wrote: I hear that the new director loved meeting you and that he looks forward to a far longer chat sometime soon. He is a little in awe of you and your work. Thank you so much for being there.
Ron Johnson wrote: Great to see you at the Pride Center Grand Opening. What a crowd! It didn't take long for my claustrophobia to kick in. I reluctantly made my exit and walked back home. On the way there, it was wonderful to see a bunch of other people heading the other direction. They'd parked on the streets and were making their way to the celebration. I saw several single people, a straight couple, a group of very masculine lesbians, gay guys holding hands as they walked and lastly, a trans person, as well. It was a wonderful sight to see such diversity on the streets near my home. I hope within my lifetime, we'll see that same thing everywhere. One of the items in your May 21st Gay History account struck a nerve. It was the accounting of Babs DeLay when she provided the membership list from the Puss & Boots bar to the Times attorneys. As your account mentioned, her actions divided the local lesbian community. At the time, I was much more active socially in the gay community than I've been in the past years. Back then, I felt more comfortable around lesbians than I did gay men. I eventually wanted to find a life-companion, but didn't appreciate the promiscuous one-night-stand aggressive social situations of the men's bars. That changed in the late 80s when I became active in the UGRA. But before then, I frequented Chars, Perky's and Puss & Boots in those early years. I made many lasting friendships. And I'm still in contact with those fine women even now. I vividly recall the animosity and hatred that Babs DeLay generated by her actions. The fact that she would "out" all the members of Puss & Boots by providing their names to a public organization was met with intense anger. I'm sure you're aware that during the 1980s, most gay people were very much in the closet, especially in ultra-conservative Utah. To have one of their own decide to "out" them for their own financial profit made it even worse. One of my closest lesbian friends worked for the State of Utah (Tax Commission) and worried right up until her retirement that she might be terminated by Babs' actions. Even though Babs DeLay has done some good things within the gay community since that unfortunate incident at Puss & Boots to long ago, many of the now-aging lesbians remember her actions and are hesitant to forgive. Just thought I'd add my 2-cents to the report of that incident. Thanks again for all you do for our community. You truly are a treasure.
2021 Salt Lake Tribune Charles Lynn Frost, Utah thespian who brought Sister Dottie S. Dixon to life, dies at 67 Through Dottie, Frost called attention to LGBTQ issues within the LDS faith, using humor to heal. By Sean P. Means Charles Lynn Frost, the Utah actor and playwright who created the irrepressible Sister Dottie S. Dixon — a Latter-day Saint mom with a big mouth and a bigger heart — has died. Frost died Wednesday, May 19, after a battle with colon cancer, his friend Babs De Lay, a Salt Lake City real estate agent and LGBTQ activist, wrote in a Facebook post. He was 67. “A lot of people probably think they’re the most special people in the whole world, because they were his friend,” his oldest son, Ryan Frost, said Thursday. Frost and Troy Williams first created the character of Sister Dottie in 2007 for a weekly half-hour radio show, “What Not, What Have You and Such as That with Sister Dottie S. Dixon,” on community station KRCL, where Williams was the station’s public affairs director. Dottie was a loyal, casserole-making member of the Spanish Fork (she pronounced it “fark”) Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — but sometimes found the church’s shunning of the LGBTQ community contrary to Jesus’ message to love thy neighbor. Frost worked with Williams, now the director of the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Utah, to expand Dottie’s story into a play. Pygmalion Theatre Company (now Pygmalion Productions) premiered “The Passion of Dottie S. Dixon” in May 2009. In the play, which parodied the life of Joan of Arc, Frost reenacted scenes from Dottie’s life: marrying her husband Don and going on their honeymoon in “romantic Panguitch”; taking a road trip through Nevada, when her RV broke down at the Burning Man festival; raising her son, Donnie Jr., who comes out as gay; becoming an LGBTQ advocate and being “burned at the stake center” in her “discommunication” trial; and her triumphant entry into the celestial kingdom, which “looks just like Spanish Fork.” “Not everything that has to do with LGBT life has to be so tragic and so dramatic,” Frost told The Salt Lake Tribune when the play premiered. “Not all has to end up in sadness and death.” Dottie, Ryan Frost said, was “an incredible outlet” for his dad to deal with his upbringing as a closeted gay Latter-day Saint man in Utah County. “He was able to find comedy in it,” his son said. “You could put that [show] in Oklahoma or Florida, and nobody would think it was funny,” Ryan Frost said. “But in Utah, everybody’s like, ‘Holy crap! This is ridiculous!’ It’s spot on. Everybody can relate to it.” Barbara Bannon, in her May 2009 review for The Tribune, called the play “a strange fusion of tongue-in-cheek jabs at the Mormon church, a focus on the serious issue of ostracism faced by gay LDS children and their families, and the call for Mormon women to be leaders.” It worked, Bannon wrote, because of “the force of Dottie’s personality as portrayed by Frost. He has the audience’s complete attention from the opening moments when he offers cushions and snacks to make sure everyone is comfortable.” Frost’s portrayal of Sister Dottie “was sharp, witty, but always imbued with compassion,” said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, who befriended Frost a decade ago over a shared interest in social justice. “He was incredibly gifted and had a wicked wit about him, and he used that wit to pop pretension and arrogance. Through his satire, and thoughtful criticism, he really allowed us to be better.” The play was such a hit that Frost, Williams and director Fran Pruyn updated it for a second run in the fall. A companion book, “The Mormon Kama Sutra,” followed, with illustrations by Tribune editorial cartoonist Pat Bagley. Frost, as Dottie, made regular appearances for several years on X96′s “Radio From Hell” show, dispensing etiquette advice and brownie recipes. Frost and his friend Christopher Wixom wrote a sequel, “Dottie: The Sister Lives On,” for Salt Lake Acting Company in 2012, which Wixom directed. “Art is one of the most powerful tools we have,” Frost said in 2009, “and comedy and parody is one of the most powerful parts of theater.” Frost was born May 11, 1954, in Payson, Utah — which had the nearest hospital to Spanish Fork, where he grew up, his son Ryan said. He earned his master’s degree in fine arts from Brigham Young University. Frost married Kelli Allred in 1975, and together they had four children: Ryan, twin boys Aaron and Joel, and daughter Rachel. “I went to my [Latter-day Saint] bishop and said a woman was in love with me and I loved her but didn’t know what to do,” Frost told the Tribune in 2014. “He knew I was gay. He told me that if I married her, it would go away. And if I had children, it would go away faster.” Frost said he stayed in the marriage for 20 years, but the knowledge that he was gay didn’t go away. Both Frost and his wife were teachers; Frost taught drama at Payson High School and later at Mountain View High School in Orem. Ryan Frost said his dad’s students won statewide drama competitions frequently at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. He also directed community theater in Payson and Provo, including the first community productions in Utah of the musicals “Annie” and “Big River,” according to his son. Once, Frost and his wife attended a production of Tony Kushner’s play “Angels in America,” in which one of the main characters was, like Frost, a Latter-day Saint trying to hide his homosexuality. “At both intermissions I said, ‘I have to go to the bathroom,’ but really I went out on the streets and took deep breaths of air,” Frost told The Tribune in 2010, noting that it felt like Kushner was writing about him. “It was frightening. Seeing the play was torturous for me but also magnificent.” When the marriage ended, “I decided I wouldn’t live a lie like that ever again,” he said in 2014. “It was a hard place to be, growing up in LDS culture, knowing he was gay, and having to hide that,” said Ryan Frost, who was graduating from high school at the time. After leaving teaching, Frost worked for a while at Franklin Covey, and freelanced as a consultant and life coach, his son said. And Frost took on impactful work as an actor, beyond Sister Dottie. He was one of the lead actors in Plan-B Theatre’s 2001 production of “The Laramie Project.” In 2006, he played the dad of a recently deceased gay man in Carol Lynn Pearson’s drama “Facing East,” which started at Salt Lake City’s Plan-B Theatre and made a brief run off-Broadway and in San Francisco. And when SLAC staged a 2010 production of “Angels in America,” Frost played lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn. In 2011, Frost’s portrayal of Sister Dottie earned him the Mayor’s Artist Award at the Utah Arts Festival. The same year, Salt Lake City’s First Unitarian Church gave him the Fairly Free Thinker Award, and Sister Dottie was the grand marshal of Moab’s first-ever Pride festival. In 2018, Frost directed Jim Dabakis, then a state senator, in “Stories From My Soul,” a one-man play in which Dabakis portrayed himself, telling stories of his colorful life. Frost worked with Dabakis to build a dramatic arc out of the former radio host and politician’s stories. Frost married Doug Lott, a truck driver, in New York in 2011, and again in Utah on Dec. 26, 2013 — during the 17-day window when a judge’s ruling in the Kitchen v. Herbert case made same-sex marriage suddenly legal in Utah, before the Utah Attorney General’s office filed for a stay pending an appeal. That marriage also ended in divorce. Frost was a fierce advocate for gay issues in Utah. He was one of the original board members of Equality Utah. He produced events to support gay teens. He worked for a time at the Utah Pride Center, organizing programs for elderly LGBTQ people. Frost is survived by his four children — Ryan, Aaron, Joel and Rachel — and 10 grandchildren. One grandchild, Tobin Frost, died previously.
