metro - 32 - July 7, 2005

Utah’s Gay and Lesbian Biweekly Newspaper Volume 2

■

Issue 14 July 7–20

Gay Marriage Approved in Canada, Spain Martin: ‘It is important that you don’t cherry-pick rights’

UTA Transgender Bias Case Dismissed Judge Sam: Sex change not ‘mere failure to conform to stereotypes’

United Church of Christ Supports Gay Marriage 1.3 million member church says ‘all families should be cherished’

Center Declares Pride 2005 ‘Largest Ever’ Larabee: ‘We welcome feedback from the community’ Keys: ‘GLBT’ Not an Inclusive Term Ruby: Hatch Sponsors Ban on Fag Burning Gay Agenda Classifieds

2

■

SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 7, 2005

N

G i

News WORLD AND NATIONAL

Gay Marriage Approved in Canada and Spain Spain Passes Gay Marriage

Canada Approves Same-Sex Marriage Legislation Toronto, Canada—Following Tuesday’s approval by the Canadian Parliament to allow same-sex marriage legislation throughout the country, Canada’s image throughout the world as one of most socially liberal nations has been firmly cemented, say a number of leading political analysts.

“We are affirming once again our worldwide reputation as a country that is open, inclusive and welcoming,” Alex Munter, a spokesman for Canadians for Equal Marriage, said after the 158 to 133 vote came down Tuesday evening. Canada will become the fourth country after Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain to legalize gay marriage. In the United States, gay marriage is only legal in Massachusetts.

Despite fierce opposition from Conservatives and religious leaders and following months of uncertainty among Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and his minority Liberal Party, legislation made it through the House of Commons this week and is expected to have an easy time passing Senate and becoming federal law by the end of July.

Canada has a history of swinging more liberal on social issues than the United States, where President Bush continues to urge Congress to pass an amendment to the constitution banning gay marriages.

“We are a nation of minorities,” Martin said in a press conference, according to Reuters. “And in a nation of minorities, it is important that you don’t cherry-pick rights.”

Martin, a Roman Catholic, has said that despite personal beliefs, all Canadians should be granted the same rights to marriage.

“Congratulate yourselves. You are part of the most diverse, tolerant and open-minded place on earth,” John Ibbitson, columnist for the Globe and Mail newspaper, which traditionally backs the ruling Liberal party, wrote in the paper’s Op-Ed pages Wednesday. “And yesterday proved the thesis once again.” There are an estimated 34,000 gay and lesbian couples throughout Canada, according to government statistics.—RVM

Washington, D.C.—Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese released a statement this week in response to the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, saying that the rights of “every American” are in “grave danger.”

“Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has a long and distinguished record as a consensus builder in a closely Supreme Court Justice divided court...

Sandra Day O’Connor The loss of Justice O’Connor’s moderate voice is a serious threat to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights, to women’s rights and to protections for racial, ethnic and religious minorities,” he said.

“During her time on the court, Justice O’Connor became increasingly supportive of equal rights for all Americans.

Her concurring opinion in Lawrence v.

Texas recognized the basic equality of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people under law. In opinions in First Amendment cases she protected the constitutional

wall between church and state. Justice O’Connor also voted to uphold the right to choose and to preserve universities’ right to promote diversity.

“The retirement of this mainstream and fair-minded Justice leaves a void on a court that is so closely divided. We need a nominee that all Americans can rally behind.

As President Bush and the U.S. Senate consider a replacement on the bench, they should abandon partisanship and seek consensus on a nominee who will protect every American fairly.

“America deserves a fair-minded justice who will recognize every American’s right to equality. As Justice O’Connor retires, there is an opportunity to select another Justice who recognizes the fundamental importance of equality under the law and whose decisions will be guided by it. Given the crucial role played by the Supreme Court in the protection of civil rights and civil liberties, the stakes for the country could not be higher.

“President Bush should look to consult with the Senate on a Justice who walks in Justice O’Connor’s footsteps of fairness. Her moderate, thoughtful voice on the bench was a positive influence on the Court and we hope that her replacement mirrors those qualities.”

United Church of Christ Votes to Support Gay Marriage

by Ross von Metzke Washington, D.C.—The General Synod of the 1.3 million member United Church of Christ approved a historic resolution endorsing marriage equality for same-sex couples at its biennial meeting in Atlanta, July 4.

UCC, which evolved from congregational churches founded by the Pilgrims and German immigrant and African-American communities, is a denomination of 1.3 million members.

Approval of the resolution makes UCC the largest Christian denomination to endorse marriage for same-sex couples. The Human Rights Campaign’s new Director of Religion and Faith Programs, Harry Knox, a United Church of Christ member was in Atlanta for the vote.

“The United Church of Christ is sending a powerful and historic message that all families should be loved and cherished. The United Church of Christ took an important step forward today. Its call for full equality in all spheres of American life will be remembered and honored by future generations,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “The marriage resolution is a beacon to millions of people of faith worldwide that families are strengthened with love but weakened by discrimination.

While marriage equality under the law should never impress houses of worship into recognizing unions between same-sex couples, we hope more and more people of faith demonstrate important values of understanding and fair-mindedness.”

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force National Religious Leadership Roundtable issued a statement of appreciation for the actions of the UCC: “The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force National Religious Leadership Roundtable celebrates with our partners in the United Church of Christ the passage of a resolution endorsing full religious and civil marriage equality for same-sex couples. In making this bold statement for the full inclusion of all its members in the life and ministry of the church and in the fabric of society, the denomination continues its historic place of leadership for the cause of equality. For more than 30 years, the United Church of Christ has provided a coherent, powerful and prophetic voice for the millions of Americans from across the spectrum of faith traditions that support the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. It has challenged those who wrap their homophobia in the guise of ‘deeply held religious belief’ to embrace a more just, honest, and compassionate faith. Through today’s resolution, we see that ‘God is, indeed, still speaking’ through the United Church of Christ.

“The Roundtable expresses profound appreciation to UCC general minister and president, John H. Thomas, and Roundtable steering committee members Reverend Rebecca Voelkel and Reverend Mike Shuenemeyer, for the visionary leadership they have provided during the Atlanta General Synod.” —RVM

JULY 7, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 3

Madrid, Spain—Spain became the third European country to legalize gay marriage Thursday in a parliament vote that left gay activists blowing kisses to lawmakers and the Catholic Church issuing calls for defiance.

Just 24 hours after Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin’s push for legalized same-sex marriage got its final vote of approval June 30, Spain’s 350-seat Congress of Deputies, by a vote of 187-147 with four abstentions, approved the measure to give homosexual couples the same rights as heterosexual ones, including the right to adopt children.

The controversial law, sponsored by Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his party, has been debated extensively over the past year and has faced extensive opposition from the Catholic Church.

Earlier this month, the country’s Catholic bishops told all Catholics to resist the law’s application. However, polls conducted in 2004 indicate that 70% of Spaniards favored legalizing same-gender marriage.

After the tally was announced, activists watching from the spectator section of the chamber cried, cheered, hugged each other, waved to lawmakers and blew them kisses.

“This is a disgrace,” shouted several members of the conservative opposition Popular Party, which vehemently opposed the bill. Those in favor stood and clapped.

“It is a historic day for the world’s homosexuals. We have been fighting for many years,” said Beatriz Gimeno, a longtime leader of the gay rights movement in Spain.

“Now comes the hardest part, which is changing society’s mentality.” In an interview with Reuters, Oscar-winning Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar, who is gay, said 21st century families don’t have to reflect the traditional Catholic model.

“I don’t like marriage. I am not going to get married,” he said. “But it is important for this to be called marriage so people know that it is the same thing for everyone.”

This victory supports what many political insiders have reported as a waning hold the Roman Catholic Church has over the government. The Church, which vehemently opposed the bill, was left smarting from the vote.

“Marriage, understood as the union of a man and a woman, is no longer provided for in our laws,” the Spanish Bishops Conference stated after the vote, referring both to the gay marriage law and a bill passed that same day making it easier for Spaniards to divorce. “It is necessary to oppose these unfair laws through all legitimate means.”

“We were not the first [to legalize gay marriage], but I am sure we will not be the last,” Zapatero said in a speech to the cabi-

net. “After us will come many other countries, driven, ladies and gentlemen, by two unstoppable forces: freedom and equality.”

“We are not legislating…for remote unknown people,” he added. “We are expanding opportunities for the happiness of our neighbors, our work colleagues, our friends, our relatives.”

A recent poll declared some 80 percent of Spaniards consider themselves Catholic.

However, polls say nearly half the country’s Catholics rarely go to Mass, and a third say they are simply not religious.—RVM, JV

HRC: O’Connor Retirement Is a Serious Threat to Civil Rights

News LOCAL

4

■

SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 7, 2005

Utah Transit Authority Transgender Bias Case May Set Precedent

by Ann Rostow A federal court decision out of Utah may wind up making legal history in the sixstate region covered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. The 10th Circuit, which includes Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming, has yet to confront a case of transgender discrimination in the workplace, but that will change.

The federal court will get the case because of a decision by U.S. District Court Judge David Sam, who ruled that the Utah Transit Authority had every right to fire a transitioning male-to-female staff member, Krystal Etsitty. Etsitty and her lawyers will appeal, most likely with the help of friendsof-the-court briefs from the LGBT legal community.

Although it’s technically legal under federal law to fire an employee based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, the actual state of affairs is far more complicated. Under a key Supreme Court ruling, for example, it is illegal for an employer to demand that an employee live up to a particular gender stereotype. Issued in 1989, that ruling came in the case of an accounting firm, Price Waterhouse, which rejected a woman for partnership because she was too masculine. According to the high court, Price Waterhouse’s insistence on classic femininity was a form of sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In the 15 years since the Price Waterhouse case was decided, numerous cases involving effeminate gay men and transgender employees have reached the federal courts, where many judges have been uncomfortable with taking the Supreme Court precedent to include LGBT subjects. Increasingly, however, the case brought against Price Waterhouse has become a powerful legal support for people who lose their jobs though a combination of factors that include gender presentation.

In the case of Krystal Etsitty, Judge Sam was not inclined to take an expansive view of the Price Waterhouse precedent. There is a “huge difference,” he wrote, between forcing a man or woman to conform to rigid stereotypes, and making allowances for a transgender employee. But Sam did not explain further, save to say that the “drastic action” that accompanies a sex change “cannot be fairly characterized as a mere failure to conform to stereotypes.”

Yet no one implied that the experience of a transgender man or woman compares to that of a tough woman or sensitive man.

It was the action of the employer that was under analysis, not that of the employee, and it seems uncontested that the Utah

Transit Authority demanded that Etsitty conform to a gender stereotype.

Etsitty, who had begun hormone treatments and who lived as a woman, was fired for her planned use of the women’s restroom, which her supervisors at the Utah Transit Authority said would endanger the safety of other staff. The company invited Etsitty to reapply for work after she finished sex change surgery, and according to Judge Sam’s ruling, did not harass her in any way.

Yet, as Etsitty pointed out in the local press, the men and women of the Transit Authority wear the same blue pants, and only one person enters a bathroom stall at a time.

As Etsitty prepares to take her case to the federal appellate court, the same issue has been replayed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where earlier this month the full court heard oral arguments in the Title VII claim against Harrah’s casino in Las Vegas. Harrah’s fired a bartender of 20 years who refused to participate in a new dress code that required female employees to wear heavy makeup and present a feminine style. Represented

by Lambda Legal Defense, the bartender argues that, under Price Waterhouse, an employer who conditions work on extreme gender stereotypes is breaking federal law.

Judge Sam is known for his role in dismissing several high-profile cases, including the Olympic bribery case and a challenge to Utah’s advertising restrictions on alcohol. The latter was overturned by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Hearing Set For Man Accused Of Killing Ex-wife’s Girlfriend A preliminary hearing is set for July 12 for a man accused of killing his ex-wife’s girlfriend outside their West Valley City apartment.

