Amen. Fuck Utah with a barbed fuckstick.

City Weekly might have deserved such a sound scolding if it weren't for the fact that it has been a solid friend of Salt Lake City's LGBT community for the past 20 years.

As one who experienced the spiritual abuse habitually doled out to gay kids raised in the Mormon Church, I more than share Dan Savage's profound anger--in fact, I sometimes wonder at his vehemence, which is usually reserved for those of us who have firsthand experience of the church's organized abuse of gays and lesbians.

The point is, gays, lesbians and other cool people who boycott something called "Utah" are not likely to harm the Mormon Church. When they come here, where do they go? Most often, they go to restaurants and clubs owned by gay people or where gay people work. If not--if they were supporting church-owned hotels, restaurants, etc.--then they were foolishly breaking the boycott gays and lesbians here have had in place since before the first time the Mormon church got involved in the gay-marriage issue.

Salt Lake City gays and lesbians know what we're doing, and how to carry out a boycott that will harm church interests, not the interests of those who support our cause--a group which, until recently, we thought included Dan Savage.

If Savage has the slightest interest in promoting an effective boycott--one that has a chance of working--he need only to ask. Apparently, though, he thinks the gays and lesbians here can just go to hell along with the rest of Utah. Thanks a lot, Dan.

Brandon Burt
Assistant Managing Editor
Salt Lake City Weekly

Roy... I've never met you at the 20 or 30 alternative newspaper conventions I've attended. Had we met I could have spared you the astonishment. So, please...You read what I wrote. This isn't the first instance of a proposed gay boycott of Utah, nor of Dan playing a roll. You know there's a context here.

Dan's column was not shipped overboard due to his views, but his actions. He kicked us in the balls. We kicked back. Simple as that. I met Dan over 10 years ago and I like the guy. So far. I understand the tenor of his voice and would not expect him to tone down. Still, his method once again is off base, and only hurts we who choose to live in Utah--ground zero to this and many other civil rights issues for which we constantly battle. The boycott will not hurt the LDS Church. It might reinforce to some that Utah can be a silly and fucked up place, but what's new?

Boycotters may feel good but they really don't do squat--except in this case to hurt the wrong Utahns (as explained above and in the City Weekly column).

Instead, I'd hope you or Dan and anyone else wanting create some good of this to join the thousands GLBT Utahns and their supporters--Mormon and non--who do more than piss and moan about their rights, and who actually do something constructive and creative to protect them.

I respect your solidarity with Dan. Sorry to hear about paying with cereal box tops though.

John Saltas
Salt Lake City Weekly

What roll is Dan playing, John? Kaiser, whole wheat? Gosh, maybe if I'd attended a few dozen alternative newspaper conventions I'd know the answer. Meanwhile, I remain astonished that an alternative newspaper would fire an outspoken columnist for speaking his mind on a civil rights issue. Or are you saying he was fired for declining to ski Utah?

Whole Wheat. My bad, Stef. Read the column. Dan wasn't "fired" and I don't care where Dan skis. It's both ironic and hypocritical though that he chose to take dollars he has never spent in Utah to Colorado where the virulent Focus on Families has been tireless in its diatribes against gays--not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars that group raised in support of Prop. 8.

You're suggesting he boycott the church based in Colorado that raised hundreds of thousands for Prop 8, rather than the church based in Utah that kicked in $25 million? Boycotts are fine except where you live? And while you're at it, explain this:

"Dan's column was not shipped overboard due to his views, but his actions."

Which "actions" were those, other than expressing his views in his column? So far as I know, he hasn't bought a lift ticket yet.

Hi Stef. I didn't suggest Dan or anyone to boycott Colorado. I said it's hypocritical. Nice try. But your point underscores the very reason why such boycotts are silly--it's ok to spend money with people who hate just as much but didn't raise as much in support of Prop 8? And is money the measure, or were the votes? Boycotts leak. Compromises are made--like not calling to boycott California where the actual voting took place. We've said in our paper all along--protest and protest loudly, as has happened on a large scale in L.A., New York and Salt Lake City. The reports say around 10,000 persons marched in NY yesterday--out of how many millions? 3,000 protested outside the LDS Temple in SLC last Friday. Do the math. Utah is not the LDS Church. Oh, and 50 people turned out on a Sunday in Seattle, so I guess I understand why boycotting is a preferred way to rally behind a cause for some folks.

Dan's column is his column, which we ran. The action is a call to boycott Utah which we do not support. Outside of deciding what kind of breakfast roll to butter this morning, that's not difficult for us to object to. If you like the boycott thing, do some real good instead--skip the ski trip and send your money to the local GLBT organizers or Equity Utah or anyone else here needing real support. BTW--I don't like blog chatter and try to avoid it. But you did ask. If you want to contact me offline regarding what you can do in a positive nature rather than debate what Dan or I think, I'm easy to find. Take care. Hope to see you in Utah some day.