Obituary:
Charles Lynn Frost Q Salt Lake Charles
passed away at home during a nap after a valiant battle with colon cancer. The
following history is written by Charles himself and redacted by his friend Babs
De Lay: Charles grew up in a loving family
to Darrell and Zelphia Frost in Spanish Fork, Utah with four siblings: Colleen,
Patsy, Lamar, and Kenneth. His parents were married during the Great Depression
and he said, “My father could do anything, fix anything, make anything. My
mother was extraordinarily strong in personality and had a hard work ethic. As
a child, I loved our garden, the trees, the animals, and the outdoors, and
shadowing both my parents and my oldest brother.” He was eight years younger than his
oldest sister and 20 years younger than his oldest brother. “I was raised
practically as an only child. Needless to say, I did a lot by myself. I always
wished for a little brother or sister, which I think should be a rule for
parents: if you’re gonna have a mistake baby later in life then you damned well
better have another!” His niece Debra and nephew John played the role of little
sister and brother to him, and their mother and Charles’ big sister, Colleen,
acted as a second mother to him at times when he was young. Charles was named after his grandfather
who died before Charles was born. His dad built their family home all by
himself. It was the only home his parents ever knew, and they both died in the
home, and both passed in Charles’ arms. “A cherished two moments in my life. It
was a safe home, a home of love, a simple, yet almost perfect home to grow up
in. My favorite room was the kitchen. My mother was a phenomenal cook. Not a
chef, nothing so ‘fancy as that’ (as she would put it). My love for good food I
got entirely from her.” Sister Dottie S. Dixon, one of the many characters he
played in life, was based a lot on Charles’ mother. He remembers when he was three years old
he let his sister talk him into putting him in the clothes dryer and turn it
on. “Halfway through I forgot to hold on and got kinda banged up. A good idea
at the time but both butts were paddled.” “My dad raised Bantam chickens. We had
one extremely snarky rooster. He chased me as a little kid, pecked my arms and
legs, and once sank both claws into my knee and hooked on for a ride. He scared
the hell out of me. I would run and scream for my mom or dad and yell at that
damned rooster. Sorry to say, I’ve been compared to a feisty rooster at times
when I’m aggressive and I guess that bird’s traits transferred over to me.” Charles
loved to chase the chickens around the alfalfa. “A 2-year-old kid in diapers
chasing decapitated chickens, my God! No wonder I’m warped!” Raised LDS, he went to two meetings on
Sundays in his local Ward. “I was a hellion in Church and once during sacrament
meeting, I was getting taken out by my mom for my notoriously bad behavior, and
I yelled out to the whole congregation ‘I’ll be back after my spanking!'” Sunday dinners were a ritual – roast
beef, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, Jell-O salad, carrots, beets, and his
mom’s famous cream pies (coconut and banana). His first-grade teacher was Mrs. Ivory
and the kids had nuclear drills to see how fast they could run home. “Bell
rings, doors fling open, hundreds of kids running their elementary asses off –
racing to get home. Cops stopping traffic, parents and teachers with
stopwatches. My God no wonder the Boomer Generation is so screwed up!” Charles’ father, Darrell Frost, worked
at Ironton, Geneva Steel, and was eventually a forest ranger. “He worked very
hard as a laborer most of his life – something I’m very proud of and admire
tremendously. My dad was the hardest worker I’ve ever known. He was a man’s
man. His love of nature is genetically mine. He brought me home many a surprise
from the mountains as a child. My favorite was two pet chipmunks which I had
for two years. Pets teach responsibility, accountability, and safety, not to
mention caretaking. My pets once weathered a rainstorm by curling up in a
coffee can which I used for their water. They were non-responsive when I found
them. I cried and wailed. My dad put them on a warm towel on the clothes dryer
and brought them back to life. I thought he was magical!” Mother Zelphia always worked to make
ends meet. “She was a lunch lady and then a seamstress. One of the perks of
being in the lunch lady network was me winning the school drawing competition
in first grade. The challenge was to draw and color a mint green lunch tray
full of food. I won and wondered if the whole judging wasn’t rigged.” His mom bought an upright piano and his
sister Pat played very well. His mom decided Charles should play too and he
hated lessons. “I believe music is the pinnacle of shared emotional human
experience. It is the most respected art by me.” The family had an RCA black-and-white TV
