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Opinion Lambda Lore
 This Week in Lambda history
16 October
1975 Ms Magazine editor Gloria Steinem spoke at the University of Utah to an audience of over 5,000 on the Equal Rights Amendment. She mentioned Utah’s Gay Community Service Center and that new consciousness raising sessions were soon to be initiated by a lesbian counselor associated with the center.
1988 Utah Valley Men’s Group said that BYU is threatening gay students with expulsion unless they agree to undergo “reorientation therapy”.
1998 A 13-year-old boy at Provo’s Centennial Middle School stepped to the microphone and wished that “gay men be crucified on Main Street and lesbians be burned at the stake.’’ Some of the students cheered.
17 October
1956 Radio City Tavern had its beer permit suspended by the Salt Lake City Police Department vice squad.
1987 Chris Trujillo and Yvette Del Rio won the Mr. & Miss Golden Spike Universe Pageant Contest at Backstreet.
1987 The organizational meeting of the Gay Community Council was held at Aardvarks Cabaret. At the meeting, they officially adopted the name Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah.
1988 Ben Williams spoke at the Utah Valley Men’s Group on “Gay History and Gay Liberation through Political Activism.” The group was under attack by Brigham Young University Standards officers.
1988 Utahn Barry Fairbanks died of AIDS at age 34.
1992 Elder Loren Dunn of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints First Quorum of the Seventy stated that the church was now willing to talk with leaders in the AIDS community to “explore how the church could be of greater service’’ to patients and their families.
18 October
1998 Eight West and East high pupils challenged the Salt Lake City School Board’s ban of all non-curricular clubs as unfair and shortchanging students.
19 October
1915 George Tainter and Mike Murphy of Salt Lake City were convicted of sodomy with Louis Smith. Murphy and Tainter were sent to prison.
1963 Third District Judge Joseph C. Jeppson ordered that only men may wear trousers in family disputes arising before the court. Slacks and toreador pants were considered improper attire for women in divorce actions.
20 October
1991 Salt Lake Tribune featured an article on Peggy Tingey and her son Chance, both infected with AIDS. They are the sister and nephew of activist Becky Moss.
21 October
1980 Dr. Nyla Cole, Dean of the Psychology Department at the University of Utah spoke at a Salt Lake Affirmation Meeting on her research in human sexology.
1983 The Lesbian and Gay Student Union of the Univ. of Utah and KRCL sponsored a concert with singers Cris Williamson and Tret Fure at Kingsbury Hall.
1986 The Mayor of Salt Lake City and the Governor of Utah both declared the last week in October as AIDS Awareness Week.
1989 Rocky (Connell) O’Donavan and Ben Williams spoke at the National Organization for Women conference on the role of men in the feminist movement.
1998 About 300 people protested the Salt Lake City Board of Education ban on all non-curricular high school clubs.
22 October
1976 LDS First Presidency spoke against ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, saying, “We fear it will even stifle many God-given feminine instincts.” The First Presidency stated its first objection to passage of the ERA fearing: “an increase in the practice of homosexual and lesbian activities, and other concepts which could alter the natural, God-given relationship of men and women.”
1976 Conscious Raising Encounter Group began to meet at University of Utah campus to “talk openly of their hang-ups” with dealing with their own homosexuality.
1985 Dr. David Perkins, a Logan pathologist, said “because homosexuals are mostly likely to be exposed to AIDS, there is a rule that a person who has ever had even one homosexual experience since 1977, cannot donate blood,” to calm fear about the spread of AIDS through blood transfusions.
1997 Spanish Fork High School teacher Wendy Weaver sued the Nebo School District over its order prohibiting her from discussing her sexual orientation or lifestyle.
23 October
1914 Bert Downie of Salt Lake City filed a complaint against Frank Thompson charging him with assault with intent to commit the “infamous crime against nature” upon Downie, “who was then and there a male person”.
1979 Salt Lake Tribune ran the story “BYU Security Personnel Can Operate Off Campus: Gays Protest Power.”
1983 Lesbian Mothers, co-parents and lesbians considering parenthood meetings were held at 20 Rue Jacob.
1987 AIDS Awareness Week is sponsored by AIDS Project Utah, Rocky Mountain Infection Control, Salt Lake Women’s Council of Realtors, KTVX Channel 4, ASUU of the UofU, and the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire. The morality rate of people with AIDS in Utah is higher than in other states because Utah had no Medicare-approved hospices for the terminally ill.
1988 AIDS Project Utah’s AIDS Awareness Week Benefit was canceled.
1992 Feminist singer Margie Adam performed on the University of Utah campus as a benefit for the Utah AIDS Foundation and the University Student Health Services.
1994 First awards banquet of the People With AIDS Coalition of Utah was held. Sen. Orrin Hatch was the recipient of the Political Social Award for sponsorship of the 1990 Kennedy-Hatch Bill which established the Ryan White Fund.
