The modern gay rights movement was launched at the Stonewall uprising only weeks before Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Fifty years later, the theme of this year’s Utah Pride Festival -- Exist, Resist, Persist -- captures the moment and encapsulates the challenges ahead for LGBT Utahns. Their journey of progress has seen both small steps and giant leaps.
The Utah Pride Festival celebrates a group of Utahns whose very existence was at first ignored and even now remains devalued by powerful forces and institutions. Nevertheless, thanks to a welcome increase in civility and healthy dialogue, the challenge for LGBT Utahns has been shifting from gaining recognition to winning acceptance of their grace and humanity.