Metro - 17 - Dec. 9, 2004

December 9–22 Volume 1 ■ Issue 17

Center Loses Another Director Valarie Larabee named to replace Chad Beyer

GSA Students Protest West Jordan School Principal requires parental note to attend dance

Mormons Protest Blockbuster Latter Days ‘appalls’ some members

‘Inclusive’ Church Ad Refused by Networks Commercial shows gays, others being denied church Laurie’s Own Holiday Gift Guide In case you didn’t know what to get her

Ruby Demands Empress ID Badges More than security at stake

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News WORLD AND NATIONAL

Welcoming Church Ad Deemed “Too Controversial” by CBS, NBC

by Jere Keys jere@slmetro.com

cleveland, ohio –The CBS and NBC television networks are refusing to run a 30-second television ad from the United Church of Christ because its all-inclusive welcome has been deemed “too controversial.”

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United Church of Christ television commercial that was rejected by CBS and NBC

The ad, part of the denomination’s new, broad identity campaign set to begin airing nationwide on Dec. 1, states that—like Jesus—the United Church of Christ seeks to welcome all people, regardless of ability, age, race, economic circumstance or sexual orientation.

According to a written explanation from CBS, the United Church of Christ is being denied network access because its ad implies acceptance of gay and lesbian couples—among other minority constituencies—and is, therefore, too “controversial.”

“Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations,” reads an explanation from CBS, “and the fact that the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks.”

Similarly, a rejection by NBC declared the spot “too controversial.”

“It’s ironic that after a political season awash in commercials based on fear and deception by both parties seen on all the major networks, an ad with a message of welcome and inclusion would be deemed too controversial,” says the Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC’s general minister and president. “What’s going on here?”

Negotiations between network officials and the church’s representatives broke down on November 30, the day before the ad campaign was set to begin airing nationwide on a combination of broadcast and cable networks. The ad has been accepted and will air on a number of networks, including ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, History, Nick@Nite, TBS, TNT, Travel and TV Land, among others.

The UCC’s 3½-week, $1.7 million campaign is meant to attract new members and

could be extended into 2005. UUC membership has declined in recent years. The 1.3 million-member denomination, down from 1.7 million in 1989, has 6,000 congregations.

The debut 30-second commercial features two muscle-bound “bouncers” standing guard outside a symbolic, picturesque church and selecting which persons are permitted to attend Sunday services. Written text interrupts the scene, announcing, “Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.” A narrator then proclaims the United Church of Christ’s commitment to Jesus’ extravagant welcome: “No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”

“We find it disturbing that the networks in question seem to have no problem exploiting gay persons through mindless comedies or titillating dramas, but when it comes to a church’s loving welcome of committed gay couples, that’s where they draw the line,” says the Rev. Robert Chase, director of the UCC’s communication ministry.

The ad can be viewed at stillspeaking.com.

Pioneering Gay Journalist Roy Aarons Dies of Cancer

by Jere Keys jere@slmetro.com

santa rosa, calif.—Leroy “Roy” F. Aarons, the former Oakland Tribune executive editor who founded the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) in his living room and grew it into a force in American journalism, died at 70 late Sunday, November 29 after a 10-month battle with cancer.

Aarons, who lived with his partner of 24 years, Joshua Boneh, in Sebastopol, Calif.,

Roy Aarons

Gay Marketing Is No Longer Controversial According to Survey

by Jere Keys jere@slmetro.com

princeton, nj—A new survey by the Opinion Research Corporation has found that most Americans simply don’t care if a company supports and markets to gay and lesbian consumers.

In fact, 68 percent of American adults surveyed indicate that knowing a company promotes its products or services to gays and lesbians has no effect on how they feel about the company. The vast majority—81 percent—indicates it does not matter to them if a company whose products they use on a regular basis also promotes them to the gay and lesbian community.

The survey of more than 1,000 general consumers regarding their sentiments toward marketing to the gay and lesbian community was conducted June 25—28 via OPC’s weekly telephone omnibus poll.

It was conducted on behalf of FleishmanHillard International Communications in conjunction with the launch of FH Out Front, the firm’s new communications practice dedicated to helping clients communicate with the queer community.

“The results of this survey show the growing acceptance, both in corporate America and among U.S. consumers, of gay and lesbian individuals,” said John D. Graham, the firm’s chairman and chief executive officer.

Marketing professionals recognize the queer community as one of the largest untapped audiences remaining in the

communications marketplace with an estimated buying power of $450 billion.

The survey also found that a plurality of Americans (45 percent) would not participate in an organized boycott against companies that market or promote products and services to gays and lesbians. Twenty percent said they would speak out against such a boycott, compared to eight percent who would actively participate.

Three-fourths (77 percent) of respondents indicated they personally know someone who is gay or lesbian, 21 percent saying they did not. Even more important is the finding that those who personally know someone who is gay or lesbian are more likely than others to support companies that market to the gay and lesbian community.

While this survey focused on all Americans, previous surveys targeting the queer community have found that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are significantly more likely to support companies which market to and support them.

A 2002 Harris Interactive/Witeck-Combs Communications survey found 75 percent of self-identified gay and lesbian respondents said they prefer to do business with companies committed to diversity.

The results of this latest survey by OPC should encourage businesses to abandon fears that marketing to and supporting the queer community will result in controversy and backlash from non-gay consumers.

died of heart failure at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Rosa, Calif. He is also survived by a brother, Ronald Aarons of Boulder, Colo.

“Today, NLGJA mourns our founder and a pioneering journalist whose unending dedication has touched all of our lives,” NLGJA Executive Director Pamela Strother said.

An accomplished journalist who spent 14 years as a reporter and editor at the Washington Post, Aarons sent shockwaves through the news industry in 1990 when he emotionally acknowledged that he was gay at a conference of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. That announcement, which came at the end of a speech in which he also unveiled results of a landmark survey of gay and lesbian journalists that showed most were unhappy with their professional treatment and coverage of gay issues, served as the catalyst for Aarons’ formation of the NLGJA. Never before had a top editor of a major newspaper come out so publicly.

“I had no idea it would be such a big deal until I was at that podium in New York about to say it,” Aarons recalled in an interview at his home in October. “Other people knew it was a big deal, but I don’t think I got it until The New York Times wrote about it.”

Not only did the Times write about it, but in his role as NLGJA founder and president, Aarons had the ear of the most influential names in journalism. Times Publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. called Aarons “an important force in journalism” and credited Aarons and NLGJA with a sea change in how the media in general and his newspaper in particular handled gay issues.

Today, the NLGJA has more than 1,200 members and chapters in 24 regions in the United States as well as affiliates in Canada and Germany.

“His coming out in a major public way was frightening for him,” said Elaine Herscher, then a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. “But he did it, and it was to the good of all of us. He was a visionary, way ahead of the curve, an absolute dynamo.”

NLGJA President Eric Hegedus agreed. “I don’t think anyone can properly quantify the enormous difference Roy made in the journalism world,” said Hegedus, a page designer for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“Through work in the NLGJA and as a founding board member of the Maynard Institute, he also helped bring together the minority journalism groups to tackle some of the most important diversity issues on the broadest scales possible. Roy’s behindthe-scenes work had such a profound and far-reaching impact on so many people.”

“Roy Aarons was one of those largely unsung heroes who really did as much as anyone I can think of to advance understanding and equality,” said Andrew Tobias, treasurer of the Democratic National Committee and author of a best-selling memoir about his own coming out. “Long before there were budgets or fundraisers for his National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, he went from newsroom to newsroom, editorial board to editorial board and at the highest levels, opened eyes and minds to what had, up until then, been a largely invisible issue.”

News Briefs News B efs

Indiana Court Rules in Favor of Lesbian Moms

Australians Unite Against Gay Marriage

Teacher Sues Boy’s Lesbian Mom

canberra, aust.—A recent Institute of Family Studies (IFS) report says that while Australians are gradually becoming more tolerant towards gays and lesbians, the country’s ban on same-sex marriage is widely supported.

“Our knowledge of attitudes regarding same-sex relationships is patchy but the general picture is that the typical Australian is strongly opposed to homosexuality,” the report read, noting that 60-70 percent of the nation were against giving lesbian and gay couples the legal rights enjoyed by married couples. The study also noted that such opposition was particularly strong among the country’s youth.

Although Tasmania has a same-sex partnership registry and, along with West Australia, allows gays and lesbians to adopt children, the federal government made gay marriage illegal last August. Last month, the South Australian Government also withdrew a bill that would have given same-sex couples the same rights as married couples, save for marriage, adoption and access to such reproductive technologies as in vitro fertilization.

The IFS study also estimated that the nation was home to 41,535 gay couples and 28,144 lesbian couples. Both sets of couples were more likely to be more educated and affluent than their heterosexual counterparts.—JV

lafayette, la.—A year after a lesbian mother said a second grade teacher disciplined her son for telling his classmates what the word “gay” meant, the teacher in question has filed a $50,000 defamation lawsuit saying the accusations caused damage to her reputation, as well as emotional pain.

In the Nov. 29 lawsuit, teacher Terry L. Bethea and husband Kenneth Reed Bethea allege that the defendant Sharon Huff lied about the teacher’s actions in disciplining Huff’s son. These included Bethea allegedly scolding the boy in front of the class and forcing him to write “I will never use the word ‘gay’ in school again” on the board.

Bethea and school officials had previously said the student was only punished for disrupting the class.

In the days after the incident, the teacher went on sabbatical after receiving threatening letters and phone calls from across the nation.

Louisiana American Civil Liberties Union Director Joe Cook said that he did not see any merit in the suit, and considered it an attempt to intimidate Huff into silence.

Betheas’ attorney Max Jordan told the Lafayette Louisiana Advertiser on November 28 that this was not the case.

“This is because of reckless behavior on the part of the ACLU that defamed my client,” Jordan said. He also charged that the defendants spread their allegations to promote a political agenda, noting that one of them currently works for the ACLU Foundation Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.

“Whatever agenda they might have,” he expounded.—JV

Students Sent Home for Gay-Themed Shirts

for nine years sharing household expenses.

After the couple split up, King paid child support and visited her daughter until July 2003, when Benham stopped accepting the money and denied King visitation. King then sued for visitation rights, which the Monroe court denied her.

Before the ruling, Indiana same-sex couples had access only to second-parent adoptions—costly procedures which grant only a few parental rights to nonbiological parents and which some judges refused to grant them.

Although the directors of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union said that the decision will likely impact future custody cases and suits seeking access to benefits such as health insurance through nonbiological parents, the ruling does not address a challenge to the state’s gay marriage ban. The ban is currently pending before the state court of appeals.—JV

Michigan Yanks Same-Sex Partner Benefits

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lansing, mich.—Governor Jennifer Granholm’s administration announced December 1 that new employment contracts won’t include benefits for gay and lesbian partners of state employees.

Although contracts slated for adoption by the state’s Civil Service Commission in mid-December included such benefits, State Employer David Fink said that voter approval of Proposal 2, the state’s anti-gay marriage amendment, prompted the administration to strike the benefits.

“We’re about following the law and honoring the intent of the voters,” Fink told The Detroit Free Press, adding that the amendment may indeed forbid the state from granting benefits to gay and lesbian partners. “It’s a complicated legal question.

I don’t know the answer.”

However, Fink added that the benefits could be restored as early as October 1 of next year, if the courts resolve the issue by that time.

Although it is too early to tell how state courts will rule in the absence of specific contract provisions that could be challenged, University of Michigan and Wayne State University officials have said in the past that they will continue to provide benefits to their employees’ same-sex partners, because they are exempt from the new amendment as autonomous entities of the state.—JV

DECEMBER 9, 2004

webb city, miss.—School officials sent ten Webb City High School students home November 30 for refusing to change out of t-shirts with pro-gay messages.

The shirts, many of which were made by freshman LaStaysha Myers, contained such messages as “We have the right to be who we want to be” and “I’m gay and I’m proud.” The students planned to wear the shirts to school in support of classmate Brad Mathewson, 16, who sued the school district when he was told twice that his gay-pride shirts violated student dress codes. School officials said the shirts disrupted the learning environment and distracted other students. Mathewson and ACLU attorneys, on the other hand, have said that the policy violated Mathewson’s constitutional right to self-expression.