Trey Holloway-Brown, 25, is charged with firstdegree felony murder in the June 10th stabbing death of Norma Espinoza Hernandez, 27.

Police allege HollowayBrown and his ex-wife Trey Holloway-Brown were arguing when Hernandez intervened. He allegedly grabbed a knife, chased Hernandez and stabbed her several times in the arm and torso.

At a vigil shortly after the killing, speakers labeled the death a hate crime. Prosecutors say that under Utah law the crime does not qualify as a hate crime.

Third District Judge Denise Lindberg will hear the case. Brown could earn five years to life in prison on conviction.

Center Declares Utah Pride 2005 Largest Ever As the tickets are counted and the bills are paid off, the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Community Center of Utah is declaring Utah Pride 2005 to be the biggest event to date, and a success.

“Our community turned out in record numbers for Utah Pride 2005 events,” said Valarie Larabee, executive director of The Center. “Joined by families, friends and coworkers and allies, without whom we cannot win the battle for equality, Pride again helped make it clear to the greater Utah community that we are loved, that we will not be silent and we will continue to create families of love. Utah Pride 2005 was yet another call to arms for all who believe in equality.”

While final expense-versus-income numbers are still being tallied, The Center has reported that over 15,000 people attended the Utah Pride Festival this year.

In previous years, that number has been reported as high as 30,000, but festival planners don’t believe there were fewer participants than previous years.

“In the past, we’ve never had a reliable way to estimate attendance at the festival,” said Jere Keys of the Pride Committee. “We relied on police estimates and other methods that basically amounted to educated guesswork.”

Because of the ticketing procedure at this year’s event, The Center feels sure they have an accurate count for the first time. And while previous estimates have been higher in number, committee members are confident—based on access to services like food

and beverages—that the festival was as wellattended as previous years, if not more so.

“Where we can track reliable numbers from previous years, such as beverage sales, number of contingent in the parade, and attendance at other events, we’ve seen an increase this year,” explained Keys.

“That’s why we believe this is the largest Pride event in Utah history.”

Although The Center is still working out final financial numbers, it appears the event produced a very slight profit this year for the first time in several years. Although the income was the highest it’s been since The Center took over Utah Pride, expenses also increased this year.

Pride organizers recognize there were some problems that need to be addressed before next year as well.

“We need to find ways to shorten waiting times for people entering Pride and purchasing beverages,” said Larabee.

“While we are very pleased with the success of Utah Pride 2005, we know there are things we can change to make the event even better. We welcome feedback from the community and promise all suggestions will be reviewed.”

Planning for Utah Pride 2006 has already begun as several of this year’s committee members gathered to make recommendations and plans.

To volunteer to help plan Utah Pride 2006, or give feedback and suggestions, contact gotpride@glbtccu.org or The Center at 539-8800.

UofU LGBT Speakers Bureau Reaches Out to the General Community

by Kim Burgess kim@slmetro.com

For more information, please visit the University of Utah LGBT Resource Center Web site at www.sa.utah.edu/lgbt or e-mail Daren Brabham at daren.brabham@utah.edu.

JULY 7, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 5

After nearly three years of educating students about queer life, the University of Utah’s LGBT Resource Center Speakers Bureau is ready to branch out to the community.

“We’d like to speak to companies that have diversity training and make ourselves available for those,” said Daren Brabham, the Speakers Bureau coordinator. “There are gay-friendly businesses, and our goal is to start there.”

The panels will be a free service in keeping with the LGBT Resource Center’s mission to “overcome ignorance with education.”

In its current form, the Speakers Bureau sends panels to classes at the University of Utah, Salt Lake Community College, the University of Phoenix and various private high schools. Panels are conducted in question-and-answer format, although more formal presentations on sensitivity training also are available. A typical panel consists of three to five individuals selected from a group of about 20, mostly U of U faculty, staff and students. Brabham always attempts to assemble a diverse group of people with various backgrounds and perspectives.

A good example is a recent panel held at a U of U mass communication class, which consisted of a gay African-American man from Cincinnati who prides himself on his

fabulous clothes; a woman from Texas who self-identifies as queer and graduated from the U of U on a scholarship from the Royal Court; a blonde Utah native who loves dancing with her girlfriend and doesn’t label herself; and Brabham, who is openly bisexual. Each had a unique point of view on everything from Margaret Cho to local media coverage of Utah Pride.

The panels end with the audience members filling out evaluations, which Brabham said are “overwhelmingly positive.” “We get things like ‘I wish I’d known about you guys sooner’ and ‘I’m gay and no one knows.’ ” Brabham feels that his enthusiasm will translate well to businesses. “Companies bringing in the panels show respect for gay people. It shows that they won’t fire you if you’re out as a gay person,” he said.

In addition, the speakers provide a local perspective that would be difficult to match with a diversity training video.

“Three out of five of the speakers will usually have grown up in Utah, so we know about the very specific situations in Utah,” Brabham said. “We don’t want people to go off on the [LDS] church, but it played a big role in a lot of people’s lives.”

News LOCAL

Ogden Unitarians Start Gay Youth Drop-In Center, Seek Project Leader

6

■

SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 7, 2005

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Ogden has received $25,000 funding for the first year of operation of a gay youth drop-in center in Ogden which they will call OUTreach. The Unitarian Universalist Fund for Social Responsibility contributed $20,000 to the project and the remaining $5,000 is from local donors.

Gay-friendly or gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender candidates are being sought for a halftime project leader position. Candidates will need to pass a background check.

The duties of the project leader will include planning and facilitating a weekly drop-in center for youth ages 13–20 years old. The goal is to create a safe, supportive environment for queer youth, to reduce their isolation, to address their health and social needs, and to make referrals to supportive health and well-being support services.

The leader will also plan and inform program participants of upcoming activities,

enforce standards of conduct for appropriate youth-adult interaction, train and manage adult volunteers, and create and distribute promotional materials.

Outreach to the community through visiting schools, getting media stories, putting flyers in coffee houses, and building website links will help create a network in the community to support the targetted youth.

The leader will also be charged with fund raising for the center to help it continue past the funded year.

Potential candidates are requested to send a resume to Rachel Macfarlane at RachelRayMacfarlane@gmail.com; (391-9488) or Roxanne Taylor at TomRoxanne@aol.com (388-6130).

Interviews will be set for Saturday, July 9 and Monday, July 11.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Ogden is located at 2261 Adams Ave. Their website is www.theuuco.org

Community Briefs Business Guild Meeting Business owners are invited to attend the monthly Utah GLBT Business Guild meet and greet Wednesday, July 14 from 6–8pm at Under the Lindens Bed & Breakfast, 128 S. 1000 East.

Call Vince at 580-0395 or Bob at 815-9323. You may also email utahglbt@comcast.net.

Sex and Love Addicts Group A new 12-step support group for those overly addicted to love or sex is now meeting at The Center on Thursday nights at 7pm. Anyone is invited to attend.

Center Clean Up Help The Center clean and organize Friday, July 15 from 10am to 2pm and stay for a barbecue lunch and cold drinks to enjoy together afterwards. RSVP to jennifer@glbtccu.org.

Steven Cozza Wins Antelope Island National Cycling Championship Knight, a friend I knew who died of cancer.

When I was out there on the course and began to suffer I then remembered how much Knight suffered and his strong will and courage to live. He said in one of his journals before he died ‘it was worth the fight to live’. I felt something out there on the course giving me the strength to never give up and it was Knight who inspired me.”

The Team Swift Junior Cycling Development program is proud of their graduate member Steven Cozza. Team Swift Director Laura Charameda is pleased with Steven’s results as well as with his career choices.

“Steven is a classic example of an athlete that has prioritized his development and not bypassed the important growth opportunities available as a member of the USA National U23 Team. This important step highlights the effectiveness of methodical athletic development which is consistent with Team Swift. We emphasize the importance of developing an athlete at a pace that best suits their maximum development.

Steven is incredibly talented and is a great role model for the younger Swift riders.”

Steven points out, “Coach Laura and her Team Swift program gave me my start in cycling as a junior rider. I thank her for her guidance and the opportunities Team Swift gave me. I continue to stay in touch with Team Swift whenever I can to reach out to the younger riders. Coach Laura always gives the young cyclists encouragement and the technical guidance they need. She measures success by each junior rider meeting their own individual goals and dreams. Thanks again to Coach Laura Charameda and to the Team Swift program.

My development as a cyclist under Coach Laura and Team Swift has been critical to my success as a cyclist.”

For more information on Team Swift visit www.teamswift.org

JULY 7, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 7

Eagle Scout Steven Cozza, who is best known for starting the gay-inclusive Scouting For All when he was just twelve years old, has made new headlines for his first national win in cycling.

Cozza made a name for himself as a youngster when he was the driving force behind Scouting For All, which does not discriminate against gays as the Boy Scouts of America do. He attributes the idea of starting Scouting For All to a conversation he had with his father, who told him that a gay family friend would not be allowed to be a Boy Scout because they discriminate on the basis of religion and sexual orientation.

Although not gay himself, Cozza’s contribution to the GLBT community in starting Scouting for All has made him a household name in many a gay family.

Now Cozza is out to make a name for himself in an entirely new way.

Cozza held off a field of 67 of the nation’s top competitors to come out on top at the USA National Time Trial held at Antelope Island, Utah with a winning time of 45.43.50 minutes. Cozza was the only one in the 67rider field to break the 46 minute mark.

The 20-year-old not only earned his first national title with his commanding win, but he also rode his way onto the 2005 World Championship U23 squad. Cozza will be representing the USA U23 team, ages 19–22, at the World Cycling Championships in Madrid, Spain in September, in both the individual time trial and road race.

Cozza said after the race, “this win is a dream come true. I just wanted to enter this race both physically and mentally ready and then whatever happened I could walk away saying I gave it my best. I felt strong out there today. I was ready. I gave it my best.

I couldn’t ask anything else from myself. I rode this race and have dedicated my 2005 cycling season in the memory of Robert

Publisher Michael Aaron Editor Jere Keys Arts Editor Eric J. Tierney Proofreader Nicholas Rupp

Opinion

Contributing Brandie Balken Writers Kim Burgess Vanessa Chang Jason Clark Beau Jarvis Laurie Mecham Rob Orton William T. Park Nicholas Rupp Mandy Q. Racer Ruby Ridge Kim Russo David Samsel Joel Shoemaker Brendan Shumway Eric J. Tierney Darren Tucker JoSelle Vanderhooft Ross von Metzke John Wilkes Ben Williams Contributing David Harris Photographers William H. Munk Kim Russo Joel Shoemaker Art Director Michael Aaron Designer Kris Kramer Sales Director Steven Peterson Display Ad Dave Harris Sales Russ Moss 801-323-9500 National Rivendell Media Advertising 212-242-6863 Representative 1248 Rte 22 West Mountainside NJ 07092

Office Mgr. Tony Hobday Distribution Jarrod Ames Brandon Hurst Russ Lane Courtney Moser Copyright © 2005 Metro Publishing, Inc.

8

■

SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 7, 2005

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner, including electronic retrieval systems, without the prior written permission of the publisher. One copy of this publication is free of charge to any individual. Additional copies may be purchased for $1. Anyone taking or destroying multiple copies may be prosecuted for theft at the sole discretion of the publisher. Reward offered for information that leads to the arrest of any individual willfully stealing, destroying or trashing multiple copies. Salt Lake Metro and Utah’s Best for 2005 are trademarks of Metro Publishing, Inc. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the publishers or staff.

Salt Lake Metro is published bi-weekly on alternating Thursdays by Metro Publishing, Inc.

