The Utah Pride Center (UPC) is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization in Salt Lake City. It provides services, events and activities to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Utah. The center manages annual and ongoing projects including the Utah Pride Festival.
Three LGBT centers were created in Utah from the 1970s through the 1990s. The name of the most recent center, Utah Stonewall Center, has been changed three times since its creation in 1991 as a project of the Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah.
The first LGBT community center in Utah was the Gay Community Services Center Inc. in 1975 through 1979. Its executive directors were Dorothy Makin and Ken Storer. [1] [2]
The Gay Community Service Center and Clinic was created in 1984. Its executive directors were Auntie Dé and Beau Chainé. [2]
The Utah Stonewall Center was created in 1991 through 1996 as a project of the Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah. The executive directors of the center were Craig Miller, Melissa Sillitoe, John Bennett, Renee Rinaldi, Michael O’Brien and Alan Ahtow. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
The center was renamed in 1997 through 2004 as the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Utah. Its executive directors were Monique Predovitch, Doug Wortham and Paula Wolfe. [7]
The center was renamed in 2003 as the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Community Center of Utah. Its executive directors were Chad Beyer and Valerie A. Larabee. [3] [7] [8]
The center was renamed in 2006 as the Utah Pride Center. Larabee resigned in 2013 as the center executive director after it experienced struggles with financial and leadership issues, and its staffers assumed her duties until a new executive director was appointed. Center Treasurer Steven Ha was appointed in 2014 to serve as the center interim executive director, and was later employed for one year as the center executive director. On December 12, 2014, less than a year after his appointment, the Utah Pride Center announced the resignation of Steven Ha due to a recurrence of lymphoma. Marian Edmonds-Allen was named executive director in August 2015. Carol Gnade was named executive director October 1, 2015, with a mandate to move to a new building. Robert Moolman was named executive director May 1, 2018. Stacey Jackson-Roberts was named CEO August 18, 2021. [3] [7] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Additionally, the center provides meeting space, financial assistance and guidance to a number of smaller organizations known as affiliate programs, sponsors inter-organizational programs such the Utah GLBT Leadership Task Force and Utah GLBT Mental Health Task Force. [13]
The Utah Stonewall Library was founded in June 1991 by Robert Smith and Liza Smart, Chairs of the Utah Stonewall Committee of The Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah (GLCCU). It was an integral part of the Utah Stonewall Center from its inception and was established as a community-based information center, dedicated to the promotion of Lesbian and Gay visibility and viability by means of the accumulation of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian and Transgender archives, literature, music, film, art, history, culture, humor, education and fiction - and the dissemination of these materials to the public at large. The selection criteria included authors, stories, characters or titles that are LGBT+ affirming or iconic figures that were influenced by the community. The lending library is based on the honor system and a first name basis, allowing anyone to provide their chosen name/identities and to feel free to study and read topics of their interests free of shame and stigma. [14] [15] [16] [17]
In addition, the special collections section included the following Utah Stonewall Historical Society and Archives for Gay and Lesbian Studies, Stonewall Center and Utah Pride Center materials: administrative files, brochures, committee files, contracts, daily office files, financial documents, historical records, manuals, meeting minutes, memorabilia, newsletters, office files, office references, organization files, pamphlets, photos, physical objects, posters, publications and subject files. [14] [17]
These library archives have been donated and now reside as the Utah Pride Center (1975–2012) set at the University of Utah, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library. New material up to 2017 exists, but will not be available until indexed. [14] [17]
In 1996 the library had reached ~2,000 books—but a temporary closure resulted in a bulk loss of books and archives. [17] By 2017, the library had once again expanded to ~3,400 books.
Historical primary librarians shaping the permanent/archival lending library include:
In 2017, Cureton and UPC executive director Carol Gnade arranged for the Salt Lake City Library to host the lending collection at the Main Library branch. This made the library available to the public at-large, and also saved valuable space at the new UPC location. This arrangement extends to 2022. [15]
The catalog set can be seen at the External Link below.
The Utah Pride Festival is a festival held in downtown Salt Lake City in June celebrating Utah's diversity and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. The event is a program of the Utah Pride Center, and includes the state's second-largest parade, after the Days of '47 Parade.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the U.S. state of Utah have significantly evolved in the 21st century. Protective laws have become increasingly enacted since 2014, despite the state's reputation as socially conservative and highly religious. Same-sex marriage has been legal since the state's ban was ruled unconstitutional by federal courts in 2014. In addition, statewide anti-discrimination laws now cover sexual orientation and gender identity in employment and housing, and the use of conversion therapy on minors is prohibited. In spite of this, there are still a few differences between the treatment of LGBT people and the rest of the population, and the rights of transgender youth are restricted.
