This Week In Lambda History by Ben Williams, ben@slmetro.com
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SALT LAKE METRO ■ OCTOBER 13, 2005
1 OCTOBER 1969 Gay Liberation Front organizes in Salt Lake City. 1973 Metropolitan Community Church of Salt Lake City hires a pastor, Rev. Michael England, creating a split in the congregation. The Grace Christian Church is formed with Pastor LaVerl K. Harris. 1976 Ray Henke and Bill Woodbury incorporate the Gay Service Coalition with the state of Utah. Their motto is: “We are interested in the gay scene, first, last and always.” The Coalition operated the Gay Help Line. 1976 The Open Door publishes its first issue as a forum for the Gay Service Coalition. 1979 MCC Pastor Robert M. Waldrop becomes the editor and publisher of The Open Door. 1985 Patty Reagan, Ph.D., associate professor of health education at the University of Utah, creates the Salt Lake AIDS Foundation as a non-profit health resource information organization devoted to promoting prevention of AIDS. 1985 Duane Dawson, Richard Starley, and Lynn Koshimi form AIDS Project Utah to provide services to people with AIDS. Dawson is the first director. 1985 David Nelson runs for a Salt Lake City Council seat as an openly gay man, but loses in the October primary, receiving 320 votes. 1990 The Bridge publishes its first issue. Alice Hart is the publisher and Becky Moorman is the editor. 1990 An anti-discrimination clause to the University of Utah’s student bill of rights, spearheaded by the Lesbian and Gay Student Union, Rocky (Connell) O’Donavan and Debra Burrington of the Women’s Studies program, is adopted. 1990 The Horizon House opens as a facility for people with AIDS. 1994 The Sixth Annual Living With AIDS Conference, with the theme “Beyond the Virus” is held in Salt Lake City. Torie Osborn, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, is keynote speaker. 1995 An article titled “Same-Gender Attraction,” written by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Apostle Dallin Oakes, states that the concept of being “homosexual” or “lesbian” is incompatible with LDS Theology. 1995 Charlene Orchard and Debra Burrington found the Utah Human Rights Coalition to assist the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. 1997 After operating six and a half years, the Utah Stonewall Center closed its doors at 770 S. 300 West.
2 OCTOBER 1976 At an LDS semi-annual conference, Apostle Boyd K. Packer encourages young men to physically assault missionary companions who show a sexual interest in them. “I repeat, very plainly, physical mischief with another man is forbidden. It is forbidden by the Lord. There are some men who entice young men to join them in these immoral acts. If you are ever approached to participate in anything like that, it is time to vigorously resist. While I was in a mission on one occasion, a missionary said he had something to confess. I was very worried because he just could not get himself to tell me what he had done. After patient encouragement he finally blurted out, “I hit my companion.” “Oh, is that all,” I said in great relief. “But I floored him,” he said. After learning a little more, my response was, “Well, thanks. Somebody had to do it, and it wouldn’t be well for a General Authority to solve the problem that way. I am not recommending that course to you, but I am not omitting it. You must protect yourself.” 1992 LDS Apostle Dr. Russell Nelson speaks about the increase of HIV and AIDS, saying, “An epidemic has been forecast—a plague fueled by a vocal few who exhibit greater concern for civil rights than for public health—a plague abetted by the immoral.” 3 OCTOBER 1987 The Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists hold a two day conference at the University of Utah. Carol Lynn Pearson, author of Goodbye I Love You, and David Sharpton, a 26 yearold LDS native of Dallas, speak at the conference. 1988 Utah Valley Men’s Group was informed that the standards office of Brigham Young University would no longer allow students to attend any gay organization. 1994 Gay artist and activist Richard (Ragnar) McCall dies of AIDS at 35. 1999 Kathy Worthington’s group, Utahns for Fairness, holds a protest at LDS General Conference over the church’s financing of anti-gay marriage initiatives in various states. 4 OCTOBER 1952 LDS Apostle J. Reuben Clark speaks in Relief Society General Conference on homosexuality. He is the first General Authority to publicly use the word “homosexual,” “masturbation” and “bestiality” in a public discourse. 1981 Ethyl (Randy Smith) and Friends for Gay Rights picket Temple Square during the LDS Conference after receiving permission to parade through downtown Salt Lake City. 1982 Michael Aaron and Iris Gonzales are elected coPresidents of Lesbian and Gay Student Union at the
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University of Utah. 1986 Chuck Whyte presents the fifth annual Unity Show, which became a catalyst for organizing a forum for gay and lesbian leaders and activists that later was known as Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah. 1987 Members of the Wasatch Leathermen are attacked in front of the In-Between, a gay bar at 579 W. 200 South. 1998 LDS leader Gordon B. Hinckley states “People inquire on those who consider themselves so-called gays and lesbians. My response is that we love them as sons and daughters of God. But we cannot stand silent if they indulge in immoral activity, if they try to uphold and defend and live in a so-called same-sex marriage situation.” 5 OCTOBER 1980 Wess Jolley is elected president of Lesbian and Gay Student Union at University of Utah. He served for two terms. 1983 Nikki Boyer opens the lesbian bar, Reflections, at 315 W. 400 South. 6 OCTOBER 1946 LDS Church leader Joseph F. Smith’s resignation letter is read in the church’s semi-annual conference. He claimed “an extended illness,” as reason for leaving his hereditary post. His cousin, LDS President George Albert Smith, learned that Joseph F. Smith had been in a sexual relationship with a 21 year-old LDS sailor and allowed the resignation. 