Rainbow billboards raise eyebrows

OREM — The debate over same-sex marriage in Utah may have hit the road.

The road in question? I-15.

An anonymous group has paid for a handful of billboards along the Wasatch Front that ask: "Alternative Lifestyle?"

The billboards, which show a rainbow arching over a steepled church, could refer to same-sex marriages. A rainbow is often used as a symbol for gay rights.

At the bottom of the advertisement, a Web site address— www.alternativeutah.com — is listed along with the words, " 'Til death do us part."

But visitors to the Web site aren't given more information about the group — or its mission.

Here's what Web surfers see: the same image of the rainbow arching over the church, plus the message, "More coming soon . . . "

The four billboards were installed in recent weeks by Simmons Outdoor Media.

Simmons Outdoor Media General Manager Kurt Horan told the Deseret Morning News in an interview that he cannot identify the person or group who paid for the advertisement.

"They wanted to be anonymous," Horan said. "That's why they went through us."

The group even went so far as to mask the identity of the Web domain owner.

The media company was asked to register the Web site to itself on behalf of the group that paid for the billboards. The site was registered to Simmons on March 17.

Simmons put up one billboard in Utah County, two in Salt Lake County and one in Weber County.

The Orem billboard is adjacent to southbound I-15, just south of the 1600 North interchange. Another one is in Salt Lake City near 4900 South and I-15.

Advertising on the Orem billboard runs about $1,000 a month.

Horan said advertising costs in Salt Lake City run about $2,500 for a monthly billboard.

The billboards should stay up for about 90 days, he said.

---

E-mail: jburke@desnews.com