Moutsos says he has received support from Mormon Church officials and fellow police officers nationwide for acting on his convictions. I felt for them."Ī local headline, Moutsos added, read, "Officer's report sides with gay couple." They thanked me for my handling of the matter. One was intoxicated and so I was within my rights to arrest him," he recalled. "I was the officer who responded on the scene and the first thing I did was take off those handcuffs. He says he also made the local news in 2009 in his handling of an incident in which two gay men were detained and handcuffed by security after they were found kissing on Mormon church property at Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City. Moutsos counters that he has worked police security at previous gay and lesbian events. It will be a march in support of LGBTQ+ communities and participants are encouraged to bring signs and walk with the group from the Utah.
#First gay pride parade in utah free#
The Rainbow March and Rally, Utah’s longest-standing Pride Week tradition, will take place on Sunday, June 6 and will be free to the public. And there’s nothing alternative about that.Chief Burbanks also told reporters: "How can I then send that officer out to a family fight that involves a gay couple or a lesbian walking down the street?" This event will last through the week and end on Monday, June 7. It was the simple act of celebrating love – of all kinds. He adds that he plans to adopt children someday and bring them to the celebration.Īnd if there was anything that united the community of people who attended the festival, it wasn’t a single lifestyle, political message, or sexual orientation. “It’s great to come and feel like you’re part of something bigger,” he said. Garin Lee, a 22-year-old Salt Lake City resident, has been coming to the pride festival since he was 17, before he was even “out” to his family and friends. It’s an outpouring of love that was much-needed for many in a state dominated by conservative politics and culture. Dozens marched with T-shirts that read “I’m straight and I support equal rights.” Young adults from high schools and colleges all around the state came in their school colors. Families of all stripes marched with their children. The first Pride Parade was held in 1990 at the state capitol building. It was the sheer number of average citizens marching in unremarkable attire, holding signs or standing on floats, spreading a message of tolerance. The SLC Pride Festival dates back to 1977 when the first conference dedicated to gender equality took place in Salt Lake City. A woman marched as a giant banana while a man dressed in a (frankly, terrifying) ape costume rode a bicycle and held a sign advocating a local politician.īut the most striking as pect of this year’s parade wasn’t the spectacle, although there was no shortage of wigs, glitter, and “Born This Way” renditions. A staggering number of gay nightclubs decked out their floats with preternaturally attractive, half-nude 20-somethings. One particularly ardent parade-goer brought his neon-blue poodle to march with him. Everyone from drag queens to Speedo-clad dancers to the Utah Gay Fathers Association were represented, along with many local politicians and businesses who turned up to show their support for Utah’s queer community. Over a hundred different groups marched in this year’s parade, making it just as big as the Days of ‘47 Parade (and at least twice as interesting). The climactic event – the Pride Parade on Sunday, June 7th – boasted Roseanne Barr as the Grand Marshal, and managed to be so difficult to ignore that it earned small write-ups in both KSL and The Deseret News The 2011 festival spanned three days and included live music, dozens of booths and vendors, and huge parties all over the city. What started as a small gathering in the ‘80s has grown exponentially in recent years. Michael Sanders, owner of Now & Again, and Alex Woodruff from the Urban Lounge This month, gay and lesbian Americans celebrate gay pride. Scott Sommerdorf/The Salt Lake Tribune, via Associated PressThe Mormons Building Bridges group marched in the annual gay pride parade in Salt Lake City on June 3. “The gay lifestyle.” It’s a popular catchphrase that has been appearing in conservative discourse for years, but is there anything really “alternative” about being gay? If the tens of thousands of people who converged on Salt Lake City for the Utah Pride Festival the first weekend in June were any indication, the LGBT community here is anything but homogeneous. Equal Rights, Gay Rights and the Mormon Church. The event was held on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots, when members of the gay. By Kylee Hill photos by Adam Vicinus and Mark Salgado People march into New Yorks Central Park during the nations first gay pride parade on June 28, 1970.