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SLC Mayor’s “infamous red vest” sells at auction

Posted at 11:12 AM, May 12, 2014
and last updated 2014-05-12 13:14:05-04

SALT LAKE CITY — Mayor Ralph Becker’s famed red vest that he wore to marry same-sex couples in the frantic rush after Amendment 3 was overturned was auctioned off over the weekend.

The vest sold for $1,300 at an auction in St. George benefiting the gay-rights group Equality Utah.

The mayor’s office called the vest “infamous,” while others simply referred to it as “hideous.” In a video reflecting on same-sex marriage becoming legal in Utah, Becker joked that his office got messages from all over the country about what he was wearing.

“I started getting these texts and emails and phone messages from people around the country,” the mayor said. “Almost every one of them, people were going, ‘What the hell are you wearing?’ ”

The mayor said he knew he didn’t look great, but called the marriages he performed one of the most “enthralling… exciting and moving hours of my time in public life.”

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