352 S. Denver Street, Suite 350 Salt Lake City, UT 84111

(801) 323-9500 Fax: (801) 323-9986 President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer:

Michael Aaron Steven Peterson Steve Whittaker Larry Tanner

Storm Breaking Over Capitol Hill As we gaze into our crystal balls, it doesn’t take any true psychic powers to know that some divisive and angry days are coming up on Washington’s Capitol Hill. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female justice, has announced her retirement from the nation’s high court.

Appointed by Reagan, O’Connor has been one of the most unpredictable voices on the Supreme Court. Known as a moderate who often made the majority on rulings, O’Connor has broken with her conservative peers on issues such as gay rights, abortion, women’s rights, the separation of church and state, and the right of universities to promote diversity.

So you can understand why liberals across the nation are unnerved by O’Connor’s announcement. After taking a slim majority to win the White House, and maintaining a slim majority in the legislative branch, Republicans are now poised to lock a slim majority of conservative voices into the third and final branch of the United States government. To understand how long-term this change can affect us, the last time the make-up of the Supreme Court changed was 11 years ago when Bill Clinton appointed Justice Stephen Breyer.

We know it can be hard, at times, to understand how government impacts our daily lives and why we should take an interest in any kind of politics. Thanks in part to Sandra Day O’Connor, gay sex is no longer illegal between consenting adults in Utah. If we have any hope of legalizing gay marriage nationwide, it’s going to happen at the level of the Supreme Court. Other issues the Supreme

Court could be ruling on in the next ten years include workplace discrimination, hate crime legislation and free speech issues.

Queer leaders have been warning about this for several years now. We’ve known the delicate balance of the Supreme Court was in jeopardy since before the election.

More recently, we’ve warned that the Bush administration’s attacks on “activist judges” are really just code for (liberal) judges they didn’t like.

While our Canadian neighbors are celebrating the passage of their nationwide gay marriage bill (which, incidentally, was mandated by their high court), we’re going to be worried about what kind of ultraconservative, anti-gay nominee the Bush administration is going to come up with.

Can you imagine that any Bush nominee is going to be in favor of same-gender marriage or abortion rights?

This is why the Democrats fought so hard to keep the filibuster. Unfortunately, they ended up approving three anti-gay judges to the federal courts in the process, including William Pryor—considered by many to be the most anti-gay judge in the nation.

No use crying over spilled milk, but Salt Lake Metro urges everyone to take an interest in the candidate that President Bush presents to Congress. We encourage you to write your senators immediately telling them that you want another moderate judge to replace O’Connor and not some far-right radical.

Also, be prepared to look behind the marketing blitz. Bush and his allies have already raised millions of dollars to fight a PR campaign for his nominee.

From the Editor Language is Queeriffic!

by Jere Keys jere@slmetro.com

As a writer, I love language.

I love the way words can shape our perceptions of an issue and how phrases can convey so much more than they seem to at first. On those occasions when I get to speak to groups about queer experiences, I always end up discussing the use of labels and language—both how it can hurt and help a community.

You may or may not have noticed by now that the acronym “GLBT” rarely gets used in Salt Lake Metro under my tenure. Unless it’s in a direct quote or the official name of an organization, I replace it with either “gay” or “queer” when I’m editing the paper.

I dislike “GLBT” for two reasons. First of all, it’s not a word. It’s an acronym and it doesn’t flow from the tongue easily. I like to think that the tone of Metro is always as conversational as possible, so that it’s both enjoyable to read and easy to understand.

Acronyms and abbreviations have a tendency to become “code words” that only those who are initiated into a particular group can understand.

The second reason I dislike “GLBT” is that it is not, to my thinking, very inclusive at all.

In all my years as a queer activist, I have met many wonderful people who are very much a part of our community, although they don’t consider themselves to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. We have straight allies who are politically or socially more involved in our community than many of those who do claim the labels included in “GLBT.” Think of straight people who have fought long and hard alongside us in HIV/AIDS issues, or think of straight people who are involved in the leather community.

I much prefer the word “queer” because it is so inclusive. It simply means “different”—and while there are those who hate labeling ourselves as different, remember that different isn’t always bad.

Queer simply means anyone who breaks with the old mainstream attitudes and norms. In other words: radicals and revolutionaries, shit-stirring eccentrics and courageous non-conformists.

Another phrase you’ll see avoided in Metro is “same-sex.” Ever since a good friend of mine explained that “sex” is something you do and “gender” is something you are, I’ve avoided this phrase. “Same-sex” sounds like a very dull time in the bedroom to me. Same-gender, however, alerts me to the fact that we’re talking about two boys or two girls, as the case may be.

I also get a chuckle out of the way mainstream media sometimes mishandles “same-sex” as a synonym for “gay.” A few months ago, I read a news story in one of our local daily newspapers that discussed a case where a girl’s same-sex parent was fighting for legal recognition. Taken at face value (and ignoring my own quibble about sex being different from gender), the article simply described the girl’s mother. I’m sure that what the reporter meant to say, however, was the child had a lesbian parent.

Anyway, gender can be a tricky thing and it’s difficult to use in our community without becoming confusing. A few years back, in Vegas, I remember having an awfully hard time writing stories about the president of our Pride organization who had embezzled money from the organization. The person in question was best known to the community as a drag queen, but it was really confusing to keep referencing Josh as “she” or “her.”

So, am I just a slave to political correctness or a conscientious wielder of language? Before you answer that, consider the phrases “activist judges,” “liberal elite/intellectual” and “protect marriage.”

Who do you want defining our language?

Letters

Here and spoiled

Michael Shurtleff

Dear Editor, DirecTV has here! and the new gay and lesbian channel LOGO by MTV that will launch June 30. So if Comcast is not giving it to you, maybe you should consider going to a more forward-thinking, open-minded company that knows gay money is just as good as straight money. And let Comcast know why they are losing customers.

Also, give me a break about the $5 for Pride, please. You spend ten times that on a Friday night at the bar. My wife and I paid $5 each and we are not even gay. We go just to enjoy the culture and hang with all our gay buddies (and maybe feel our inner queer). You have been very spoiled having it for free all these years.

Ogden, UT

Anonymous by request

Bulimic Polemic Dear Editor, After reading his long-winded, anti-twoparty-system/Democrat-bashing polemic in the June 23 Metro, I have three brief questions for our friend Bill Perdue. First: does it matter, if the Democrats are collective turncoats, whether “ ... they had the wrong answers to the big questions?” If Democratic candidates betray their platform after they are elected, doesn’t it follow that those answers are irrelevant anyway? Finally, which third party does Mr. Perdue represent?

William T. Park Designing Legislators

by William Todd Park liam@slmetro.com

We’re not all greedy Daren C. Brabham If you ask most people what they think about bisexuality, they’ll tell you it’s this interim phase between gay and straight, an experimental place while someone figures out if they’re going to come out all the way as gay or whether they’re just exploring the bounds of their sexual attraction. While certainly there are some who come out as bi as a safe ground before committing to being gay, there are those of us who really are bi to the most complete definition of the word.

For me, bisexuality is my sexuality, and I’m really sure of that. I am attracted to people emotionally and sexually and I am capable of loving them, regardless of their gender. It’s a pretty even split for me, too, as men and women catch my eye at the same rates. I guess my way of looking at attraction and love is, “what’s not to like?”

Bisexuals get a bad rap. The fear in dating one is that they will cheat on you with the other gender. Not all bisexuals are promiscuous and unable to commit to monogamy. We’re not all greedy, which is another word I hear often regarding bisexuals.

From my experience, what’s perhaps most disappointing about the gay community is that gay men have a far more difficult time dating me, a bi guy, than straight women do. Gay men are more suspicious, more willing to repeatedly question whether this whole bi thing is a just a phase. There’s a myth that the gay community stands together, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people united to fight discrimination. But the truth is that the community is pretty divided when it comes to making more of a symbolic stand. The truth is that we hardly understand each other.

The bisexual woman has found her way into the fantasy worlds of heteronormative film and television. The woman who has sex with other women, especially if they don’t look butch, is a prized commodity in media. The common conception of the bi woman is a fetish for straight men’s fantasies.

Bi men, however, are seen as either gayto-be, greedy, or really confused. It doesn’t seem like there’s much of an acceptable

middle ground. The idea of a decent, loving male bisexual who is able to commit to a single person forever and not cheat is lost in both the straight and gay communities.

If Kinsey taught us anything, it’s that most people fall somewhere on a spectrum between zero and six, that most people aren’t exclusively gay or exclusively straight.

In other words, there are probably more bisexual people than we think, and they come in all different shades of which gender they prefer. The society we live in, however, demands us to choose a side. The Kinsey scale, in real life, is not some horizontal line between two extremes; it is a mountain with three at the peak, and we all are encouraged to slide down one of its faces, into the valleys of gay or straight. Straddling the mountain is not an option in the real world, it seems, and I believe this pressure to choose a side causes much distress.

In participating in Speakers Bureau panels through the University of Utah’s LGBT Resource Center, I’ve heard many people’s stories about how they dated a bisexual who cheated on them with a different gender. I’ve also heard plenty of reports of people’s friends who come out as bi and later admit they are really gay or that it was an experimental phase. To be sure, the stereotypes about bisexuals are not entirely false; most stereotypes evolve from shreds of true events. I don’t deny that some bisexuals are unfaithful or are in a phase.

What I do hope to convey here, however, is that plenty of bisexuals are not like this.

Maybe the best thing we can do to support the full range of sexual identity is just to stop asking each other how we identify.

Out high school-age people are using the word queer with more regularity, defying the categories of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender. Identifying as queer also brings a semantic unity to the greater LGBT cause. Many LGBT people, especially generations older than me, balk at the term queer, still associating the word with its roots as a hateful label used by the straight community. Until we all can become comfortable with this new queer label, however, we should learn to embrace those in the middle ground who simply have love to give to both men and women.

Daren Brabham is the University of Utah LGBT Center’s Speakers Bureau coordinator.

JULY 7, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 9

Those gosh-durned legislators! You can’t help but show some pity on so many of them. There are times when I want to walk up to them with a sympathetic smile and gush with my best Utah accent about how awfully sorry I am that their mothers dropped ‘em clean on their heads as infants. That’s the only explanation I can come up with for their truth-is-stranger-than-fiction antics that make their way to the public.

Why, just a couple of weeks ago, the Legislature’s Interim Education Committee spent a good while jawing away about some crazy notion that students should pass some sort of academic standard before moving on to the next grade. Seems the good ol’ boys’ got to yappin’ a little too long and Sen. Mark Madsen (R-Lehi) decided that things had gone on long enough. Well, boys and girls, time for a math problem. If three out of the five members of the committee agree with Madsen, does that meet the two-thirds majority requirement? It took a staffer from the Office of Legislative Research and General Council to figure out that three-fifths is less than two-thirds. What would we do without staffers? ‘Preciate ya!

I sure am glad the state of Utah’s education is in such good and knowledgeable hands. Aren’t you?

Just when we thought we were all safe from the man voted the best® insane politician, we’re tragically mistaken. Yes, I’m afraid Sen. Chris Buttars is at it again. Most of us were already shaking our heads when the neo-con was citing bedtime stories like C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters on the Senate floor as rationale for voting against a piece of legislation that would have extended some common decency to caregivers in non-traditional relationships.

He and his illicit lover, Gayle Ruzicka of the Eagle Forum, are in their political action bed together, whispering sweet nothings in each other’s ears about putting this thing I’m sure you’ve all heard about called “intelligent design” into the school curriculums. It’s bad enough that our legislators haven’t mastered fractions, now they’re going to make sure the kids learn they didn’t evolve from a pool of paramecium goo after all. Intelligent design might sound innocent enough, but it sure looks like that ol’ slippery slope argument they keep telling us about. Except this time, it’s the other slope and we’re headed for

Sunday school every day of the week. Perhaps this is the only way to keep the witch-hunts from thinning out their own ranks.