24 October
1954 Salt Lake City police arrested one man and sought another for masquerading on city streets as women.
1986 AIDS Project Utah sponsored an AIDS Awareness Week with comedian Roseanne Barr, “Domestic Goddess” and sister of APU founder Ben Barr, performing at Symphony Hall. Other entertainers included Johnny Crawford of the Rifleman series, the Saliva Sisters, mime Joe Pitti, and singers Rusty Richards and Davyd Daniels. The event was hosted by actress June Lockhart and emceed by radio host Todd Collard.
1986 Richard Cochran, director of APU, caused a riff in the community when he expressed his gratitude for “the first AIDS Awareness Week,” though the Royal Court had twice sponsored such activities.
1987 The Run for Life race held as an AIDS benefit sponsored by lesbian bar Your Place or Mine.
1989 Melissa Sillitoe and Michelle Davies are elected Utah Gay and Lesbian Youth Group officers.
1994 About 20 skinheads from the “Army of Israel’’ hassled a meeting of Cedar City gays and lesbians held to promote understanding among Southern Utahns.
25 October
1979 Approximately 40 men and women formed the Gay Awareness League in Pocatello to increase awareness of the existence and needs of gays in Pocatello and eastern Idaho.
1987 AIDS Project Utah sponsored “Laugh for a Life” again with Roseanne Barr, and comedians Pam Matteson and Louie Anderson at Symphony Hall. The Salt Lake Men’s Choir and the Lovebirds, who were the first gay drag performers to play at Symphony Hall, were local acts.
1988 Ben Barr and Ben Williams founded the Utah AIDS Memorial Quilt Project.
26 October
1986 Singers and Gay activists Romanovsky and Phillips performed a benefit for AIDS Project Utah.
1997 Cleve Jones, founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, was a speaker at the People With AIDS Coalition of Utah’s fourth Community Awards.
1998 The LDS Church gave $600,000 to the political-action group Save Traditional Marriage ’98 according to a report in the Honolulu Advertiser.
27 October
1979 Women Aware, a lesbian-feminist organization sponsored a Womyn’s Dance at the First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City.
1986 Nine different speakers came to Utah to participate in a lecture series on AIDS sponsored by APU. Dr. Mathilde Krim suggested that AIDS spread in the gay men’s community from tainted gamma goblin during the Hepatitis B experiments on gay men in the late 1970s.
1992 The Salt Lake Tribune featured an article on AIDS activist Mason Rankin and his Kindly Gifts Organization that held meetings called Stitch and Bitch.
28 October
1864 A Salt Lake City trial court dismissed sodomy charges against Frederick Jones, a soldier at Camp Douglas, because Utah had no sodomy law. Later that day, unknown assailants murdered the man for having molested an LDS youth.
1977 Utah Supreme Court Justice Albert H. Ellett stated that pornographers were “depraved, mentally deficient, mind warped queers”.
1979 Studio 8 held a benefit show for The Boise Seven. Some of the lesbians involved in the lawsuit against the city of Boise were at the benefit.
1985 The Gay/Lesbian Alliance, a support group for homosexuals, was formed at Utah State University in Logan.
1987 Dr. Paul Volberding spoke at the University of Utah about the pandemic nature of AIDS.
29 October
1979 The Salt Lake Gay Athletic Association was formed to put gay people in contact with others who would like to participate in sports and to form group activities.
1985 An LDS Hospital obstetrician who used donor sperm to inseminate infertile women said he won’t perform the procedure again until he was certain that donors could be adequately screened for AIDS.
30 October
1973 University of Utah’s Daily Chronicle featured the story “Gay Church Welcomes Community Unwanted” about the Metropolitan Community Church of Salt Lake City.
1978 The Gay Student Union of the University of Utah elected Allen Blaich as chairman, and Carl Boyer and Jimmy Hamamoto as officers in charge.
1982 Chuck Whyte presented the first Unity Show to unify the gay community.
1987 Women Against AIDS benefit was held at Puss N Boots.
31 October
1975 Rev. Bob Darst, pastor of Grace Christian Church, resigned.
1980 Rev. Robert Waldrop pastor of MCC Salt Lake was a candidate for state representative.
1980 Bob Edwards began The Imperial Court of Utah’s fundraiser for Toys for Tots with a Halloween Fashion show.
1988 The Blue Horizon bar in Ogden closed.
1988 Rocky (Connell) O’Donavan, Robert Erichssen, and Ben WIlliams formed the Gay Historical Society and Archives for Utah.
1995 Stuart Reid, a Democratic Mormon Salt Lake mayoral candidate, stated, “I’m opposed to an attempt by Rich McKeown and the homosexual community to get special recognition from city government for particular hiring preferences, and also for the homosexuals to gain special benefits for their companions.’’ Deedee Corradini won the election.
Ben Williams is the founder and president of the Utah Stonewall Historical Society, at utahstonewallhistoricalsociety.com
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 year-old 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 co-Presidents of Lesbian and Gay Student Union at the 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 AIDS-awareness 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 at utahstonewallhistoricalsociety.com
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