Photo Credit: Victor Hugo Pinilla-Coxe (my friend)
I moved to Utah 27 years ago, end of May 1987. I already knew a few LGBTQ people, mostly from college and campus ministry, and a couple in my small home town. AIDS was still kind of new, and scary. My church has long welcomed everyone, and I had friends: they were a lesbian couple with two adopted children.
Equal marriage was a fantasy, barely on the radar. Mostly, I wanted my friends to be safe, and able to have jobs & places to live. I moved away, back, away again, and finally back 16.5 years ago.