Metro, Volume 2, Issue 15

Utah’s Gay and Lesbian Biweekly Newspaper Volume 2 ■ Issue 15 July 21–August 3

S.L. County Denies Benefits Gay employees cannot insure partners.

Amendment 3 a factor

Idaho Gay Dad Denied Custody No visitation while lover lives with him

Groundbreaking Scientist Visits Utah LaVey: ‘sexual orientation is not a chosen lifestyle’

¡Matrimonio!

Spain celebrates first legal gay wedding Mecham Reveals Her Wife’s Odd Quirks Ruby Wouldn’t Survive in Gay Mecca Wine Rap Gay Agenda

News WORLD AND NATIONAL

Carlos Baturín and Emilio Menéndez, Spain’s first legally-married gay couple.

Couple Celebrates Spain’s First Legal Gay Marriage

by Ross von Metzke

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 21, 2005

ross@slmetro.com

Madrid, Spain—Eight days after Spain’s parliament signed into law legalized samegender marriage, two men (a psychiatrist and a store window decorator) became the first gay couple to tie the knot with a ceremony in a Madrid suburb.

The civil ceremony, which lasted 10 minutes, was attended by a few family members and friends of the couple (as well as several dozen representatives of the media) in the city council room in the suburb of Tres Cantos.

Pedro Zerolo, a gay rights activist and member of the country’s ruling Socialist Party, confirmed it was the first marriage between people of the same gender in Spain and called it “a triumph of common sense and the state of law.”

Spain’s Roman Catholic Church has made national headlines with its staunch opposition to the new law.

As reported by CNN International, Carlos Baturín (the psychiatrist) and Emilio Menéndez (the store window decorator) have been a couple for 30 years. The couple says they didn’t intend to be the first couple married in the country, but when their paperwork cleared and Tres Cantos town officials asked if they wanted to marry each other, they answered with an affirmative “yes.”

The Netherlands and Belgium also allow same-gender marriage, but Zerolo said the legal terminology in Spain’s new law is more progressive than in those countries.

It also goes beyond the same-gender marriage law in effect in some parts of Canada,

because the Spanish legislation equates fully, without any separation or distinctions, same-gender marriage to heterosexual marriage.

Parliament approved the controversial law on a 187-to-147 vote on June 30, and the measure went into effect on July 3. Since then, numerous same-gender couples have gone to city halls and civil registries across Spain to get the required paperwork to hold a civil wedding.

“We’re normal people who love each other and want to be happy,” Menendez said afterward outside of the Tres Cantos town hall. “The (Catholic) bishops have lost an opportunity to be shepherds,” he added, saying the church could have tried to mend fences by reserving church weddings for heterosexual couples while accepting civil marriages for gays.

Thousands of Spaniards demonstrated in central Madrid last month just before the law was finally approved, and last week, leaders of the Spanish church sharply criticized the law, saying it would create “confusion” and went against “human reason.”

The new law is also seen as a challenge for Pope Benedict XVI, given the Vatican’s strong stance in favor of heterosexual marriage only.

The Socialist government estimates there are 4 million homosexuals in Spain, nearly 10 percent of the population.

Under the new law, gay couples could also adopt children, but the first gay couple to wed said they weren’t interested in adoption.

Polls show about 60 percent of Spaniards are in favor of same-gender marriage.

Criminal Charges Over Gay Marriages Dropped New Paltz, NY—Criminal charges filed against the mayor of New Paltz for illegally marrying same-gender couples were dropped this week by the prosecutor, who said a trial would be unnecessary and divisive.

Mayor Jason West, who was just 26 years old when he married about two-dozen same-gender couples in February 2004, had faced 24 misdemeanor counts. West was one of a string of small town mayors to follow in San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom’s footsteps in issuing marriage licenses to same-gender couples.

The ceremonies briefly made the Hudson Valley village of New Paltz a focus of the marriage debate then roiling the nation.

