FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Valerie Larabee, Executive Director March 22, 2013 Phone: 801.403.1038 (cell) or 801.539.8800 x 10 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

UTAH PRIDE TO HOLD CANDLELIGHT VIGIL ON THE EVE OF ORAL ARGUMENTS IN PENDING DOMA AND PROP 8 MARRIAGE EQUALITY CASES

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – Utah Pride, the leader of the largest "red state" LGBT coalition in the United States and the "red state amicus project," is expecting well over 600 participants at its Lights for Justice Candlelight Vigil on Monday, March 25th (6:00 PM) at Library Square in Salt Lake City. This vigil is one of over 150 events being held in advance of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing oral arguments in the pending DOMA and Prop 8 marriage equality cases.

On February 27, 2013, Utah Pride filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in each of these pending cases. Utah Pride is one of only two entities granted permission to file in both cases by the legal teams in support of marriage equality. In late December, Utah Pride retained a bipartisan team of prominent Utah attorneys to tell Utah's story (an hence the Red State story) to the Court and lay out a challenge Utah's system of de jure discrimination.

Utah Pride's legal team has encouraged the U.S. Supreme Court to apply heightened scrutiny to review laws that discriminate against LGBTQ citizens. Utah Pride has also argued that the U.S. Supreme Court should recognize that every American has the constitutional right to marry the person they love.

Jackie Biskupski, the first openly gay member of the Utah Legislature, is among those who will speak at Monday's vigil. Reverend Erin Gilmore, Attorney Jesse M. Nix, Russ and Joe Baker-Gorringe will also speak.

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Utah Pride is a non-profit, non-governmental, community organization that plays the vital role of providing information, programs, referrals, and services to a diverse LGBTQ community in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. Utah Pride seeks social change and advocates on behalf of the Utah's LGBTQ community.

Contact: Chelsea Shapard FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Telephone: (801) 261-3700

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

SCOUT-O-RAMA MAY 4 SALT LAKE CITY, UT

Boy Scouts of America Salt Lake City Event

QUEER PROM APRIL 20 SALT LAKE CITY

Utah Pride Salt Lake City Event

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - In a week where Utah Boy Scout sponsorship is in the news, Winger's Roadhouse Grill (WRG) today announced its sponsorship support of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Greater Salt Lake Council's Scout-O-Rama event schedule for May in Salt Lake City, UT. At the same time, WRG also announced sponsorship of Utah Pride's Queer Prom, an annual event for LGBT Youth and their allies.

Curt Gray, a spokesperson for WRG said, "Winger's Roadhouse Grill is committed to making our communities a better place to live and work. We recognize and appreciate the diversity that exists in our communities, and believe that diversity, and the acceptance of diversity, is what makes us great. "

WRG is proud to employ store partners of many religions, gender and sexual orientations. WRG has chosen to support the Boy Scouts of America at their Scout-O-Rama, and WRG will also extend their support to Utah's LGBTQ community with a donation of equal value to support the annual prom for LGBTQ youth and their allies.

Valerie Larabee, Executive Director of Utah Pride said "Today, Utah Pride and Winger's Roadhouse Grill found common ground and a way to recognize the needs of all youth.  We know there are gay and transgender scouts who will be proud to know their prom is also being supported by the owners and employees at this company."

Looking forward, WRG urges the leaders of the Great Salt Lake Council and BSA to arrive at a resolution that is appropriate for their organization in this day and time and its continued involvement with the future of America's youth. Both BSA and Utah Pride, in their ongoing work, are helping to support and build a diverse array of leaders for America's future.

WRG encourages Utah Pride to continue its expansive work in support of Utah's gay and transgender youth who are, in fact, bullied and too often rejected by family and peers. With increased education and understanding and acceptance for all is possible.

Questions for WRG can be addressed to Curt Gray or Scott Slaymaker (801) 261-3700 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Questions for Utah Pride can be addressed to Valerie A. Larabee, (801) 403-1038 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . (www.utahpridecenter.org)

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For more information or questions, please email Chelsea Shapard at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or contact the Slaymaker Group offices at (801) 261-3700

Utah Pride is participating in a new one day online giving event, Love UT Give UT, that encourages all residents of Utah to contribute to nonprofit organizations through a single online giving platform on a specific day.

Our goal for the full 24-hours of that day is to raise over $25,000 in support of our Queer Action Project and its many active campaigns to support Utah's LGBTQ community. Our newest campaign, Utah Marriage Equality, is bringing national attention to Utah's system of dejure discrimination through our Red State Amicus Brief filed February 25th in the pending DOMA & Prop 8 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Our brief, prepared and filed by prominent Salt Lake attorneys Paul Burke and Brett Tolman, was joined by over 23 statewide LGBTQ organizations in other red states across the US.

By showing your support of Utah Pride during the one day Love UT Give UT online giving event, you will be joining a statewide effort to support Utah based non-profits that make a difference in peoples lives. Your donation will also give Utah Pride a great chance to win additional money by having the most single day donors on March 22.

Happy Hour with Utah Pride!

