Utah Pride Festival

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Salt Lake City Library during 2006 Utah Pride Festival
Roseanne Barr - Utah Pride Festival Grand Marshall June 5 2011 Salt Lake City Utah USA

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.[1]

History

In 2004, an estimated 50,000 people attended, the largest since the festival began in 1977 when the "Salt Lake Coalition for Human Rights" sponsored a three-day conference. Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons (then called "Gay Mormons United") was founded during this conference, on June 11, 1977.[2] The 1978 keynote speakers were David Kopay, the first NFL player to come out of the closet, and U.S. Air Force Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, an ex-Mormon who was the first openly gay person to appear on the cover of Time magazine.[3]

Utah Pride Inc. was created in 1989 through 2004 as a project of the Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah. The project was renamed in 2006 as Pride of Utah.[3][4][5]

The first Pride parade in the states was created in 1990 and included a procession of nearly 200. In 1991, the Utah Stonewall Center opened and Pride festivities moved to the Salt Lake County Fairgrounds in Murray, Utah.[6] The Pride Day Art Expo and Competition that awarded its Lesbian and Gay Pride Art Award and the Mapplethorpe Award to local artist was created in 1991.[3]

However, in 2005, the first year in which an admission was charged attendance at the festival was between 15,000 and 20,000. Some have attributed this decline to patrons not wanting to pay for admission to the festival.[citation needed] festival organizers, however, argued that it was the first year in which an accurate method of counting the attendance was employed, and that the numbers did not reflect a drop in attendance.[7]

The festival includes the parade, a film festival, the Dyke March, an interfaith service by the Utah Pride Interfaith Coalition,[8] 5K charity run, and related parties and receptions.

Participation in the festival cuts across a broad spectrum of Utahns. Past speakers during the celebration have ranged from Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, who was quoted in support of same sex marriage, to Utah Rep. Jackie Biskupski, the state's first openly lesbian legislator.

Actress Roseanne Barr served as the grand marshal of events for the 2011 festival[9] and Dustin Lance Black served as the 2012 grand marshall.[10]

The 2012 festival also included performers Frenchie Davis and Prince Poppycock[11]

Utah Pride Festival History
Year Dates Festival name Theme Grand Marshall Estimated attendance
May 1974 Beer Bust Kegger
1975 June 1 Gay Freedom Day[12]
1976 Memorial Day Kegger
1977 June 10–12 Human Rights 400
1978 June Pride Day Leonard Matlovich, David Kopay
1983 Basket Social
1990 Pride Day Look to the Future Dr. Kristen Ries
1992 Pride Day Jess Hawk Oakenstar
1993 Walter Larabee
1994 Stonewall: Twenty-five Years Remembered, Twenty-five Years of Progress[3] 4000
1995 5000
1996 Sunday, June 9 Pride Day Pride... Without Borders Chastity Bono
2000 May Utah Pride Day A New Era of Pride Rep Jackie Biskupski[13]
2001 June 7–10 Utah Pride Embracing Diversity
2002 June 9 Utah Pride Day Unity in the Community- Change From Within Alicia Suazo[14]
2003 Be Yourself Out Loud
2004 June 11–13 Utah Pride Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are! Bruce Bastian[15] 50,000
2005 June 8–12 Utah Pride Equal Rights. No More. No Less. 15,000 - 20,000
2006 June 1–4 Utah Pride Week[16] Pride, Not Prejudice 20,000[17]
2007 June 1–3 Utah Pride Days[18] United for Equality John Amaechi[19]
2008 June 6–8 Utah Pride Come Together Ralph Becker[20][21]
2009 June 5–7 Utah Pride Festival Pride. Voice. Action. 20,000[22]
2010 June 4–6 Utah Pride Festival Our History, Our Future 25,000
2011 June 3–5 Utah Pride Festival Live. Love. Pride. Roseanne Barr 28,000[23]
2012 June 1–3 Utah Pride Festival Changing Hearts and Lives Dustin Lance Black
2013 May 30 - June 2 Utah Pride Festival Gotta Be Real-Equality[24]

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ "KUTV". 
  2. ↑ "Affirmation".  .
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Pride Guide 1996. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City: Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah. June 1996. p. 12. 
  4. ↑ "Utah Pride Inc.". Business Search. Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code. 1989. Retrieved 2013-02-28. 
  5. ↑ "Pride of Utah". Business Search. Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code. 2006. Retrieved 2013-02-28. 
  6. ↑ Brophy, Steven M. (1997-06-05). "Utah gays and lesbians celebrate Pride Day with weekend activities". The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City: Kearns-Tribune LLC). pp. D–2. Retrieved 2013-02-27. 
  7. ↑ "SL Metro". 
  8. ↑ "Utah Pride 2007 kicks off with Interfaith Service". The Salt Lake Tribune. May 26, 2007. 
  9. ↑ "Thousands Celebrate Diversity, Individuality at Utah Pride Festival". Deseret News. Retrieved April 30, 2012. 
  10. ↑ "Utah Pride Grand Marshall for 2012 Festival: Dustin Lance Black". Retrieved April 30, 2012. 
  11. ↑ "Utah Pride - Announcing 2012 Headliners". Retrieved April 30, 2012. 
  12. ↑ "Q Salt Lake - The History of Utah Pride". Retrieved April 30, 2012. 
  13. ↑ Williams, Ben, ed. (May 2000). Official Guide to Utah Pride Day 2000. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah: Utah Pride Day Inc. 
  14. ↑ Booth, Sherry, ed. (May 2002). Official Guide to Utah Pride Day 2002. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah: Utah Pride Day Inc. 
  15. ↑ "Deseret News - Wedding float is highlight of Utah Pride parade in S.L.". June 15, 2004. 
  16. ↑ "Utah Pride 2006". The Salt Lake Tribune. June 2, 2006. 
  17. ↑ "Utah Pride - Press Releases" (PDF). Utah Pride. 
  18. ↑ "Utah Festivals List". The Salt Lake Tribune. May 20, 2007. 
  19. ↑ "Utah Pride Festivities". Deseret News. June 4, 2007. 
  20. ↑ "Utah Pride Festival Schedule". The Salt Lake Tribune. June 2, 2008. 
  21. ↑ "Becker Leads Utah Pride Festivities on Friday". The Salt Lake Tribune. June 1, 2008. 
  22. ↑ "KSL - Pride Parade draws thousands to downtown Salt Lake City". June 6, 2010. 
  23. ↑ "Q Salt Lake - 2011 in Review". Retrieved April 30, 2012. 
  24. ↑ "Utah Pride Center Gears Up for 2013 Pride Festival". Q Salt Lake. Retrieved 14 March 2013. 

References

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