Evans' work as a "straight ally" began during his collaboration with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists in fall 2009, when Salt Lake City was working with various groups "to develop and promote a new civil rights ordinance" for the capital city, Affirmation President John Gustav-Wrathall said in a news release Thursday. "He was astonished by the graciousness of those activists toward him even after acknowledging his role in the LDS Church's Prop 8 campaign [in California]," which defined marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman.