Nearly two years ago, I started writing the LGBT FYI blog for The Salt Lake Tribune. It was an experiment, as all our blogs are, in trying to create an online following centered on one specific topic. I have enjoyed having a space to share some tidbits from my reporter’s notebook that didn’t make it into stories — loved that our photographer captured this moment during an interview with Republican Senate President Michael Waddoups and former Democratic Rep. Christine Johnson.

But the Tribune is scaling back its emphasis on blogs as more and more readers pick up their online ne...

On Thursday, the U.S. Census released data on same-sex-couple households in Utah. The number — 5,814 — is up 73 percent from 2000, largely because more gay couples are identifying themselves as unmarried partners or spouses when they complete their Census forms.

“The opportunity for our families to be counted and to be visible allows the greater population of Utah to have a clearer picture of the fact that LGBT people are residing in Utah,” says Brandie Balken, executive director of Equality Utah. “We are raising families and we ar...

As Utah celebrates the 164th anniversary on Sunday of the arrival of Mormon pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley, the state of New York marks its first day honoring same-sex marriages. More than 800 gay and lesbian couples have signed up to be married in New York City on Utah’s Pioneer Day.

Among them are at least two couples with Utah ties: former Utah Sen. Scott McCoy and his partner, Mark Barr, who moved to New York in June; and Salt Lake City theater artists

Scott McCoy, 40, and Mark Barr, 37, met 13 years ago when they were both twenty-somethings living in Manhattan. McCoy was a law student and Barr worked for Showtime.

McCoy landed a job as a clerk for a Utah Supreme Court justice and the couple moved to Salt Lake City in 2002. He became Utah’s first openly gay state senator in 2005 and served through 2009. McCoy and Barr, who recently earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Utah, moved back to New York in June.

On Sunday, Utah’s Pioneer Day, they plan to marry at a city office in Manhattan. It will be their third commitment ceremony but their first legal marriage. In 2000, the couple wed in a relig...

Jerry Rapier and Kirt Bateman met in 1995 at Desert Star Playhouse in Murray, where Bateman worked in the box office and Rapier had a close friend starring in the show. The couple fell for one another quickly and moved in together two weeks after their first date.

Sixteen years later, Rapier is producing director of Plan-B Theatre and Bateman is executive director of the Davis Arts Council. The two theater fans travel to New York to see performances multiple times each year. When they realized they would be in Manhattan the same day that gay marriages would become legal, they entered a clerk’s office

Jim Dabakis has been picked as chairman of the Utah Democratic Party, making him the first openly gay person to lead a major political party in Utah. Also at Saturday’s State Democratic Convention, Brian Doughty, who also is gay, won a close race to replace former Rep. Jackie Biskupski in House District 30.

“I am excited that the LGBT community will have a voice again on the Hill because I’ve seen what a difference it makes to have someone on the floor who can articulate a personal message on some of the issues that arise,” Biskupski, Utah’s first openly gay lawmaker, said ...

Although he opposes same-sex marriage, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Tuesday he will not sign a conservative Iowa Christian group’s pledge voicing that opposition, the Associated Press reports.

The Family Leader’s 14-point pledge initially included a statement that African American children were more lik...

Renee Galliher, a psychology professor at Utah State University, is conducting a study to learn more about the experiences of members of the LDS Church who are attracted to members of their same sex.

She has posted a 149-question survey. She is seeking respondents, who will remain anonymous unless they voluntarily share their contact information, who have, at any point in their lives, been LDS and experienced same-sex attraction.

Bill Bradshaw, an emeritus Brigham Young University biology professor and father of a gay son, also is working on the study. Bradshaw and his wife direct Family Fellowship, a su...

Actor and playwright Steven Fales will give a benefit reading on Sunday to raise funds for Darin Adams, a Pleasant Grove father who is facing mounting legal bills as he fights for custody rights to his three children. Adams, a former Mormon, separated from his wife six years ago after he came out as gay. The divorce was final a year ago. The children are now ages 8, 10 and 12.

Although Adams has joint custody, he says his ex-wife has threatened to move with the children to Sweden and has been denying scheduled visits with his children. He has filed a petition seeking full custody. He worries the courts have been slow to enforce his rights because he is gay.

Richard Noble, a LGBT activist from Los Angeles, is in Salt Lake City today (July 5) as part of his walk across the nation to promote the American Equality Bill. The bill, initiated by eQuality Giving, would add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing federal laws that protect Americans from discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin and religion.

The bill does not yet have a sponsor in Congress.

Noble will speak at the Utah Pride Center, 361 N. 300 West in Salt Lake City, at 5 p.m. and then walk to the Salt Lake City & County Building at 6 p.m. Supporters are invited to ...

This month, Utah’s first openly gay lawmaker, Jackie Biskupski, resigned her seat in House District 30. At one time, Utah had three LGBT legislators, but now that number has dwindled to zero.

Six candidates are running in a special election, which will be decided on July 16 Democratic delegates in District 30. Two of the candidates, Nikki Boyer and Brian Doughty, are openly gay. Boyer is board president of the Utah Pride Center and a past president of the Utah Ston...

With New York legalizing gay marriage without a residency requirement, the Empire State soon could become a magnet for out-of-state couples who have dreamt of a wedding in Central Park, the Hamptons or Niagara Falls. The law goes into effect on July 24, Utah’s Pioneer Day.

Are you planning a wedding in New York? If you are a gay or lesbian couple living in Utah, I would love to announce your nuptials on the LGBT FYI blog. Please send me an e-mail at rwinters@sltrib.com ...

Speaking with adolescent kids about sex is often an awkward conversation for parents. It can be especially challenging for parents reacting to news that their son or daughter is lesbian, bisexual, gay or questioning.

On Tuesday, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah will host a panel discussion aimed at answering parents’ questions about how to talk to their children about sexual orientation and health.

University of Utah experts Lisa Diamond and David Huebner, along with a parent-and-teen duo, will speak. Huebner recently released an online film, “Lead With Love,” that advises parents on how best to show love and support ...

With the news that former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is running for president, the news media has been highlighting his gay-friendly views, which set him apart from most Republican candidates. Huntsman supports civil unions for same-sex couples and prohibiting employment discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

But a consultant for the Huntsman campaign inaccurately stated this week that this support had translated into legalizing civil unions in Utah. In fact, Huntsman, during his 2004 campaign, endorsed a voter-approved amendment to...

Cecil Samuelson, president of LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University, was invited to share a moment of “reflection” at the Scottish Parliament this week. But after Samuelson’s speech on Wednesday, an openly gay member of the Scottish Parliament, Patrick Harvey, criticized the selection.

“Mr. Samuelson should never have been invited to address the parliament, given that he leads an institutionally homophobic academic institution,” Harvey said, according to The Scotsman. “I make this point not in respect to religion, but an academic institution that has a policy that wo...

“Two Spirits,” a documentary about the life and death of Fred Martinez, a Navajo boy with a feminine essence, has its PBS debut on Tuesday (June 14). Martinez was brutally murdered at age 16 in southwest Colorado on June 21, 2001.

Martinez was comfortable with both his male identity, “Fred,” and his female one, “Beyoncé,” a name he chose in honor of his favorite singer. He felt inspired by the Navajo tradition of “two spirits,” which holds there are two additional genders: Male bodies with female spirits and female bodies with male spirits. He also identified as gay.

The documentary was directed by former Salt Lake City resident

Rep. Jackie Biskupski, a Salt Lake City Democrat, is resigning her post to move to a home outside of House District 30. In 1998, she became the first openly gay person to be elected to the Utah Legislature. Later she was joined by out lawmakers Sen. Scott McCoy and Rep. Christine Johnson, but they have both since left political office. With Biskupski departing, Utah will no longer have a LGBT state lawmaker on Capitol Hill.

Biskupski frequently asked her conservative colleagues in the Republican-dominated legislature to support equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgende...

A national PBS special, “OUT in America,” has its public-television premiere Wednesday evening — but not in Utah. Local PBS affiliates KUED and KBYU are among several nationally that have not scheduled the one-hour program.

GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is urging viewers in those areas to call their local stations if they would like it to air “OUT in America.” In Austin, Tex., advocates launched a petition drive to get KLRU to show the film...

The American Lung Association is encouraging LGBT smokers to kick the unhealthy habit this month in honor of pride festivities happening across the nation. The 2011 Utah Pride Festival is this weekend in Salt Lake City.

Last year, the association released a report that found that gay, bisexual and transgender men are 2 to 2.5 times more likely to smoke than heterosexual men, and LBT women are 1.5 to 2 times more likely to smoke than their heterosexual peers. Discrimination, stress and targeted marketing were identified as possible contributors to the higher smoking rates.

For the first time in its history, the Utah Pride Festival has sold out of vendor space, with 142 booths and 17 food stands.

Sunday’s parade also will be bigger than ever with 91 entries, up from 75 last year. The pride parade is thought to be Utah’s second largest, rivaling the hugely popular Days of ‘47 parade, which had 126 entries last year.

