Date: Sat, 7 Jan 1995 18:54:41 -0500
From: UtahQueer@aol.com

Utah Log Cabin Club Leader Blasted for Falsifying Obituary

Utah gay and lesbian activists were angered when Chris Ryan, president of the
Utah Log Cabin Club (ULCC), ended a five-month fictitious letter-writing
campaign by plotting the publication of a fake obituary in the local gay and
lesbian newspaper.
     Ryan, who started the struggling gay and lesbian Republican group less
than a year ago, began writing letters to the editor of The Pillar under the
pseudonym "Greg Snow" in August, 1994. The letters condemned the local gay
and lesbian pride day organization leaders as holding an "I'm Ashamed Day"
that was "so far away from civilization" and asked "who's pocket is [pride
funding]  going in?"
     The Republican spokesman also drew the ire of the local community when
he called those elected as Mr., Mrs. and Ms. Gay Pride "alcoholic drag queens
or bar flies."
     In subsequent issues, the letters told respondents to simply "get over
it" and "the truth hurts."
     The obituary, published in the November issue of the newspaper, stated
that the fictitious Greg Snow had died "in a courageous battle against
cancer" and was the "founder of Children's Charities of New York, a
non-profit organization for orphaned, sick and abused children" and a
"benefactor for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Gay Men's Health
Crisis" to which he donated a large portion of his estate.
     In the January issue of The Pillar, Ryan admitted that he was the author
of the letters after the December publication of an obituary of Greg Snow
prompted some Utah leaders to divulge the true identity of Snow.
     Ryan stated in an article written by Brandon Creer, publisher of The
Pillar, that he "wished to improve the letters to the editor section."
     Creer wrote that "individuals who choose to express their opinions
should be able to own the responsibility for those opinions and not hide
behind a complex web of deceit."
     In response to the controversy, Ryan told Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats
Founder David Nelson that Ryan would resign immediately and permanently from
the ULCC.