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Living Library

  • Park City Library 1255 Park Ave Park City, UT 84060 United States (map)

We’re so excited to share our lineup of books for this year’s Living Library. It’s an amazing group of people (from all kinds of backgrounds) who are equally excited to talk with all of you. If you haven’t participated before, this fan favorite event from 2022 is a safe space for conversations about our experiences as queer people. Come with questions you want answered or ready to just chat with someone new.

To learn more about each of us, use the arrows at the top right corner of the image. Registrations are also encouraged, using the form at the bottom of this page.

Featured
Jace Deininger
Jace Deininger

After coming out as trans and gay at age 14, Jace dove into social activism (especially LGBTQ+ youth visibility and empowerment) at his school and in his city. In high school he was his GSA’s co-president and gender and sexuality educator. He has participated in workshops for faculty, round table community discussions on diversity, and pride events around Utah, New Orleans, Oregon, and Paris. He has also been involved with the city’s LGBTQ+ task force and helped organize their entry during the 4th of July parade. Jace has worked hard to combat inequalities and injustices in his school and city. He envisions a world where LGBTQ+ youth and adults feel as safe, seen, and celebrated as anyone else, all the time. Jace is also planning a future involving many, many years of college, a few degrees, a career as a queer theory professor, activist, and summer camp counselor. Jace loves working with the queer community especially with his peers. As a high school senior, he joined Utah’s Planned Parenthood Teen Council, a group dedicated to fostering a safe environment for peer-led sex-ed in schools across the state. He dedicates himself to finding queer joy and a sense of community in his life and with his peers. Now a rising sophomore at the University of Oregon, you are most likely to find Jace at a queer rally, in a queer bookstore, or discussing current issues with his friends and/or teachers.

Father Bob
Father Bob

I am a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. I came to Park City, a deeply closeted celibate gay man. I came to Park City in 1994 as pastor of St. Mary’s Church after a lengthy period of administrative service in diocesan offices. I came to Park City, and in ways both good and bad, the good people of Park City embraced and loved me and helped my soul grow into my skin. So in Park City I began my outreach to the gay community and its allies both within the Catholic Church and among the Park City community. I came to Park City and served both Church and City for sixteen years. I came to Park City and cherished the good and named the bad. When at last I came to understand that I had given all I had to give it was time to go. After a year sabbatical, I asked to be reassigned to southern Utah where I served in Cedar City for the normative six years as pastor. Six years that I deeply cherish and love. Upon completion of my term, I was eligible for retirement.  I return to Park City which is my home and continue my ministry, now as a retired priest. In the fall of 2021. I was asked by the City Council to join the LGBTQ Social Equity task force. As a celibate Catholic priest, I continue with pride to be of service to the gay community here in Park City and beyond.

Blue Byrne
Blue Byrne

I’m Blue, and I use he/she/they pronouns! I’m a student at PCHS. I came out as queer when I was 11, and it’s been a bumpy road, especially because I’ve also dealt with chronic illness for most of that time period. It’s very important to me to raise awareness about what it’s like being a young queer person, the intersectionality between being queer and disabled, and to make sure my voice and and others’ are heard. I am an open book, so ask me anything you’re curious about!

Taylor Matkins
Taylor Matkins

Hi! My name is Taylor Matkins (she/her pronouns). I am from North Carolina and have lived in Utah for 7 years. I came out as lesbian when I was a senior in college. Following the lesbian stereotype, my first girlfriend was my college softball teammate. I was very blessed to have accepting, loving parents. Fast forward to today, I am engaged to a beautiful ex-Mormon woman. Navigating her family’s religion and family views is a constant part of our relationship. They have made tremendous progress through the last 5 years of our relationship but acceptance is something we talk about constantly. As one of the founders of Lucky Ones Coffee, education and acceptance is crucial. Our pride flag in the store says come as you are. You belong here. Ask me anything. I am an open book and excited to share my story with all of you.

Cami Richardson
Cami Richardson

Cami is a proud 68-year-old trans woman who came out in 2016 full-time. For 58 years she hid the fact that she used to wear women’s clothes and had a desire to be a female. Her careers included being a paid firefighter in New York, the Chief Financial Officer of American Ski company and helped take them public, an Entrepreneur, and finally an advocate for the trans and LGBTQ community. She has authored two memoirs, the first called, Do you know who I once was? and more recently another called, Foggy Goggles, which chronicles her career as well as her experience of coming out as a trans woman. She has had the privilege to do a TED Talk and on a local level does what she calls Cami Talks to local organizations to help educate them about diversity, equity, and inclusion. She serves on various LGBTQ boards including Transgender Education Advocates, she is co-chair of the Park City LGBTQ task force and she is on the advisory board for Encircle homes. She has lived in Kamas since 2000 with her amazing and accepting wife, Teri Cook. She looks forward to the Living Library event and to being able to share her experiences that hopefully will benefit those in the community.

Cami is a great person to have a conversation about coming out as transgender in their sixties and what being transgender is like in Park City.

Joe Urankar
Joe Urankar

Joe is someone whose life has straddled different worlds. On one end, he was born to a catholic family in an idyllic New Jersey suburb; he rode horses and sailed, went to a boarding school, and studied architecture. The catch is that from the earliest of ages, he knew he didn’t fit in. On the other end, he’s a creature of the underground, an installation artist whose work protects authenticity and joy, a gay man, and a non-believer in monogamy.

Unpacking his nature vs nurture? Joe describes it as an ongoing and occasionally heartbreaking journey of self-discovery. Without role models or access to mentors who knew how to support him, he worked through isolation and vulnerability in order to explore the parts of himself that didn’t fit in. From Park City, Joe now travels to experience different cultural norms, dedicating his time to understanding how to build a more inclusive community.

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Letters to Parents