Logan Brueck, director of the pride parade, described the event, in a statement, as a “fabulous moving block party with a hint of a peaceful demonstration of individuality.”

He added, “There is also something incredibly powerful about a procession of like-minded individuals down our city’s streets saying, ‘We love who we...

Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker has been picked to receive the annual Pete Suazo Political Action Award at the 2011 Utah Pride Festival. Michael Aaron, owner and publisher of Q Salt Lake magazine, will receive the Dr. Kristen Ries Community Service Award.

Plus, the festival will introduce two new awards at the Grand Marshal Reception on June 3.

Becker, who was first elected mayor in 2007, created the Utah’s first mutual-commitment registry for same-sex couples. He also spearheaded, in 2010, the city’s adoption of the first city ordinances banning housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender id...

Three years after David James “DJ” Bell and his partner Daniel Fair were brutally beaten at their South Salt Lake home, they saw four of their assailants sentenced to time behind bars.

In July 2008, a group of neighbors accused Bell of kidnapping two young children who had wandered over to the gay couple’s home while their parents were partying next door. The angry neighbors broke into the gay couple’s home, shouting anti-gay slurs and beating Bell and Fair with a frying pan, heavy salt shaker and a flat-screen television.

Bell was charged with kidnapping but was acquitted in 2009.

On Monday, Ricky Peace, Ieti Nuusila and Ieti Mageo were

David Boies and Ted Olson, the attorneys representing two same-sex couples seeking to overturn California’s Proposition 8, are featured in Bill Moyers’ new book of interviews, Bill Moyers Journal.

The former PBS host interviewed Boies and Olson before their case won in federal district court last year. Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that the voter-approved ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. But the ban remains in effect while the Ninth Circuit Court considers an appeal.

Boies, a Democrat, and Olson, a Republican, are best known for facing off before the U.S. Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore, the case that decided ...

Nearly 100 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths shared their “coming out” stories with the New York Times for a multimedia series that is being published this week.

The Times contacted teens from rural towns to urban centers, using advocacy groups — including suicide-prevention hotline, The Trevor Project — and YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, in an effort to “better understand this generation’s realities and expectations and to give teenagers their own voice in the conversation,” writes reporter Sarah Kramer.

The first story can be read here and others will...

Operation Shine America, a Salt Lake City-based advocacy group, will hold a rally to raise awareness about homeless youth. A 2009 survey found that 42 percent of the homeless youths served at the Salt Lake City Homeless Youth Resource Center identified as LGBT. Many of them have run away or been cast away from homes where they were not accepted.

"We are demanding that they be treated with dignity," Operation Shine co-founder Chloe Noble said in a statement. “In one of the richest countries in the world, it is unacceptable for homeless youth to have to endure the intense discrimination and dehumanization they experience every day."...

Peter Vidmar has resigned as chef de mission of the 2012 U.S. Olympics Team after some athletes criticized his role in supporting California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry in the state.

Vidmar, who is LDS, told the Chicago Tribune he participated in the anti-gay-marriage campaign because...

“Becoming Chaz,” the story of Chaz Bono’s transgender journey from woman to man, airs on Oprah Winfrey’s cable channel, OWN, on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (MST).

Bono, is the only child of variety-show stars Cher and the late Sonny Bono. As a child, Chaz Bono, then known as Chastity, appeared on his parents' TV show.

“Becoming Chaz” debuted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The television premiere will be followed by a discussion about the documentary between Rosie O’Donnell and Bono.

Rep. Pete Stark, a California Democrat, has reintroduced the “Every Child Deserves a Family Act” in Congress, with 33 cosponsors. The bill, first introduced in 2009, would forbid agencies that receive federal funds from discriminating in adoption or foster care placement based on the sexual orientation, marital status or gender identity of the potential parent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity of the child.

Such legislation would overturn a Utah law that bans individuals in unmarried, cohabiting relationships from adopting or fostering children. Utah is one of two stat...

Within an hour of the news that the Arkansas Supreme Court had overturned a state law that banned unmarried couples from adopting or fostering children, Utahns were calling the American Civil Liberties Union office to see what the ruling means for them.

The Arkansas law, approved by the state’s voters in 2008, was patterned after Utah’s, says Darcy Goddard, legal director of the ACLU of Utah.

“They assumed Utah’s law would be litigation proof. And they were wrong,” Goddard says.

But that doesn’t mean a challenge to Utah’s law could succeed just yet, Goddard notes. (The state ruling in Arkansas does not affect Utah’s statute....