In what political analysts have been calling a “surprise move,” Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams told the court he would decline further criminal action. Williams told the presiding judge that West is already prohibited from marrying more same-gender couples because of a separate civil case and that courts and state officials have disagreed with West’s interpretation of the law.

“While a trial in this case would be filled with rhetoric and hyperbole, it would be lacking in a viable public purpose,” Williams wrote.

West has maintained he was upholding the couples’ constitutional rights to equal protection—and thus his oath of office—by allowing them to wed. He said in an interview yesterday that Williams’ decision was a “complete vindication.”

Williams has argued the case was not about constitutional rights but about a public official’s duty to follow the law.—RVM

German Zoo Boasts Three Gay Penguin Couples

by Kim Burgess kim@slmetro.com

Suspected Arson Linked to Anti-Gay Backlash

by Danny McCoy Richmond, Va.—Anti-gay graffiti and a fire set at a Virginia church has been deemed arson by local authorities and may be linked to the United Church of Christ’s recent vote affirming same-gender marriage.

St. John’s Reformed UCC in Middlebrook in Western Virginia was found covered in antigay comments and on fire Friday evening.

Firefighters were able to catch the blaze in time and keep it from spreading, according to the Rev. John Deckenback, United Church of Christ Central Atlantic Conference minister. Police and church leaders said the arson likely was because of a July 4 vote by the denomination’s General Synod supporting same-gender marriage.

“The violation of sacred space is traumatic for a congregation, particularly with a message of hate targets a church’s efforts to reach out in the spirit of Christ’s love of all people,” UCC President the Rev. John Thomas said in a press release. Thomas said he knew the same-gender marriage vote would be controversial but “it saddens me that, for a few, disagreement has moved to acts of violence.”

Two other churches in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley were vandalized about the same time the United Church of Christ released a series of television ads welcoming all people, including homosexuals.

Authorities said they are investigating a possible connection between the incidents.

Hawaii Governor Vetoes Gay Rights Bills Honolulu, Hawaii—The Human Rights Campaign is taking issue this week with Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, who vetoed a bill earlier this week that would have added protections based on gender identity and expression to the state’s employment discrimination law.

Despite the fact that the bill passed by a wide margin, according to the HRC, the Legislature took no action to override the veto.

“No one should be fired simply for who they are,” HRC President Joe Solmonese said in a press statement. “Employment protections increase business productivity and ensure that employees are evaluated on their work, not their gender identity.”

The governor did allow a bill prohibiting discrimination in housing based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression to become law without her signature.

“By allowing housing discrimination protections to become law, Governor Lingle recognizes that discrimination is bad for Hawaii,” said Solmonese. “She should follow her constituents, the Legislature and businesses who know workplace protections are just as critical.”

Ten states protect against workplace discrimination based on both sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, and six additional states have sexual orientation-based protections.

“The American people don’t care whether the person who cures cancer or saves them from a fire is transgender or gay,” said Solmonese.

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Bremerhaven, Germany—Penguins are known for their ability to navigate hundreds of miles through icy water, but they might also need another detection system: gaydar. Germany’s Bremerhaven Zoo has announced that three penguin couples are in male/male partnerships, with one couple adopting a rock as an egg substitute.

The pairs aroused zookeepers’ suspicions because they had not produced any chicks, though they had mated for years. DNA tests confirmed the penguins were indeed of the same gender and thus homosexual.

In an effort to make the boys go straight, four female penguins were imported from a Swedish zoo. However, none of the queer penguins have yet shown any interest in the new females. Biologists are on hand to monitor any new developments, such as penguin bisexuality or penguin lesbianism.

Germany’s happy, gay penguins highlight a behavior in animals that is more common than most people realize—queer behavior. According to animal homosexuality expert Bruce Bagemihi’s Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity, more than 450 species of animals exhibit homosexual behavior, both in captivity and in the wild. Clearly, nature is a pretty queer place.