The controversy has provoked several protests, including one by anti-gay pastor Fred Phelps and his Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church.

“We felt what they [the school officials] were doing was wrong,” Myers told the Joplin Globe.

Ron Lankford, Webb City schools superintendent, did not comment on the district’s plans for legal defense. But he did say the school’s officials met with an attorney on Monday and the board would be briefed about the case on December 14.

In May, Midvale, Utah’s Hillcrest High School faced a similar situation, when several students were sent home for wearing shirts in support of the controversial “Queers Kick Ash” anti-smoking campaign.—JV

indianapolis, ind.— The Indiana court of appeals unanimously ruled Dec. 1 that lesbian couples who conceive through artificial insemination have equal rights over their children and urged lawmakers to address the “current social reality” of nontraditional families.

“No reason exists to provide the children born to lesbian parents through the use of reproductive technology with less security and protection than that given to children born to heterosexual parents through artificial insemination,” Judge Ezra H. Friedlander wrote in the ruling. “Our paramount concern should be with the effect of our laws on the reality of children’s lives.”

The decision overturns a Monroe circuit court judge’s ruling which said that as a nonbiological parent Dawn King had no legal authority over the girl born to her former partner Stephanie Benham. King and Benham had previously lived together

News Mormons Protest Blockbuster for Carrying “Latter Days”

by Jere Keys jere@slmetro.com

It was controversial when a Salt Lake theater decided against showing the gay-themed Latter Days, and it was controversial again when it came out on video and DVD. A group of LDS people tried to organize a boycott of Blockbuster in response to the movie rental giant’s decision to offer Latter Days for rental. The video/DVD was released in September.

The movie features a gay LDS missionary who gets involved with a shallow party boy while serving a mission in Los Angeles.

Some members of the LDS church were so offended by the content that they launched an email campaign asking other LDS people to boycott Blockbuster as long as the movie is on shelves.

“I was at Blockbuster to rent a movie a few days ago, and came across a movie that showed a missionary on the front cover and was titled Latter Days. My first thought was that it was from the same people who have done God’s Army, The RM, The Home Teacher, The Singles Ward, etc. However when I turned it over I saw it was rated R for strong sexual content and language,” wrote protest organizer Alyson Johnson in an email obtained by Salt Lake Metro, “This is a show about a young man who goes on a mission to West Hollywood and becomes involved in a homosexual affair with a Hollywood

‘party boy.’ I was appalled! I couldn’t believe someone would make a movie like this. It is a direct attack on the church and our beliefs.”

Johnson apparently complained to the store manager and was told to contact the corporate office. She also contacted the district manager, a high councilman in the LDS church, who told her he agreed with her feelings and encouraged her to get lots of people to contact the corporate office.

“He called me back and left a message that he too is very against the movie, as he is a high councilman in the church,” wrote Johnson.

“It’s our belief that consumers should decide for themselves which movies and games they wish to rent,” responded Blockbuster spokesman Randy Hargrove. “We realize that we’ll carry movies and games not everyone will agree with or wish to rent.”

Hargrove additionally said that Blockbuster doesn’t censor movies or games simply because they may be controversial. He pointed out that they constantly monitor how much rental demand a movie receives and when the demand drops, they sell the games and movies as “previously viewed.”

Latter Days, he said, has been moved from the rental library into the previously viewed sales in most areas.

Whether Johnson’s boycott was effective in moving Latter Days off the rental shelves in Utah sooner than expected is unknown.

Anderson Holds Forum on Adoption Law

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In Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson’s second Freedom Forum which addressed the subject of Utah’s relatively new law prohibiting gay adoption, the spotlight of the evening focused on 12-year-old Olivia White and, in opposition, ultra-conservative Utah Eagle Forum’s Gayle Ruzicka.

Since 2000, only single people and

married couples may adopt children. The law prevents gay and lesbian people from adopting their partners’ children and from adopting children together as a couple. Only one member of a gay and lesbian couple can be recognized as a parent, and the other could be known as a guardian at best.

The forum was held at the downtown City Library and most of the people in attendance were either gay, lesbian or supportive of their rights.

Ruzicka found herself in the unusual position of having few political allies in the debate. She asserted, however, that children need both a mother and a father and that gay households forever deny them that.

The speech brought White to tears. White spoke out on behalf of her mother, Chris Johnson, and Johnson’s partner, Lorie Hutchinson.

“I want to know what problems she thinks we have suffered by being in these caring and loving homes,” she said.

Many of the people who spoke at the event pointed to the overburdened foster care system and pointed out that allowing gay and lesbians to foster parent and adopt would provide homes for thousands of children who don’t have any families at all.—JK

JERE KEYS

LOCAL

Valarie Larabee accepted the position of executive director for the GLBT Community Center of Utah, replacing Chad Beyer who left the organization Nov. 23.

Beyer Resigns Center

by Darren Tucker darren@slmetro.com

Chad Beyer stepped down Nov. 23 as executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center of Utah after just four months at the helm.

He is the second director to leave this year, after Paula Wolfe announced the end of her four and a half year tenure in March.

“It was an honor to serve a brief term as executive director of the Center. The Center is a critical organization to so many people in the state and I am glad to have brought my skills to its mission,” said Beyer. “I will miss daily interactions with the fine Chad Beyer members of the board and the staff who put their whole selves into the work at hand. I wish the Center well as I move on to other challenges and am thankful for their dedication to the GLBT community.”

The Center’s board of directors accepted the resignation and immediately named Valarie Larabee to take the reins Dec. 6 amid promises to solve some of the problems facing the organization.

“There’s a revitalization among the members of the board,” Larabee said. “It’s culminated in a new energy and it’s time to capitalize on that.”

Evelyn Garlington, vice chair of the Center board of directors, says the Center—with its new director—is ready to move into the future riding a wave of change that will transform the face of its facilities and programs.

“We would like to assure you that the strategic program and financial plans have been implemented that will insure the GLBT Community Center’s operations as long as our supporters remain as dedicated as they have in the past. We have already made substantive changes in the way we operate and communicate and have instituted professional polices and procedures that will strengthen our organization now and in the future,” she said in a press release.

Board members say Beyer’s resignation and a new strategic plan for the Center are all part of the natural evolution of a nonprofit organization.

“At the first of October we came up with a strategic plan,” said Maryann Martindale, Board President. “It’s a three-part plan with immediate goals, one-year goals and threeyear goals. We’re focused on the things we do right and the things we need to change.”

“We’re re-working ourselves,” added Garlington. “It’s very seldom that an organization has a chance to start over.”

Plans include weekly Bingo games to help raise money and bring a new sense of community to the Center. There will also be space available to rent for everything from meetings to commitment ceremonies, and live entertainment in the coffee shop.

She said changes include re-arranging the Center, new leadership, a beefier website and “better service to the community we serve.”

All of this has to be done without losing sight of the more serious programs the Center offers, board members said. Helping people come out, offering referrals and support for them and their families, dealing with health issues and youth programs are the “bread and butter” of a gay and lesbian community center.

“There is a little bit of confusion that the coffee shop is the Center,” said board member Brett Vuksinick. “We have to make sure people know about everything else the Center has to offer.”

None of that can happen without money, and board members seem to be putting a particular emphasis on maintaining the cash flow. Board member Charles Milne said the Center needs the more social aspects of its mission to help support the vital role of supporting members of the gay and lesbian community who need it.

“We are constantly looking for balance and ways to get people involved with the Center,” he said. “Without those resources, we can’t provide the services we do.”

Larabee is no stranger to the world of non-profit organizations. She’s spent time working with United Way, The Salvation Army and Mark Eaton’s Foundation for Kids. She’ll need those skills to keep the money coming in. The focus will be on finding serious donors who are not afraid to support an organization like the Center.

“The very first thing I am going to do is find the people who have supported us in the past and thank them for everything they have done for us,” she said. “Relationship, relationship, relationship is what it is all about.”

Principal to Gay Students: Get Permission Slip for Prom

By Joselle Vanderhooft and Jere Keys Citing harassment of gay and lesbian students at Copper Hills High School, Principal Tom Worlton told the co-chair of the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance and his boyfriend that same-sex couples would be required to show permission slips to attend a school dance.

“There’s a danger, and I believe the parents ought to be aware of that,” the principal told the Salt Lake Tribune. “If parents were OK with it, I’d make no judgment.”

He also said that he made the decision to avoid complaints of not warning parents beforehand if such harassment took place.

The principal’s decision, however, has led several students to voice concerns that the permission slips are discriminatory.

According to 17-year-old senior Jason Atwood, the permission slips kept him and one other gay student (who is not out at home) away from the dance. Atwood said his father wouldn’t sign the slip, thinking doing so might absolve the school of responsibility if his son faced harassment or violence.

Atwood had been planning on taking his boyfriend, 15-year-old Tom Tolman of Granger High School in West Valley City, to the school’s Sadie Hawkins dance. “I’d done everything but buy the tickets. We had matching shirts and everything had been planned,” Atwood told Salt Lake Metro.

Dani Eyer, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah,

said she was also concerned the principal’s decision may encourage discrimination against gay and lesbian students—which state administrative rules forbid. According to her, all students have the right to free expression—to “say you’re gay if you want to”—and the right to participate in “any activities other students do.” Additionally, school faculty and staff have an “affirmative duty” to protect all students from harassment and “create an atmosphere of tolerance.”

She added that the singling out may actually create an “atmosphere of intolerance… by [administrators] expecting there to be harassment of these kids if they show up at this activity.”

Worlton initially stated he didn’t consider his decision discriminatory. “Unless someone can convince me that it’s an unfair policy, we’ll live with it.”

Atwood says the whole thing began because he was concerned about safety and harassment. “I went to the vice principal because I’d had a problem in the past,” Atwood explained. Previously, he’d attended a dance in Heber with a boyfriend and had been forced to leave early because of the hostile environment. “I asked for a list of chaperones so I could ask them to keep an eye out for anything like that.”

But the vice principal, according to Atwood, urged him not to show up at the dance with a same-gendered partner, then

demanded permission slips if Atwood was going to “make a statement” by bringing his boyfriend to the dance.

“I wasn’t trying to make a statement,” said Atwood. “For me, it’s about equality.

I just want to be a teen and do the things other teens do. [The dances] are supposed to be about having fun.”

Atwood was told that the permission slips must specifically state that parents were aware the student was bringing a same-sex partner to the school function. Atwood believes that the policy was intended, in part, to determine which students were “out” at home.

In the week before Thanksgiving, several Copper Hills GSA members and supporters, including Atwood and his boyfriend, protested the decision off-campus. The protesters said they were subjected to insults, obscene gestures, egg throwing and snowballs from passing cars during the four days.

“I’ve had calls from all over the U.S.,” Atwood said. “People have been calling to say how they support me and think what I’m doing is good.”

The protests were noticed by the nation-

al news, prompting Worlton to announce on Friday, December 3 that he would revisit the policy. Atwood and others met with the principal to discuss the policy and ongoing problems with harrassment. While making no promises to overturn it, he said he will speak with school officials and announce his decision before the prom in spring.

Worlton also encouraged the students to report the harassment to school officials as it happened.

Atwood will likely miss another dance this weekend as Worlton is expected to be out through the end of December. “The next ‘date’ dance is in January,” said Atwood. “I think we should know by then.”

But when Atwood returned to school on Monday, Dec. 6, he felt as though his discussions with school administrators about harassment had been ignored.

Atwood complained about the taunting and teasing he experienced which was not stopped by teachers, administrators or hall monitors. “About half-way through the day, I just turned up the earphones to drown them out. I’m really tired of feeling like I have to avoid certain halls.”

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Opinion

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DECEMBER 9, 2004

The Silent Supremes The United States Supreme Court sidestepped the issue of gay marriage on Monday, Nov. 29. Conservative lawyers and activists were trying to get the Court to strike down the ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court allowing same-gender couples to legally wed within the state.

But the Court decided, without comment, not to hear arguments on the case, effectively allowing the decision to stand.

Many are wondering where the nation’s highest court stands on the subject now. It’s a good question. With a number of legal challenges to marriage law in states across the nation working their way up the judicial branch, it’s only a matter of time before the Supreme Court is going to have to step into this debate one way or the other.

