As historic LGBTQ+ bar closes in SLC, owner and union organizers say they both hope to find ‘a path forward’

The SunTrapp, Salt Lake City’s iconic LGBTQ+ gathering spot, “will be closing,” the bar announced on Instagram Friday — weeks after a group of employees asked the owner to recognize their proposed union.

About 50 people were gathered outside the bar at 102 S. 600 West shortly after the post was published Friday night. A sign on its door said it was closed for a private party.

In September, SunTrapp Workers United (SWU) asked bar owner Mary Peterson to voluntarily recognize the proposed union by Oct. 10, according to a news release. Peterson told The Salt Lake Tribune in a text at the time that her business “is too small. The SunTrapp will not be unionizing.”

[Read more: Owner of iconic Salt Lake City LGBTQ+ bar says it’s ‘too small’ to unionize as workers announce intent]

But in the statement posted Friday night, she said, “I want to be clear that I support the rights of all employees to choose whether they want to join a union.”

The business was “committed to engaging” in the next step, which would have been a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board, she said. “Unfortunately, because of the government shutdown, the National Labor Relations Board was closed and the election process was stopped.”

The bar has tried to stay open during the shutdown, she said, but “sadly, the financial impact of consistent protests has made it impossible for us to remain open. As such, we will be closing the SunTrapp on October 31st, 2025.“

Natalie Jankowski, a lead bartender at The SunTrapp and a member of the SWU organizing committee, said she and other union members have not felt Peterson supported their rights as they’ve worked to unionize with Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 7765.

Two hours after she and other SunTrapp workers delivered a letter — which stated that the majority of staff had signed union authorization cards — to Peterson on Sep. 26, Peterson fired them, Jankowski said. She added that Peterson quickly reversed the decision and reinstated them.

Still, believing Peterson had committed several unfair labor practices, Jankowski said she and other pro-union staff members went on strike on Oct. 3.

Since then, she said, staff members and their supporters have picketed in front of the bar every Friday and Saturday night. Meanwhile, others were hired to fill the positions of the staffers on strike, according to Jankowski.

For the last two weeks, Jankowski added, the workers’ lawyer went back and forth with Peterson’s attorney, unsuccessfully requesting a meeting.

“She closed down instead of talking with us,” Jankowski said. “She had every opportunity to do that.”

Jankowski said she was with the group who had intended to picket Friday night when she learned the bar was closing. Around her, she said, some staff members shed tears. “It is profoundly sad,” she said, “that our owner saw our love for this place as a threat.”

In her Instagram post, Peterson said she’s “not certain” what a path forward looks like for SunTrapp, though she’s hopeful for one.

Under Utah law, a bar must notify the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services if the owners plan to close for more than 10 days, or it may forfeit its license. The bar owner can apply for an extension to be closed longer (for remodeling or after a fire, for example), but for the deadline to be extended, the DABS commissioners must approve the application.

Derek Petersen, who said he was a former administrative assistant and bartender at SunTrapp and now helps with SWU, was with the crowd outside the bar Friday night. He had read Friday’s Instagram post that said the bar was closing, he said, “instead of sitting down with the union and with queer workers. I think that’s just a big disappointment for the queer community. They deserve and the workers deserve some kind of conversation.”

Others in the community have defended Peterson, who reopened the bar last year after a previous owner closed it. Peterson posted her own video statement on Facebook earlier this month, where she said the bar was in danger of closing. She acknowledged firing and then rehiring workers after receiving the SWU letter, saying she had been “ignorant” of the laws protecting unionization activities.

On its Instagram account two weeks ago, SWU noted: “We do not want the bar to close. All we want is to collaborate with ownership on a better, safer Suntrapp!” Posts on the account detail the safety measures and workplace changes its members requested.

“The reason we unionized was not to do a takeover, was not to ruin the bar, was not to close down the bar,” Jankowski said. “We wanted to unionize to save and preserve the bar.”

The employees hope the bar reopens, she said. The SunTrapp is not just a second home to many LGBTQ+ people, but also to many staff members, she said, who often hang out there even when they’re not working.

“We want to ensure its longevity, and we want to create policies and rules and safety policies that really just secure the future of that bar,” Jankowski had told the Tribune in September, “because all of the staff loves it so much, and so do the customers.”