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Show 243 enforcement officers. During the proceedings, one officer described Salt Lake as an "ideal training ground" for arresting homosexuals and another claimed that "the worst problems come from 'closet queens' ... who wish to keep their sexual preferences quiet. The public has no idea of how much secret and illegal homosexual activity is going on in Utah." Subsequently, vice officer Bill Shelton reported an onslaught of calls and letters from gays who feared police would arrest them in their homes. He also alleged that several gays "threatened violence against our guys if we conduct a crackdown on homosexuals." In a letter defending consensual private behavior, ACLU Director Shirley Pedler expressed dismay that police would focus on "'closet queens.' I would think that the legitimate interest of the Vice Squad would be limited to sexual practices, because they involve juveniles or ... ... those individuals whose public behavior, present a public nuisance." Bill Shelton hastened to assure an agitated gay community that "we're not trying to suppress homosexuality per se, we never have. The only homosexual activity that concerns us is that which is carried on in public places.Y''" The suggestion that police efforts were never directed against homosexual status, but only public sexual conduct, did not square with the bar raids and harassment gays endured in the past. More plausible was Shelton's claim that some gays expressed appreciation for the crackdown because "people who engage in public sex are hurting the gay movement." During the 1950s and '60s, gay-identified and closeted men alike adapted public spaces for homosocial and homoerotic use by remaining inconspicuous, lOS"ACLU Reacts to Salt Lake Gay Harassment," The Open Door, September 1978, p. 6; "Officer Explains Policy on Gays," Salt Lake Tribune, 18 August 1978, p. B2. |