Could it be that the Supreme Court is ready, even now, to grant us full marriage rights, but that they’re playing a very smart game? With the hateful rhetoric against “activist judges” over the past year, maybe it’s too soon for the ultimate judicial authority to enter this struggle. Perhaps they are simply waiting for the heat of public discourse to die down a bit before they weigh in.

Opinions are changing. In Massachusetts, lawmakers in favor of gay marriage didn’t suffer for their positions in the last election. In California, where a majority of voters outlawed gay marriage several years ago with the Knight Initiative, public opinion polls are shifting more and more toward allowing such marriages. Of all the states that passed anti-gay marriage measures last month, Oregon’s passed by the narrowest margin and

the fight may not be over. All these states have at least one thing in common: they are places where gay and lesbian couples have been able to marry, even if only for a short period of time.

Perhaps all the nation needs, before our high courts rule on the subject, is some time to get used to the idea.

Some time to see loving, committed couples proudly declaring their love for one another.

Our founding fathers weren’t so dumb when they structured a three branch government with checks and balances. The role of the judiciary has always been to protect the rights of the minority from the tyranny of the majority. A role we’ve praised them for in past cases such as Brown v. Board of Education (striking down segregation) and Loving v. Virginia (allowing interracial marriage). Neither of those decisions was popular with the voting public at the time, but have dramatically impacted the social justice of our country.

At the same time, in the information/communication age of instant messages, cell phones and CNN, if the Supreme Court were to subvert the majority opinion so clearly and too soon, the backlash could be horrible. The only thing that trumps a Supreme Court ruling in the delicate check and balance system of our country is a federal Constitutional amendment, and that’s a road we need not encourage any moderate people to consider.

So we’ll wait. And we hope that despite which ultraconservative judges Dubya stacks the court with over the next few years, when the time does come for the courts to settle the matter, fairness, reason and equality will prevail.

From the Editor The Next Generation

by Jere Keys jere@slmetro.com

It’s been my experience that every queer community center and HIV education program in the world trots out gay youth programs when it needs funding. “But think of the kids” is an effective pull on the heartstrings and the pocketbook of many potential donors. It’s hard not to get cynical when this same plea has been made over and over again.

Still, I find myself thinking that being cynical about this subject is one of the worst mistakes we, as a community, could make.

It’s difficult to say, exactly, how many gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people there are in the world. Estimates range from less than 1% to 10%, often depending on the biases of the people making the claims. National exit polls in the last election found that about 4% of voters self-identify as queer. This number doesn’t include, of course, those who are closeted and those who engage in same-gender sexual relations but don’t self-identify as part of our community.

Why is a number important? In numbers we have power.

If we truly did account for 10% of the overall population, it would be nearly impossible for politicians to continue marginalizing and ignoring our concerns. Sure, 1 in 10 isn’t even close to a majority, but most of us have straight family members, friends and associates who support us.

But what does this have to do with gay youth?

Well, I can’t help but wonder how many of our number have died before becoming an active voice in our movement. We know that queer youth are statistically more likely to be lost to suicide. We also know that their lives are more likely to be cut short because of problems with alcoholism, drug addiction, homelessness, and even antigay violence. Not to mention the ongoing problem of AIDS deaths in our community—young gay men are still one of the largest at-risk groups in the nation.

Think, just for a second, of all the people we’ve lost to AIDS, suicide, murder, addictions, and the cruelty of the streets. While it’s impossible to compile accurate statistics about all those causes of death, I feel comfortable in guessing that in two decades alone, we’ve lost at least half a million (and I’m guessing low) of our own to untimely death, many of these being young people who could have become part of our larger civil rights struggle.

While we were discussing homeless youth topics for this issue, I heard someone use the term “throwaway kids.” Is there a more hateful phrase in the entire English language?

Putting my bleeding-heart notions aside, how can we, as a community, afford to lose any of our youth? In a country so sharply divided over, well … us, we need every single soldier we can get. We, as a people, need them to grow up with healthy images of themselves, the education to make smart decisions, and the support of positive role models.

It’s not even a question of heartstrings, it’s just smart.

Sadly, the services we have are too few and the resources we need are unavailable. Conservative lawmakers have sought to close the public school system to us and have diverted money and protective laws away from homeless youth programs. Many traditional youth empowerment programs, such as the Boy Scouts, are closed to queer kids.

What resources do exist, such as The Center’s Youth Activity Center, are under-funded, under-staffed and underequipped to deal with the enormity of the problems many gay youth face. We cannot lose programs like YAC, high school gay-straight alliances, homeless youth services and HIV/AIDS education programs, even if they only address a few of the diverse needs our youth face.

So next time someone asks you to “think of the kids,” don’t let yourself be cynical about it. Instead, make the decision that the only goal that works for our common cause, rationally and emotionally, is a zero percent population loss of our youth. They’re ours and we’re keeping them.

Letters Kowtow or Fight?

Bill Perdue

Kiss the Best Man Dear Editor, With the recent election and passage of Amendment 3, I was very disheartened. I was not surprised, but I was still saddened by the outcome.

I was then uplifted to learn some of the statistics like Grand and Summit counties actually defeated it. I actually started looking into moving to one of them, but that went by as quickly as it came. Now my reaction is one of anger, spite, and vindictiveness.

So, I have been thinking. Nowhere does it say that I have to love my wife. After all there is no measure of love that one could surely use. Everyone’s love is different. Nowhere does it say that I have to live with my wife in the same residence. Nowhere does it say that I have to have sex with my wife during our marriage. And nowhere does is say that I even have to be attracted to my wife. Well with Amendment 3 it states that my wife and I just have to be 1 man and 1 woman. This was to supposedly protect the “sanctity” of marriage. I won’t even start to bring the statistics of divorce and all that, because we know the heterosexuals are destroying the “sanctity” of marriage themselves.

B. Lewis Salt Lake City

Letters to the Editor

Publisher Michael Aaron Editor Jere Keys Arts Editor Eric J. Tierney Sports Editor David Nelson Proofreader Nicholas Rupp Contributing Brandie Balken Writers Lee Beckstead Paul Berge Janice Eberhardt Beau Jarvis Lynette Malmstrom Laurie Mecham LaDonna Moore Rob Orton William T. Park Jim Pitts Jim Provenzano Nicholas Rupp Mandy Q. Racer Ruby Ridge Joel Shoemaker Jim Struve Eric J. Tierney Darren Tucker JoSelle Vanderhooft Ben Williams Alexandra Woodruff Contributing Lucy Juarez Photographers William H. Munk Shauna Sanchez Joel Shoemaker Art Director Michael Aaron Designer Kris Kramer

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Dear Editor, Utah is a state synonymous with extensive and relentless homophobia. Behind the camouflage of religious superstition and rightist extremism bigotry against gays and lesbians is widespread and sometimes brutal.

Is it any wonder that gay and lesbian students rate Utah on a par with Mississippi or even Texas? Recently, smirking administrators at Copper Hills High School found a way to stop two young men from attending their prom by refusing to protect them from homophobes who ‘might’ jump them, abetted by a lack of sufficient specific state law to protect students from homophobia and violence.

They’re trying to isolate and belittle these fine young men, when they should applaud them and if necessary, protect them. The same narrow minded bias was evident earlier when an anti-smoking campaign aimed at gay and lesbian students at Hillcrest High School was shut down. Later the state health department maliciously cut all funding for the gay aimed campaign statewide. This is not what you yexpect from a state that proudly leads the nation in this effort.

When bigotry runs schools, it can metastasize into violence. In truth, these attempts to isolate and intimidate gay and lesbian students are playing with fire. They lend legitimacy to and excite homophobic pig-bigots, of which Utah has its full share. They are used, ruthlessly, to prevent health care campaigns against AIDS and smoking.

This is doubly dangerous because right wing and religious fanatics no longer find it so easy to be openly racist, as they were just a few years ago, and even misogyny is frowned upon in these ‘degenerate’ modern times. So, searching for a new target for their irrational hostilities, they’ve aimed their obsessive anger and paranoia at gays and lesbians.

Note that there is method to their madness. At a time when union-busting, poverty, AIDS, out-sourcing, unemployment, war, and other major problems confront working people, these bigots whine and whimper about the dangers of gay marriage, and school being disrupted by two guys dancing, or alerting young men and women to the dangers of smoking with gay themed materials. Their anti-gay bigotry serves the same purpose that racism and misogyny once did – to divert and divide attention from the challenges and struggles we face.

(Anti-Semitism played the same role for the Nazi’s in Germany.)

The recent votes on gay marriage and in other recent elections prove that the madness of bigotry is a weapon for the religious and extremist right. One can say that the flip side of Abe Lincoln’s statement is also true – you can fool a lot of the people, but not forever. All across America, more and more people are rejecting homophobia. They see it for what it is – a smoke screen behind which are hidden child abusing priests, money grubbing televangelistsm, and right wing extremists who can’t get elected without a

diversion. Sooner rather than later that process will occur in Utah. What the last few elections shows is a nation in flux on gay and lesbian issues, but with continuous progress.

I’m sure the young men and women at Copper Hills and Hillcrest and other schools in Utah will be put up a gutsy and committed fight, because they don’t have much choice. They can either kowtow to bigotry or join the long line of resolute and courageous young men and women who smashed the redcoats at Bunker Hill and Yorktown, who crushed the Confederacy underfoot and ended slavery, who made sure Custer got what he deserved, and who fought and died for labor unions, and the rights of women and African-Americans. That, and not fear of bigots, superstition or extremism, is their authentic American heritage. And sooner or later, you’ll win.

Here is what I propose. For those that want to make a point, make a protest, make Gayle Ruzika and all those that are so petrified of Gay marriage have a coronary. Want to see what a threat to the “sanctity” of marriage is? Watch this!

Picture this...

Pride week 2005, outside the City and County building a lawn full of wedding gowns, tuxedos and fabulous flower arrangements. A hundred couples getting married in front of TV cameras, reporters, families, and friends. Men and women about to get married EXCEPT the men are wearing the Vera Wang chiffon wedding gowns and the women are wearing the Bill Blass shawl collared tuxedo (nowhere does it say you can’t get married while cross-dressing). Gay men and lesbians getting married to each other. And when they are pronounced man and wife they respectively turn and kiss their “maid” of honor and their best “man” instead of each other.

I now share the rights of a married couple and with my lesbian bride, and we can make sure that our partners receive them too with simple pre-nuptial agreements.

Could you imagine the pure horror that would be going through the Eagle Forum, Mr. Buttars, and Mr. Christensen? Amendment 3 did nothing to protect marriage, it only made it more about status then it did about love, companionship, and honor!

I giggle out loud when I think of the panic that scene would send throughout the state (Except in Summit and Grand Counties).

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AberRant Holiday Tips

by Laurie Mecham laurie@slmetro.com

There are a number of secret tricks to becoming famous and fabulously wealthy from writing a regular column. As you have probably guessed, I do not know any of these tricks. I am beginning to learn a thing or two, however. One bit that I need to remember is that when I write a column for a deadline, I need to look at what day the column will actually come out. I see that even though I’ve just finished a fine turkey dinner, you will be reading this on December 9 or later, which means that we will all have forgotten about Thanksgiving and will be deeply enmeshed in the angry traffic jams, the frantic and thoughtless token gift purchases, the money-hemorrhaging, alcohol-fueled dysfunctional family dramas and mandatory office party attendance that are all magically captured in one evocative word: Christmas.

Naturally, you’re wondering what to get me. Gosh, I hate to make requests. It makes me feel so greedy. Let’s start with a few things that I don’t want. That will give you an idea of my general tastes.

GIFTS YOU MUST NEVER GIVE ME: • Any “labor-saving” device that is really just a gadget that was invented solely to fit into the “I didn’t care enough to put actual thought into a gift but had to get something anyway” category. Examples are battery-operated toothbrushes and mugs that self-mix the contents contained within. God knows that repetitive movements involved in tooth brushing and cocoa stirring cause an untold number of cases of carpal tunnel syndrome, but I’ll just keep taking my chances.

• Anything that has either the word “Zen” or “Earth” in the name, while having nothing to do with either deep meditative simplicity or eco-friendliness. This would include three inch square imitation Zen rock gardens with itty bitty rakes, godawful imitation Deng Shui (pronounced “DUNG” shway) tabletop fountains, and hemp Wonder Bras.

• A massaging ottoman. I don’t want one of these, but I understand that it’s at the top of Ruby Ridge’s list, so I won’t say anything negative.

• A lava lamp that looks like a ketchup bottle.

• Any and all ugly-ass, trailer-park-belonging animated / musical / light up holiday ornaments or, ahem, “décor.” (See Ruby comment above.)

• Unnecessary, space-taking, grime-collecting countertop appliances such as a mini blender, a mini crock pot, a mini deep-fat fryer, a revolving pizza cooker, a George Foreman hot dog bun warmer or a smoothie maker.

• No craptastic holiday jewelry sets, no costume jewelry—no jewelry unless I’ve chosen it myself.

• Ditto on nasty, stanky holiday fragrance and / or cosmetic sets.

• No giant tins of popcorn.

• No permanent meat products, (i.e. noexpiration-date sausage).

• Chia-anything. The only kind of Chia Pet that would ever interest me would be the “Your Body is Maturing” Chia Crotch, which I haven’t seen on the market.

THINGS THAT YOU CAN GET ME AT ANY TIME OF YEAR: • Bottles of Emmet’s Irish Cream.

Cheaper than Bailey’s, but better-tasting.

• Gift certificates for my veterinarian at University Pet Clinic. See, we have two adolescent dogs. Maxie is a mutt and is very low-maintenance. Lola, however, is a purebred Boxer. She has unheard of ailments such as allergies, fainting — fainting, I am not kidding — and the infamous $400 Really Bad Gas day. Maxie could eat a Volvo and not have any problems whereas if Lola gets a sliver, chances are that it will work its way deep into her body and perforate the bowel.

THOUGHTFUL GIFTS FOR OTHERS: The short story is that Olene Walker has drafted two tax reform plans. One is a basic flat-tax plan. The second one is identical to the first one EXCEPT it maintains exemptions for any outrageous number of children and, you guessed it, charitable donations such as, oh gosh, let’s just say for example TITHING. Now back in 1988, a flat tax bill was floated at the legislature and fared pretty well until a representative from one of the churches in town showed up at the Capitol and winked meaningfully and opened his coat to reveal a Book of Mormon secreted inside the lining, whereupon the legislators suddenly decided that the tax bill was bad because it did not maintain the exemptions mentioned above. I guess we can admire Olene for at least being open.

She sent members of her team to meet with some Church Goons to give them a w heads-up.

Now I agree with the idea of maintaining incentives for charitable giving, because there are so many places that need it. The GLBT Community Center of Utah, the Utah AIDS Foundation, the local Human Rights Campaign and so forth.

In this light, may I suggest a useful, thoughtful, meaningful gift that will benefit a worthy cause, give pleasure to the recipient, and insert more sticks up the recti of the Neo-Mos who railroad through such legislation as Amendment 3.

Consider the concept of tithing, then write a few checks to your favorite prohomo nonprofits. Ask them to send the acknowledgement to Senator Chris Buttars, 9241 S. Lisa Avenue, West Jordan, Utah 84088. Then send your friends their holiday cards with a note tucked inside each one noting which donation you are dedicating to them. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t be happy with such a thoughtful idea! Well, maybe this one guy…

Laurie Mecham is not kidding about the Emmet’s—or the vet, for that matter.

Legislating Morality

by William Todd Park liam@slmetro.com

A few years back, I stood on the floor of the Utah Legislature naïvely debating an issue as part of a high school class that would solve the world’s—or at least the class’— problems. An impassioned classmate of mine stood, pointed a dramatic finger at me like Caesar to Brutus and said the accusing words, “You can’t legislate morality!”

Learning about the process in school can be like “Politics in the Mr. Rogers’s Neighborhood of Make-Believe,” but my buddy’s words stuck with me. The problem with his logic is that, although it sounds right, the truth is that most legislation does in fact have its roots in morals. The argument shouldn’t have focused on legislating morality, but rather, whose morality is being held up as preferred.

Smarter and more convincing people than I point to the 2004 election as a battle of morals. No doubt that morals played a significant role for a number of people, but the hard

numbers might tell you otherwise, depending on interpretation. But isn’t that what morals are all about anyway: Interpretation?

For politicians, theologians, and a collection of others who build their egos on the dissecting of words, interpretation has been the power broker’s tool of choice to make and break the peace since time immemorial. An effective weapon it is.

Morals are unquestionably the underpinnings of all societies on the planet.

Whether the origin of those morals come from religious texts, philosophical treatises, or legal documents, there will always be timeless truths that we must uphold as sacrosanct regardless of political affiliation and personal opinions.

Of course it gets dicey when you try to parse out where to draw the line. It’s easy to stand up and say that it is inherently wrong to take a life. Holding that view with no gray area puts us in dangerous and potentially immoral territory. It also begs the question of capital punishment, abortion, and self-defense. Who is to say when an ‘eye for an eye’ is just? Who is to say when that clump of cells becomes a person? Who is to say that the homeowner was really threatened by an invading thief?

It was that black and white, right and wrong kind of thinking that persuaded peo-

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Ruby Ridge is one of the more opinionated members of the Utah Cyber Sluts, a Camp Drag group of performers who raise funds and support local charities. Her opinions are her own and fluctuate wildly due to Christmas shopping stress and Seasonal Affective Disorder.

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them, the fact that it is being criticized, if not openly challenged, is a step forward.

Legislation has a sterile sound, the lofty language reminiscent of the King James Bible, but it affects each of us in every day and very personal ways. That means that someone’s morality has been imposed on us.

Back to square one: whose morality? I believe the gospel message that morality cannot be one-sided needs to be proclaimed from the rooftops and media pulpits.

More than decrying the injustices perpetrated on different segments of society and special interest groups, finding the common views while celebrating our differences needs to be our rallying point. That is where the real bridge building needs to happen.

Any simple majority can muscle a lopsided agenda forward, but a consensus that is wrought from many differing groups and opinions is authentic leadership.

The challenge of any leader is interpreting the signposts that morality provide and rather than inventing a message that manipulates people into thinking a certain way. A true leader will teach others to think for themselves so they arrive at the obvious moral solution. It’s time that our government leads rather than preaches. Until we reach that point, it looks like it’s back to Politics in the Neighborhood of Make Believe.

DECEMBER 9, 2004

So, darlings, there I was in the middle of deepest, darkest Weber County with my purple bouffant standing loud and proud in the middle of the Ogden Marriott. I have to say, pumpkins, I was an unforgettable glittering vision of polyester loveliness! The occasion for my safari north was the Coronation ceremony of the Imperial Rainbow Court of Northern Utah. For those of you unfamiliar with the International Court System (like me), Coronation is where the new elected leaders of the local Royal Court are crowned to lead the group for the year. In any other organization like the Rotary Club or the Kiwanis, this would take two minutes, a voice vote and a motion to adjourn, but in the Court System, a Coronation is a HUGE deal, and is a perfect excuse to schlep out the best sequined drag, big hair and Buick sized tiara. So needless to say cherubs, Coronation takes longer than it takes the College of Cardinals to elect a new Pope.

It is at events like Coronation that I really test the patience of my Cyber Sluts sisters. I always have to ask who is who in the Court and what their title is. God forbid I should ever see one of these folks out of drag because then I go completely deer-in-theheadlights blank. I can’t tell Empress 63 (the Visible From Space Empress) from Empress 36 (the Most Imperial Crystal, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond, I’m not doing Meth I’ve just been doing Pilates, Zirconia Empress). For hell’s sakes girls, do us all a

favor and get some damn name tags!

The International Court System is one of the most established networks in the gay community and goes way back to 1965 when it was created in San Francisco.

From its humble but very camp beginnings, the Court System has evolved into chapters in the USA, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Love them or hate them, you have to admire the Royal Courts because over the years they have raised buco dinero for charitable causes in our communities, one tip at a time.

Unfortunately, across America, and in our own state, the Royal Courts are struggling. Board positions are left vacant and title positions are being filled by candidates running unopposed. The theatricality and “grandness” that once defined the Courts is fading, and seems slightly out of place in the age of mainstreaming and political activism. The excesses of egos, in some cases problems with drugs, and the backstage melodramas, have tarnished the name, the image, and the fundraising capacity of the Royal Courts.

Given all of that baggage, I have to salute the current Emperor and Empress and officers of the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire, who have inherited the difficult task of keeping the court active and relevant. Muffins, they need your support and participation. Go to a Court show, volunteer on one of their service projects, or consider sitting on their Board. You could make a real difference and you don’t have to wear a tiara. Unless, of course, you want to!

ple that they were putting “God back into the White House.” The obvious question for me is, “Which god?” Clearly, the only thing consistent with Mr. Bush’s sporting religion on his sleeve was that it was as unrefined as his rhetoric and hypocritical as his foreign and domestic policies. The disconnect between actions and words in the case of Mr. Bush is proof positive that the cadre of evangelicals who turned out in droves on election day did not think, but rather were wooed by his many religious inferences.

Oscar Wilde said that someone who “…does not think for himself does not think at all.” I have to add though that it takes more than simply engaging one’s intellect to merge morals with law to create fair and just legislation. It requires heart.

Perhaps that’s where the slur, “bleeding heart liberal” comes from. Having skillfully excised that element of heart from the conservative agenda, terms like ‘compassionate conservative’ ring hollow—expensive, attractive packaging of an empty box.

Without offsetting viewpoints in creating law, sterile, biased think tanks like the local Sutherland Institute would go unchecked and our system of government would be open to to unmitigated corruption. Even though the GOP is re-writing the rules so that even when they transgress, they’re not in violation of

Photo and cover by Kris Kramer

By Alexandra L. Woodruff o the average Salt Lake resident, the month of December means shopping sprees, Temple Square lights, the Nutcracker and being home with family. But for kids whose home is the sidewalks they wander and the abandoned buildings they sleep in, the last month of the year has much different associations.

“Just basically walk around all day, go to different shelters, that kind of thing, trying to get money from different people, just asking if they have change and then we usually crash on a friend’s couch or something. It’s cold ... trying to get money, trying to find a job when you don’t have a stable residence,” said Amy, a 20-year-old who has been homeless for the last three years.

A rift in her family paved the way for street life, so now she’s working on creating a new family. She married in September and thinks she might be pregnant. For Amy, a child could help motivate her and her husband, who is also homeless, into a more stable living situation. She would eventually like to graduate from high school.

In many ways, Amy is a typical homeless youth. Most homeless kids, for one reason or another, have severed ties with their families. A survey conducted by the Homeless Youth Resource Drop-In Center and the Wasatch Homeless Health Care Open Door Clinic found the young adults consistently say they grew up with various types of abuse including physical, sexual, drug and alcohol and neglect. The survey showed 58 percent of females and 23 percent of males were rape victims.

“Their biggest challenge is dealing with the trauma that they have suffered throughout life. It’s the one thing that all of these kids have in common: some form of trauma in their past and often times, it

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still happens now, it’s current,” said Nicole of youth because nobody wants them, Campolucci, Program Manager of the nobody knows who they are, they’re Homeless Youth Resource Center. completely invisible. You don’t see these Volunteers of America has operated the kids and nobody knows that they’re there State Street drop-in center since 1999. The and nobody knows how to serve them,” youth can eat, wash laundry, take a shower said Melissa Larsen, a certified social and access job, substance abuse, mental worker and the Homeless Youth Policy health and medical resources. The staff Coordinator at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, conducts daily classes on life, job skills Transgender Community Center of Utah. and HIV prevention. Because Utah doesn’t In general, homeless youth are at high have an emancipation law (see sidebar story risk for prostitution and drug abuse, but in next page), the staff can Utah and on a national only provide services to level, young disenfranthose under 18 for eight chised homosexuals fall hours without parental prey more easily than consent. their heterosexual coun“I provide case manterparts. agement services to kids “Our gay homeless who are trying to exit youth tend to engage in homelessness. I would drug use and prostitusay the number one tion more, they tend thing we do is establish to experience rape and trusting relationships sexual violence more. with these kids because They’re just the invisthe only way they will ible kids. They contract access further service AIDS more than the –Homeless 20 year-old ‘T’ is if they trust us and heterosexual homeless are willing to work with population. They’re at a us,” said Campolucci, higher risk of suicide,” who estimates there said Larsen. are around 400 homeless youth in the Salt A bisexual 18-year-old who says he’s Lake Valley alone. been homeless for the last six years also Within that statistic, gay youth are slowsays he sells drugs and furniture to get by. ly emerging in the population. Joan Sheetz, “I’m used to the lifestyle because it a general pediatrician who runs the Salt doesn’t have as much rules or no rules at Lake County’s Open Door Clinic, observed all where I have to follow,” said the boy in the last six months a surge of gay males who uses the street name “Paine.” in the population. Gay advocates believe Another 20-year-old street kid named many gay youth are on the streets because “T” says he’s comfortable with his sexual they were kicked out when they came out orientation. to their parents. Outreach to these youths “I’m gay, I’m happy with how I live and has been difficult at best. my lifestyle as long as you’re happy with “This is our most invisible population. who you are,” said T. But the Arizona naHomeless gay youth are by far the most tive, who now makes money taking care of neglected, invisible, desperate group his sister’s children, left behind a traumatic

“I got raped twice; that’s why I’ll never do [meth and prostitution] again. There’s consequences for what you do.”

past of prostitution. T, who dabbles with meth and marijuana, made $200 dollars a night as a prostitute.

“I got raped twice. That’s why I’ll never do it again. There’s consequences for what you do,” said T. Larsen says when gay teens find themselves out on the street, they became desperate and vulnerable to anyone who might give them a warm place to stay.

“They fall prey to people who say you can live in my apartment, but here’s what you have to do for me and that usually entails some kind of prostitution,” said Larsen.

Paine says he has a boyfriend who makes money and pays for hotels for them to sleep in. He says his boyfriend does not want him to work. He says he does not prostitute, but knows many who sell sex for money.

“I was around my friends that did prostitution and I don’t approve of it, but that’s not my life, so I’m not going to be judgmental about it and be cruel about it and just say you can’t be my friend anymore just because you’re a prostitute. If they want to ruin their lives then that’s their loss,” he said.

Campolucci says she sees more males than females engaging in prostitution, but believes the discrepancy is a matter of perception.

“My theory is that the girls don’t identify what they’re doing as prostitution in any way shape or form. They convince themselves and other people that they really are in this relationship because they want to be in the relationship, not because they’re getting some kind of gain from it.

But we actually have males who are out on the street prostituting and males who are involved in relationships, which are effectively prostitution relationships. They talk pretty openly and they call it that, but the girls don’t name it,” said Campolucci.

Drug addiction and mental illness are other major components of most homeless youth’s existence.

“Even though we’re not mental health providers, there’s a mental health overlay to just about everything that we do. Mental health and substance abuse, it’s sort of the coating over everything that we do,” said Dr. Sheetz.

Combating a meth addiction is a major battle for Lacey, a 22-year-old soft-spoken brunette who has called the streets home off and on for the last four years. She has been sober for the last two months.

“It’s really hard, but I know that I have to do it or else I’ll stay this way for a long time,” said Lacey. “I’ve been having a really hard time not going back to where I was, but I want to be happy and at least have some sort of stability in my life.”

When youth decide to get help with addiction, Volunteers of America runs drug treatment programs that visitors to the Drop-In Center can access. The Open Door Clinic also gives them mental health resources. Psychology graduate students and a psychologist run a therapy group at the clinic for the kids to work out emotional and psychological stumbling blocks. If the kids stay for the full hour and participate, they each receive two dollars.

“Some people found the two dollar incentive a little distasteful, but any of these kids could stand on a corner and make a lot more than two dollars in an hour by

spare changing. Money is an incentive, but it’s not the only reason that they come,” said Sheetz.

Besides addiction and mental health, Sheetz says respiratory infections and asthma are a major problem in winter. She says she’s seen more Hepatitis C than HIV infections. But beyond helping their medical needs, Sheetz assists the kids finding what they want out of life.

“I don’t try to have my own expectations for someone. I try to make them figure out what your goals are and how they might get there in baby steps. I don’t say ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ I say, ‘what would you like to be different tomorrow morning when you get up?’” she explained.

It’s not always easy for those who work with the youth. Campolucci says it’s hard

for her not to burn out. When she does, she remembers a boy she worked with for almost three years. The young adult grew up in and out of homelessness and entered the center with a serious substance abuse problem. He worked as a prostitute and had legal problems. After several tries, the staff was able to establish a trusting relationship with him and connect him with resources that helped him into stable living.

“He has been clean, he cleared up all his legal problems, he’s not prostituting. He’s employed, he has his own apartment,” said Campolucci. “Whenever we have a hard day here, we put our heads together and think about him and remind ourselves that if he could do it, and he was really in bad shape, any of these kids could do it.”

Bill May Help Utah’s Homeless Youth

by Rob Orton rob@slmetro.com

DECEMBER 9, 2004 ■

SALT LAKE METRO ■

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A preliminary bill titled “Provisions for Emancipating a Minor” was presented to the House Judiciary Interim Committee on November 5 by Rep. Roz McGee (D-SLC).

Utah’s homeless youth population is skyrocketing, and according to Melissa Larsen, assistant program coordinator for Equality Utah, they are living very endangered lives.

“Times have changed,” states Larsen. “Our homeless youth need shelter, mental and physical health services, and rape recovery.

These are kids that are living in dumpsters and under viaducts. They are kids that risk getting raped or murdered every day in Utah. These are kids that slept outside in our harshest winter in 40-below weather.”

Emancipation means a person is legally declared an adult. Currently in Utah, that occurs at age eighteen or at the time of a minor’s marriage with consent of the parent(s) or legal guardian. Previous Utah court rulings allow teens to seek emancipation, but McGee’s bill would create a clear standard for judges to follow, and for some youth, expedite the continuance of their life.

Richard Anderson, Division Director of Child & Family Services, Salt Lake City Police officials, and Utah Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff are all very supportive of this bill.

Without emancipation, homeless minors in Utah are unable to retain necessary services for survival without parental consent.

Nearly 50% of the homeless youth in Utah have not completed high school. Until they are 18, they will not be able to enter a shelter, rent an apartment, apply for scholarships, or get a high school education.

Minors must meet some serious criteria in order to be considered for emancipation.

They will have to prove they can maintain a job and that they can set up financial and other support systems necessary to survive.

There have to be other parties involved with the court process. Minors cannot solely emancipate by themselves. Other family or friends will have to come to the court and testify that this will be the best option.

After awarding a declaration of emancipation to the minor, the parents will no longer be obligated to help. If the minor is hospitalized, he or she will be solely responsible for the costs. He will also be responsible for the costs of enrolling in school.

Emancipated minors will be eligible for grants, loans and other services. They will

be allowed to apply for such services without their parent’s consent and consideration—two elements that the lives of these youth are void of.

If the minor is deemed by the judge as not being ready for emancipation, he or she will be turned over to the Department of Child and Family Services to find other family, friends, or services to help. Termination of parental rights may be the next precedence for youth in extremely troubled or hostile situations. But without the initial attempt to emancipate, some minors would never enter into these other support networks to get the help they need.

Larsen states: “Our problem in the state of Utah is that the Child Welfare Law is poorly written. That is why the state got sued in 1992 when two foster children were murdered by their foster father.”

“Although an esRep. Roz McGee timated 30 percent of homeless youth identify as being gay, this bill is not about gay youth. These are not kids that want to stay out after midnight, or play the Playstation, or take the Volvo out. They are kids whose parents cannot be found, or for one reason or another have just stopped taking responsibility.”

According to Larsen, 20 other states have clearly defined emancipation codes.

“This is not a willy-nilly piece of legislation.

The youth that qualify are going to be very specific. We anticipate 20 to 30 applicants a year, and not all of these will quality.”

The bill will help youth who are ready make a change that may improve the overall outcome of their life. It is designed to reach a very narrow margin of youth. As it is proposed, only minors over the age of 16 will qualify. There is currently no law that can help children under 16 if they don’t want to be part of Child and Family Services.

The proposed emancipation bill is not a catch-all. It will not alter the eight-hour reporting requirement under Shelter Law. Although Larsen would like to see the Shelter Law updated to compare with other states, emancipation would open the door for other changes that may give some of these youth a chance to learn the necessary survival skills they need.

PAULA POUNDSTONE, See Dec. 10

THE GAY AGENDA 9THURSDAY “I am a thirty-three year old man applying for a job as an elf.” Back by popular demand, Tooth and Nail revives their Holiday hit: THE SANTALAND DIARIES, David Sedaris’ hilarious look at Christmas through the eyes of a department store elf.

8pm through Dec. 30. Studio Theatre, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. Broadway. Tickets $22 at 355-ARTS.

10FRIDAY “Adults are always asking kids what they want to be when they grow up because they are looking for ideas.” MoDiggity’s brings PAULA POUNDSTONE to Salt Lake for this one-night engagement.

8pm and 10pm. MoDiggity’s, a private club for members, 3424 South State Street. Tickets $20 at modiggitys.com or 467-TIXX.

■ Kingsbury Hall Presents presents A JON

SCHMIDT CHRISTMAS in which Jon will be debuting his most recent album, Winter Serenade. Classical new age piano with, high energy and great variety which should appeal to all ages.

■ The Utah Shakespearean Festival pres-

7:30pm through Saturday. 2pm matinee Saturday. Kingsbury Hall, 1395 E. President’s Circle, University of Utah campus. Parking with shuttle at the Rice-Eccles Stadium lot.

Tickets $12-18 at 581-7100.

7:30pm. 2pm matinee Dec. 18. Utah Shakespearean Festival, 351 W. Center Street, Cedar City. Tickets $5-10 at 1-800-PLAYTIX.

11SATURDAY

8pm, Granger High School auditorium, 3690 S 3600 West. Tickets at 969-4480

Amnesty International invites you to the Global Write-A-Thon to mark Human Rights Day by writing for freedom and human rights.

1-4pm, 4th floor of the Salt Lake City Library, 200 E. 400 South. amnestyutah.org

ents “A CHRISTMAS CAROL: ON THE AIR”...a non-traditional version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Performances will be held Dec. 11th, 13th, 17th and the 18th.

■ The WEST VALLEY SYMPHONY presents it’s

annual Christmas Concert.

12SUNDAY The Forum for Questioning Minds presents a free lecture on THE AIDS EPIDEMIC IN BOTSWANA. Teresa Garrett, RN MS, a member of the Centers’ for Disease Control & Prevention Global AIDS Team in Botswana, will speak.

3pm, Salt Lake City Main Library, 4th floor conference room, 200 E. 400 South. Free to the public.

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13MONDAY Choose tonight to enjoy THE POLAR EXPRESS. Not the Tom Hanks movie, but the interactive adventure based on the book at the Heber Valley Railroad. The coaches are warm and decorated with Christmas lights.

The scene is set for this classic adventure as the train departs, destination, the North Pole! During the journey, hot cocoa and cookies are served. Christmas stories are read and excitement builds as the steam train nears the North Pole and Santa Claus.

Children & parents listen with excitement as Chris Van Alburg’s classic tale The Polar Express is read. Just as the story concludes the train arrives at the North Pole. Santa, standing tall at the top of the world, boards the train and visits with each child on the return to Heber City.

5 and 7:30pm Monday through Saturday through Dec. 23. www.hebervalleyrr.org

15WEDNESDAY A Christmas benefit concert to benefit malnourished children will include original and well known Christmas music.

There will also be a live reading and viewing of the classic Christmas tale “CHRISTMAS ORANGES” with an original score of music played in the background. The music for the evening will be provided by Marshall McDonald, Michael Ballam, Salt

Lake Children’s Choir and the Young Artist Chamber Players.

7pm, Libby Gardner Hall, 1395 E. President’s Circle, University of Utah campus. Parking with shuttle at the Rice-Eccles Stadium lot.

Tickets $10 at 581-7100.

16THURSDAY What would happen if a troupe of dancers decided to perform an early twentieth-century Russian play, THE PUPPET SHOW, during the intermissions in their performance of the ballet Petrushka, interpreting the stage directions through improvised movement to the music of Schumann? Come find out. Magical music and movement for the family.

9pm through Friday, Leona Wagner Black Box Theatre, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. Broadway. Tickets $15 at 355ARTS. thepuppetshow.net.

