SOAKED!

Salt Lake City wasn't at all what I expected. For a place that gets casually boxed in as “conservative,” the lived experience is a lot more textured — and, to my pleasant surprise, the locals were far warmer than I’d been led to believe. Government buildings may no longer be allowed to fly Pride flags, but step into the city itself and you'll see plenty of rainbows in shop windows, cafés, and bookstores as a kind of joyful counter-gesture. There's a calmness here; a gentle, open energy that hit me almost as soon as I started walking around. Expect ID checks at all bar entrances (even if you're well above 21, as Utah liquor laws are, well, specific), the sound of humidifiers humming in hotels because the air here is bone-dry, and Harvey Milk Boulevard — a central stretch along 900 South, renamed for the civil-rights icon — flying Pride colors all year round. Utah was the first Republican-led state to enact statewide employment and housing protections for LGBTQ+ people, which helps explain why Salt Lake’s queer community feels both visible and deeply rooted. Keep Reading →