Bremerhaven Zoo’s penguins join a growing list of well-known male penguin couples, including Wendell and Cass, a male couple at the New York Aquarium in Coney Island who have been together

nearly 10 years exclusively; and Roy & Silo, a penguin couple at New York’s Central Park Zoo who have been together seven years and successfully hatched a surrogate egg together in 2003.

News NATIONAL AND REGIONAL

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U.S. Trademark Office Says No to ‘Dykes on Bikes’ San Francisco, Calif—The San Francisco Women’s Motorcycle Contingent announced this week that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has refused their request to register their name, “Dykes on Bikes,” claiming the slogan is derogatory to lesbians.

“For 27 years, ‘Dykes on Bikes’ has proudly led the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade,” said Vic Germany, president for the group. “We embrace the word Dyke and are proud to celebrate our identity,” she said.

“Dyke has been used for years to tear us down, shame us and keep us in the closet.

But gay women everywhere have reclaimed the word as an expression of pride and empowerment,” said Soni Wolf, the group’s secretary. “Now ‘Dykes on Bikes’ contingents use this symbol of dignity and visibility with our blessing in Pride celebrations all over the country.”

The nonprofit San Francisco Women’s Motorcycle Contingent was forced to seek registration of “Dykes on Bikes” when an individual, unassociated with the organization, attempted to use the phrase for commercial purposes and wanted to charge contingents throughout the country for its use. The SFWMC organization decided to obtain a trademark to protect the noncommercial use of the name and its meaning to the queer community from private commercial use.

Brooke Oliver, Founder/Managing Attorney of the Brooke Oliver Law Group, PC, and attorneys with the National Center for Lesbian Rights are representing the San Francisco Women’s Motorcycle Contingent.

Oliver explained, “The Trademark Office initially rejected our application on the ground that the term ‘Dykes on Bikes’ is disparaging to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. We responded with

arguments and evidence trying to educate the USPTO about how ‘Dykes on Bikes’ is a symbol of pride in the LGBT community.

After a second rejection, with help from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, we submitted extensive documentation from activists, community leaders, and scholars from across the country, demonstrating that the LGBT community considers the name ‘Dykes on Bikes’ to be a positive, empowering and affirming term. Now, the Trademark Office is claiming that the term ‘dyke’ is ‘vulgar.’”

“What is striking is that USPTO failed to apply the correct legal standard for this case,” said Pablo Manga, associate attorney at Brooke Oliver Law Group. “The USPTO is supposed to consider whether a substantial composite of the LGBT community would consider ‘Dyke’ disparaging as it is used in ‘Dykes on Bikes’ in Pride celebrations.

Instead, the USPTO claims to be protecting the public at large, without regard to the views of the LGBT community.”

As part of their submissions to the USPTO, Oliver and the National Center for Lesbian Rights submitted more than two dozen statements from distinguished academics and scholars, nationally recognized linguists and psychologists, and long-time activists about how the word “dyke” has evolved over the past 40 years to become a term of pride and empowerment when used by lesbians to describe themselves.

“Dyke is widely understood in the LGBT community to mean a proud lesbian publicly demonstrating her identity and publicly celebrating her identity,” said Shannon Minter, NCLR Legal Director. “It is our belief that the Trademark Office has ruled incorrectly and we intend to take every possible step to insure that the reputation of a vital community organization is protected.”

Gay Dad Loses in Idaho Supreme Court Cannot have visitation rights while lover lives in the same house with both parents and with each other.”

In Tuesday’s 4-1 opinion, the majority agreed that sexual orientation could not be used as determining factor in custody decisions, but then, in a turn of events, the majority announced that the lower court had not, in fact, based its ruling on Theron’s orientation at all. Instead, the high court wrote, the magistrate had found Theron was not as cooperative as Shawn, and that the girls themselves were rattled by the constant change in households.

The high court also agreed that alleged hostility between Nick Case and the girls’ mother justified the ban on Case and McGriff’s living arrangements, and although the justices ordered the lower court to revisit the amount of the ex-wife’s legal fees, they did not dispute the principle of the payments.

