Salt Lake City Lgbt community

sndymorn

Twenty five years ago , my impression of Utah was that it was very conservative in all areas . Today I hear Salt Lake may be the most gay friendly city in the USA . What has changed there to create this atmosphere ? I am a straight older male and can not understand how this straight laced Morman stronghold allowed or accepted such a change. I have only heard these things are true and would love comments from those in the know. Is salt lake city the new San Francisco?

vinlyn

I think that's overstating it, but I have also read that SLC has become fairly gay friendly.

I imagine it's similar to what has changed Colorado from a dependably Republican state to a leaning Democratic state -- an influx of population from the northeast US, spurred on particularly by the ski industry.

tmottes

I was born and raised in Utah (about 30 mins north of SLC) and I still own a home there (at one point my state senator and rep were a gay man and a lesbian woman). The change has been happening for a number of decades. There have always been a large number of gays in Utah and those that stay in the state tend to gathered in SLC. Also, many gays from surrounding states (I knew many gays who had relocated from ID, WY, MT, etc) move to SLC as well. I don't know exactly why there are so many gays in SLC, but I am sure it isn't a single factor. The geographical position of SLC and Denver seems to have something to do with it as well. Meaning those people who are inclined to live in a bigger city (including many many gay men and women) will move from all the small towns through the region to the two bigger cities in the area.