The brown-shirt senator must have been a frustrated hellfire and brimstone fundamentalist preacher who miraculously got elected to the senate. Thankfully, he made his way to a ward house where the clergy would rather put on that plastic smile than flame-spray their parishioners. Won’t someone pass some green jello to the good senator?

The irony of these educational flaps is quite simply that for such a supposedly pro-family measure, it smacks of legislators pushing parents into abrogating their responsibilities and putting the onus of moral and religious instruction on educators in the school system.

Scott Berryessa, president of the Jordan Education Association, says he receives more complaints from parents and students about having the hotbed topic mentioned in the classroom rather than the other way around.

Legislators quite simply need to collaborate with professional educators to establish academic standards, equip the schools with the facilities, instructional materials, and qualified teachers, and get out of the way. Berryessa, who represents some 2,100 teachers, just wants the legislature to “stop micromanaging the process of education—especially when it comes to issues as personal as these.”

Teachers were already uncomfortable with demonstrating the fine art of putting a condom on a banana while keeping a straight face. Imagine the discomfort of trying to explain to a room full of restless kids how an invisible, all-powerful intelligent being sat at his drafting board and designed the planet and everything on it.

The greatest gift any teacher gave me was that of answering my questions by asking me things that forced me to find my own answer. Parents must rise to the occasion of equipping their children with more than PlayStations and soccer uniforms, and begin teaching them to think for themselves.

Religious leaders should be working within the bounds of their congregations to help parents imbue their families with the greater good that their particular faith espouses.

The details like how long it took for the earth to be what it is will work themselves out.

The government must extricate itself from legislating moral values and fulfill its constitutional role of governing, beginning with the lawmakers. Taking a so-called moral high ground by passing “message bills” can, in no way, mitigate ethics violations. Certainly, the government can and should be family-friendly, but it must, as well, be just to all.

Guest Editorial

Ruby Ridge Living Amend Mints

by Ruby Ridge ruby@slmetro.com

Happy Fourth of July, darlings! Can you believe it’s the middle of summer already?

I swear, where has this year gone? I tell you, kittens, I am just not yet emotionally or physically prepared to drag out all my K-Mart totes of red, white and blue patriotic décor and festoon my double-wide with bunting.

You know: my red, white and blue picnic ware (made in China), my red, white and blue tablecloth (made in Honduras), my red, white and blue napkins (made in Mexico), or my red, white and blue thong (made in spite of persistent vocal pleas).

I’ll tell you what is tickling and engorging my patriotic parts, pumpkins, and that is the astounding news that Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is sponsoring a constitutional amendment to ban fag burning! When I overheard the announcement on National Public Radio while I was driving the Slutmobile under the North Temple overpass, I couldn’t believe my ears. I was absolutely dumbfounded, cherubs! Nay, petals, I was speechless. Can you believe our little Orrin going against the GOP platform, voting across the aisle with the Godless liberals, denouncing the hate of the conservative crusaders, and standing up for the flaming queens of Utah?

Incredible! How timely, I thought to myself.

Just as the religious right are getting more vocal, maniacal and hell-bent on a new domestic Inquisition. A prohibition on fag burning from the legislative branch would

send a powerful message that burning homosexuals is simply wrong and should not be tolerated in a free, democratic society that values diversity, inclusion, and the sovereignty of other nations. And it doesn’t take an eco-terrorist to tell you that burning fags definitely doesn’t help with the whole global warming thing, either. Ooops ... sorry, I meant “periodic climate change.”

My bad!

Really, cupcakes, I feel awful. After all the horrible things I have said about Orrin over the years (and let me tell you there are a lot—even before he encouraged Thurl Bailey to sing), and yet here he is, turning the other cheek and promoting the well-being and security of GLBT folks everywhere. I feel so ashamed of myself. Only a truly wise and experienced senator such as Orrin Hatch would recognize that only the most important and profound amendments should ever alter such a precious instrument of democracy as the United States Constitution. Muffins, my eyes are getting a little misty and before I ruin my eye make up and burst out blubbering, I will have to leave you all with a heartfelt Happy Fourth of July and God bless America. And God bless you, too, Orrin Hatch!

Editor’s note: Ruby, sweetie, Orrin Hatch has proposed a constitutional amendment to prohibit FLAG burning. I think you have Aqua Net in your ears again.

10

■

SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 7, 2005

Burning fags definitely doesn’t help with the whole global warming thing, either.

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 irritability and watching the stupidity and negligence of the local Boy Scout bureaucracy. For every kid who’s lost in the backcountry, they should ram a GPS unit up the scout leader’s butt and charge them for the search and rescue costs.

Lambda Lore Stonewall Legacy

by Ben Williams ben@slmetro.com

It’s June 27 as I write this column and, of course, the Stonewall uprising comes to mind. I am always amazed how little people know of the significance of this 1969 event. I remember when the old Utah Stonewall Center closed and a new moniker was picked for a gay community center, a former board member said that the name Stonewall was dropped because no one knew what it meant. I was appalled.

Yet many times I have heard it asked, “Why is the word ‘Stonewall’ included in the name of a Utah gay historical society?” My first response is “Duh!” but then I reconsider. Even at a meeting of the U of U’s LGSU I heard a young man exclaim that Stonewall is “so over.” I almost had apoplexy. I submit to all similarly inclined that the spirit of Stonewall is not over, and its legacy is every bit as much our heritage here in Utah as it is for the folks of New York City.

Yes, it is true that the Stonewall Inn was a seedy Mafia-owned bar, operating without a liquor license or running water. Nevertheless, in the course of its brief existence, the Christopher Street tavern became the most popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. Why? Because you could same-gender dance there!

No one wholly agrees about the events that precipitated the June uprising. It’s the stuff from which legends are made. However several events collided that summer night in 1969 to make for a perfect gay storm.

On June 27th, 1969, the funeral of Judy Garland was held in New York City where nearly 20,000 people waited hours in the blistering summer heat to view her yellowrose-draped casket. Flags were lowered at the gay resort of Fire Island. That evening there was a full moon over Manhattan making the street hustlers, drag queens, faggots and dykes especially edgy, according to eyewitnesses.

Shortly after midnight, undercover vice cops raided the Stonewall Inn for a routine bust because they hadn’t received their payoff. Perhaps it was the full moon, or the hot summer night, or perhaps it was indeed the ghost of Judy Garland saying, “Aren’t you faggots tired of being pushed around?” but whatever it was, it definitely was not a routine night.

No matter what really happened or did not happen that night, what is poignantly clear is that over the next three nights of rioting, a paradigm shift took place regarding how homosexuals in America, and eventually the world, would come to see themselves. As the homosexual beatnik poet Allan Ginsberg observed after the riots, “The wounded fag look was gone.”

There were, prior to Stonewall, homosexual organizations in America, however they numbered fewer than fifty in the entire nation. These pre-Stonewall “homophile” organizations sought to legalize homosexuality through the help of the medical and psychiatric establishment, believing that being gay should be recognized as a mental illness not a criminal act.

The Stonewall uprising forever changed

this passive approach for achieving homosexual civil rights. Within days of the Stonewall uprising, young militant radicals organized the Gay Liberation Front. These liberationists believed that years of oppression warranted a change in the collective consciousness of homosexual people by any means. The GLF modeled itself after the African-American civil rights movement of the sixties, shifting from the social construct of being compliant homophiles to that of demanding liberationists. The GLF was not interested in having the approval of heterosexual institutions; rather, they demanded civil rights for homosexuals as part of inherent human rights.

Within months of the Stonewall Uprising, gay and lesbian newspapers, support groups, health clinics, community centers, student organizations, and political action groups sprang up in nearly every major American community, including Salt Lake City. Gay and lesbian activists and their gay-friendly supporters demanded the repeal of anti-gay ordinances across the United States.

The young new-left movement’s replacement of the powerless homophile organizations was epitomized when GLF activists were able to switch the “Annual Reminder Day,” which had recognized the first homosexual protest held in Philadelphia in 1967, to “Christopher Street Liberation Day.” Christopher Street Liberation Day was to commemorate the 1969 spontaneous Stonewall uprising and became the focus of all subsequent gay pride days.

Within five years of the Stonewall uprising, police were no longer allowed to routinely raid gay bars. Gay people were finally allowed to peacefully assemble without fear of arrest, and gay student unions at hundreds of colleges across America began to educate a new generation of gay activists. Even in places like Utah, hundreds of people felt enough of the spirit of Stonewall to gather to celebrate the first Gay Freedom Day along the shores of the Great Salt Lake!

The most important legacy of the Stonewall uprising, I feel, is the collective sense of being part of a community, a tribe, or a folk. Before Stonewall, the simple expression “coming out” meant only a self-acknowledgement of one’s homosexuality.

But after 1969, “coming out” became synonymous with announcing (to at least one other person) that you are gay, thus tying your fate to the collective fate of all other “out” homosexuals. Stonewall created this sense of community of being an openly self-identified homosexual who is proud to tell the world, “Gay is good.”

The spark ignited on Christopher Street is a beacon for all lambda people everywhere. It is the flame that lights our journey toward equal protection under the law. And whether we win or lose the battle for our civil rights in the end, it truly is the struggle for those rights that ennobles us as a people. As we struggle for the freedom to love whom we choose, we are passing a torch of freedom lit at Stonewall. Collectively we can indeed be a “stonewall” standing firm against centuries of oppression and those who would deny us the fundamental rights to love and be loved.

Ben Williams is the founder and president of the Utah Stonewall Historical Society.

AberRant Me Talk Dirty One Day

by Laurie Mecham laurie@slmetro.com

As I get closer to putting my house on the market (don’t ask) and moving to a whole different state—a blue one, even—I am trying to keep track of a million lists. For example, I must not forget that upon moving to Oregon, I will need to get a job. That means polishing up the old, and I do mean old, resume; sniffing out potential references who don’t hold any grudges; and checking up on what kind of information is floating around about me in cyberspace. I haven’t looked for a job in over 10 years, and things have changed. Sure, a cover letter can be brilliant, a resume inspiring, but in order to find out the secret side of your applicant, all you have to do these days is enter their name in a Google search. My Google results start with the Salt Lake Metro, particularly a piece I wrote about gay marriage etiquette. Seems it got passed around and linked to in a number of places, so that ranks it higher in the search results. My name also comes up on the Queer Lounge website, as I was the Utah Director for its first two years. Then I appear for being on the board of the GLBT Community Center of Utah. Hmm, so far, so gay. There are some links to a book I wrote that was published in 1996, a parody on the Mormon Relief Society (Special Living Lessons for Relief Society Sisters by Fonda AlaMode; makes a lovely gift for the Utah expatriate, still available on Amazon.com). So we’ve got gay and sacrilegious. Good combo, as these basic criteria are listed in the most sought-after job postings.

It has become clear to me that I must clean up my act. Not to brag, but I’ve been pulling in five figures for some time now, and I don’t want to jeopardize that. If a prospective employer does an Internet search, I want the results to impress them, not cause them to choke on their coffee.

I once reviewed a job application from someone whose email contact address was butterycornhole@some-kinda-freemail. com. While “buttery cornhole” probably works wonderfully for certain endeavors, I felt that the person using it for a job application showed a serious Lack of Professional Judgment, and as long as I’m still working here, that role is taken.

I have to admit that “buttery cornhole” is an evocative use of language, almost poetic in conjuring imagery and sensate recollections. And I do love language. I wish I knew more words in the languages I speak (English and Ig-pay Atin-lay). My

children have brilliant vocabularies with which they readily play. For example, my daughter used the words “resonant” “metaphorical” “rhombus” and “blowjob” in a recent post. That’s some dang fine word slinging if you axe me!

Back to the job thing: number two on the list, just after “secure lodging: rental house, inn, or stable.” I have some things under control. I am keeping a file of all the classes I’ve taken and boards I have served on. I have a safe email address, so that’s good.