Join Utah Pride at the Green Pig Pub (31 E 400 S, SLC UT) from 4pm to 6pm for a drink and a chance to relax at the end of the week and this fantastic day of giving! Our staff and board members will be relaxing as well, ready to answer questions, talk about Utah Pride's work, or just to hang out.

Full text of the brief is available for you to view here.

We also have pulled out some specific quotes of interest for your perusal.

• "This brief is submitted by organizations representing people—gay and straight alike—who are diverse in their beliefs and backgrounds but who share the conviction that gay and lesbian Americans—wherever they might live—are entitled to legal equality under the Constitution of the United States." Pg. 1
• "The ultimate question before this Court is whether gay Americans must continue to live as second-class citizens. Millions of Americans reside in states that have constructed systems of de jure denigration of their gay citizens. These discriminatory state laws have been amplified at the federal level by the Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA"). Too many laws throughout the United States say to gay Americans: You are not equal. At every stage of life—from the moment a child has an inkling of being gay, through adolescence, adult-hood, and sometimes beyond the grave—gay Americans are haunted by laws that deny the existence of gay people, demean them as lesser human beings, deprive them of fundamental rights, and denigrate their lives and familial relationships. More than two-thirds of gay Americans now live under such discriminatory state laws, and the existence of these laws harms all Americans." Pg. 2
• "The promise of America will not be realized until there is legal equality for gay Americans everywhere—not just at Stonewall and in Seneca Falls, but also in Selma, Sacramento, and Salt Lake City." Pg. 4
• "It is imperative that this Court confront the reality that the law is being used to denigrate the dignity and humanity of gay Americans." Pg. 5
• "School district policies in such states invariably expand the law so that teachers fear discipline by mentioning the word "gay" or "homosexual," and risk their livelihood by discussing, for example, Harvey Milk as a history subject." Pg. 8
• "The state's message to gay students: You don't belong in our schools. You are alone." Pg. 12
• "Legislative bullying against gay people has seeded the bullying of gay children in classrooms and on playgrounds. The connection between school policies and teen suicide recently hit home in Taylorsville, Utah on November 29, 2012. After being teased and ridiculed by peers for months—and after being suspended by school officials who had searched him and confronted him about having a condom in his backpack—an embarrassed and bullied gay teenager could take no more. He returned to school with a pistol and a single bullet. He shot himself as class-mates watched in horror." Pg. 13
• "Any delay in vindicating their constitutional rights will be counted in the lives of gay teenagers. De jure discrimination creates a class of disfavored sons and daughters that offends the conscience of our Constitution. The pervasive denigration of gay teens in public schools demeans gay students, denies their dignity, and deprives them of hope for a bright future." Pg. 14
• "Bans on adoption by same-sex couples penalize children because their parents are gay. By design, these laws make these children partially illegitimate—a disfavored outcome under any circumstance." Pg. 17
• "Members of our military—including those who are gay and may have married legally in other states—put their lives on the line for our country on a daily basis. Yet if a married gay service member were to die off-base, the surviving spouse could be treated as a stranger by state law. The surviving spouse could even be denied control over the remains and funeral rites. These circumstances would cause a gay member of our nation's Armed Forces to suffer from discrimination even beyond death. The men and women of the United States military deserve to be honored for protecting our nation; they should not be denigrated either by DOMA or states like Utah that would decline to honor their marital vows. It is wrong that Americans can be torn asunder between the love of their lives and their service to our country. This Court should end the de jure denigration of gay Americans, and it should affirm that all Americans—whether gay or straight—have the right to marry the person whom they love." Pg. 21
• "With few allies and virtually no political influence at the statewide level, Utah's small gay community was utterly powerless to prevent its de jure denigration by the State of Utah. Each element of Utah's system of de jure denigration was adopted with over-whelming and often bipartisan support." Pg. 24
• "Fundamental rights and constitutional guarantees should not depend on residency in certain states. This Court has a proud tradition, acquitted by history, of deploying heightened judicial review to protect targeted minority groups from majoritarian abuse. All gay Americans—and not just those fortunate enough to live in certain communities or states—are entitled to equal protection and due process of law." Pg. 29
• "It is getting better for gay Americans. But this progress should inspire this Court to action, not silence. Against the certainty of continued harm to gay Americans this Court must not defer to mere hopes of legislative change. "Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds." Letter from Martin Luther King, Jr. to His Fellow Clergymen (Apr. 16, 1963)" Pg. 33
• "This Court should not be silent as gay Americans suffer from de jure denigration. To loving gay couples in Sacramento, and to adoptive gay parents in South Bend, as well as to gay teenagers in Taylorsville, Utah, the law of the United States must say: You are equal." Pg. 33
• "Because the Constitution neither knows nor tolerates classes among its citizens, gay Americans must be treated equally under the law—everywhere. This Court should affirm the fundamental rights of gay Americans and adopt heightened scrutiny to review laws targeting gay people.
• "The best way to stop discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is for this Court to stop de jure discrimination against gay Americans." Pg. 33