until Charles was eleven when they upgraded to a Zenith color TV with remote
control.“My favorite program was ‘I Love Lucy’ because of the excellent comic
timing of Lucille Ball. I also remember ‘Queen for a Day’ which my mom watched
a lot. We faithfully watched ‘Bonanza’ on Sunday nights, the ‘Kennecott Family
Movie,’ and ‘Nightmare Theater.’ TV had a HUGE part in making up my adult sense
of humor. I also remember ‘Father Knows Best,’ ‘Leave It To Beaver’ (Wally!),
and ‘My Three Sons.'” His mother called the traveling homeless
in their town “hobos.” “We lived near fields and the railroad tracks. Often times
these men would come to our door and ask for food [in exchange] for work around
our place. My mom always fed them and gave them a job to do. Her generosity was
always an example to me. One particular man came inside and ate lunch. I was
both scared and fascinated. He was ‘a hobo’ after all but he seemed normal, but
displaced. I’ve never looked at the homeless quite the same way after having
shared my stack of baloney sandwiches with that one that day.” His oldest brother’s fiancée and later
wife spent time reading him bedtime stories and “She spoiled me horribly. I
remember going to my first Saturday matinee with her, in the big city of Provo,
at the Academy Theater. It was Disney’s ‘Sleeping Beauty.’ It scared and
fascinated me at the same time. I enjoyed my childhood home (I moved away at
age 18) tremendously. However, having the home I grew up in
located in Spanish Fork, Utah is another story altogether. I really hated
Spanish Fork — the schools, the myopia, the predominant religion, the
conservative, uneducated, narrow-mindedness.” He was a Cub Scout but “Every time I put
my uniform on, I got a nose bleed. I was a life scout with tons of merit badges
– no Eagle though.” “I recall getting quarters for doing
certain jobs as a kid. I may have started getting an allowance at around age
11. It was whatever amount my mom felt I’d earned that particular week. I would
get to choose a small bag of hand-selected penny candy at Dick’s (Hawkins
Market) for being a good boy. I ate dime fries with fry sauce and drank nickel
lime Cokes (such excellent food with genetic heart disease – NOT!).” His first job was selling nightcrawlers.
His father helped him bury an old fridge in the ground which they filled with
peat moss, some coffee grounds for food, and lots of worms. Charles sold them
for $.12 a dozen. He then worked as a stocker/bagger at Franks Market on Main
Street for $2.35 per hour. In his very early years, Charles did not
know that acting was a profession. “When I was about seven or eight, I saw a
transitionally pivotal production of ‘Carousel.’ After seeing that I knew it
had to be the theater for me! My love of the theater only intensified until I
met a huge change agent in high school: Mr. B Davis Evans, my high school drama
teacher. He had an immeasurable impact on not only me but hundreds of other
lives. I wanted to do the same, so I went into theater and education. In
hindsight I should have just stuck with theater – I would have been rich! In high school, I won several acting and
dramatic competitions and It’s where the real competitor in me was fully
liberated and realized. I was known statewide and winning first-place trophies
validated me and gave me solid self-confidence at a crucial time in my life. I
loved being the last to perform in a competitive final round, and then bringing
home a first-place trophy. This competitiveness unfortunately carried over too
much into my more mature adult life. Humility is the mother of all principles,
and integrity the father; a tricky balance.” He credited the following with
individuals who had the greatest impact on his life: “My father – his strong,
quiet manner. He taught caution, thinking through any situation, and
self-reliance. My brother LaMar – he taught me fun, love of nature, and how to
love children. My sister Colleen – she taught me patience, kindness, and
non-judgment. Mormon church leaders were always inaccessible to me — too
formal, too structured, too emotionally and socially awkward.” His father died of a heart attack when
Charles was 17. “My father was a man who believed in justice and fairness,
which are certainly anthems of mine as well. He was FOR the working man, and I
am more and more socialist each year I grow older.” “I was always a rebel as a teenager –
usually with a cause. When my father died, I then became pretty angry. My anger
manifested in rebellious behavior. I’m sorry for the turmoil it caused my
mother (a 50-something widow raising a creative and rebellious teen).” He missed the draft for Vietnam by three
months. “Thank God for Richard Nixon, the only goddamned Republican I ever
voted for!” Charles didn’t go on an LDS mission. “Because
it wasn’t the right thing for me. Pressure, some guilt, some real tension for a