17FRIDAY The Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire presents SNOWBALL 2004. Themed “A Christmas Carol: Past, Present and Future,” this three day event is a fun fundraiser kicking off with Live for the Holidays at Modiggity’s beginning at 7 pm on Friday, December 17. Tickets are $5. Then Get Scrooged!, the “In/Out of Town Show” being held at Trapp Door at 8 pm on Saturday, December 18 for $5.

Finally, the official Snowball takes place at Club Sound on Sunday, December 19.

Cocktails begin at 5 pm, dinner at 6 pm and the show begins at 7 pm. Tickets for this highlight of the winter season are $15. www.rcgse.org

18FRIDAY Not all holidays are Christian. Celebrate Yule and the Winter Equinox and embrace the pagan heritage of our many holiday traditions. SUNSTAVE YULE will be held at the Sprague Library welcoming the day and night again being balanced. The Lord of the Sun is reborn and the Goddess is seen in her mother aspect. Bring food to share.

1-4pm, Sprague Library, 2131 S 1100 East.

Free to the public. www.sunstave.org ■ Park City Performing Arts Foundation

presents Celtic performing group LEAHY comprised of four sisters and four brothers 7:30pm, Eccles Center, 1750 Kearns Blvd., Park City. Tickets $15-50 at 435-655-8252.

PTC’s Beauty and the Beast Focuses on Story

SALT LAKE METRO ■

Beauty and the Beast plays through Dec. 24 at Pioneer Theatre Company, 300 S. 1400 East. Tickets are $22–49 at 581-6961 or pioneertheatre.org

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There were a variety of troubling technical problems on opening night—nary a followspot found its mark, and the motors that turn the enormous castle set, which happens about every five minutes and slows that pace of the show considerably, sometimes threatened to drown out the music.

These and other problems with sound and sets have no doubt been worked out by now, and were more than likely a fluke given PTC’s customary technical proficiency.

The show is smoothly and efficiently staged, the endless set changes not withstanding. Jayne Luke’s choreography is boisterous and technically dazzling, as good as anything one would see on the stage at Capitol Theatre or Kingsbury Hall. It is perfectly executed by the fantastic dance corps.

Indeed, an excellent ensemble has become one of the hallmarks of PTC musicals, and this could well be the best yet.

There are small problems with direction—part of Belle’s number “Is This Home?” has the actress singing upstage, for instance, and poor Kooper Campbell, the child who plays Chip, the teacup, is confined for all but thirty seconds of the show to an enormous, unwieldy table that also usually managed to land him facing upstage. But the storytelling is clear, the stage pictures pleasing, the flow of the show graceful, and the performances well nurtured.

The various technical problems were hardly noticeable to the enthusiastic opening night audience, and were overcome by the production’s vigor and sense of fun.

Everyone on stage was clearly enjoying himself immensely, and an atmosphere of joy permeated the entire theatre. One gets the sense that PTC created the show as a Christmas present to its audience, a gift carefully and lovingly packaged, thoughtfully prepared. Audiences, judging by the reaction on opening night, are sure to receive it in the spirit in which it is given.

DECEMBER 9, 2004 15

By Eric J. Tierney A multi-million dollar theatre budget buys you a lot of production. When Disney first staged its musical Beauty and the Beast at New York’s Palace Theatre, they created a kind of blitzkrieg entertainment—every moment a new spectacle, a new onslaught of sight and sound. Pioneer Theatre Company, not having infinite resources to spend on its production, had to innovate and reconcept the show—making the refreshing choice of focusing on heart and storytelling, rather than on glitz.

There are some wonderful things happening on the stage. PTC’s most valuable asset, the reliable Max Robinson, gives his usual variety of finely tuned, well-crafted comedic performance as Cogswell, the former butler turned clock. Dirk Lumbard charms as the candlestick Lumiere—a consummate showman, Lumbard is blessed with a sense of timing that works well with Robinson’s and he owns the stage in the enormous “Be Our Guest” production number.

Gregg Goodbrod finds nuance and humanity in the role of the Beast. By making the character more sympathetic and less cartoonish from the outset, the tragedy of the Beast’s curse and the power of his redemption are much more compelling than they were even in the fantastic original film version of the piece. He also has a fine, natural, elegant singing voice.

Not everyone fares as well. Laura Griffith’s acting is charming as Belle, but her singing voice is brassy and forced, resulting in a sound that goes straight through one’s head. Jeremy Stolle endows the boorish Gaston with a larger than life personality that suits the role perfectly, but he also tends to blast the roof with his enormous voice, which becomes difficult to listen to. There’s simply too much sound.

That is sadly not the case with the orchestra. James Prigmore’s musical direction, as usual, is tight and the music is beautifully played. But there are, most likely because of budget restraints, simply not enough players in the pit to generate the kind of sound such a showy score demands.

EarPiece Loving Rufus

by Eric J. Tierney eric@slmetro.com

A GRIPPING NEW MYSTERY

der n U and $18 0 3 Age Tickets

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BY

S R E G O R .

T J.

2 1 R E B M E C E D NOVEMBER 16

rance disappea of d e lv o s n u le rious and eful puzz s. f a myste intricate, suspens le o ru ry s to u s gero ting An own dan The haun ree lives forever. nt. ir e a h th p w le follo the E es th th g g u n tr in a e h d c e n t S tha place a le and ere time, ite Peop a play wh the author of Wh By

For Tickets call 363-SLAC or 355-ARTS THE SALT LAKE ACTING COMPANY 168 WEST 500 NORTH www.saltlakeactingcompany.org

too much about the issue would impede people’s enjoyment of the music, and Rufus has always made sure he’s known as a musician, not a gay musician. Gay references and sensibilities became more pronounced on Poses, the next album, and were an intrinsic part of Want One. Want Two is Rufus at his, please pardon this, gayest. He seems now to embrace and even relish the role of gay troubadour. He even points the laser-focus of his humor at the subject, as in “Gay Messiah,” when,

I remember distinctly the first time I heard Rufus Wainwright sing. I had just turned twenty and was spending my summer break in Maine, where I had somehow landed a job at a high-profile brokerage house—a strange prospect for a theatre major. I made myself at home, though, and soon befriended a very attractive young broker who made a habit of flirting with me. He managed bands on the side and was quite a music lover. I had barely left my teen years behind, and my musical tastes still tended to the adolescently melodramatic, so when we talked music, I usually talked Tori Amos. On the third or fourth such occasion, he suggested that if I liked Tori, I should check out this new guy called Rufus Wainwright. He also wrote big, complex songs for the piano and had an intense singing voice.

Skeptical, as it was beyond my ken that anyone other than Tori could possibly be a credible piano player and certainly no one else could write as poignantly or poetically, I schlepped to the hipster music store in Portland’s Old Port to check this Rufus guy out. How clearly I recall picking up the CD for the first time and seeing that smoldering, ironic Rufus Wainright gaze looking back at me. Before I had heard a note of his music, judgin a wink to John the Baptist, he sings ing solely from his album art, I could tell “someone will demand my head/And then that Rufus was, if nothing else, a grade-A I will kneel down/ And give it to them.” smartass.

Gay male musicians have had a very I took the disc home and the rest, as hard time of it. Even Elton couldn’t admit they say, is history. I’ve bought every to his “bisexuality” in the first years of album on its first day of release. his career. A lot of gay musicians make Rufus Wainwright is a rarity in popular music today in that he’s a genuine musician. themselves into gimmick acts, selling Elton John has said on a variety of occasions themselves as freak show oddities: “By God, that queer can sing! And listen, he’s that Rufus is the best songwriter making singing about a guy!” Rufus, then, is a music today. This claim is hard to dispute. point of pride for music lovers, gays, and His lyrics are well crafted and most could gay music lovers: he is, first and foremost, stand on their own, independent of their musical context. His voice is a phenomenon the Real Deal, a musician and composer of the first order who’s developed his unto itself—throaty and smoky in the lower career and following through great artistry registers, soaring and full in the release. His and stellar technique. He’s also a successsound cannot be defined, since his prowess ful, out mainstream musician, which is as a composer makes each song unique in no small accomplishment. Finally, he’s form, harmonics, melody and style. And transcendent—when he sings, he sings his playing ranks with the great popular not only of and for gay men, but of and for pianists of all time—he can even hold his any person with a heart. own with that red headed powerhouse I In the years since that broker opened mentioned earlier. my eyes to a broader musical world Last week I picked up Want Two, his (among other things), my tastes have new album. It’s a follow up to last year’s become much more sophisticated and Want One, and was recorded largely in have generally changed a great deal. One the same sessions. The album showcases of the things I have enjoyed most, though, everything I love about Rufus—sweeping is watching as my favorite artists’ work in scope, it ranges from epic to intimate, grows and changes with me. I’m twentypoignant to humorous. Some melodies five now, and Rufus and I have come a will break your heart while others would long way. I can’t wait to hear what we make the catatonic dance. It is also the sound like in another five years. most overtly gay of all his records. I’ve always respected Wainwright for the way he’s dealt with his homosexuality: in the early days, he didn’t trumpet it, but made no efforts to hide it. He felt that talking

Wainright’s new CD, Want Two, was just recently released and available through Salt Lake Metro’s Holiday Shopping Guide at slmetro.com.

Christopher’s Seafood & Steak House

by Vanessa Chang vanessa@slmetro.com

Address: 110 W. Broadway, SLC, UT Phone: 519-8515 Hours: Mon-Thurs 11:30am–3pm, 4:30–10pm Fri 11:30am–3pm, 4:30–11pm Sat 4:30–11pm, Sun 4–9pm All major-credit cards accepted, Handicap accessible (except restrooms)

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Meat is Man-Food. Or so I’ve been told.

Take any slab, grill it until it’s nicely charred and place it with some form of that popular tuber, the potato. You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone with an XY chromosome to decline such an offering. How many prospective mates have uttered, “I’m a meat & potatoes kinda guy?” One hub of carnivorous pleasure is Christopher’s Seafood and Steak House. Located in downtown’s Peery Hotel, it’s a stone’s throw from the Rose Wagner Theater, Capitol Theater, and Club Naked.

So you can get some serious sustenance whatever your activity of choice may be.

Grilling/charring meats has been around since the advent of fire. It’s a hunter’s prize, associated with the feeling of “that’s right, I’ve just proved my masculinity. Now pass the potatoes” (note last summer’s family barbecue). So, it’s ironic that such primitive food is housed in such high brow settings (with the exception of the Wagon Master).

The dining room is expansive with paneled walls in shades of vanilla and tobacco, elegant light fixtures, and a blazing fireplace against the west wall. For such a power lunch-like setting, my dining party and I seemed to make it on a night that everyone had a family reunion—modern day men bringing their tribes to the meat. The space obviously accommodates large parties, including a private room for special events.

Conversations echoed through the walls as did the shrieking of a child or two.

Appetizers include oysters on the half shell, crab-stuffed mushrooms and Cajun chicken fingers ($5.99) which were nicely crunchy, if

slightly overcooked and with no trace of “Cajun” seasoning. The signature clam chowder is worth a try with a thick creamy broth and tender clams. Domestic labels dominate the wine list and, helpfully, each variety includes a brief synopsis of which dishes suit it best.

Sadly, only a few of the bottles were available by the glass, leaving few options for moderate solo drinkers. Note to self: bring large group and drink plentifully.

Service was attentive this evening and helpful in deciphering the beguiling steakhouse lexicon. I chose a Kansas City Sirloin ($21.99) and ordered it black and blue (charred on the outside and fairly rare on the interior). The result was delicious combined with the delightfully crispy roasted red potatoes. The menu also includes chicken entrees, pork chops, a few pasta dishes, and selection of seafood (it is in the name after all) including cioppino ($21.99). A tomatobased stew of shellfish, tender fish, and wine, served in this case, atop a bed of creamy mashed potatoes, it was a pleasant surprise for its quality and also in that I turned out to be the meat-and-potatoes man that evening.

Additional vegetable sides (suited for meat, apologies to my Cioppino-loving companion) such as asparagus hollandaise and sautéed mushrooms are available at an additional cost. Caramelized onions ($3.25) were satisfactory—soft and golden, pooled in a reduction of meat stock. The creamed spinach ($4.25) showcased excellent freshness of the vegetable with every vibrant bite.

However, the “creamed” aspect of the dish was ill-conceived as the beautiful spinach seemed to bide its time in warm cream apparently poured straight from the carton and haphazardly sprinkled with parmesan.

