Gay Business in Salt Lake City Gay-owned Businesses Hope Salt Lake City Alliance Erodes Fears, Hate Crimes By Judy Fahys, Salt Lake Tribune Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News Jul. 11--Customers rarely take offense with Joyce Eden's gift shop, a cards and crafts boutique perfumed with scented candles and stuffed with handmade pottery and funky jewelry. Yet, one time a customer huffed out the door over the pink-triangle theme of a few items. The triangles, an emblem of gay and lesbian pride in the '90s, are adapted from the symbol Nazis used to mark homosexuals during the Holocaust - and they reveal the shop owner's bond with the homosexual community. As they watch that earlier brand of hostility fade, Eden and other gay- lesbian business owners in Utah feel more comfortable stepping into the mainstream without leaving their personal identities in the shadows. "I certainly don't want to make a point of it," says Eden. "It's a small part of our lives. And, hopefully, people will get it someday that I am just another business person trying to make a living." Utah's gay-lesbian business owners still wait for the day customers regard a proprietor's sexual orientation as being as irrelevant to business as shoe sizes or favorite colors. But, in the meantime, they hope their new Utah Gay & Lesbian Business & Professional Alliance will crumble the barriers they face. "The alliance creates a gay chamber of commerce," says Don Austin, a Salt Lake City therapist who specializes in helping gay men and AIDS victims. Among the advantages he sees in being a member of the alliance: networking, political clout and group advertising. "As a gay business owner, I have to worry about the same things as anyone else, " he notes. The alliance has about three dozen members but many more supporters, including "gay friendly" businesses listed in the 1994 Stonewall Community Directory. The directory is co-published by the alliance and the Stonewall Center, a community center for homosexuals in Salt Lake City. 'NOBODY'S DAMNED BUSINESS': Nationally, homosexual business owners also are banding together. In April, they organized the first National Gay and Lesbian Business Expo at a New Jersey convention center. Among the 150 exhibitors, one-third were mainstream companies such as AT&T, Continental Airlines and IDS Financial Corp. But not all business owners are delighted with the trend. They fear the stigma against homosexuality is sure to drive away straight customers. A number of local business owners declined to be interviewed for this article because of that fear. "It would be the death knell for my business," says one east-side antique dealer who requested anonymity. "Some straight people are offended, but most people are OK with it as long as you don't rub it in their noses - and calling your business 'gay' or 'lesbian' is just that," he says. "No one needs to know that. It's not a matter of shame. It's just nobody's damned business." Experience lends some justification to that fear. Some Salt Lake City businesses have suffered because of their ties to the homosexual community. For instance, the Sun, a private club near downtown Salt Lake City that is favored by gays and lesbians, has been the target of hate crimes throughout its 21-year history. Bigots have soiled the club with eggs. Hecklers have taunted patrons headed through the door. Customers get roughed up from time to time. And Sun co-owner Nikki Boyer walked to the parking lot one night to discover three .45-caliber slugs in her new Subaru. "It used to be a lot worse," says Boyer, who also owns a video store. "There used to be more violence." She credits a security staff for easing the fear of hate crimes around her club - which, incidentally, has the largest membership of any private club in the state. But she also thinks changing attitudes have helped. "People are just becoming more aware," she says. "The more visibility homosexuals have, the less threatening we become. We put our pants on one leg at a time and we pay our taxes, just like everyone else." SOME NOT PRETENDING: Some gay-lesbian business owners have discovered personal, social and business benefits in being candid about sexual orientation. Alan Hebertson owns the Coffee Garden, an offbeat espresso bar at the corner of 900 South and 900 East. He sees openness about being gay as a matter of basic self-acceptance. "I'm not going to open a business and pretend I'm something I'm not just to attract business," he says. "I'm just a gay man in business," he adds. "If they are drinking my coffee and they don't like the fact that I am gay, I can't let it bother me." Julie Mohr shares that view. Owner of the Blue Marble gift shop on Salt Lake City's east side, she puts her politics on her shelves for all to see: pro-environment, anti-racist and gay-friendly. Her Mohr's Tropical pet store also is listed in the Stonewall Directory as gay-owned. She explains that starting a business allowed her to escape sexism and gay bigotry she found at other companies. "One of the pluses for me was that I could be myself." The financial benefits of being gay-owned or gay-friendly may be the mos persuasive. WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY: The Pillar, Utah's gay, lesbian and bisexual monthly, recently illuminated the unusual wealth of the community it serves. The newspaper found: - Its readers earn about $30,000 a year - more than double the state average. - Of the 225 who responded to the survey, nearly three-fourths have incomes greater than $25,000 a year. - Four of every five has national credit cards and department-store charge cards. - 98% have savings accounts. - Four out of five dine out more than three times a week. While other recent surveys have disputed the notion that homosexuals comprise a poorly tapped, multibillion-dollar consumer niche, many mainstream companies have decided to pursue gay dollars with targeted marketing campaigns. One is AT&T, which already is delighted with customer response to the 70,000 leaflets it sent this spring promoting long-distance telephone services to consumers identified as gay men and lesbians. Another is Ikea, the furniture retailer, which depicted in a television commercial a gay couple shopping for furniture. Park City learned the power of this market firsthand during the Winterfest '94 Gay Ski Games. The weeklong event brought Park City an estimated 1,500 overnight guests, notes Nancy Volmer, spokeswoman for the Park City Chamber of Commerce. "It was a large ski group for us and a big piece of business," she says. Curiously, many of those who came to Park City that week were protesting Colorado's referendum vote last fall against extending civil-rights protections to homosexuals. LOYAL CUSTOMERS: Therapist Don Austin sees his candor about being gay as one reason his clientele has grown steadily during the past 2 years. Like 36 others, he taps the homosexual community's checkbook loyalty by listing his business as gay-owned in the Stonewall Directory. "I cannot do gay therapy and be closeted," he says. "There's always that part of you that says, 'Oh, God! I hope I don't get bombed,' but I have had nothing but positive reinforcement."