20-year-old. It was my first foray into being authentic. I should have embraced
that authenticity much more thereafter. I didn’t. Now it is my second most
important value, only behind integrity. Integrity to me is when your values and
your actions are aligned. Authenticity to me is being who your soul tells you,
you truly are.” His Bishop had asked him if he had
feelings for men and he said he did. He was advised not to go on a mission and
to get married. “Religion and spirituality are not the
same things. Neither is gospel and religion. Jesus Christ is not the only
messiah, and the golden rule should be, but rarely is, actually practiced by
practitioners of religion. It wasn’t a religious or church person who had
influence over me. Others did and I wanted a religious leader to inspire me – I
truly did. But one never came into my life. There have been many, many
spiritual heroes and examples in my life after age 40. It was around that same
time that I forsook religion. The universe won’t send you something powerful or
meaningful until you make a space for it.” He began college at Southern Utah
University on an acting/theater scholarship. “Cedar City, being the armpit of
Utah, made me change quickly. I transferred to BYU after one semester. They
re-issued a scholarship to me that I’d previously declined. Out of the frying
pan and into the proverbial fire! If I’d never gone to BYU, how different my
life might have been. How splendid and yet how void of so many, many things
that bring me utter joy in my adult years. Next time around I’ll choose
Berkeley or Stanford!” Charles graduated with a BA and MFA from “The BYU.” Charles met Kelli Jimison when he was a
college sophomore. “She was very loud and somewhat bossy when I first met her.
Later we were in a play, ‘Mask Club,’ together at BYU and it was then that we
started dating seriously. I was attracted to her rebellious and spontaneous
personality and character. She was very feisty and outspoken, plus she was a
Californian. Her intelligence to date is keen, and that’s what drew me towards
her.” He knew he was gay and a devout Mormon
at the same time. As practicing members of the faith would do, he turned to his
bishop for spiritual advice and was told that if he married Kelli his gay
thoughts would go away, and if they had children, his gayness would disappear
faster. In 1975, Charles married Kelli Jimison. “It
was a very exciting and fun day. I was only sad to know that my father wasn’t
there and that Kelli’s father had to spend the wedding in a motor home (since
he was not approved to go into the Temple) – something I would sadly experience
myself many years later at my son Aaron’s wedding at the Salt Lake City LDS
Temple. Exclusion, conditions, how sad, how wrong. We ate our wedding day
dinner at a restaurant called The Nut Tree between Sacramento and San
Francisco. I drank too many large soft drinks at dinner, and I didn’t want to
wait in a long men’s room line to pee. Needless to say, and a long drive later,
I peed a 3-piece navy blue wool suit about a half from the Bay Bridge. Utter
and complete mortification!” After a few years together Charles and
Kelli began having children. They had four: Ryan, twin boys Aaron and Joel, and
daughter Rachel. “We talked about it before we were even married. Having kids
was always a priority, a dream, and indeed the greatest blessing four times
over. Being parents was our greatest collective roles.” Their first apartment was in North Orem.
“Birth control pills and mood swings too. Yikes! After the pills went away, so
did we – having moved to Provo. We lived below Evilene, the fat landlord from
the ‘she Wiz.'” He graduated from BYU with a master’s
degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Film and Theater Direction,
Instructional Design, and Adult Learning and taught drama at Payson and
Mountain View High Schools. Students under his direction won many statewide drama
competitions. He concurrently produced community theater in Utah County by
directing shows such as “Big River” and “Annie.” His marriage to Kelli was happy but
Charles did not feel he was being authentic. He opted to stay married and have
children but after twenty years of marriage, hiding his homosexuality, he
divorced Kelli so that “I would never live a lie like that again.” “Living through 1993 was the hardest and
possibly bravest thing I ever did. In one year, I came out of the closet, left
Mormonism, changed professions, got ex-communicated, divorced, and held my
mother as she died.” In writing notes in his last days,
Charles reflected on his favorite memory of his mother. “My dear mother is a
collection of memories. Many are very real today as I’m dealing with death,
loss, and disease. I’m writing this literally as my last entry. It is also the
hardest for some odd reason. I’m going to select my childhood memories of my mom.
