14 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | PEOPLE OF THE YEAR
Qsaltlake.com |
Our past People of the Year This is our 18th People of the Year issue. A total of 54 people have been declared our People of the Year, ranging in age from 18 to however old the most senior LDS leader is. We’ve declared mostly people who have affected Utah’s LGBTQ community for the better in a year, but at times it was for worse. But even the latter changes our community for the better, as they tend to get people involved in our progress in response to their ugliness. Here are the covers of our previous 18 People of the Year issues:
Issue 331 | JANUARY, 2022
is made by volunteer leaders of a myriad of organizations who bring us together and create community.
2010: Brandie Balken Brandie Balken, who led Equality Utah as it successfully campaigned for ten municipalities to pass nondiscrimination ordinances across the state.
2013: Marian Edmonds Allen Marian Edmonds Allen grew OUTreach Resource Centers from Ogden-based to several locations in Northern Utah.
2004: Scott McCoy
2006: Larry H. Miller
Executive director of the Don’t Amend Alliance fighting against Utah’s Amendment 3 which banned, for a while, same-sex marriage in the state.
Former Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller for refusing to screen “Brokeback Mountain,” inspiring a community to rise up against him.
2005: 6 Utahns Utah Pride Center director Valerie Larabee, Utah Sen. Scott McCoy, Southern Utah Pride founders Amy Marie and Amy Selfridge, Salt Lake Gay Athletic Assn founder Mark Barr, Provo High School Gay/Straight Alliance founder Kaisha Medford.
2008: Thomas Monson LDS Church president Thomas S. Monson for getting the church involved in California’s Proposition 8, creating thousands of activists in Utah as a result.
2011: Sister Dottie S. Dixon, aka Charles Lynn Frost Every gay person growing up needed a Sister Dottie S. Dixon in their lives. Charles Lynn Frost’s character appealed to people all around LDS and LGBTQ culture.
2007: Ralph Becker Then Salt Lake City Mayor-elect Ralph Becker for steadfastly showing a bold plan for LGBTQ rights through his campaign even as KUTV’s Rod Decker warned of gay marriage in city hall.
2009: 3 Bold Women Former Salt Lake City Councilperson Deeda Seed, then-SLC Councilperson Jill Remington Love, and then-Salt Lake County Councilperson Jenny Wilson
2012: Volunteer Leaders The most significant effect on LGBTQ Utahns
2014: Those who brought marriage Equality to Utah Plaintiffs and leaders in the lawsuit that brought Judge Robert Shelby’s decision to overturn Utah’s anti-same-sex marriage laws.