In a two-page dissent, Justice Kidwell noted that Shawn McGriff’s original petition for a change in custody spoke almost exclusively of her former husband’s sexual orientation. The lower court, wrote Kidwell, “reached for reasons to help Shawn succeed in her claim,” knowing that the sexual orientation of the father was “not a legally permissible consideration.” As such, the justice concluded, the magistrate abused his discretion and deserved reversal.

According to Shannon Minter of the NCLR, Theron McGriff was too upset to talk to the press after the decision. “He’s devastated,” Minter told the Associated Press.

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by Ann Rostow The long-running custody battle by a gay father in Idaho Falls came to a close Tuesday as the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of his ex-wife.

Theron McGriff was contesting a lower court decision that gave his former spouse primary custody over their two daughters.

After their 1997 divorce, Theron and his ex-wife Shawn had shared custody of the girls, who are now 13 and 9. But once Theron’s partner, Nick Case, moved in with him, Shawn petitioned the court for a change in the arrangements. Eventually, the court agreed, ruling among other things that Theron had not fully appreciated the possible harm that the girls might encounter in their conservative community.

The court also ruled that Theron could not have visitation if Case continued to live in the house. And as a final gesture, Theron was ordered to pay hundreds of dollars a month to cover his ex-wife’s legal fees.

Theron appealed with the help of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), basing his argument on the generally acknowledged idea that custody decisions may not be governed by sexual orientation in the absence of any harm to the children involved. Indeed, in this case, a court-appointed counselor had recommended that the 50-50 custody continue, observing that both parents “have shown positive nurturing” and both children “have a positive relationship

News LOCAL

Salt Lake County Votes on Domestic Partner Benefits

by Kim Burgess kim@slmetro.com

MICHAEL AARON

After a lengthy and emotional discussion, the Salt Lake County Council struck down a measure that could have provided benefits to the domestic partners of county employees. The measure would have given funeral leave and health, life, and dental insurance to domestic partners in long-term relationships. Over 50 cities currently have similar measures in place, including Phoenix, Denver, Atlanta, Chicago and Ann Arbor.

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Salt Lake County Council Member Jenny Wilson

Introduced by councilwoman Jenny Wilson, a Democrat, the proposal would have required the support of at least one Republican to pass. Tuesday’s vote divided along party lines with the four Democrat council members in favor and the five Republicans opposed.

Both sides agreed that the cost of funding the proposal was negligible at between $37,000 and $74,000, so the debate focused mainly on the symbolic meaning of giving benefits to those in gay relationships. Republican Councilman Mark Crockett commented that he did not support the measure because it might send the message that Salt Lake County supports gay marriage, which was defeated in last year’s vote on Amendment 3. Many were disappointed at that stance, as Crockett was viewed as the Republican most likely to vote in favor of the measure.

In making their decision, the council did not provide an open public forum, but did listen to remarks from Jan Donchess, chairwoman of the county’s gay and lesbian employee association. At a later general council meeting held after the measure’s defeat, a public forum was available, allowing two individuals to express their points of view on domestic partner benefits. One, a Sandy schoolteacher with six children, expressed his dismay at the possibility of queers getting

the same rights as married couples.

“These individuals have made lifestyle choices that have great consequences with the destruction of the family… It’s not a proper choice or a good choice for society as a whole,” he said.

The second speaker, a Salt Lake County employee who wished to remain anonymous for fear of professional repercussions, attended with her partner and encouraged the council to “level the playing field” by granting benefits to domestic partners. She also said that her partner is currently without health insurance because of downsizing at the non-profit organization where she works.

“If my partner gets sick, we could lose our house,” the employee said. She went on to say that she views part of Salt Lake County’s mission as providing health care to as many people as possible.

“I hope we would seek out any opportunity to give benefits to uninsured people. This is a relatively cheap way for them to do that,” she said.

