I see two people on the sidewalk in front of me. One points to a flag flying above the café, and says: ‘Seeee? Pride flag!’ The other gives a nod of approval, and they turn to enter the shop, doubts assuaged. In a place of what might be called ideological extremes, pride flags don’t just symbolise rainbow capitalism but a broader sense of safety and ideological identification.
I don’t think everyone would agree but, for all parties, gayness seems to have become what the anthropologist Darryl Li calls a competing universalism – an alternative vision for humanity (and Utah) competing with certain iterations of Mormonism, conservatism, liberalism and US identity.
