Utah Pride Center Recruits Kids

We at the Standard of Liberty were dismayed to hear of an annual “Queer Prom” held at the Salt Lake City Library Saturday April 10 for ages 14 through 20. This is eighth or ninth grade well into college age. Gay or straight, this is inappropriate. The gathering is legal only because there is no alcohol. We point out that many things that are legal are not healthy or wholesome (smoking, alcohol abuse, adultery, pornography), and this is one of those.

Traditional high school proms are based on nature, order, and traditional gender roles. This particular dance is held solely based on anomalistic ideas about gender, sexuality, and sex. Throwing minors together with adults on the basis of unlimited sexuality is bizarre and irresponsible. But we found out there’s more to it than that.

We made a few phone calls. The library passed the buck to the city. The city hasn’t responded. So we called the Utah Pride Center which sponsors the event and many other events throughout the year for this same age group. Lily Rodriguez, the "HIV Prevention Counselor" whose job it is to counsel youth on sex and sexuality, defended these events. She said the prom was not about sex and sexuality but about making friends.

We went to see for ourselves. There were certainly very young kids attending this event. We saw them holding hands and skipping to the entrance. As they arrived they were accosted by adults with badges and clip boards and asked to fill out a lengthy survey. Many of them sat down and poured over the survey for up to an hour before going into the dance. It seemed to us that the youngest kids were dressed most normally, and that the older the attendees looked, the more outrageously they presented themselves. We saw one male attendee, surely even older than 20, milling around and introducing himself where the kids were filling out their surveys. He hobbled around on women’s 6-inch platform strappy heels, wore a spaghetti-strap short black flowy dress and black hose, continually adjusted his falsies and flourished a big Japanese fan. In this same area, a child-like girl, who looked even younger than 14, was dressed like Minnie Mouse, complete with mouse ears.

Ms. Rodrigez had failed to mention this 15-page questionnaire. We obtained a copy. It asked the kids what school they attended and if it had a gay club. It asked them to label themselves one of seven “sexual orientations” and one or more of seven “genders” (with spaces for “other”). It asked questions about “hate-based” harassment at their school. It invited them to meet with a person named Jenny Arm (of unknown credentials) present at the dance and gave her phone number. The survey also asked explicit questions about the young attendees’ sexual behaviors, such as, “In the past six months, have you had anal sex without a condom?” The last page congratulates the kids (“YOU ARE FABULOUS!”), informing them that the information they have provided will be distributed “to important organizations, including schools.” (See this survey at standardofliberty.org.)

Ms. Rodriguez misrepresented this event. Not only is it inappropriate and potentially dangerous, it is obviously used to sexually exploit and influence kids and recruit them into gay activism to further the Center’s political agenda.

Ms. Rodriquez informed us that the Center welcomes not only gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth, but “questioning” youth. We say that it’s about time somebody questioned Utah Pride Center. We asked her if she ever tells these kids that they might not be sexually different at all (but rather bored, rebellious, addicted to pornography, rejected, heartbroken, confused, abused, etc.), and she changed the subject.

We agree with Tammy Bruce (a self-identified lesbian herself) who wrote, “I believe this grab for children by the sexually confused adults of the Gay Elite represents the most serious problem facing our culture today.” (The Death of Right and Wrong, 2003). SoL calls upon the City of Salt Lake to refuse to approve the Center’s requests for the use of city property for youth activities. We call upon the Division of Child and Family Services to investigate Utah Pride Center regarding the welfare of minors. We call upon “important organizations, including schools” to reject Utah Pride Center’s self-serving propaganda. We call upon parents to protect their children from this misguided group and others like it.

Utah Pride Center has no business targeting, sexually labeling, and exploiting minors. Troubled youth should be directed to parents, family members, foster homes, churches, professionals, and social and community organizations which do not inappropriately sexualize children and which have only their best interests at heart.