Upon hearing that the measure had not passed, the employee expressed disappointment. “It seemed like the arguments they had had nothing to do with benefits,” the woman said. “They had to do with gay marriage. I don’t think this is the way the County should treat its employees. My partner had no insurance, and we can’t buy it anywhere because she doesn’t fit into the uninsured pool. We could become financially bankrupt.”

The employee went on to thank councilman Joe Hatch and councilwoman Wilson, who were the measure’s strongest supporters. She also feels that one day the measure will succeed.

“This is an issue of equality,” she said.

“This is a human issue. It’s about being fair to everyone, not just certain employees.”

Councilwoman Wilson had similar hopes about the future of domestic partner benefits. “We’re not like groundhogs.

We don’t do things over and over again, but if there were a change to the policy or the body [the County Council’s members], I would introduce it again.”

A “call to action” campaign was started after the vote by the Human Rights Campaign, The Center and Equality Utah, garnering hundreds of emails and phone calls, many of which called the dissenting councilmembers bigots and homophobes. By “being denied substantial benefits such as health insurance coverage for their partners [unmarried employees] are simply paid less than their married counterparts,” the email blitz said.

WILLIAM TODD PARK

of science what they will, and I may be wrong.” LaVey added that what makes the evidence that homosexuality is, in fact, an inborn trait is that several studies are reinforcing his assertions and enhancing the picture in different ways. He concluded by saying, “No one, so far, has been successful in identifying a specific gene that destines one to homosexuality.”

Family Fellowship, a volunteer service organization dedicated to strengthening families with homosexual members, sponsored the lecture. Gary Watts, who co-chairs the board of directors with his wife Millie, found LaVey to be “balanced, reasonable, and well-informed. He didn’t try to go too far.”

Dr. LaVey is the author of several books including the text Human Sexuality.

Dr. Simon LaVey

Simon LaVey Speaks in Salt Lake ‘One’s sexual orientation is not a chosen lifestyle.’

by Willam Todd Park liam@slmetro.com

Dr. Simon LaVey, renowned researcher in the field of neurology and human sexuality, presented a lecture to a packed auditorium at the Salt Lake City Library on Sunday, July 17. His presentation, entitled “The Latest From The Lab,” spanned ancient myths of sexual orientation to some of the latest studies.

“One’s sexual orientation is not a chosen lifestyle. It’s part of one’s intrinsic person,” stated LaVey. Citing poll figures, the trend of Americans who agree with his assertion has been rising over the past few years.

The lecture began with a brief overview of the pioneers of the study of human sexuality and the evolution of scientific thought surrounding the taboo topic. He addressed opposing viewpoints and common misperceptions in his discussion, including the impact of socialization, hormones, and structural differences in the brain.

According to a number of case studies, it appears that socialization does in fact have some effect on gender charac-

ter traits, but doesn’t seem to have the overwhelming effect on sexual orientation that some attribute to it. LaVey asserts, rather, that orientation is determined by a number of factors. Specifically, he sees one’s sexual orientation as linked to a variety of “non-conforming gender traits that transcend mere sexual attraction.”

Pointing out the distinction of being romantically attracted as opposed to being sexually attracted to another was somewhat blurry in women, LaVey noted that bisexuality was more common among women than men.

LaVey’s 1991 ground-breaking study pointed to significant structural differences in the hypothalamus in the brains of homosexuals. Later studies by other researchers focused on responses to “sex pheromones” on the hypothalamus, suggesting further that meaningful distinctions existed. This proved especially so, as the amount of pheromones were virtually undetectable by the subjects.

In response to his critics, he pointed out that one piece of science may or may not prove anything. “People will get out

Will Unity Center Block Free Speech? place at the Unity Center.

After referencing the Tooth and Nail Theater’s recent Project Fabulocity, an original show based on the experiences of gay youth, city councilman Van Turner said, “We don’t want to have a lot of controversy down here.”

