Anti-Gay Protesters Harass Patrons at Salt Lake City Gay Club

By: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – According to the Salt Lake City police department, officers responded to an anti-gay protest taking place outside a popular Salt Lake City nightclub, Club Jam located at 751 N 300 W. Witnesses on scene said that the temperature got heated quickly and soon turned confrontational.

According to police, the watch commander received several calls complaining of loud noises in the area of 750 north and 300 west around 11 p.m. Friday June 2.

This isn’t the first time Club Jam has been harrassed as everyone remembers when patrons of Club Jam were attacked back in August 2012 when Fire Department Investigators were looking into a fire bomb terrorist attack where 4 men in a maroon sedan through a firecracker and/or a fire bomb at the club where the patio caught fire.

According to police, a group of anti-gay protesters lead by professional protester Ruben Israel and his Street preachers from California and Oregon, were wearing T-shirts and carrying signs with that read..”Condemn homosexuality”, had set up their protesting spot on the sidewalk near Club Jam.

They were chanting and yelling at patrons as they entered and exited Club Jam. Obviously they knew this was the weekend to kick off PRIDE season so they wanted to make sure that they were on hand to make a scene.

“Some of them came out there and it looked like a tussle was going to ensue,” said Shane Curtis who lives across the street near Club Jam..”And then like seven cop cars with red and blue lights rammed up and broke it up or else it probably would have gotten pretty physical.” said Curtis.

A spokesperson for the Salt Lake City police department said that officers on scene told complaining neighbors standing outside as well as the patrons of Club Jam, that the protesters had a right to be there and were cooperative as far as noise ordinances and traffic violations were concerned.

After officers arrived, the protest didn’t go any longer than an hour before it broke up. Obviously they were disappointed that they couldn’t get the reaction from LGBTQ citizens to respond in a negative light for their smart phone cameras to catch and post on their anti-gay sites.