So, here it is time for the Utah Legislature to once again inflict their moralistic views on the residents of Utah, whether we like it or not. Hopefully they will not do any ill toward the gay community, however, it’s unlikely they will do us any good. No matter how awful this year’s 45-day session may be, it will never compare to the mother of all gay bashing that occurred on Capitol Hill in the 1990s.

Holy hell! The Advocate named Salt Lake City the Gayest City in America based on nine arbitrary criteria, and you would have thought we had pissed in everybody’s Cheerios! I couldn’t believe the rants on why it was so wrong to consider Salt Lake City the gayest city.

On Dec. 4, 1986 Salt Lake City’s last remaining bathhouses, Club 14 and Jeff’s Gym (Club Baths), received notice from Salt Lake City attorney, Roger Cutler, requesting that they cease doing business or face legal prosecution. Cutler contended, “Salt Lake City believes each business constitutes a brothel as a place of lewdness assignation or prostitution.” Cutler then assigned Bruce Baird, the city’s assistant attorney to handle the case. These two bathhouses, in addition to a third that had been operating quite successfully for more than a decade, were closed when the city deemed them public nuisances.

Beyond Stonewall was the first gay-themed workshop retreat held in Utah for both men and women. It was the result of hard work from myself and John Reeves who helped plan and coordinate a "Gay Summer Camp."

In June of 1989 I made a pilgrimage back to New York City to place a rose on the steps of the Stonewall Inn. It was the 20th anniversary of an event which was the catalyst for a paradigm shift in what it meant to be homosexual. Once there, I discovered that the nondescript brick building across the street from Sheridan Square was now a clothing boutique catering to a Doc Martin crowd of young Manhattanites. The famous Stonewall marquee had long been removed and Christopher Street was still several years from being renamed Stonewall Place.

I was talking to a young friend who didn’t know who Mathew Shepard was. Taken aback, I realized that this man was born in 1989 and was only 9 years old when Shepard was beaten and left to die on a cold October day near Laramie, Wyoming. We are failing our youth by not teaching about the significance of Stonewall, or Harry Hay, Frank Kameny, Barbara Gittings and Harvey Milk in our public schools. However, in Utah it is illegal to promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle, so it will be decades before we are as progressive as California. In July of this year Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill making California the first state in the nation to add lessons about gay people to social studies classes in public schools.

I have a young acquaintance. He’s 21 and in college. He's gay. You might even say he’s flamboyant. He is dating a man and posts pictures on social networking sites kissing him. He lives with a gay roommate and goes to events like “Gay Camp” to explore the fine art of drag. He interacts with other young people at events like the ones The Gay Hot Spot promotes.

Contrary to popular belief, Oct. 11 was established as Coming Out Day, not because it’s Cleve Jones’s birthday, which is a happy coincidence, but rather because it was established to commemorate the 1987 Second March on Washington. Gay historians refer to the event as The Great March because of its success, size and scope. While The Great March today is rarely remembered except for by the few of us who were there, it left a lasting legacy, Coming Out Day, which has been an annual event since 1988.