I can't imagine why you think I'd ask your advice, "offline", on how to support the marriage equality movement. The *action* you've taken, silencing a critic of Prop 8's financiers, does not recommend you at all. Censorship is not the answer, John, whether you agree with Dan's statements or not. You had the opportunity to sponsor an interesting dialogue on the value of boycotts, the role of Utah and the LDS in suppressing civil rights, and which state has the best ski resorts. Instead, you opted to shut down the conversation and banish Dan Savage for his views. No, I won't be taking your advice, online or off. Thanks anyway.

I grew up in Florida. Hell, I'm an 8th generation Floridian. If you travel through Florida (which I hope you do not since I want everyone to boycott my home state), and are inclined to stop and read those silly little historic markers on the side of roads, you will encounter more than a little of my family history. I am a lesbian. I GOT THE FUCK OUT OF FLORIDA! I fell in love with a girl from Queens. We now live in Washington DC. We are happy. No one boycotts Washington DC because 93% of the people in Washington DC voted for Obama and are liberal Democrats. Lesson to gay people in Utah. Like Florida, UTAH SUCKS! If I can leave Florida, you can leave Utah. Trust me, it's MUCH better in New York and DC than Salt Lake City! It's kind of like being in an abusive relationship. You don't know how bad it was until you are out of it.

I think the biggest thing that highlights Utah as different from other states is that, face it, it is run as a Mormon fiefdom, and the money of the Mormon expansion makes its way back to the lords of the Mormon church at their bastion, Utah, from which they order their flying monkeys to attack the rights of others and pay out money to manipulate the voters of other backgrounds.

As a Utah ex-pat now residing in Seattle, I couldn't agree with you more CAC!

"50 people turned out on a Sunday in Seattle"

1.) The Mormon religion does not have as big of a mark here as it does in Salt Lake City, obviously.

2.) Check back after the protest and march from Volunteer Park to Downtown tomorrow. This thing is being very publically talked about. Let me tell you too, that is a lot of square footage to cover, and it will be covered tomorrow.

As an ex-Kentuckian also now living in Seattle, I see both sides of this. I think Savage went overboard in proposing the Utah boycott (which he has since tempered, acknowledging that not all Utahns are Mormons). However, I think the Weekly went way overboard by ejecting his important voice from this discussion at this time, rather than simply expressing their dissent. Why not invite Savage to Utah and show him why this moment calls for solidarity, not destructive boycotts? After all, the real enemy here is the Mormon church, and punishing Utah isn't going to do much to them. They need legions of homos swarming around the steps of the Temple in SLC. Get on it, guys!

All the Weekly editors argue in their response goes to how wrong they feel Dan was.

But that entirely misses the point of the Village Voice piece.

The point is not whether or not the Weekly agrees with Dan's boycott of Utah. It's that they're punishing a writer solely because they disagree with the content of one column.

Golly gee, we out here in Utah sure preciate all y'all fags not visiting us no more.

Get a clue people: Utah is not synonymous with Mormons any more than Brooklyn is with gangsters. Times change. Boycotting Utah will only do one thing: harm the LBGT community and those who are friendly to it. How about a freedom ride to Utah instead?

Do those Mormon bigots really think that firing Dan Savage is going to make people change their minds and travel to the Hate State?

Talk about sheer idiocy.

Libhomo's comment reinforces everything that is wrong with Savage's campaign. First of all, the City Weekly is not owned by "Mormon bigots." It is, in fact, owned and written by people who are struggling for social justice on this issue in a very inhospitable climate. Thanks, New York, for adding fuel to the fire and making life even more difficult for people who are LGBT or LGBT friendly out here.

What you can do is visit Utah and spend money at LGBT and LGBT-friendly places. Yes, they do exist here.

As I said before, get a clue. Let me modify that slightly: get a FUCKING clue.

Cheers to the SLC Weekly for jettisoning Savage.

He's emerged, post-Prop 8, as an ill-informed hatemonger whose obtuse call to boycott the entire state of Utah as a way to stick it to Mormons would be offensive if it wasn't so laughably ineffective.

I found the paper's justification solid: If gays outside Utah take Savage's advice, it primarily wounds gays IN Utah.

Quick thought experiment: If I urged all my readers to hold their bowel movements indefinitely, how long would I/should I stay on the payroll of the Toilet Town Weekly?

I gotta say, though -- and I hesitate here -- even as a straight man, I find Savage maddeningly handsome. He combines the overbitey horsechops of David Schwimmer with the weak-chinned submissiveness of former CA governor Gray Davis. Yum.

California votes down gay marriage and we show our anger by boycotting...(drum roll..) UTAH!!!

Savage must have slept thru 5th grade Geography (and biology)

Don't boycott Utah, move here. We'd love to have you join the progressive population that has been growing in numbers and political power. It was close, but Salt Lake County (Utah's most populous county with Salt Lake City and its metro communities) went blue this presidential election. Park City, Moab and some other great progressive towns would welcome you with open arms. If you're a pioneering sort and love the outdoors, settle in one of the many lovely but socially isolated communities who could benefit from your talents and learn not to fear you. If moving to Utah sounds like your idea of hell, that's alright. Just keep in mind that there are thousands of people out here working to make Utah a better place and who earnestly support GLBT equality.