Dan Page

IT SEEMED LIKE it was going to be a perfect summer day. Jason Wood, an office manager at a tech company in Boulder, Colorado, was on a much-needed vacation in Wyoming with his husband, Matt, who worked for an architecture firm. First stop had been Fort Collins, to hike around the Horsetooth Reservoir, with its crystal blue water reflecting the sky. Next they drove to Cheyenne, where the plan was to catch the Independence Day fireworks at the local rodeo that evening. They went to dinner at a classic American restaurant in downtown Cheyenne. Matt ordered a shrimp pasta dish. Wood ordered the hummus platter, but he wanted to make a substitution. He asked the waiter if he could please have fresh vegetables—carrots, cucumber, celery sticks—instead of pita bread. The waiter told him they didn’t have any fresh veggies, so he wouldn’t be able to substitute.

“Just that one thing, that was enough,” says Wood, a slim man of 40 years, with close-cropped hair and a light goatee.…