I have to get some high-quality Google results. If any of you keep weblogs, maybe you could give me a shout out for some kind of heroic act, saving your school bus filled with drowning children, single-handedly building a library, things like that.

Of course, the hard stuff is up to me. As of this issue, I will immediately cease any cussing, innuendo, or blatant sexual references. If I feel that a topic warrants strong language, I will spell words like the regular newspapers do, such as c*ck, a*s, and sh*t.

I’m going to practice pronouncing them the way they are spelled.

“C*ck” and “a*s” will be pronounced “Kk” and “az.” And that pesky “F” word. Once that becomes a part of your vocabulary, it’s a hard habit to break.

But others manage just fine without it.

My daughter went to school with one of former Governor Mike Leavitt’s kids. He was on the football team and a certain quote is well known at our house: “FLIP! I stepped in dog crud!” I just need to Utah up my expletives. From now on, it will be “GOT dandruff, some-of-ititches!” and “SHE’s in CRIsis!” As for the “F” word, I will use only G-rated, childfriendly variations like “flip” and “fetch.”

Holy shoot, I just looked at the time. My friggin’ column is due and my dang printer is out of ink. Oh...felch!

If a prospective employer does an Internet search, I want the results to impress them, not cause them to choke on their coffee.

Laurie Mecham has lived in Salt Lake for thirty years, having moved here after graduating from high school at the age of five.

JULY 7, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 11

“

12

■

SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 7, 2005

P

eople seem to think that it’s just about sex, that I spend all my time hopping from one bed to another as fast as I can. Don’t I wish!”

Charlie, a bisexual university student, admits he has heard more stereotypes about his sexual orientation than he can even remember. Still, the 23-year-old hopes that by speaking out against the stereotypes, he can help change attitudes and perceptions.

“The truth is, usually it’s me who gets dumped when my partners find out I’m bisexual,” said Charlie. “One girl I dated for a few months even broke up with me by saying, ‘I know how this works: bi now, gay later.’

Everyone seems to think I’m in denial about being gay.

I’m not in denial. I’m not gay; I’m bisexual.”

Bisexuality, or the ability to be physically and emotionally attracted to people of either gender, may be one of the most misunderstood and discriminatedagainst groups in the complicated and diverse queer community. But it’s not exactly new.

Bisexuality as we generally understand it today actually predates our concepts of homosexuality. Long before there was such a thing as people who were exclusively gay or straight, the majority of people who engaged in same-gender sexual relationships were also capable of and happy in opposite-gender relationships.

In some cultures (particularly the Greco-Roman tradition), it was almost mandatory that men experience sex with both men and women.

Botanists in the early 1800s coined the term “bisexual,” originally applying it to plants that had both male and female sex organs. It is not known when the term was first applied to the context of sexual orientation, though bisexual scientist Alfred Kinsey drew new attention to the concept in the 1940s and 1950s. Through his groundbreaking research into human sexuality, Kinsey contributed the idea that sexual orientation is more fluid than we define it, even today. His infamous Kinsey Scale (a graph where a score of “0” means completely heterosexual and “6” means completely homosexual) demonstrated that the vast majority of the population is at least somewhat bisexual, although most display a preference for one gender or the other.

“I think that’s too hard a concept for a lot of people,” said Jill, a 36-year-old bisexual woman who works in retail. “We’re trained to think in black and white terms.

You’re either this, or you’re that. I think it scares people a little to think that they have other options, like being neither of those things, or both, depending on your point of view.”

Jill says that she had several relationships with women before meeting her husband four years ago. But when she fell in love with a man, most of her lesbian friends turned their backs on her, accusing her of never really being one of them.

“I guess they were kind of right,” she says with a sigh.

“I was never a lesbian, not really, although I identified myself that way for a while. But in the end, I was just bisexual. Not even my husband really understood it at first.”

Jill jokes about how she told her husband she was bi. “I think he really hoped that meant we’d be having threesomes with other women. I told him that was not going to happen. I’m a one-person-at-a-time kind of gal.”

When asked if she would date women again if anything ever happened to end her marriage, she admits that she doesn’t really know. “Like I tell my husband all the time, I fall in love with the person, not the parts.”

“Yeah, I think a lot of people assume that there’s something really kinky about being bi,” adds Charlie.

“Sometimes it’s even true; I’ll admit I’m willing to try more things than a lot of people, but it’s still a stereotype and can be really damaging.”

THE DOWN-LOW PROBLEM Another source of discrimination about bisexuality comes from the fact that many people are very closeted about their sexual orientation. It’s easy for bisexual people to lead very heterosexual-appearing lives, in opposite-gender marriages or relationships, while secretly exploring their same-gender urges.

Just last year, The Oprah Winfrey Show brought national attention to the concept of the “down-low.” Specifically, the term comes from AfricanAmerican slang for men who have secret sexual relationships with other men while carrying on romantic relationships with women.

Despite the fact that these men engage in homosexual acts, they refuse to accept labels such as bisexual or gay because of the social stigma attached to them.

Bisexual men who engaged in secret same-gender sex acts have been blamed for spreading HIV into the heterosexual

Bi Any Other Name Knowing that labels and words sometimes carry power, people within the bisexual community have discussed and advocated for new words and new identities. Since this can get confusing, here is a short list of words you may encounter when trying to understand this community better.

T T T T

T

T

Continued on page 14

Heteroflexible—A person who identifies as straight, but is willing or interested in samegender sexual activity.

Intersexed—One who is born with genitalia and/or secondary sexual characteristics of indeterminate sex, or which combine features of both sexes.

Monosexual—A term applied to heterosexual and homosexual people, meaning that their romantic or sexual attraction is limited to a single gender.

Omnisexual— This term means “including any kind of sexuality” and basically includes all genders, sexual orientations and sexual practices. A bisexual person may or may not fall into this category.

Pansexual— A broader term than bisexual because it includes attraction to transgendered and gender-fluid people who do not fit into categories of male or female.

Queer— A general term that means “different” from mainstream norms. Often used in a political context to signify any person within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersexed (LGBTI) community or heterosexual allies.

Questioning—Denotes a person who has identified as straight, gay or lesbian in the past, but may be unsure about their sexual orientation.

Polyamory— The practice of openly maintaining multiple sexual and/or romantic relationships with men and/or women at the same time. This includes forms like open couples, group marriage, intimate networks, and triads.

Polyfidelity— An agreement within a group of three or more not to share sex with anyone outside the group.

Swinger—Usually, a person involved in a relationship who is open to bringing in additional sex partners, gender may or may not be a factor. Can also refer to couples who “swap” partners from time to time.

JULY 7, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 13

Ambisexual—The Latin root “ambi” means “both.” In essence the word means the same as bisexual.

Anthrosexual—The term means “sexuality involving humans” and includes all genders but does not refer to sexual orientation or practice. The term denotes being attracted to people without consideration of gender.

Bicurious—Usually, a heterosexual person who is curious about sexual relations with a member of the same gender but has not acted on the curiosity.

Bisexual—Having romantic and/or sexual attraction to both genders. The attraction may be stronger for one gender than the other, may be equal for both genders, or may be directed at qualities outside gender (such as personality or intelligence).

Down-Low—Slang begun in African-American communities to denote same-gender sexual activity by men who do not identify as gay or bisexual and who carry on romantic or sexual relationships with women.

Flexual—Open to sexual activity with people of different genders, but does not identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or straight.

Fluid— A term for attraction to people outside of gender lines that stays away from using the term “sexual” since sexuality includes more than merely sexual behavior. This term also stays away from using the term “bi” since gender includes more than merely the binary male and female.

population, and the recent attention on the “down-low” culture has revived that concern among HIV awareness professionals because safer sex messages may not reach those men who refuse to identify themselves as bi or gay.

“I’m only aware of a very few cases in Utah where married men have engaged in same-sex behaviors and spread the virus to their wives,” said Stan Penfold, executive director of the Utah AIDS Foundation. “And those cases were very early on in the epidemic.”

Penfold says the primary way the UAF reaches out to the bisexual community is by supporting the programs for men who are caught in the parks and cited for solicitation.

“We do know that many of these men who are getting arrested are SOURCE: TYRESEUS.LIVEJOURNAL.COM married men and very closeted about their same-sex attractions,” he said. “We support the programs that help them deal with their

Bisexuality Continued from page 13

risky behaviors.”

Penfold admitted that in places outside of Utah with higher African-American populations, there is much greater concern about the down-low culture, but he sees how it can be applied to Utah as well.

“I think it’s really unclear how frequent this happens,” he explained, “but we all hear stories about men who are getting married because of peer pressure and the social pressure in Utah. These men are coming out in their 30s, after years of marriage and with children, and sometimes they’ve acted on their samesex attractions, sometimes they haven’t.

Whether these guys are bisexual or just closeted homosexuals, I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s uncommon here in Utah.”

14

■

SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 7, 2005

BUT WHERE’S THE SUPPORT? Both Charlie and Jill feel they don’t get a lot of acceptance from the gay and lesbian community. Jill says that she’s stopped going to things like Pride because they never really represent the bisexual community.

“All these organizations that have started using ‘GLBT’ in their names or mission statements, I don’t think most of them have any idea how to include bisexual people who don’t at least pretend to be gay or lesbian,” she said.

“Well, we have our men’s and our women’s support groups, and they don’t exclude anyone,” replied Valerie Larabee, executive director of the GLBT Community Center of Utah. “But I don’t think we have any group that is specifically tailored to dealing with bisexuality. I guess it is a gap in our programs.”

A moment later, however, Larabee recalled that the BiPoly Utah group meets fairly regularly at The Center. According to the BiPoly Utah website, the group meets on the first Tuesday and third Thursday of every month. BiPoly Utah provides a safe, accepting atmosphere to discuss bisexual and polyamorous (loving more than one person at a time) issues. The website adds, “If you are bisexual, join us. If you are polyamorous,

join us. (You don’t have to be both!) This group is open to those with open minds who wish to explore, support, inform, evolve, inspire, affirm, express, and respect these forms of intimate relationships.”

Charlie, on the other hand, does attend events like Pride in order to meet other guys, but he also attends a lot of traditionally-heterosexual events as well.

“I don’t honestly know if I’ll find the right person for me, or what gender they’ll be when I find them,” he says.

“There are things about guys I like, and there are things about girls that I like. I wish that it was as easy as choosing one or the other, I don’t want to give up on the possibility of finding the right person in either sex.”

“I think for bisexual people, there is this ability to walk in both worlds,” Larabee said. “It’s true that we don’t have any non-profits represented at Pride that service bisexuality, but I don’t think there’s been an organizing factor in Utah yet, I don’t think anyone has said, ‘We need this.’”

Larabee comments that she thinks bisexual people generally have a heightened sense of self-awareness that she admires. “I find that same open-spiritedness in many of our youth today.”

Larabee thinks that today’s youth are more accepting of concepts like bisexuality than older generations, a factor that is reflected in things such as their embracing of the inclusive term “queer.”

It’s clear, however, that a lot of stereotypes still exist about bisexuality, in both the straight community and the queer community. Myths and misunderstandings abound on this challenging and difficult subject.

“What we really need is more education,” said Charlie. “I think we need our community leaders to really spend some more time learning about this issue and then speaking out to the people they know. The same way the gay community has fought to get rid of stereotypes like all gay men are effeminate and stuff like that, we need to get rid of stereotypes about bisexuals, like the belief that we’re all really promiscuous or confused.”

Bisexual Myths MYTH: Bisexuality doesn’t really exist. People who consider themselves bisexual are going through a phase/ confused/ undecided/ fence sitting.

Ultimately they’ll settle down and realize they’re actually homosexual or heterosexual.

REALITY: Some people go through a transitional period of bisexuality on their way to adopting a lesbian, gay or heterosexual identity. For many others bisexuality remains a long-term orientation. For some bisexuals, homosexuality was a transitional phase in their coming out as bisexuals. Many bisexuals may well be confused, living in a society where their sexuality is denied by homosexuals and heterosexuals alike, but that confusion is a function of oppression.