The San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Celebration, usually known as San Francisco Pride, is a pride parade and festival held at the end of June most years in San Francisco, California, to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and their straight allies.
Heritage of Pride (HOP), doing business as NYC Pride, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that plans and produces the official New York City LGBTQIA+ Pride Week events each June. HOP began working on the events in 1984, taking on the work previously done by the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee organizers of the first NYC Pride March in 1970. HOP also took over responsibility for the operations of NYC's Pride Festival and Pride Rally. It was that first march that brought national attention to 1969's Stonewall Riots. The late sixties saw numerous protests and riots across the United States on many social injustices and from general political unrest including the war in Vietnam.
QSaltLake is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) news and entertainment magazine published monthly by Gay Salt Lake Inc. in Salt Lake City. The magazine is the feature publication for the corporation. Related publications, web sites and a nonprofit organization are among the corporate projects.
Atlanta Pride, also colloquially called the Atlanta Gay Pride Festival, is a week-long annual lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) pride festival held in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1971, it is one of the oldest and largest pride festivals in the United States. According to the Atlanta Pride Committee, as of 2017, attendance had continually grown to around 300,000. Originally a pride held in June, Atlanta Pride has been held in October every year since 2008, typically on a weekend closest to National Coming Out Day.
CenterLink is an American LGBT organisation which was founded in 1994 as a member-based coalition to support the development of strong, sustainable, LGBTQ community centers. A fundamental goal of CenterLink's work is to strengthen, support, and connect LGBTQ community centers, and to help build the capacity of these centers to address the social, cultural, health, and political advocacy needs of LGBTQ community members across the country. CenterLink plays a vital role in addressing the challenges centers face by helping them to improve their organizational and service delivery capacity, access public resources, and engage their regional communities in grassroots social justice movements.
David Keith Nelson is an American activist for the protection of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. He founded or helped found several LGBT-related nonprofit organizations in Utah and helped direct others. His work with the Democratic Party encouraged many LGBT Utahns to serve as party leaders. His work as a legislative and executive lobbyist accomplished the adoption of several LGBT- and weapon-friendly state and local laws, rules, ordinances and policies, and the rejection of other legislation.
The National LGBTQ Task Force is an American social justice advocacy non-profit organizing the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. Also known as The Task Force, the organization supports action and activism on behalf of LGBTQ people and advances a progressive vision of liberation. The past executive director was Rea Carey from 2008-2021 and the current executive director is Kierra Johnson, who took over the position in 2021 to become the first Black woman to head the organization.
Utah Stonewall Democrats is a Salt Lake City-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) political group affiliated with the Utah Democratic Party. The word "Stonewall" in the group's name refers to the Stonewall riots of 1969, a pivotal event in the history of protecting equal rights for LGBT people.
The Michigan Organization for Human Rights was a Michigan-based civil rights and anti-discrimination organization. It was founded in 1977 and disbanded in 1994, with most of its assets transferring to the University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library, Affirmations LGBT community center of Ferndale, and the Triangle Foundation—which replaced MOHR as the state's LGBT civil rights organization.
Transgender Education Advocates (TEA) of Utah is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit located in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Although often characterized as apolitical, “Los Angeles has provided the setting for many important chapters in the struggle for gay and lesbian community, visibility, and civil rights." Moreover, Los Angeles' LGBT community has historically played a significant role in the development of the entertainment industry.
Throughout Dallas–Fort Worth, there is a large lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Since 2005, DFW has constituted one of the largest LGBT communities in Texas.
Austin, Texas has one of the most prominent and active LGBT populations in the United States. Austin was acclaimed by The Advocate in 2012 as part of its Gayest Cities in America, and was recognized by Travel and Leisure as one of America's Best Cities for Gay Travel. Much of Austin's gay nightlife scene is clustered around 4th Street. LGBT activism groups Atticus Circle and Equality Texas are headquartered in Austin.
Although the historical record is often scarce, evidence points to LGBT individuals having existed in the Mormon community since its beginnings, and estimates of the number of LGBT former and current Mormons range from 4 to 10% of the total membership of the LDS Church. However, it wasn't until the late 1950s that top LDS leaders began regularly discussing LGBT people in public addresses. Since the 1970s a greater number of LGBT individuals with Mormon connections have received media coverage.
Connell O'Donovan is an American historian, biographer, and professional genealogist. He was born in Utah, but spent much of his life in California. He has written on LGBT Utah history, and Black Mormon history.