Starting in September, employees of Salt Lake City School District will be able to share their health insurance with a domestic partner. The decision comes on the heels of changes to district policies that prohibit discrimination and harassment of students and employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“We look forward to offering this benefit for our employees,” McKell Withers, superintendent of Salt Lake City School District, said in a statement. “We have been able to negotiate with our new medical insurance provider, SelectHealth, to offer this choice without increasing premiums for the district or the employees....

Comedienne Rosanne Barr, a Salt Lake City native, has been named Grand Marshal of the 2011 Utah Pride Festival.

“I’m kicking off my pro-gay, pro-labor, pro-women’s-rights, pro-secular-societies campaign for president of these United States,” Barr quipped in a statement. “Coming home to SLC, as Queen of the Utah Pride Festival, into the new center of Western Culture, is a thrill that I will remember for as long as I can!”

Barr starred in the five-season TV comedy “Rosanne” and has written three books. Her most recent, Roseannearchy: Dispatches from the Nut Farm, came out earlier this year. Barr stopped in Salt Lake City on her book tour.

The Utah Pride Fe...

Two men who worked to end “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the military’s ban on openly gay service members, will speak at the Human Rights Campaign Utah Gala on June 11.

Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, the author and chief sponsor of the bill that repealed the ban late last year, and Eric Alva, an openly gay retired Marine and the first Purple Heart recipient in the Iraq War, both will speak. Murphy, a Pennsylvania Democrat and an Iraq War veteran, lost his re-election bid in November and now is running for attorney general in his home state.

The lineup also includes J...

Utah high school and college students who show leadership in the LGBT-rights movement are eligible for a new scholarship from the Equality Leadership Fund.

The fund was launched by Equality Utah, in partnership with the Community Foundation of Utah, after philanthropists Jim Dabakis and Craig and John Williams-Crawford proposed the idea.

“We all have a stake in supporting and empowering the next generation,” Brandie Balken, executive director of Equality Utah, said in a statement. “This is challenging work, and we are proud to be pr...

Equality Utah plans to launch an educational campaign in Washington County and surrounding communities to share information about discrimination and other issues faced by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Philanthropist Bruce Bastian and HikingSouthUtah.com are hosting a benefit dinner to fund the campaign. They hope to make it an annual event. Individual tickets to “Building Bridges in Southern Utah,” May 21, already have sold out.

At the event, Claudia Bradshaw, founder of the St. George chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and Chris McArdle, former organizer of the...

A fourth, “credible” poll has shown that more Americans now back gay marriage than don’t, reports New York Times blogger and statistician Nate Silver.

The most recent poll from CNN found that 51 percent of U.S. adults think same-sex marriage should be legal. Support was even greater — near 60 percent — among women, Democrats and people under the age of 50.

Charting the trend of all available polls, Silver marks a 4 percentage-point jump ...

The American Civil Liberties Union is encouraging public school students to test their schools' web filters after discovering that schools in Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania and Virginia have been blocking students' access to LGBT-related sites.

“This is not a case where overbroad filters are accidentally filtering out LGBT websites," Joshua Block, an ACLU attorney, said in a statement. "These filters are designed to discriminate and are programmed specifically to target LGBT-related content that would not otherwise be blocked as sexually explicit or inappropriate.”

Student members of gay-straight alliance clubs have found they cannot access information from groups such as the...

The University of Utah debate team will present a debate Tuesday evening on whether the Utah Legislature should pass a statewide law to prohibit housing and employment discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Two-thirds of Utahns support passing such a measure, according to a January Salt Lake Tribune poll, but Republican lawmakers have squashed Democrats’ attempts to do so four years in a row.

Equality Utah and former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson’s High Road for Human Rights will debate the question with the Utah Eagle Forum and other opponents of t...

Lesbian, gay and bisexual youths who live in social environments that are more supportive of the LGBT community are 25 percent less likely to attempt suicide than their peers who live in less supportive places, according to a new study in the journal Pediatrics.

Mark Hatzenbuehler, a Columbia University psychologist and researcher, analyzed a survey of nearly 32,000 ...

What began as a J.Crew ad about how one company executive spends quality time with her son (she paints his toe nails his favorite color — pink), has blown up into what Jon Stewart satirically calls "Toemaggedon." Some have criticized the J.Crew mom for allowing her son to break gender norms with pink nail polish.

Here's Stewart's take:

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The Utah Pride Center will host a flurry of youth-focused activities this month, leading the center to announce that April is “Queer Youth Month.”

