Content area
Full Text
On a hot summer night in 1969, New York police began harassing a group of patrons -- most of them in drag -- at a Greenwich Village gay bar.
It was routine occurrence at the Stonewall Inn. But instead of again meekly leaving, the homosexuals surprised police. They fought back.
Several nights of violence, later called the "Stonewall Riots," marked the start of the gay-liberation movement.
The Utah Stonewall Center in Salt Lake City bears the name of the bar, considered a symbol of gay-lesbian pride.
In a nondescript office building at 450 E. 900 South, the facility is a refuge -- a combination meeting place, library, resource center, sometimes lecture hall, potluck dinner party site and art exhibit hall -- for lesbians and gays.
It fields dozens of telephone inquiries weekly, directing callers to appropriate agencies, from Travelers Aid to the Utah AIDS Foundation.
Callers ask about gay-friendly employers, real estate agents, apartment owners, retailers, entertainment and health-care providers.
"We like to think of it as a `safe house,' " says Scott Carpenter, center treasurer and board member.
Anticipating the obvious, the affable St. George native adds: "And yes, I was named after the astronaut who went into space the year I was born: 1963."
The center, he believes, exists "to assure local lesbians and gays that they're not alone."