GAY MARRIAGE IN A MORMON WORLD
By LILA SHAPIRO // Photograph by WENDY GEORGE
n a cold Saturday in December, hundreds of couples swirled around a
6-foot-high cake at a mass wedding reception at a Salt Lake City concert
hall, celebrating the recent court ruling that had unexpectedly allowed
them to marry their partners. A pair of gray-haired women in tuxedo
vests held each other close, laughing at a private joke. A smooth-faced
man pressed his cheek against his partner’s three-day scruff. A Beyoncé
cover of the classic Etta James song summed up the mood: “At last.”
Sally Farrar didn’t join in. She
and her partner of 27 years, and
wife of 19 days, Brenda, stood off
to the side, like wallflowers at the
junior prom. “I’m so uncomfortable right now,” Sally said, a frown
on her face and a bottle of water in
her hand. “I’m freaking out.”
Mormons have never been big
partiers. The religion bans the
one substance that most American adults consider essential to a
good time, and even though Sally
ended her formal relationship
with the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints nearly 30
years ago, around the time she
began a romantic relationship
with Brenda, she still won’t touch
a drop, even at parties. In many
ways, she remains loyal to the
conservative Mormon values that
shaped her childhood and still
dominate the culture and politics
of the city where she lives.
She votes for Republicans.
She works as a title attorney
and gives a chunk of her income
to charities, though not to the