Utah’s Homosexual Highway (Opinion)

Need evidence the world is changing faster than many people can follow the pace?  Salt Lake City is the “Capital” of the LDS faith.  Utah, along with Idaho, is usually referenced as being the reddest state in the union, however.  Much like Texas, where college towns along the lines of Austin march to a different drummer, Salt Lake City has become cosmopolitan.  Don’t expect any street battles on the latest front in the culture wars.  Salt Lake City is usually described as a fairly calm spot on the map of the USA.  My guess is most religious conservatives will go about their business even with a street named after a homosexual martyr.  Or maybe the most pious will skip using the street.

When I was a teenager I avoided one street in my hometown.  It wasn’t difficult because it covered just one block but it was the stretch from Hades for me.  I once ran out of gas after rounding the corner from Main Street.  Also I blew a tire on the same block.  Oh, and my old Buick stalled one night and after smacking the generator with a rock (trust me, it worked) the car miraculously started!  I kept the rock and got frequent emergency starts with one swift strike.  I say miraculous because the irony in all of this is I stopped driving on Church Street because of all my automobile issues.  Was there a message?  I’d like to think I was being hailed by the Almighty but since we’re referencing Salt Lake City and Harvey Milk you know someone is going to be offended by any references about God.  Just keep in mind the old joke from Chris Rock about Martin Luther King Boulevard and Malcolm X Way.  “You know you’re in a bad part of town,” he cracked.  Yesterday I read about a school in Brooklyn named after the great Jackie Robinson.  A Hall-of-Fame ballplayer, Army Officer and standout student in his own life he would be disappointed by a school where most of the kids aren’t learning.  If you want your hero’s name on a street, park or school just remember the potholes are part of living.