Fence-sitting is a misnomer; there is no “fence” between homosexuality and heterosexuality except in the minds of people who rigidly divide the two.

man they meet. Bisexuals cannot be monogamous, nor can they or live in traditional committed relationships. They could never be celibate.

REALITY: Bisexual people have a range of sexual behaviors. Like lesbians, gays or heterosexuals, some have multiple partners, some have one partner, some go through periods without any partners. Promiscuity is no more prevalent in the bisexual population than in other groups of people.

MYTH: Bisexuals spread HIV to the lesbian and heterosexual communities.

REALITY: This myth allows discrimination against bisexuals to be legitimized. The label “bisexual” simply refers to sexual orientation. It says nothing about whether or not one practices safe sex. HIV occurs in people of all sexual orientations. HIV is contracted through unsafe sexual practices, shared needles and contaminated blood transfusions. Sexual orientation does not “cause” HIV.

MYTH: Bisexuality doesn’t really exist. People who consider themselves bisexual are really heterosexual, but are experimenting/playing around/trying to be cool/liberated/trendy/politically correct.

MYTH: Politically speaking, bisexuals are traitors to the cause of lesbian/gay liberation. They pass as heterosexual to avoid trouble and maintain heterosexual privilege.

REALITY: Whether an individual is an “experimenting heterosexual” or a bisexual depends on how s/he defines her/himself, rather than on some external standard. While there certainly are people for whom bisexual behavior is trendy, this does not negate the people who come to a bisexual identity amidst pain and confusion and claim it with pride.

REALITY: Obviously there are bisexuals who pass as heterosexual to avoid trouble. There are also many lesbians and gays who do this. To “pass” for heterosexual and deny the part of you that loves people of the same gender is just as painful and damaging for a bisexual as it is for a gay man or lesbian. Politicized bisexuals remain aware of heterosexual privileges and are committed enough to lesbian/gay/bisexual rights not to just abandon the lesbian and gay communities when in heterosexual relationships.

MYTH: Bisexuality doesn’t really exist. People who consider themselves bisexuals are actually lesbian or gay, but haven’t fully accepted themselves and finished coming out of the closet (acknowledging their attraction to people of the same gender.)

REALITY: Bisexuality is a legitimate sexual orientation. Many bisexuals are completely out of the closet, but not on the lesbian and gay community’s terms.

(It is worth noting that many lesbians and gay men are not completely out of the closet and their process is generally respected; it is also worth noting that the lesbian and gay community whose “terms” are in question here has tended to be quite different for working class lesbians, gays of color, etc.) Bisexuals in this country share with lesbians and gays the debilitating experience of heterosexism (the assumption that everyone is heterosexual and thereby rendering other sexual identities invisible) and homophobia (the hatred, fear, and discrimination against homosexuals.)

MYTH: Bisexuals are shallow, narcissistic, untrustworthy, hedonistic, and immoral.

REALITY: This myth reflects our culture’s ambivalence over sex and pleasure. The “sex” in bisexuality gets overemphasized, and our culture projects onto bisexuals its fascination with and condemnation of sex and pleasure.

REALITY: Most bisexuals are primarily attracted to either men or women, but do not deny the lesser attraction, whether or not they act on it. Some bisexuals are never sexual with women, or men, or either.

Bisexuality is about dreams and desires and capacities as much as it is about acts. Bisexuals are people who can have lovers of either sex, not people who must have lovers of both sexes. Some bisexual people may have concurrent lovers, but most bisexuals do not need to be with both sexes in order to feel fulfilled.

MYTH: Bisexuals are promiscuous, hypersexual swingers who are attracted to every woman and

o. o k c e CuDance. n o g is s ’ d l or can do W The ll you A

REALITY: Although this does sometimes happen, one can also find examples of bisexual women who have good long-term relationships with lesbians. There are bisexuals for whom bisexuality is a phase; there are also lesbians for whom lesbianism is a phase. There are bisexuals and lesbians who never really come to grips with their sexuality and internalized homophobia. Bisexual women who truly accept themselves and their sexuality will leave a relationship with a woman or a man when it no longer works for them. The same could be said of lesbians who accept themselves. As hard as it is to get clear about the reasons a relationship may end, and as many challenges as lesbian relationships in particular may face, the notion that bisexual women can’t handle lesbian relationships is just a stereotype.

MYTH: Bisexuals get the best of both worlds and a doubled chance for a date on a Saturday night.

REALITY: Combine our society’s extreme heterosexism and homophobia with lesbian and gay hesitance to accept bisexuals into their community, and it might be more accurate to say that bisexuals get the worst of both worlds. As to the doubled chance for a date theory, that depends more upon the individual’s personality then it does upon her/his bisexuality. Bisexuals don’t radiate raw sex any more than lesbians, gays or heterosexuals. If a bisexual woman has a hard time meeting people, her bisexuality won’t help much.

MYTH: Bisexuals are desperately unhappy, endlessly seeking some kind of peace which they cannot ever find.

REALITY: Like lesbians and gays who have been told that they will live awful lives, bisexuals can respond that much of the pain comes from oppression, so people concerned about the “awful lives” of bisexuals should join the fight against homophobia.

20 0 5

BY

ALLEN NEVINS & NANCY BORGENICHT

CABARET SEATING AVAILABLE CALL NOW FOR TICKETS Wednesdays & Thursdays at 7:30pm Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm Sundays at 2pm and 7pm

JUNE 14-AUGUST 28 NO EXTENSION! For Tickets call 363-SLAC or 355-ARTS THE SALT LAKE ACTING COMPANY 168 WEST 500 NORTH www.saltlakeactingcompany.org

JULY 7, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 15

MYTH: Bisexuals are equally attracted to both sexes. Bisexual means having concurrent lovers of both sexes.

MYTH: Bisexual women will always leave their lesbian lovers for men.

P R E P A R E T O G E T D O W N A N D “F U N K I F Y” !

BETTY. SEE SUNDAY, JULY 17

THE GAY AGENDA

by Eric Tierney, eric@slmetro.com

7THURSDAY I’m so excited! You should be, too—the Pointer Sisters are coming! These ladies have more groove in one bootycheek than Beyonce has in her whole body. There’s a lot more to their music than just the hits—as if the hits weren’t enough. Come on, tonight’s the night they’re gonna make it happen!

7pm, Deer Valley, 2250 Deer Valley Drive South, Park City. Tickets $28–50, 355-2787 or arttix.org

Kismet is one of the best musicals you’ve probably never heard of. Set in Persia in the time of Viziers and Sultans, the score is largely based on the work of Russian opera composer Borodin, only Broadway-ed up a bit. The Utah Festival Opera in Logan opens the show tonight.

7:30pm tonight, July 15, 21, and August 5, 1pm July 13, 30, and August 4. Ellen Eccles Theatre, 43 S. Main Street, Logan. Tickets $17-$55 at 355-2787 or arttix.org.

8FRIDAY Mayor Rocky Anderson’s brainchild, the Salt Lake City International Jazz Festival, comes back to Washington Square for its fourth year. Free tickets are available at the gate or at Zions Bank branches (while there, bitch about them pulling their support for the HRC gala).

Through Sunday at Washington Square, 200 E. 400 South. See schedule on next page. slcjazzfest.com.

Terrified by the mass hysteria of McCarthyism, playwright Arthur Miller penned The Crucible in 1953. The play, about the murderous lies surrounding the Salem witch trials in the 17th century, has since become a classic of American literature, revived on Broadway four times, adapted into a film—and turned into an opera. In their second opening of the weekend, tonight the Utah Festival Opera brings the sung version of the story to the stage.

7:30 tonight, July 14, August 4, 1pm July 21 and 29. Ellen Eccles Theatre, 43 S. Main Street, Logan. Tickets $17-$55 at 355-2787 or arttix.org.

Some things never get old. The Steve Miller Band has been making music for almost thirty years now, but damn if the boys can’t still rock. Tonight they’ll be playing tunes from throughout their career, although I’m sure they’ll bring the hits as well—I think they’re required by law to play “The Joker.”

7:30pm Usana Ampitheatre, 5400 South 6200 South. Tickets $20-$40 at 467-TIXX or smithstix.com

Looking at the weather so far this year, one would think we were living in the Pacific Northwest. If the lack of our usual oppressive heat and glaring sunlight has got you down, not to worry—the Center (as usual) has got your back. Join them tonight for a game of Queer Beach Bingo! Grab some tanning oil and a towel and join the fun.

16

■

SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 7, 2005

7pm, The Center, 361 N. 300 West. $5 at the door.

9SATURDAY

boys for all those weepy campfire singalongs of “Dust in the Wind.”

If you’re like me, you like girls with spunk. You like girls who can’t bake pies but are quick with a rhyme. You like girls who pack heat. Well, Utah Festival Opera, in yet another opening, has got just the ticket for us—a high falutin’ production of Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun. Remember: when a woman with a gun tells you that anything you can do she can do better, just agree.

8pm, Sandy City Ampitheatre, 1300 E. 9400 South. Tickets $19-$23 at 467-TIXX or smithstix.com.

7:30pm tonight, July 13, 22, 28, 30, and August 6, 1pm July 16, and August 3. Ellen Eccles Theatre, 43 S. Main Street, Logan.

Tickets $17-$55 at 355-2787 or arttix.org.

Summer symphony seasons are just like summer reading: light and frothy. In another night of easy-going music under the stars, the Utah Symphony presents a program of Classical Favorites—pieces like Gershwin’s An American in Paris, Copeland’s Rodeo, and Dvorak’s Serenade. Better for your brain than Dean Koontz, and twice as satisfying.

8pm, Sundance Theatre, north fork of Provo Canyon. Tickets $20-$44.

You’ll all recall that period in the seventies and eighties when the sound waves were fraught with what I call geographic rock – you know, America, Boston and the like. While they didn’t do as much for the form as, say, the Stones or Zeppelin, they did write some bitchin’ tunes, and you can hear a couple tonight when Kansas plays ... Sandy? Come out and thank the

10SUNDAY As a people, we are proud of our traditions and customs. And one of our most sacred traditions is brunch. Today, the Center will honor this queer ritual by kicking off a weekly Sunday Brunch Potluck, which all are invited to attend.

Bring your favorite mid-morning dish and dish with your friends and neighbors. We may not have any civil rights, but no one can take away our eggs. (For the more health conscious, arrive an hour early with a yoga mat as The Center also introduces a free weekly yoga class!)

11am-2pm, The Center, 361 N 300 West. Free.

Information at 539-8800.

I know I already mentioned this, but when you have Spyro Gyra, Lalah Hathaway and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy all playing for free in Salt Lake City at one time, you’d be pissed if I didn’t remind you. The Salt Lake City International Jazz Festival, wraps up tonight with this incredible lineup.

7pm, Washington Square, 200 E. 400 South.

See schedule on next page. slcjazzfest.com.

11MONDAY As if the $47,000,000 and Lisa Kudrow sightings that the Festival brought to Utah this year weren’t enough, Sundance

is now offering us the Sundance Institute Outdoor Film Festival. Monday nights through the end of August, the Institute will show former Festival films at the Gallivan Center – for free! Tonight’s selection is more-accurate-than-we’dlike-to-admit regional portrait Napoleon Dynamite. Vote for Pedro? Not me—I’m casting my ballot for Redford!

17SUNDAY

9pm, Gallivan Center, 239 S. Main. Free. slcgov.com/PublicServices/Gallivan/

18MONDAY

14THURSDAY

The good people at Plan-B Theatre just may have outdone themselves this time. After the phenomenal success of the event last year, they’re back with a new version of their celebration of the censored and the exiled. This year’s And the Banned Played On celebrates banned music and will be hosted by those irreverent rapscallions Kerry, Bill and Gina. Also on hand will be Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, Bill Frost, the Saliva Sisters and—oh joy!—the cast of Plan B’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch, amongst others. Almost worth banning stuff if you get an event like this out of it.

