Letter: Homophobia lives on in Utah

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

While the wheels of American justice slowly grind out a federal decision on marriage equality, Utah Republicans have been busy demonstrating their utter lack of animus toward the LGBT community. It's as if decades of hatred and discrimination against gays and lesbians never happened. Why, we're only spending millions of taxpayer dollars to fight marriage equality because we dislike chaos and confusion! We don't hate gays; we're just honoring the voice of the people!

This new niceness has been a little hard to take, inasmuch as we all know the Republicans are faking it for legal reasons. How refreshing it is, then, to read the words of Ramon Swapp, a true, dyed-in-the-wool anti-gay activist ("Sodomy is still an abomination", June 17) who is unapologetic in his belief that the city of Sodom was reduced to "a layer of black rubble alongside the Dead Sea" as God's punishment of gays.

Bravo, Mr. Swapp. We were beginning to wonder whether homophobia still exists in Utah. You have given us the answer.

Brandon Burt

Salt Lake City