10 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | NEWS
Utah Pride Center —CONTINUED 2024 Utah Pride Parade and Festival “The biggest program we currently have is the Utah Pride Parade and Festival, and it has been for a long time,” Newcomb said. “That is the shared queer experience. No matter where you come from, Pride is a place of visibility, celebration, and empowerment. I know it was for me at my first Pride in 2011 — the experience of support and love and affirmation.” “Pride is more important than ever with the rise in hate crimes and extremist threats and hateful rhetoric,” he said. “That remains our top program.” At the press conference, Newcomb said Center leaders are working to “ensure a successful 2024 Utah Pride Festival in June with a new organizational strategic plan being readied for rollout.” “We plan to charge ahead with the 2024 Utah Pride Parade and Festival — the program that is the crown jewel of our work and that brings together hundreds
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of thousands of Utahns each June to celebrate and take pride in our diverse queer community.” Newcomb said, “We aim for 2024 Pride to be much more inclusive, welcoming, and affordable than in 2023 — and we will do all we can to address the concerns some members of our community have had around policing, inclusion, diversity, and more.” This year’s festival drew complaints from LGBTQ+ organizational leaders and small business owners that they were priced out of participating. Others felt that the Festival lost sight of Utah’s LGBTQ+ community, focusing more on national talent.
ISSUE 354 |
December, 2023
Looking at how the Center got to where it is today, Newcomb said that they have an independent team of auditors, lawyers, and others digging into the finances of the 2024 Pride Festival and other financial decisions made through the year. “The new board leadership and I join public calls for full accountability and
take full responsibility for correcting the mistakes of the past,” Newcomb said. “We are charting a new, clearer path with a relaunched organization that will ensure this never happens again. We are pursuing and putting into action aggressive plans that are both timely, quick, and fully rectify these debts over the coming months.” Newcomb promised that the results of the review will be made public once it is complete. Moving forward, leaders are “aggressively working to establish and put new financial and ethical guardrails into practice.” They pledge to be “open and transparent about Pride and our finances going forward.” “We promise not only to deliver the basics of what is required of a nonprofit but to go even further than required in providing transparency of our finances in the future,” Newcomb said, adding that the community can expect “regular, quarterly updates to the public on UPC’s efforts.” Q
2010 at the Marmalade neighborhood location of the Utah Pride Center, when the word “FAGS” was sprayed over the sign of their coffeeshop. A neighborhood on Washington Street near Harvey Milk Boulevard has had several incidents of Pride flags being cut down from porches and ripped up and even burned. In October, Chief Mike Brown joined community members and released a public service announcement as being a partner against hate. In Utah, a hate crime is a criminal offense committed against a person or
property that is motivated by the offender’s bias or prejudice against the victim. “The Salt Lake City Police Department recognizes our responsibility to investigate hate crimes thoroughly and impartially to hold offenders accountable and ensure justice for victims. The Salt Lake City Police Department educates its officers and works with the community to recognize and condemn hate crimes and works to prevent them from occurring in the future,” SLCPD said in a statement. “The effects of a hate crime can be devastating and long-lasting for both the individual victim and the larger community.” Q
The Past, Transparency in the Future
Salt Lake police seek info after Utah Pride Center sign tagged with hate speech The Salt Lake City Police Department is asking for community tips to help with an investigation into vandalism at the Utah Pride Center. This investigation started at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, November 14, when a Pride Center volunteer noticed hate speech spray painted on the main sign of the center, located at 1380 S. Main Street. Staff members have since removed the word “faggots” from the sign. At a press conference announcing the Center’s future leadership and direction, Incoming executive director Ryan Newcomb said it was important to emphasize community safety for marginalized individuals following such incidents. “You will not deter us in the fight for love and equality and celebration of who we are as human beings,” Newcomb said. The Salt Lake City Police Department is asking anyone with information to call 801-799-3000. A similar incident happened in
