This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Salt Lake City Council members long have been invited to ride — with a guest — in the annual Days of '47 parade, marking the Mormon pioneers' arrival in Utah in 1847.
But after parade bosses rejected Mormons Building Bridges — a group working to improve ties between the LDS and LGBT communities, as a participant in 2013 (and every year since) — some council members tried to circumvent that opposition by inviting openly gay residents to accompany them.
In response to that effort, the parade committee changed its invitation to council members from including "and guest" to a "spouse" or other family member.
Now, with Derek Kitchen on the council and gay marriage legal in every state, the parade brass could not object when Kitchen rode in Monday's procession with his spouse, Moudi Sbeity.
"Today is exciting," Sbeity exulted on Facebook. "Derek and I get to be in the Days of '47 Parade as part of the SLC Council. For a parade that historically denies LGBTQ-affirming groups and individuals, I'm pretty stoked on being part of the pioneer celebration."
Kitchen and Sbeity, who married last year, were two of the plaintiffs in the landmark lawsuit that toppled Utah's ban on same-sex marriage. Their appearance in the Pioneer Day parade marked one more step for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender inclusion.
Said Bridges co-founder Kendall Wilcox, it's "progress."
Peggy Fletcher Stack