Live every day like @ElizabethforMA during Pride pic.twitter.com/kNdeibcBDY
— laura olin (@lauraolin) June 10, 2018
From “mostly lurker and very occasional commenter” BlueinSLC:
This is a GREAT story about how awesome and diverse Salt Lake City is and has become. We have an incredibly vibrant LGBTQ community here, and a great Pride parade. Unfortunately, at last weekend’s pride parade some idiots harassed some participants on their way home. They sought refuge in a local ice cream shop, where one of the employees bravely confronted a crowd of 15-20 harassers. They attacked this guy, but he kept them at bay, eventually turning them away from the shop…
Here is a link to the Salt Lake Tribune article about it, and about how people have since been coming by to thank him. It’s a nice, hopeful, and sweet story, and one that (I hope) shows off where we are going.
From the Salt Lake Tribune:
… On Saturday night, the 21-year-old was working behind the counter at Doki Doki dessert shop during a quiet shift. Just before closing, about 10:30 p.m., four frightened men who had just left the Utah Pride Festival burst through the door. The group of guys that had chased them in was gathering outside, making taunting gestures and yelling homophobic slurs.
[Terrance] Mannery ran to the entrance to block the mob from coming into the cafe.One attacker shoved Mannery into the glass and metal door, breaking its hinge. Some of them started punching. It was dark and Mannery couldn’t see how many there were. He felt at least seven hits; one left a dark red scratch on his cheek. Witnesses have said he was trying to fend off some 15 to 20 muscular men.
The group, described by one bystander as some “wholesome Utah boys,” dispersed when a security guard approached. Mannery went back inside Doki Doki. Not knowing what else to do, he went back to taking orders. The four victims who ran in left in a Lyft. It was over in minutes…
“Even in hindsight, I would have still gone out,” said Mannery, who came to Utah from Wisconsin three years ago for school. During his first summer here, he went to the 2016 Pride Parade. There were a few protesters but nothing like what he saw Saturday.
“I hope this inspires more people to stand up, but hopefully they do it in a safer way. I don’t want people to try to take on entire groups by themselves, but if you hear your friends making jokes, definitely say something.”