As the large parties left, things quieted down. The warm fireplace and remnants of the gargantuan chocolate decadence cake were welcome endnotes to the meal. As contradictory as Christopher’s may seem, the ambience and quality of meat make it worth giving a nod to the ancestors (distant and near) who made savoring charred meats in such elegant environments possible. Here’s to the Meat-and-Potatoes Man.

Red,White Bubbly Give Thoughtfully

by Beau Jarvis beau@slmetro.com

SINGERS AUDITION ANNOUNCEMENT Utah’s first all-male Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat

Sunday, January 9 & 16—All Saints Episcopal Church, 1700 S. Foothill Dr. Performances: June 24, 25, 26, 2005 in the Rose Wagner Studio Theater Rehearsals: Thursday (all) and Sunday (solos) nights beginning January 2005, plus some additional scheduled rehearsals.

Produced by Salt Lake Men’s Choir Auditions Requirements: Prepare one minute of music NOT from Joseph. Find music that you like, that shows off your voice to its best advantage. Accompanist provided. Wear clothing that you can move in; auditions will include both singing and movement. No experience necessary.

www.saltlakemenschoir.org for more info.

The worst gift I ever received during the holidays was a small plastic paperweight shaped like an airplane, filled with gold colored coins suspended in a clear liquid.

What did this gift say to me? It told me a few things, most of which I already knew: “I don’t like you;” “I didn’t put any effort into this gift;” “Hopefully you’ll trip over this paperweight, fall to the floor, and if I’m lucky, break your neck.” Of course, this gift was from my significant other’s father, so I suppose I shouldn’t have expected too much. (I must have made some inroads with “Dear Old Dad” during the following year, as he gave me a stick of salami the next Christmas.)

The best gifts I ever received were from my significant other. One was a gift-card for twelve car washes. The other was a gift certificate for six facial spa treatments. What did these gifts say to me? They told me how thoughtful my S.O. is: “I understand you’re neurotic about having a clean car. I love all of you, including your neuroses;” “I know you have the world’s most sensitive skin.

Hopefully this will make your skin happy.”

I guess there really is truth to the old adage, “It’s the thought that counts.”

As for non-wine gift ideas, you’re on your own. If however, you are lucky enough to have someone on your holiday gift list who enjoys wine, I do have three incredibly thoughtful gift ideas for you.

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THE WINE-SECURITY GIFT Does your wine lover crave reassurance?

Does he need security? Show him you appreciate these stable qualities by making a gift out of a case of wine. Each time your lucky gift recipient frets about choosing a wine for dinner, he’ll remember your gift, know the choice is already made, and think fondly of you. Of course this type of gift requires a very flexible wine. If he is partial to red wine, buy a case of New Zealand’s value-priced Pinot Noir, Brancott Pinot Noir, for eleven bucks per bottle. If you’re feeling flush with dough and quite generous, purchase a case of the Reserve version of this Pinot for eighteen dollars per bottle. It will go with nearly anything on the dinner table.

Pinot Noir is also quite tasty by itself.

If he is a white wine drinker, then Sauvi-

gnon Blanc is a nice bet. Two of my favorite, reasonably priced Sauvi-Blancs are made by Kenwood and Giesen. Both ring in at twelve dollars per bottle. While not as flexible with food, Sauvignon Blanc can handle veggies, salads, seafood and even poultry.

THE ONE & ONLY WINE GIFT Your wine lover is truly one of a kind. She drives a twenty-year-old Saab and wears purple feather boas instead of a proper winter scarf. She personifies individuality. She deserves an equally unique gift of wine. France’s Northern Rhône valley is replete with quirky, rare little wine gems.

Go with white wine and give your moldbreaking wine drinker Condrieu. Condrieu is a wine made from the fragrant, finicky, fragile Viognier grape. Viognier is extraordinarily difficult to work with. But when it works, it makes a nearly indescribable wine full of apricot, blossom and honey scents.

Of course this individuality comes with a slightly hefty price tag. Perhaps an entire case is out of the question. So buy a single bottle of Guigal Condrieu, ’01 for forty-five dollars, or Guigal’s deluxe version called, “Doriane,” for about seventy dollars.

Perhaps your unique loved one is of the fiery temperament persuasion. In this case, red wine is called for. No need to leave the Rhône valley; just head southward. The red wines of the Chateauneuf du Pape region are spicy, earthy blends of up to thirteen different grape varieties. These wines have yet to be successfully duplicated and they remain unique to the world of wine. Chateau de Beaucastel is one of the premier producers of red ‘du Pape. A bottle will run between sixty-five and seventy clams.

THE OH-SO-PRECIOUS WINE GIFT So the wine lover on your gift list just happens to be the center of your universe. He or she is precious and you want to say this with wine. Nothing other than champagne will suffice. Instead of simply saying, “You are precious,” say it in elegant gold lettering with Krug Grand Cuvée ($160). If you want to shout this using those same elegant gold letters, try Krug 1988 ($180), a vintage Champagne that is the pinnacle of wine elegance. Is there truly a better way to tell someone you love him or her than with tiny bubbles suspended in ambrosial liquid? I think not.

Be thoughtful in your giving this year.

Cheers!

Beau Jarvis is a sommelier and wine educator who operates basicjuice.com and manages a weblog of entertainment and culture at basicjuice.blogs.com.

Di ing Guide Dining de SALT LAKE CITY, UT Baci Trattoria 134 W. PIERPONT AVE / 328-1500

CUISINE: RESERV.: PRICE: CARDS:

Orbit Cafe

110 W. BROADWAY / 519-8515

orbitslc.com

christophersutah.com

gastronomyinc.com HOURS:

Christopher’s Seafood and Steak House HOURS:

M-F 11:30AM-3PM M-TH 5-10PM F-SA 5-11PM ITALIAN ACCEPTED $$ TC AE D DC MC V

CUISINE: RESERV.: PRICE: CARDS:

M-F 11:30AM-3PM M-TH 4:30PM-10PM F-SA 4:30PM-11PM SU 4PM-9PM STEAK, SEAFOOD SUGGESTED $$ TC AE D DC MC V

540 W. 200 S. / 322-3808 SU-TH 11AM-10PM F-SA 11AM-3AM CUISINE: AMERICAN ECLECTIC PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V HOURS:

Traditional Italian favorites, as well as roast veal, lamb, chicken, and seafood.

Open late nights on Fridays and Saturdays with DJs and We are famous for our USDA a special menu. choice steaks and our fresh Panini seafood flown in daily.

299 S. MAIN ST. / 535-4300

Bash’s Grill

Fiddler’s Elbow

163 W. PIERPONT AVE / 359-2161 HOURS: M-T 9PM-1AM F-SA 9PM-2AM CUISINE: VARIETY PRICE: ¢ ACCEPTED: AE D MC V

Grab something to eat while at the new Heads Up private club at Bash’s.

Café Med 420 E. 3300 S. / 493-0100 HOURS: SU-TH 11AM-9PM F-SA 11AM-10PM CUISINE: MEDITERRANEAN PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V

gastronomyinc.com

CUISINE: RESERV.: PRICE: CARDS:

M-TH 11AM-11PM F-SA 11AM-12AM SU 9AM-10PM CUISINE: AMERICAN PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V

M-TH 11:30AM-10PM F-SA 11:30AM-11PM SU Noon-9PM MEXICAN ACCEPTED FOR 8+ $$ TC AE D DC MC V

Robust Italian fare in an elegant atmosphere with a tasteful, contemporary vibe.

Market Street Grill

Salt Lake Pizza & Pasta

CUISINE: RESERV.: PRICE: CARDS:

OPEN M-F 6:30AM SA 7AM, SU 9AM CLOSED MO-TH 10PM FR-SA 11PM SU 9:30PM STEAK/SEAFOOD ACCEPTED $$ TC AE D DC MC V

1063 E. 2100 S. / 484-1804

saltlakepizzaandpasta.com HOURS: CUISINE: PRICE: CARDS:

M-SA 11AM-11PM SU 11AM-10PM ITALIAN $ TC AE D MC V

Voted as Utah’s Best Pizza two years in a row! Great A well-deserved reputation as Salt Lake’s finest seafood beer selection. Sugarhouse. restaurant. Sunday brunch.

Spice Restaurant

Nick-N-Willy’s Pizza 4538 S, HIGHLAND DR./ 273-8282

nicknwillyspizza.com HOURS:

Extensive menu of traditional Mexican favorites served in a festive setting. Sunday Brunch

CUISINE: RESERV.: PRICE: CARDS:

M-F 11:30AM-3PM M-TH 5-9PM F-SA 5-10PM ITALIAN, SEAFOOD SUGGESTED $$$ TC AE D MC V

32 beers to choose from, including Utah’s best selection of microbrews.

HOURS:

122 W. Pierpont Ave. / 364-1222

HOURS:

HOURS:

gastronomyinc.com

Cafe Pierpont

panini.us

fiddlerselbowslc.com

48 W. Market St. / 322-4668

Persian, Greek, Italian, Turkish and Vegetarian in a warm, relaxing atmosphere.

HOURS:

1063 E. 2100 S. / 463-9393

CUISINE: PRICE: CARDS:

SU-TH 11AM-10PM F-SA 11AM-12PM PIZZA $ AE D MC V

123 S. WEST TEMPLE / 484-1804 HOURS: M-TH 11:30AM-9:30PM FR 11AM-3:30AM SA 8AM-3:30AM CUISINE: AMERICAN PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V

The art of healthy eating.

Dine in or take-out. Call ahead and we’ll have it ready. Open late nights on weekAlbertsons Shopping Ctr. ends. Espresso, internet.

Stonewall Coffee

361 N. 300 WEST / 539-8800 HOURS: M-F 6:30-10AM TU-FR 4:30-10PM SA 10AM-10PM CUISINE: COFFEE PRICE: ¢

Nonprofit drop-in with full coffee bar, sandwiches and deserts. Meeting space.

WEST VALLEY CITY, UT Gringo’s West Valley 2785 W 3500 S / 969-8811 HOURS: M-SA 10:30AM-9PM SU 10:30AM-8PM CUISINE: MEXICAN PRICE: ¢ CARDS: MC V

Good Mexican food...fast.

Fresh salsa bar, food made to order. See our coupon!

SANDY, UT Heart & Soul Café 237 W. 9000 S. / 569-1245 HOURS: M-F 10AM-4PM SA 11AM-2PM CUISINE: AMERICAN PRICE: $ CARDS: MC V

Home roasted meats, homemade soups, fresh salads, hand-dipped chocolates LEGEND: TC–TRAVELERS CHECKS, AE–AMERICAN EXPRESS, D–DISCOVER, DC–DINER’S CLUB, MC–MASTERCARD, V–VISA ¢=0-$10, $=$11-$20, $$=$21-30, $$$=31-40.

Restaurant Owners: To get your restaurant listed in the Salt Lake Metro Dining Guide, please call 323-9500.

Queeriscaping ’Tis the Season

by Brandie Balken brandie@slmetro.com

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SALT LAKE METRO ■

19

Brandie Balken is a horticulturist in Salt Lake City and can be seen at Cactus & Tropicals, 2735 S. 2000 East, Salt Lake City. cactusandtropicals.com

DECEMBER 9, 2004

Here we are, smack in the middle of the Holiday Season. One of my favorite things about this Season is the entire delicious decor: the tree, the poinsettias and boughs of pine. Many of us forego the natural cut greens because they dry out and get messy. I have to tell you how much this annoys me. Listen darlings; trees should not be made from fossil fuels.

You should not have to buy a pine-scented candle to give your home that “Christmas” smell. If you choose wisely, you can have wonderful, fresh cut decor that will last through the season. By “through the season” I mean from the first week of December to the 1st of January. Holiday decor isn’t meant to be up for more than a month, it’s just not right! Here are a few basic tips on how to be successful with your “fresh” decor.

TREES: In my experience variety really doesn’t matter much. What matters is how long the trees have been sitting there. If you saw the lot go up before the 20th of November don’t buy your tree there. Generally speaking the tree has been dead a week before it gets to the lot, and if it sits on the

lot 2 weeks before it goes into your house… you get the picture. When you pick out your tree, pull on the needles, if they’re not firmly attached, find another one. Before you take the tree home, ask the vendor to cut the trunk again. Trees take up water through the trunk, and if it’s been sitting there for a while, the sap has sealed off many of the water passing xylem cells. If it’s cut anew, it will hydrate much easier, and stay fresh longer. Finally, when you get it home, get it into water as soon as possible, and try to place it in a cooler area of your house. Say, near a window as opposed to a heat vent.