For it was in those years she seemed most fulfilled, happy, and satisfied in
her hard life. My father was her utter center and reason for living. My
memories of my mom working for her family – cooking and cleaning, completely
sacrificing in every possible way. All five of us children never doubted for
one single moment that she would give her life for ours. My parents’ love was a
very strong and powerful influence and example in retrospect. Ultimately a true
shaper of who I am as a father, lover, partner, companion, and now
grandfather.” He left teaching, moved to Salt Lake
City, and was employed by Franklin Covey and then later, a life coach. His
choice to live closer to more live theater landed him roles at the Salt Lake
Acting Company and regional productions like “Greater Tuna,” “A Tuna
Christmas,” “God’s Country,” “The Foreigner,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the
Way to the Forum,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Semmelweiss,” “The Imaginary
Invalid,” “Ah Wilderness,” and “Prisoner of Second Avenue.” He will be
remembered for the role of evil Roy Cohn in “Angels in America.” Charles was also the founder and
artistic director of Provo Theater Company and for 10 years he directed such
plays as “Oleanna,” “The Boys Next Door,” “Big River,” “Peter Pan, ”
“Godspell,” and “Lend Me a Tenor.” He was president, vice president, and
board member for the Educational Theater Assn., where he was given the
prestigious President’s Award, and is in the EDTA Hall of Fame. He was involved as an actor, board
member, and committee member with The Sundance Playwright’s Laboratory, The
Utah Arts Council, The College Board, The Kennedy Center Educational Arts Advisory
Board, and the Getty Foundation. He worked well with others who listened.
“Listening is most important; people don’t care how much you know until they
know how much you care. Listening builds trust/ trustworthiness. Candid honesty
is also crucial, nothing worse than a passive/aggressive team member. Standing
up for one another is essential, too. Not being duplicitous. Vision, energy,
passion, and engagement around common purpose must all be discussed and infused
for a good team to become a great team. Taking responsibility for your choices
and actions also goes a long way.” Charles was a celebrated actor, director,
and activist who created the famous persona of Sister Dottie S. Dixon, an LDS
mother who fiercely loved her gay son. “Sister” appeared on KRCL and KXRK’s
“Radio From Hell” for years and sold out theatrical performances at the Salt
Lake Acting Company. She would appear at fundraisers for the Utah AIDS
Foundation and the Utah Pride Center, often touting her homegrown Utah wisdom
and sharing vile recipes of Jell-O salad with carrots and celery, candy bar
salad, and of course, her secret to funeral potatoes. In 2011, Charles’ portrayal of Sister
Dottie S. Dixon in “The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixon, Second Helpings” won
him the Mayor’s Artist Award at the Utah Arts Festival. That same year, Salt
Lake City’s First Unitarian Church gave him the “Fairly Free Thinker Award” and
Sister Dottie was the grand marshal of Moab’s first-ever Pride festival. He was
on the cover of QSaltLake Magazine as Person of the Year in December. It was a big year for Charles as he
married Doug Lott, followed up with a legal marriage in Utah on December 26th,
2013 during the 17-day window when a judge’s ruling in the Kitchen v Herbert
case made same-sex marriage suddenly legal in Utah. They divorced several years
later. As a leader in the LGBTQ+ community, he
served as president, board member, and chair of the Mission Values and
Leadership Development Team for the Utah Pride Center, as well as a board
member for Equality Utah. Charles has passed and is somewhere out
in the ether with his beloved mother and siblings. Although he did not believe
in organized religion, Charles was a very spiritual man and followed the
principles of Tao and Native American tribes. Parents: Darryl Jarvis and Zelphia Frost
(deceased); Siblings: LaMar, Colleen, Patsy (all deceased), Kenneth; Children:
Charles Ryan (Alisa) Frost, Aaron Jarvis (Sarai) Frost, Joel Jarvis (Mandi)
Frost, Rachel Frost (Ryan); Grandchildren: Demeree Frost, Naomi Frost, Charles
Tobin Frost (deceased), Joceline Frost, Audrey Frost, Ryan Connor Frost, Owen
Frost, Jorel Frost, Fynn Frost, Freya Frost, Cormac Frost. A public Celebration of Life will be
held on June 5th, from 4–6 PM at Neil O’Donnell Funeral Home at 372 E 100 S,
Salt Lake City.
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