A Utah County LGBTQ+ resource center announced Tuesday that it will be closing the doors to its physical location on Sept. 27, but it’s not disappearing entirely.
Mosaics, a community center and bookstore, is a nonprofit organization founded by Utah drag queen Tara Lipsyncki.
For two years, Mosaics has existed in various locations in Utah County — from just down the street from Brigham Young University to its current location in American Fork.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Tara Lipsyncki speaks at Mosaics in Provo in 2024. Mosaics announced Tuesday that it would close its center, now located in American Fork.
In a statement about the closure posted to Instagram, Lipsyncki attributes the decision, which was “not made lightly,” to the significant challenges the center has faced since it opened: several bomb threats, harassment, and a “lack of sustainable funding opportunities during the current anti-DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) climate.”
Last year, Mosaics was also on the brink of closure. The organization raised enough money — around $50,000 — to stay afloat through the end of 2024 and move the center, but fell short of its $250,000 goal, Lipsyncki said in a text message.
Lipsyncki declined to be interviewed for this story but sent The Salt Lake Tribune an additional statement about the closure. In it, she detailed how keeping Mosaics afloat has “consumed” her life over the past few years, like working over 100 unpaid hours a week.
“And now, because of the political climate — because of anti-DEI policies that ripped away the little funding we could count on — I can’t carry this anymore," Lipsyncki wrote.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Buttons with various pronouns on them sit in a bowl at Mosaics in Provo in 2024. The organization announced Tuesday that it would close its center, now located in American Fork.
In both statements, Lipsyncki stressed the need of such a resource center in Utah County, a deeply conservative area of the state.
The county is home to youth resource center Encircle Provo and other resource organizations like the Out Foundation, PFLAG Provo/Utah County, QueerMeals and Genderbands. But physical gathering places are few are far between.
“So on September 27th, our physical space will close,” Lipsyncki wrote. “Writing those words feel like a failure.”
Mosaics will not disappear entirely, despite the closure of its physical location. It will continue on as a “fully mobile model” — providing resources at events throughout Utah and surrounding areas.
Lipsyncki wrote that she knows the location mattered to the kids and parents who used it.
“Mosaics was never just a building. It was a sacrifice. It was love. It was survival,” she wrote. “And that will continue — as long as I have breath in me.”
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Bookcases line the walls at Mosaics in Provo in 2024. The organization announced Tuesday that it would close its center, now located in American Fork.