MIXED GREENS: There’s really only one thing to remember: cut greens will not last longer than 2 weeks inside your home.

They are a great choice for decorating the exterior of your home as they last for weeks in the cold. They can be a great addition for “Special Occasion” decor, but should not be considered long term.

POINSETTIAS: Look for plants that have healthy green leaves as well as colored leaves. Keep these plants in a relatively warm spot in your house, and don’t let them sit in water. When the surface of the soil feels dry, water them until the water just flows into the liner.

Have a fabulous holiday lovelies: may all of your wishes come true.

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SALT LAKE METRO ■

DECEMBER 9, 2004

Bar Guide Club Naked*

COVER:

326 S. W. Temple 521-9292 / nakedslc.com HOURS: SA 9pm-2am.

GAY: Saturday nights AGE: 21+ / COVER: $5-7 Gay on Saturdays. 21+ dance club on two levels with an outdoor patio.

Paper Moon*

Club Panini* 299 S. Main Street 535-4300 / panini.us HOURS: M–TH 11am-10pm F–SA 11am-12am GAY: Mondays AGE: 21+ / COVER: No Metro Mondays. Speed dating first Mondays of the month. $2 drafts.

Club Try-Angles* 251 W. 900 South 364-3203 clubtry-angles.com HOURS: 2pm-2am daily GAY: Every day AGE: 21+ / COVER: No FR-SA DJ Boy Toy. MO “MorMondays.” TU, FR, SA–$1 drafts. SU afternoons–Buffet.

Heads Up* 163 W. Pierpont Ave. (250 S) 359-2161 / headsupslc.com HOURS: 4pm-2am daily GAY: Every day AGE: 21+ / COVER: No Salt Lake’s newest, hottest club. MO Karaoke. TU 50¢ drafts. TH $2 shots. FR, SA High NRG.

MoDiggity’s* 3424 S. State St. 832-9000 / modiggitys.com HOURS: M–TH 4pm-12am F–SA 4pm-2am SU 11am-2am GAY: Every day / AGE: 21+

$4/members free A sports and music club for women. Football and mimosa brunch Sundays. Live shows.

3737 S. State St / 713-0678 thepapermoon.com HOURS: M–F 3pm-1am, SA 7pm-1am, SU noon-1am GAY: Every day / AGE: 21+, COVER: $2 (80¢ Weds.)

SL’s Premier Woman’s Club.

TU Karaoke, WE 80¢ drafts, shots. FR & SA hip hop/dance

Todd’s Bar and Grill* 1051 S. 300 West 328-8650 toddsbarandgrill.com HOURS: Weds. 10am-2am GAY: Wednesdays AGE: 21+ / COVER: No Gay on Wednesdays with DJ Ebenflow and Brent B. Free parking.

Trapp* 102 S. 600 West 531-8727 / thetrapp.com HOURS: 10am-2am daily GAY: Every day / AGE: 21+ COVER: $3/Members free Really gay every day. SU Buffet and NFL, MO & WE Karaoke.

Trapp Door* 102 S. 600 West 533-0173 / thetrapp.com HOURS: TH-SU 9pm-2am GAY: Every day AGE:21+ COVER: $3/Members free Dance and show club. Hot men and hot music. SU Latin night. Plenty of free parking. * A PRIVATE CLUB FOR MEMBERS.

Classifieds HELP WANTED UTAH SYMPHONY Opera needs experienced telemarketers to sell the remainder of the season.

Great pay. Free tickets. Call Orlando Andrews at 801869-9095 or email resume to oandrews@sdatel.com CLASSIFIED/SUBSCRIPTION SALES. The Salt Lake Metro is seeking a full time classified ad and subscription sales person. Previous telephone sales is helpful but not required. Must be available to work full time.

Call or email Steven for details at (801) 323-9500 or steven@slmetro.com

SALT LAKE CITY Delivery driver to help with the distribution of the Salt Lake Metro. Must have own vehicle and be available every other Wednesday and Thursday. Will pay hourly rate plus mileage.

Call or email Steven for details at (801) 323-9500 or steven@slmetro.co

FOR RENT

ROOMMATES WANTED

THREE BEDROOM home.

SEEKING ROOMMATE to share 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo downtown. $425 per mo inc. utils, c,able, washer/ dryer, indoor parking, weight room, pool and hot tub. Call Carl 467-8188.

1.5 Bath. Hardwood Floors, cul de sac address. $995/ mo. $200 deposit. Joy, CDA Properties, 801-268-4869.

PROFESSIONAL DANCERS Heads Up is seeking exotic dancers. Apply Within.

782 E. La Dore Dr. (4410 S.)

REAL ESTATE

bed apt at 133 E. Kensington

WEST VALLEY Home 4 Bedroom 2 bath double garage, oak floors, quiet neighborhood. Great for entertaining. Call Keith at Coldwell Banker 205-3975

VERY CLASSY (and Gay) 2 w/laundry,dishwasher,new carpet-paint, garden patio & more. $600. See it at www. xmission.com/~bradley/ kensington.htm or call 550.0330

GAY MEN. Two gay men seeking roommate to share 3 bedroom house in West Capitol area. Hot tub, cable. $100 per week includes utilities. 856-5655.

MURRAY CONDO. Washer/ dryer. Pet neg. $325/mo plus 1/3 util. 455-2497.

Service Guide ATTORNEYS MARLIN G. CRIDDLE, P.C. Serving Utah’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities. Estate Planning,

ESTATE PLANNING JANE MARQUARDT & DOUG FADEL Attorneys at Law, providing comprehensive estate planning services, custom designed to your unique family

ruptcy, Corporations/Business.

situation, including trusts, wills,

474-2299. marlincriddle.com

partnership agreements, estate

ADVERTISING

administration. 801-294-7777

SERVICE DIRECTORY listings

JIM RENGSTORF Freelance Graphic Designer. Consulta-

at 323-9500 or slmetro.com.

tion, Concept, Design, Layout.

Discounts for 8 issue, 12 issue

www.creativehotlist.com/

and 26 issue contracts.

j_rengstorff2 671-1672

WEBSITES

MASSAGE

JOIN THE ALL NEW GayUtahSingles.com—Exclusively for Utah’s Gay and Lesbian community. Online chat, email, messenger and photos! Join for FREE! http:// www.GayUtahSingles.com

BEST THERAPISTS, best price, best place, best hours, call for appointment 486-5500 Pride Massage 1800 South West Temple Suite A224

LOSE WEIGHT, increase energy and get healthy! For more info go to: http://herbalnutrition.net/naturalliving

WEIGHT LOSS

SALT LAKE METRO

value at just $25. Call today

JEWELERS CUSTOM DESIGN JEWELRY. Relaxed atmosphere. All types of stone settings. Commitment rings, wedding rings, earrings, pendants. Repairs welcome.

Charley Hafen Jewelers. Trolley Square. 521-7711

PAINTING EXPERIENCED INDOOR HOUSEPAINTER No job too small. Call Boyd at 801-9162558 Free Estimates

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in Salt Lake Metro are a great

GRAPHIC DESIGN

LOSE WEIGHT, increase energy and get healthy! for more info go to: http://herbalnutrition.net/naturalliving

WWW.DENNISMASSAGE.COM A Man’s Man. 598-8344.

“For Men” Model/Massage.

LMT#98212332470

DECEMBER 9, 2004

Probate, Criminal Law, Bank-

HEALTH CARE

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SALT LAKE METRO ■

DECEMBER 9, 2004

Personals MISSED CONNECTIONS U BLACK MUSTANG..ME SILVER CELICA. You were on I-15 headed south and so was I. You turned off at the exit by prison you had a Kevin Bacon smile I want to find you..Will I? REPLY TO BOX 160, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

MISCHIEVIOUS BACK room. You were fondling an appendage of Jeff Stryker’s.

I smirked and you blushed.

Wanna try the real thing?

REPLY TO BOX 161, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

TESTOSTERONE Screening. We exchanged glances during the scene where Antonio Bandera’s dangle appeared onscreen. Was hoping to danlge with you some day.

REPLY TO BOX 162, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

JOHN OR JOSH?—you came into Try-Angles because you’d had a fight with your boyfriend—we talked over beer and popcorn—I said you deserved better and I meant it, I’d like to prove it to you—If you decide to dump his cheating ass, let me know.

REPLY TO BOX 152, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

161 THE hair on your back made my naughty bits stir.

You mentioned the hole in the back of my pants. Help me fill it.

REPLY TO BOX 94, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

MEN FOR MEN LOOKING FOR a Phineas to my Gene. Serious, intelligent 30ish guy looking for an athletic, adventurous spirit 25-35. Let’s climb trees together.

REPLY TO BOX 154,

JOHN OR JOSH?—you came into Try-Angles because you’d had a fight with your boyfriend—we talked over beer and popcorn—I said you deserved better and I meant it, I’d like to prove it to you—If you decide to dump his cheating ass, let me know.

REPLY TO BOX 152, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

I WAS PRETENDING to study at Harold B. Lee Library (BYU) and you slipped me a note saying to follow you. You were hot in that tight t-shirt and I can’t stop thinking about the bulge in your jeans. I was wearing the blue sweatshirt and gym shorts. Couldn’t follow right then, but I’ve been back every day since. Look for me again.

PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

80S MUSIC FAN, 36, is searching for a soul mate who can rock out with me to Bananarama, Pat Benatar, or Poison at the karaoke bar. 80s mullet optional.

REPLY TO BOX 155, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

GWM SEEKING BEAR for friendship or more. No smokers. No partiers. Must be employed. Mid 40’s, furry, beard a plus. Must like massage, long walks, and home cooking.

REPLY TO BOX 88, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

41 GOING on 30 seeking 30 going on 41. Laid-back guy seeking someone without drama.

Comics ADAM AND ANDY by James Asal

REPLY TO BOX 165, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

CUTE STUD for luv. GWM 38 yrs old seeks GWM 35-55 for long-term relationship. NS, ND a must. Check out my profile at outinsaltlakecity.com - UtahGrungeBoy. REPLY TO BOX 1, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

IT’S GETTING LONELY here under this bridge.

Need some hot hunks to play “strip Monopoly” or other such nonsense with.

I promise you won’t get stuck in the mud. Let’s Play!

REPLY TO BOX 2, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

MODERN AESTHETIC 28 SWM Gay. Downtown seeks partner for conversation, arts performances, etc.

Love travel, cooking, fine dining.

REPLY TO BOX 5, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

WOMEN FOR WOMEN NEW IN TOWN, or interested in meeting new friends? Come to sWerve monthlies, 3rd Saturday of each month, GLBT Center.

Info 539-8800 ext. 25 or www.swerveutah.com (join email list!)

A COUPLE OF GUYS by Dave Brousseau

REPLY TO BOX 151, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

TRAPP DOOR - You had a black Nikki Beach tank top on and danced like a pro. Beautiful smile. We’ve met once or twice before - I remember that you’re an actor—really want to have coffee with you some time.

REPLY TO BOX 153, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

GATEWAY. YOU were dancing in the fountain.

Shirtless, tan and in cutoffs.

I was sitting on the rocks staring and you began dancing for me. Was that your girlfriend or friend?

REPLY TO BOX 85, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

REPLY TO BOX 105, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

BLUE-HAIRED BOY at Heads up—Does the rug match the drapes?

REPLY TO BOX 104, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

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REPLY TO BOX 162, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

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TESTOSTERONE Screening. We exchanged glances during the scene where Antonio Bandera’s dangle appeared onscreen. Was hoping to danlge with you some day.

SALT LAKE METRO

REPLY TO BOX 94, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

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TRY-ANGLES SAW you at the urinal. Nice. You laughed at where my eyes were.

BITTER GIRL by Joan Hilty

DECEMBER 9, 2004

NEW CLUB on Latino night. You—white boy with green eyes. Me—Latin boy through and through. Hit me back.

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SALT LAKE METRO ■

DECEMBER 9, 2004