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth often face harassment at school and rejection at home, leading to higher rates of homelessness, depression and suicide attempts, studies have shown.

“Queer Youth Month aims to bring visibility and voice to youth who are too often silenced,” Jude McNeil, the center’s youth program director, said in a statement.

Here’s a rundown of four events for LGBT youths this month. Unless otherwise noted, these events are at the Utah...

The Utah Driver License Division met Wednesday with a transgender woman who allegedly faced discrimination when she visited the agency’s Fairpark Office in Salt Lake City.

“We did express our apology if she felt like she had been mistreated in our office,” said Nannette Rolfe, director of the division. “We want to make sure our employes are treating everyone with respect and dignity.”

Rolfe said her office has not found any evidence of wrongdoing in a review of surveillance videos of the incident. But she instructed the transgender woman and a witness, Amber Anderton,...

The Utah Pride Center is calling for greater public education and awareness about issues faced by the transgender community. The center issued a statement in response to an alleged incident of anti-transgender discrimination at the Utah Driver License Division.

The division denies any mistreatment occurred, but a bystander, Amber Anderton, complained after she saw that a transgender woman was required to remove her makeup before she could be photographed for a new state identification card. Anderton also says the employees appeared to be making fun of the transgender woman.<...

Jim Dabakis, an entrepreneur and longtime advocate for Utah’s LGBT community, is running for chairman of the Utah Democratic Party. So far, he is the only candidate to formally file. Dabakis, an art dealer, helped launch both the Utah Pride Center and Equality Utah.

If selected by delegates at the party’s state convention this summer, Dabakis likely would be the first openly gay chair of the Utah Democratic Party. (There hasn’t been one at least since the 1960s, which is as far back as the memory of the party staff stretches.)

“He’s got a really solid shot,” said Todd Taylor, the party’s executive director. “I think people are s...

Many allies and members of the LGBT communty are mourning the passing of acclaimed actress Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor, who was made a Dame of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999, was an early activist in the fight against HIV/ AIDS, raising millions for research and treatment.

“Today, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community lost an extraordinary ally in the movement for full equality,” Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said in a statement. “At a time when so many living with HIV/AIDS were invisible, Dame...

The Utah Pride Center is calling for nominations for two annual awards to be bestowed at the 2011 Utah Pride Festival. (The theme for the festival is “Live. Love. Pride.”)

The Dr. Kristen Ries Community Service Award recognizes “outstanding service” to Utah’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Past recipients include Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake City; Stan Penfold, director of the Utah Aids Foundation; and entertainer Walter Larrabee.

The Pete Suazo Political Action Award recognizes an elected Utah official who has demonstrated an “exceptional commitment to equal rights.” Past honorees include former Gov. ...

The Ogden City Council has amended anti-discrimination ordinances it adopted last week in a narrow 4-3 vote, avoiding a threatened veto from Mayor Matthew Godfrey.

The ordinances ban housing and employment discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Ogden, which is the 12th Utah city or county to adopt such measures, added language to its ordinances to satisfy the mayor that religious expression also would be protected.

The council also agreed to make Ogden exempt from the ordinances to avoid lawsuits, but Godfrey promised to pass an exe...

After a decade in the Utah Senate, Chris Buttars, the West Jordan Republican who helped craft Utah’s constitutional gay-marriage ban, is retiring.

During his time in the Legislature, Buttars made remarks about the LGBT community that raised eyebrows, prompted calls for his resignation and even sparked a protest festival dubbed “Buttars-palooza.”

After Buttars announced his retirement this week, ally Gayle Ruzicka, president of the Utah Eagle Forum, said Buttars “always stood strong for moral values” and that made him a “target.”

Buttars’ statements did grab...

U.S. Congressman Jared Polis, an openly gay Democrat from Colorado, and the National Stonewall Democrats will host a live, online townhall tonight at 7 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time).

Polis will discuss legislation affecting the LGBT community, including efforts to repeal or save the Defense of Marriage Act and implementing the end of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The town hall will be streamed live at fearlesscampaign.com and on Facebook. To R.S.V.P., click

After a year of discussion, the Ogden City Council on Tuesday passed ordinances that forbid housing and employment discrimination based on a persons’ sexual orientation or gender identity.

But Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey vowed to veto the council’s 4-3 vote. He disagreed with the council’s decision to remove language that exempted Ogden and that stated a person’s religious beliefs could not be used as evidence in cases of discrimination.

“People have the right to express religious views without being fined by the government,” Godfrey said during the council’s meeting. ...