Seems that Gallivan is the place to be!

After enjoying your free flick on Monday, come back for free music on Thursday.

It’s time once again for the Twilight Concert Series. The programming this year is as diverse as usual—tonight’s show features Sarah Lee Guthrie, daughter of Arlo, and indie-rock icon Johnny Iron.

As if that weren’t enough, Jake Shimabukuro will demonstrate his virtuosic ukulele playing. No, for real.

7pm, Gallivan Center, 239 South Main. Free. slcgov.com/arts/twilight/lineup.htm

15FRIDAY 50 Cent, Ludacris, Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz will all find themselves looking around tonight and thinking “How the hell did I wind up here?” when their tour pulls into da’ SLC. Even if you’re not into their music, I urge you to go—for sheer delicious absurdity, there’s nothing like the audience at a rap concert in Utah. Imagine the cast of the Mickey Mouse Club bouncing up and down and singing along to “In the Club.” Eerie.

6:30pm, Usana Ampitheatre. 5400 S. 6200 West.

Tickets $26–70, 467-TIXX or smithstix.com.

The Young Dubliners are unlike any band out there. The lads combine traditional Irish anthems and pub tunes with the hardest of rock, and the resulting sound is equally at home at the Viper Room and a Sligoh watering hole. Irish fiddlers and electric guitar riffs ... sounds like a Tierney family reunion.

Paper Moon brings you the band of Showtime’s L Word—BETTY. BETTY wrote the new theme music for L Word and band members appeared on a few episodes individually and collectively.

Paper Moon, a private club for members, 3737 S. State Street. Tickets at 713-0678.

7pm, Jeanne Wagner Theatre at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W Broadway.

Tickets $30 at 355-2787 or arttix.org.

20WEDNESDAY Dire Straits was one of the best bands of the last thirty years and also one of the most underrated. Which makes Mark Knopfler one of the most underrated songwriters. He deserves better. Come out tonight and hear the guy play, and bring your credit card because I’ll just about guarantee you’ll walk out with an armload of CDs. 7:30pm Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple. Tickets $40-$55 at 355-2787 or arttix.org.

Salt Lake City International Jazz Festival WEDNESDAY, JULY 6 ABRAVANEL HALL The Brubecks, Eddie Daniels, Joe La Barbera, Tom Ranier, Dave Carpenter, Patrick Williams, and Greg Floor

16SATURDAY 7pm, Deer Valley, 2250 Deer Valley Drive South, Park City. Tickets $28-$50 at 3552787 or arttix.org.

Gates at 11, shows at 12, Utah State Fairpark, 155 N 1000 West. Tickets $25 at 467TIXX or smithstix.com

FRIDAY, JULY 8/WASHINGTON SQUARE 5:30pm 6:30 7:30 8:30 9:30

Great Basin Street Band Kathy Kosins Quintet, Herschel Bullen Spanky Wilson (SLCJO) Eddie Daniels Quartet Cold Blood

SATURDAY, JULY 9/WASHINGTON SQUARE 3:00pm 4:00 5:00 6:00 7:00 8:20 9:30

High School All-Star Big Band performance NEW DEAL SWING featuring Tad Calcara Barbara Morrison (SLCJO) Hornheads Freddie Hubbard/New Jazz Composers Octet Clayton Brothers Kevin Mahogany & SLCJO

SUNDAY, JULY 10/WASHINGTON SQUARE 4:00pm 5:00 6:00 7:00 8:10 9:10

Fat Soul with Dave Halliday SLCJO/Kathy Kosins Salt Lake Alternative Jazz Orchestra Spyro Gyra Lalah Hathaway Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Hale Centre Theatre is something of an anomaly. There are not many fully professional theatres in this country that can afford to build themselves multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art facilities and then consistently manage to sell out their entire seasons – and it’s unheard of for strictly amateur community theatres to do so.

Part of what makes Hale a success is that they know their audience intimately and they program accordingly; the house is the quintessential family theatre. While some productions are decidedly less than polished and a lot of the scripts are mundane at best, the current production of Ragtime proves that the theatre has become worthy of the palace it’s built for itself.

Based on the novel by E.L. Doctrow, Ragtime follows the story of three families in turn of the (last) century New York.

Widower Tateh has escaped Latvia with his daughter and hopes to give her the American dream. Mother and Father live with their family in a comfortable house in New Rochelle. And Coalhouse Walker, Jr., a Harlem piano player, has fathered a child with his lover Sarah. The story of how these three families—and their diverse cultures— navigate the volatile and tenuous class and racial struggles of an America in the throes of social revolution form a tapestry that is woven with historical characters like Harry Houdini, Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, and Booker T. Washington.

Ragtime is a musical of epic scope. Ford Motor Company bought up two decrepit Times Square theatres and turned them into one immense space for the New York production, which featured one of the largest casts in Broadway history. The thought of such an enormous show—think Les Miserables or Miss Saigon—on the smallish Hale stage gives one pause, but the show is staged with such grace and care that the thirty or so people in the cast gives the impression of a cast of thousands. There are a number of truly powerful voices and the acting is, if not daring or sparkling, at least effective.

The production values are remarkable, from

the enormous bridge that descends from the flies to the full-scale Model-T in which Coalhouse tools around the stage.

The real star of any production of this show is the marvelous score. The music ranges from sweeping choral numbers to ballads to vaudeville comedy songs to complex passages almost operatic in scale.

This is the kind of music that makes shows like Hairspray look like child’s play.

While his singing voice is strong, Trevor Jerome is miscast as Coalhouse. He lacks the command and stage presence the role requires, and while he manages to get the job done, he’s never quite convincing. Meghan D. Parrish, however, has a lovely voice and brings intelligence and sincerity to the pivotal role of Mother. It is the sensitivity, delicacy and humor of Kelly DeHaan’s Tateh, however, that gives the show its heart.

The show is not without its problems.

The theatre-in-the-round format requires that actors adjust their positions constantly to ensure that no one in the audience is looking at their backs for too long. All too frequently in the production this problem is solved by means of the stage’s revolve, which means that entire scenes are played with actors endlessly rotating around the space. There is also a persistent grating sound emanating from somewhere in the theatre’s bowels that proves distracting.

Also, despite a “copyright adherence” statement in the program, the producers have seen fit to change certain words in the text to make them more family-friendly. While this is obviously a choice made on moral grounds, it is nonetheless a compromise of the authors’ intent. Racial slurs, on the other hand, have been preserved.

But when it succeeds, in moments like the gloriously-performed Act One finale, the show is an emotional, musical and visual powerhouse. If Hale can consistently produce shows of this quality, many a professional theatre in the region will no doubt sit up and take note.

Continues Mondays through Saturdays at 7:30, Saturdays at 12:30 and 4 through July 23.

Tickets $19-$21 at 984-9000 or HaleCentreTheatre.org

JULY 7, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 17

The Vans Warped Tour—billed this year as “the tour that won’t die!”—is back again, and this year is a typical mix of hot new bands, old favorites, and taking-a-last-shot has-beens. This year’s lineup includes No Use for a Name (first category), The Offspring (second) and Billy Idol (the last gasp). More than a chance to hear some good music, you’re certain to see scads of those willowy tight-T-shirt boys with their stringy hair and contemptuous scowls.

by Eric J. Tierney eric@slmetro.com

7:30pm, Velvet Room, 149 W. 200 South.

Tickets $14 at 467-TIXX or smithstix.com.

Mary Chapin Carpenter. Need I say more? This lady has been known to write a pretty decent song now and again.

Music and Production Values Make ‘Ragtime’ a Triumph

18

■

SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 7, 2005

Cafe Med

by Vanessa Chang Address: 420 E. 3300 South, SLC, UT Phone: 493-0100 Hours: Sun-Thurs 11am–9pm; Fri-Sat 11am-10pm All major-credit cards accepted, Handicap accessible

JULY 7, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 19

I’ve held firm to the belief that when it comes to cooking, garlic is sexy. There are the nay-sayers who doubt the appropriateness of garlic in “date food.” But the cuisines of the eastern Mediterranean all the way to the climes of central Asia have incorporated it in such balanced and aromatic ways, this sort of pungent food is, in my view, entirely socially acceptable. One of the most interesting places around to get a feeling (literally) for these flavors is an unassuming and cozy little dive called Café Med. Just shy of kitsch, the ambience is eclectic and cozy. Batik scarves, hieroglyphic prints, and a modern pop soundtrack welcome diners. And how often can you say that you dined staring at a life-sized Tutankhamenesque sarcophagus? Yet, it works. And for those of us who are bored of the predictable pleasantries of dining décor, this sociological hodgepodge is rather refreshing.

It’s an unlikely place for people watching. On any given night, this eclectic environment houses and feeds a range of folks. One evening included double-dating gay couples toasting with Armenian Kilikia beer, two interracial couples, a small group of ladies distressing over the state of local theater, and a family with full-grown children sharing glasses of wine—all serviced by a small and efficient wait staff.

Ultimately, what attracts people is the food. The aforementioned menu is a formidable fold-out spanning from sandwiches, wraps, and salads, to the more belly-distending garlic-imbued specialties. It can be a double-edge sword. There literally is something for everyone with a stand-alone

vegetarian section, a grouping of Italian pastas, and Persian stewed entrees. But for those who struggle daily with decisions like which colored Skittle to eat first, it can induce a bit of anxiety. It’s safe to order a couple of appetizers to nosh on while you decide—one favorite is the silky baba ghannouj (roasted eggplant dip) served with warm pita and drizzled with enough extra-virgin olive oil to balance out the acrid garlic flavor.

Luckily for the indecisive diner, portions are huge—perfect for sharing around the table. Turkish Yogurt Pasta ($9.99) was a pleasant surprise, covered in crumbled feta and dressed in a spicy and savory tomato sauce. For those unfamiliar with the luxurious concoction of potatoes, ground lamb, onions, and eggplant covered in an unctuous cream sauce, known as Greek moussaka, it is one of the best in the valley and worth a try.

But the real adventure in dining out at Café Med is the Persian dishes, all of which come with aromatic basmati rice.

Koofteh—plum stuffed meatballs stewed in a light tomato sauce—showcases the playful balance of sweet and savory flavors of Persian cooking. The Persian eggplant stewed in tomatoes and served atop the restaurant’s signature dill basmati rice is an unforgettable creation.

No matter how much garlic or other heady aromatics consumed during dinner, you can end your experience on an intensely sweet note. The dessert list sounds like something out of a Byron poem with saffron rice pudding studded with almonds and rose water, or the equally fragrant saffron pistachio ice cream.

“One of the Sexiest Desserts of the Year” Award should go to Basboosa, a semolina cake topped with coconut and almonds, meant to be savored with a loved-one sipping a cup of house cardamom tea, licking up the fragrant sugar-floral syrup as you go.

Paired with a prior feast of aromatic rice and savory entrees, that’s what I call date food.

20

■

SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 7, 2005

Di ing Guide Dining de Baci Trattoria

Michelangelo Ristorante

134 W. PIERPONT AVE / 328-1500 gastronomyinc.com HOURS: M-F 11:30AM-3PM M-TH 5-10PM F-SA 5-11PM CUISINE: ITALIAN RESERV.: ACCEPTED PRICE: $$ CARDS: TC AE D DC MC V

2156 S, HIGHLAND DR./ 466-0961

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

Bangkok Thai 1400 Foothill Dr. / 582-8424 HOURS: MO-TH 11:30-2, 5-9:30PM F 11:30AM-2PM, 5-10PM SA NOON-10PM, SU 5-9PM CUISINE: THAI PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V

Rated “Best Thai” 1992–2005 by local and national press.

