Utah Pride; largest ever

by Arthur Raymond
The Deseret News

The theme of the 2008 Utah Pride Festival, "Come Together," was in full evidence Sunday as thousands gathered along the event's parade route, and tens of thousands were expected to attend the final day's festivities at the downtown Library Square/Salt Lake City-County Building site.

Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker sported a hot-pink feather boa as he led more than 65 floats, marchers and dancers through downtown in a celebration of diversity and a call to tolerance and inclusive community spirit.

Yana Walton, director of communications for the Utah Pride Center, the event's programming body, said this year's version was the biggest yet.

"Last year we had about 25,000 in attendance, and this year we're expecting to far exceed that," Walton said. "We had more groups in the parade, 50 more vendors here at the grounds ... and over 2,700 people went to our concert on Saturday ... way more than last year."

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Gay Man Elected Portland, Oregon Mayor

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(Portland, Oregon) Portland, Oregon City Commissioner Sam Adams had little difficulty winning Portland's mayoral race Tuesday, becoming the first openly gay mayor ever elected to lead one of the 30 largest U.S. cities.

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First Lesbian African American Mayor

Denise Simmons has become the first out/open Lesbian African-American to take the helm as mayor of an American city.

After serving on the Cambridge, Massachusetts City Council since 2001, Mayor Simmons follows in the footsteps of former mayor Ken Reeves. Reeves made history on a local and national level, becoming Cambridge's first African-American mayor and the nation's first mayor to be African-American and openly gay.


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PHILADELPHIA Mayor to officiate gay union ceremony

Mayor John Street, once regarded as an enemy of the gay community for opposing same-sex partner benefits, is to preside over his first same-sex commitment ceremony this weekend.

Street said he was asked to officiate at the ceremony for Ryan Bunch and Micah Mahjoubian, a longtime colleague, on Saturday at City Hall.

"Micah is my friend. He has been in my campaign and has been in my administration for eight years," Street said. "I've come to respect him as a person, and if this is something he would like for me to do, then I'd like to do it for him."

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