Gay slc
Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Thirty-Two
by Brad Westwood
Although the LGBTQ+ community had many prior informal political and social gathering spots elsewhere in Salt Lake City, a number of bars and taverns located in the Pioneer Park neighborhood served as a place to gather for Salt Lake City’s emerging LGBTQ+ communities.
In 1970, just one year after New York City’s Stonewall Riots sparked national lgbtq+ and lesbian movements, Perky’s, which advertised as a lock for women but discreetly served Salt Lake City’s woman loving woman population, opened its doors on North Temple Street. Perky’s was eventually torn down to build way for the rebuilding of the I-15 North Temple overpass. The vintage west Salt Lake City was also the home of other LGBTQ+ gathering places, including the Rose Tavern opened in the first 1970s and whose name was eventually changed to the Rail; the Uptown opened in 1976 at 1500 South and 400 West; Studio 8 opened during the mid-1970s at 800 West and 200 South; and the Comeback Club opened in 1977, located at 551 South and 300 West, which also became a popular gathering place for members of Salt Lake’s LGBTQ+.
Like other established communities, the Pioneer Park LGB
The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide to Salt Lake City
What makes this queerness electrifying is that it’s unexpected. After Mormon leader Brigham Young led his band of religious misfits to Ensign Peak and proclaimed the Salt Lake Valley their promised land in 1847, the Mormon population exploded. For a long time after, the conservative values of Mormonism dominated local culture. In recent years, much of that has changed. The city’s LDS population slipped to 48 percent in 2018, and while the rest of Utah is still overwhelmingly Mormon, the counterculture has finally laid claim to the state’s capital.
- Community in gay Salt Lake City
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Community in gay Salt Lake City
Nowhere is this change more pronounced than in Salt Lake’s flourishing LGBTQ+ community. In 2015, Jackie Biskupski became the city’s first openly gay mayor. She currently serves with three openly gay city council members: Amy Fowler, Derek Kitchen, and Chris Wharton. SLC is so queer-friendly that officials renamed a highway in honor of the pol
Drink it In:
Salt Lake’s Homosexual Bar Scene Is Growing, Thriving, and Never Looking Back
In a state established for its religious zeal, Salt Lake City serves as a bastion of progressiveness, playfulness, and self-acceptance. In fact, the city’s been listed by Advocate magazine as one of the Ten Queerest Cities in America. The city holds one of the biggest and best-attended Pride parades and festivals around, with Pride Week festivities attracting tens of thousands of participants who light up the downtown scene in full rainbow-hued regalia. (There’s even a Utah Same-sex attracted Ski Week—real thing, utahgayskiweek.com, see you there.)
Of course, it doesn’t have to be a parade to celebrate pride and inclusivity. It’s pretty easy for everyone of every orientation to jump in on the incredible fun that is Salt Lake on a hot city bedtime and the regular rotation of drag shows preserve the city sizzling all through the winter.
Check out a few of our favorite “officially” gay bars and gay-friendly bars—keeping in mind that, in this town, it needn’t be a “gay bar” for everyone to fit right in.
Club Try-Angles
Try-Angles is kn
LGBTQ Salt Lake
We acquire it. When most people think of Salt Lake, a progressive queer scene probably isn’t the first… or second... or, um, even third thing that comes to thought. But almost any LGBTQ visitor who’s been here before, and nearly every LGBTQ local who calls the municipality home, will relate you, it’s an inclusive urban destination with tons of super gay stuff going on. In fact, Advocate magazine listed us as one of the Ten Queerest Cities in America. (Even gayer than L.A.!) No matter how you identify, what you look fancy , or who you love, you’re welcome here. We’re a peculiar bunch and we’ll always be proud of that. Just like we’ll always be arrogant to have you as our guest.
Gay Bars
Of course, you don’t make this list of 10 Queerest Cities in America without having a…
LGBTQ Festivals
It’s a well-known fact that gay people hurl the best parties. Of course, this includes festivals, too! There are tons of queer festivals and other distinct events happening in Salt Lake all year round.
Pride
Utah Identity festival Week attracts upwards of 100,000 attendees who light up the downtown area…