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

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

Cafe Pierpont 122 W. Pierpont Ave. / 364-1222 gastronomyinc.com HOURS: M-TH 11:30AM-10PM F-SA 11:30AM-11PM SU Noon-9PM CUISINE: MEXICAN RESERV.: ACCEPTED FOR 8+ PRICE: $$ CARDS: TC AE D DC MC V

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

Coffee Garden 898 S 900 E / 355-3425 HOURS: SU-TH 6AM-11PM F-SA 6AM-12AM CUISINE: COFFEEHOUSE PRICE: ¢ CARDS: AE D MC V

SLC’s buzzing java shop with a diverse crowd.

Fiddler’s Elbow 1063 E. 2100 S. / 463-9393

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

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

Market Street Grill 48 W. Market St. / 322-4668 gastronomyinc.com HOURS: OPEN M-F 6:30AM SA 7AM, SU 9AM CLOSED MO-TH 10PM FR-SA 11PM SU 9:30PM CUISINE: STEAK/SEAFOOD RESERV.: ACCEPTED PRICE: $$ CARDS: TC AE D DC MC V

A well-deserved reputation as Salt Lake’s finest seafood restaurant. Sunday brunch.

michelangeloristorante.com TU-SA 11:30AM-1:30PM 5:45-9PM CUISINE: ITALIAN PRICE: $$ CARDS: AE D MC V HOURS:

Begun by childhood friends Paulo Celeste and Marco Gabrielli of Tuscany.

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

nicknwillyspizza.com HOURS: CUISINE: PRICE:

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

Dine in or take-out. Call ahead and we’ll have it ready.

Albertsons Shopping Ctr.

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

Open late nights on Fridays and Saturdays with DJs and a special menu.

Salt Lake Pizza & Pasta 1063 E. 2100 S. / 484-1804

saltlakepizzaandpasta.com M-SA 11AM-11PM SU 11AM-10PM CUISINE: ITALIAN PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V HOURS:

Voted as Utah’s Best Pizza two years in a row! Great beer selection. Sugarhouse.

Spice Restaurant 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. Open late nights on weekends.

Espresso, internet.

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!

TC–TRAVELERS CHECKS, AE–AMERICAN EXPRESS, D–DISCOVER, DC–DINER’S CLUB, MC–MASTERCARD, V–VISA ¢=0-$10, $=$11-$20, $$=$21-30, $$$=31-40.

JULY 7, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 21

Classifieds HELP WANTED APPLE ONE Employment Services is seeking qualified call center experienced in sales. Can earn $12+/hr plus commission. Apply today. Employers, let us fill your staffing needs.

Call Steven Whittaker at 463-4828 for an appointment.

FOR SALE NW SLC 4 Bed, 2 Bath, 2-car garage. 2001 Multilevel, refinished to perfection. New A/C, carpet, Italian tile, brushed nickle lighting.

Fully fenced. $174,900 Brad 550-0330 Stonebrook BONNEVILLE GARDENS 3 Bedroom 2 Bath Manufactured Homes Starting at $620 per month-1st 3 months Rent Free! 705 South Redwood Rd. Call Steve at 801-973-8987

FOR RENT DONT RENT—BUY! All credit accepted, Connie 801-347-2956

SUGARHOUSE 1827 S 900 E Upstairs apt.

Very private 1 1/2 bed, wood floors, lg closets, plenty of storage, A/C, and carport. New paint. $450/month $300 deposit. No smoking! Sm adult pet OK! Call Valene Brown CDA Properties 262-0113.

CAPITOL HILL Wall Street. Large Studio with A/C, W/D, microwave, murphy bed, garage, and deck w/ beautiful view. No pets/ smoking. $525/month Call 201-5638 AVENUES ELEGANT restoration. 165 A Street. Main floor of historic home. 1600 sq ft. Formal dining, pantry, fireplace in kitchen, dishwasher, lg laundry with w/d, bathtub/shower stall, patio, offstreet parking.

No Dogs! $1250/mth. All utls pd. 359-7814.

U OF U Two bedroom upstairs unit. Large deck, vaulted ceilings, large storage, central air, w/d, covered parking. $790/month. No Smokers/Pets. Call Duff 674-8091.

ARE YOU HIV+?

Pride Counseling has restarted a Therapy/ ROOM NEAR 15th Support Group for men and 15th area. Newly who are HIV infected remodeled house with and seeking support hottub, landscaped yard, from others in similar media room, high speed situations. For informawireless internet, TIVO tion please call Jerry and more. All utilities Buie LCSW at 801-595incl. $400 per month.

0666 Quiet clean roommates, TIRED OF THE BAR must be open minded and gay or gay friendly. LIFE? Pride CounselCall 415-5142 ing is offering a Gay Men’s Therapy/Support AIRPORT/DOWNGroup. Gay men often TOWN. Male to share find that their options large furnished home. to socialize limited to No smoking, no pets. $350/month Call 631clubs and bars. Most 8110. insurance companies billed, sliding fee scale.

MIDVALE SHARE 4 For information please bdrm house. 2 rooms call Jerry Buie LCSW at available. $400/month 801-595-0666. plus 1/2 utilities. Call Jamie at 566-2508 or ADVERTISE IN 582-1457.

ROOMMATES WANTED

MISC. STUFF PENIS ENLARGEMENT. Viagra, cialis and testosterone. FDA approved pumps. Gain 1-3” permanently. Free pictures and brochures. Dr. Joel Kaplan 619-294-7777. www.getbiggertoday. com.

the Salt Lake Metro Classifieds.

A great value starting at $15 per ad. Call 3239500 for info.

Join the Salt Lake Metro Yahoo Group at groups. yahoo.com/group/ slmetro

Subscription Form Yes! I would like to subscribe to the biweekly Salt Lake Metro.

Please send me: 13 issues (6 months) / $14.95 26 issues (one year) / $26.95 NAME

22

■

SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 7, 2005

ADDRESS CITY/STATE

ZIP

EMAIL*

PHONE

PLEASE CHARGE MY CREDIT CARD: MASTERCARD VISA AMERICAN EXPRESS CARD NO: EXPIRES

/

SIGNATURE A CHECK IS ENCLOSED.

BILL ME.

*All information, including your email address, is collected only for the purposes of transacting business of Metro Publishing, Inc. We will not sell your personal information to any other entity for any reason without your express permission. For your convenience, credit card orders will automatically renew after the end of the subscription period unless you call the offices and unsubscribe at 801.323-9500. Subscriptions are sent the day of printing via third class mail.

Mail to: Metro Publishing, 352 S Denver St, Ste 350, Salt Lake City UT 84111

Service Guide

Comics

ATTORNEYS

RESOURCES

A COUPLE OF GUYS by Dave Brousseau

MARLIN G. CRIDDLE, P.C. Serving Utah’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender communities. Estate Planning, Probate, Criminal Law, Bankruptcy, Corporations/Business.

474-2299. marlincriddle.com

DO YOU Work at CONVERGYS? Would you like to meet with some of your GLBT co-workers? Join the GLBT Convergys Yahoo Group!

Go to: http://groups.yahoo. com/group/cvg-glbt/ and sign up. If you have any questions,you may email the group owner at: cvg-glbtowner@yahoogroups.com

AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES MEINEKE CAR Care Center.

2190 W 3500 S WVC 9730860 EOE. Fine service, Fine price. 10% discount with this ad! Exhaust, brakes, a/c, CV joints, oil changes, shocks, etc.

EMPLOYMENT SERVICES APPLE ONE Employment is seeking qualified people in many skills. Apply and begin your qualification today.

Employers, let us fill your staffing needs. Call Steven Whittaker at 801-463-4828.

ESTATE PLANNING JANE MARQUARDT & DOUG FADEL Attorneys at Law, pro-viding comprehensive estate planning services, custom designed to your unique family situation. Trusts, wills, partnership agreements, estate admin. 294-7777

HEALTH CARE PENIS ENLARGEMENT. Viagra, cialis and testosterone. FDA approved pumps.

Gain 1-3” permanently. Free pictures and brochures. Dr. Joel Kaplan 619-294-7777. www.getbiggertoday.com.

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

MASSAGE UNBELIEVABLE MASSAGE Athletic Male Therapists, 440-5851 Contact 641-4009

DENNIS MASSAGE Dennis is Utah’s only physique print model & massage therapist... see why he is so well liked at www.dennismassage.com, www.dennismodeling.com.

(801) 598-8344 LMT#98212332470

STIMULATE YOUR SENSES or feel deep peace with a relaxing full body massage.

Call Therron at 879-3583 for $5 off mention this ad. LMT #5608006

ARE YOU a single lesbian?

Wondering how to meet other single lesbians for friendship and social events? If so, you are invited to sign up for the LEsbian Singles Social Group at groups.yahoo. com/group/lesbian_singles/ UTAH GAY Rodeo Association ugra.net PO Box 511255 SLC, UT 84151-1255 A social & Rodeo Sport Organization WANT A HOT summer body? Queer Utah Aquatic Club (QUAC) invites swimmers and water polo players of ANY skill levelincluding beginners- to join the team. Visit QuacQuac.org for more info.

KUED BROADCASTS the entire PBS schedule as well as locally produced programs. In addition, KUED sponsors a variety of community events, including monthly screenings at the City Library and Sam Weller's Bookstore. For more visit www.kued.org or call KUED Viewer Services at 581-3064.

THE SALT Lake County Division of Youth Services provides youth and families in crisis with immediate and safe intervention, including 24-hour 7-day a week crisis counseling. Most services are provided free of charge.

Please call 269-7500.

AFFIRMATION: GAY and Lesbian Mormons. members.aol.com/wasatchweb/: Sunday meetings 534-8693 GAY WINE GROUP. qVinum.

COM is a fabulous group of wine lovers who hold winetastings at members’ homes, travel to wineries and hold special fund raisers for the community. qVinum.com ENGENDERED SPECIES 801.320.0551. A social/ support group resources for transgender people. www. engenderedspecies.com AMERICAN CIVIL Liberties Union. Fighting for individual freedoms since 1958. www.acluutah.org BI MEN of Utah groups. yahoo.com/group/Bi-GayMen-Utah. Social and support group for bi/gay men of Utah.

UTAH MALE Naturists meets through the summer for naked lunches, has clothing optional outings and overnight camping trips in a sex-free environment. groups.yahoo.com/group/ utahmalenaurists ROYAL COURT of the Golden Spike Empire. rcgse. org Membership meetings held twice monthly. Help support your community!

GAY MENS HEALTH SUMMIT. Gay men’s health is more than just HIV. visit us at utahgaymenshealth.com CODE PINK. A women-initiated peace and social justice movement by positive social change via creative protest and non-violent direct action. www.codepinkalert.com

BITTER GIRL by Joan Hilty

SAME-GENDER MARRIAGE is a Feminist Issue: NOW’s mission is to promote equality for ALL women.

NOW has fought for gay and lesbian rights, and we won’t stop until we achieve equality for all. Join us utahnow.org FIRST NATIONAL Conference on Methamphetamine, HIV and Hepatitis: Science & Reponses 2005 August 19–20 in Salt Lake City.

Visit us at harmredux.org 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!)

ADAM AND ANDY by James Asal

SLMETRO — Join the Salt Lake Metro Yahoo Group at groups.yahoo.com/group/ slmetro

ADVERTISE in the Salt Lake Metro Service Guide.

A great value starting at $15 per ad. Call 323-9500 for info.

JULY 7, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 23

BEST THERAPISTS, best price, best place, best hours, call 486-5500 Pride Massage 1800 S. West Temple # A224

CAMP PINECLIFF Weekend, Annual retreat for people with HIV/AIDS and their care providers c/o Dick Dotson, Coordinator P. O. Box 608, Magna, Utah 84044-0608 or call (801) 518-8733

GAY RM’S–SOCIAL group for return missionaries of the LDS Church. Regular parties and group activities more info. at www.gayRMs.com