The history of sexuality, the American West, and the rise of the Gay Rights Movement is what I study in graduate school at the University of Utah.
Undoubtedly, many of the men and women who arrived in the 19th and 20th century had same-sex partners and same-sex erotic experiences. Yet the central location of Utah and Salt Lake led to the region eventually becoming known as 'the Crossroads of the West' implying movement and migration of many people from various backgrounds and life experience into the state. Unlike other larger port cities, Salt Lake has long been isolated, which resulted in a different growth pattern indeed, the settlers who arrived in the 19th century considered isolation a virtue. Of course, Salt Lake has always had a gay community there have always been human beings in Utah who formed intimate relationships with members of the same sex in their righteous longing for love, companionship, and happiness. With this map I've located the businesses and public spaces that catered to the gay community in Salt Lake City during the 1970s, the decade when the Gay Rights movement began to make inroads nationally and locally.
