UTAH COUNTY, Utah — Sky Young started going to the Utah Pride Center ten years ago when she first came out.
“My parents weren't the most accepting, so I would kind of go up there trying to seek support, kind of make a plan for the future and find people who were like me," she said. “They've been a really important part of my life and I want it to continue on.”
Over the years, the UPC hasn't been using all its funding to serve queer people in Utah, said Young.
“I feel like they haven't really expanded their resources a lot, which has been kind of a, a problem for me because being down in Utah County, there's not really a lot of access to queer things down here," she said.
The Utah Pride Center posted the following statement to its social media pages Wednesday:
Julia Gates, owner of The Pleiadian Alter, paid $400 for her crystal shop’s booth. This year, she paid $1,500, she said.
“When you go to a festival, you want to see small businesses and artists and local makers," said Gates. "You don't want to go to see Walmart and Verizon and the FBI."
Going forward, business owners and people who need life-saving resources hope the Utah Pride Center will be transparent about how it’s spending money.
“I kind of said, 'Hey, I'd love for you guys to put up all your financial statements, do a full financial audit, post all of your information transparently on your website,'" said Young.