1985 The Royal Court of the Golden Spike’s Emperor Scott Stites organizes the first AIDS Awareness Week. 7 OCTOBER 1985 Graham Bell is elected president of Lesbian and Gay Student Union and Richard Rodriguez is elected Vice President. 1986 Elizabeth Van Der Burgh and John Lorenzini of AIDS Project Utah begin training sessions for the Utah Department of Social Services. 1988 The National Affirmation Conference is held in West Hollywood, California. Russ Lane, founder of Wasatch Affirmation, hosts the event as national director. 1990 Photographer Cheri Piefke’s weeklong photo gallery of people with AIDS is shown at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. 8 OCTOBER 1986 Russ Lane, director and founder of Wasatch Affirmation, visits the office of Hartman Rector of the LDS First Quorum of the Seventy to complain about his anti-gay remarks. 1989 Robert I. McQueen, former editor of the Advocate, dies of AIDS at home in Los Angeles. Born in Price, Utah, he graduated from the University of Utah in 1967. 9 OCTOBER 1958 A Salt Lake City newspaper prints an article of a rookie police officer who spotted two men committing a felony in a Pioneer Park restroom. 1982 The Salt Lake Men’s Choir is founded in the home of Ron Richardson. 1983 Women Aware hold an organizational meeting to create a Food Co-op at 20 Rue Jacob, located at 232 E. 800 South 1987 Four members of the Utah delegation of the March on Washington Committee meet with Rep. Wayne Owens in Washington, D.C. 10 OCTOBER 1993 Horizon House Project’s Utah Quilt, an AIDSawareness progra, is displayed at the State Capitol. 1994 Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt holds an unpublicized 75-minute meeting with a dozen gay high school students, arranged by Jim Dabakis. 1998 Sen. Pete Suazo, D-Salt Lake, is keynote speaker at the 10th Annual Living With AIDS Conference. 11 OCTOBER 1979 On their way to the March on Washington, Rev. Troy Perry, founder of MCC, and Robin Tyler, a lesbian comedienne, speak to a group 35 gay Utah activists who met the Great American Freedom Train in Ogden at 6:00 a.m. A Utah flag, donated by Joe Redburn, is given to Rev. Perry to take to Washington.
1985 Affirmation’s national conference, held in San Diego, addresses conflict over the formation of the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ. The new church is barred from soliciting converts at Affirmation meetings. 1987 The second March on Washington draws over half a million people. About 30 Utah gay and lesbian activists attend to protest the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding sodomy laws of the United States. 1988 AIDS activist David Sharpton is invited to speak at the Interfaith Conference on AIDS in Salt Lake City. 1991 The fourth National Coming Out Day is observed at the Utah Stonewall Center and by Queer Nation marching at the Federal Building in downtown Salt Lake City. 1995 Candace Gingrich, sister of U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaks at the Utah Stonewall Center. 1998 The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Utah opens at its current location. The new executive director is Monique Predovich. The center housed a coffee shop called Stonewall Coffee. 1999 Utah’s National Coming Out Day is held at Sugar House Park. Kathy Worthington speaks against the LDS Church’s support of California’s Defense of Marriage Initiative. A candlelight vigil and march is held at the State Capitol to mark the first anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s murder. Ben Williams speaks at the vigil about many other murdered Utah gay men and lesbians. 12 OCTOBER 1978 Joe Redburn raises $1,300 at a fundraiser at his bar, the Sun Tavern, to support the anti-Brigg’s movement in California. Then-director of Utah’s American Civil Liberties Union, Shirley Pedler, addresses the standing-room-only crowd. 1987 Lesbian and Gay Student Union at Salt Lake Community College is established. Their first major speaker is author Carol Lynn Pearson. 13 OCTOBER 1988 A candlelight vigil is held on the Utah State Capitol steps for AIDS Awareness Week 1993 A debate over gay rights is held between Morton Downey Jr. and Dave Pollone, a former National League umpire who came out of the closet. 14 OCTOBER 1913 Mike Lasko, a local transient, files a complaint against John Oscor for having sex with him. Oscor is sent to prison for sodomy. 1957 Salt Lake City Judge Marcellus K. Snow complains that certain places in the city are widely known as “Mecca’s for sexually maladjusted persons.” 1983 Salt lake City singer Jean Jankowski performs at lesbian coffee shop 20 Rue Jacob. 1993 Kathryn Kendell, legal counsel for the ALCU, leads a discussion on gay rights at the Utah Stonewall Center. 1993 More than 700 panels of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt are placed on display at the Salt Palace. 1995 Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats receive assurances from Salt Lake City mayoral candidate Rich McKeown that he would protect gays and lesbians from any kind of discrimination in city employment. McKeown did not win the election. 15 OCTOBER 1982 Mac Hunt, Wirt Gilliam and F. Meinhart open the gay dance club Backstreet at 108 South 500 West. 1984 The administrative assistant to Salt Lake City Mayor Palmer DePaulis agrees to work with David Nelson as the city’s first gay liaison. Nelson’s first work dealt with reporting the increase of anti-gay and lesbian violence in the city. 1991 The Gay and Lesbian Student Association of Salt Lake Community College is organized to replace the defunct LGSU. 1995 Kelli Peterson and others form the Gay Straight Alliance Club at East High School. Teacher Camille Lee is faculty sponsor. 1998 Utah AIDS Foundation’s Men of Distinction Forum is held at the Salt Lake City Main Library. “Out of Your Antique Closet” featured historians Dr. Michael Quinn and Ben Williams. Ben Williams is the founder and president of the Utah Stonewall Historical Society.