The comment from Turner, whose district includes the Unity Center, has queer groups wondering if the Unity Center will be another place where free speech is censored. Since the Unity Center is being built in response to the City’s granting Main Street Plaza to the LDS church, gay leaders have expressed concerns that instead of balancing the scales, the project will once again censor the views of those who are in the minority. Debate continues about the best uses for the space and who should be helping support it.—JK

by Jere Keys jere@slmetro.com

Boise, Idaho—Seth Randal, a 29-year-old television news producer based in Boise, has announced that a rough cut of his first documentary, The Fall of ’55, has been completed in time for the Los Angeles International Film Festival this November.

In 1955, scandal gripped Boise as allegations of pedophilia led to 16 arrests and over a thousand people questioned in relation to the crimes. After three men were arrested on Halloween 1955 for “sexual acts with teenage boys,” near hysteria struck the town as newspapers called for action, politicians spoke out dramatically, and gay men feared for their freedom.

A 1966 book by John Gerassi, The Boys of Boise, likened the period to an anti-gay witch hunt and drew attention to how McCarthyism could breed panic on this scale.

But the book, as well as the perception of the scandal, is widely disputed, even by those who lived through it.

According to the Associated Press, Blaine Evans, Ada County’s prosecutor at the time, insists that his sole motivation was targeting child abusers. But the former head of Idaho’s mental health department, John Butler, is convinced that gays were the real target of the investigation.

In 1955, police initially claimed that hundreds of boys had been abused, but in later years the number turned out to be five or six. Additionally, a number of people believe that at least some of the boys in question were teenage prostitutes.

Randal hopes his documentary, which includes interviews with many people who lived through or were involved in the investigations, will shed new light on the scandal.

Recent events have drawn more attention to how small communities deal with alleged sexual deviance—events such as recent crackdowns on child pornography and the sexual molestation claims against Spokane, Washington mayor Jim West.

“It’s part of our past,” Randal told the Associated Press. “There are a lot of people who feel like The Boys of Boise book is not the real story of what happened. Then let’s find out what really happened.”

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When Salt Lake City gave the LDS church control of the free speech on the Main Street Plaza, part of the deal included building the Sorenson Unity Center with $4.5 million in donations. Located at 900 West and California Avenue, the Unity Center is now set to open September 2006, nine months later than initially planned.

The Unity Center will include a variety of facilities, from drop-in daycare to fitness equipment and dental chairs. The Center will also include a 200-to-300 seat theatre available for rent to performance groups as an alternative to the Rose Wagner.

But a recent Salt Lake Tribune article, which mentioned that Tooth and Nail Theater could help promote the space to other theater groups, raised a red flag about what city leaders think will take

‘Boys of Boise’ Documentary Hopes to Uncover the Truth About Scandal of ’55

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 Art Director Michael Aaron Designer Kris Kramer Sales Director Steven Peterson Display Ad Dave Harris 548-6995 Sales Russ Moss 259-0844 801-323-9500 National Rivendell Media Advertising 212-242-6863 Representative 1248 Rte 22 West Mountainside NJ 07092

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

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From the Editor What I Didn’t Learn on My Summer Vacation

by Jere Keys jere@slmetro.com

Did the Salt Lake County Council Know the Right Thing To Do? The most remarkable thing about the Salt Lake County Council’s decision to consider, and then reject, offering domestic partner benefits to employees of the county government is the reactions of the five Republicans who killed the proposal.

Reports in the daily papers indicate that as the Republicans, particularly Mark Crockett, spoke about and cast their votes against the proposal, they were visibly upset and emotional. Crockett spoke at length about how important gay and lesbian people have been in his life and admitted how much it pained him to send a message that gay and lesbian people are not valued by the county.

Crockett clearly knew the right way to vote.

But he didn’t do it.

Citing Amendment 3, the Republicans claimed that giving gay and lesbian employees access to insurance for their partners and partners’ children, as well as family leave, would be perceived by the public as an endorsement of gay marriage.

As the Salt Lake Tribune aptly pointed out in their July 15 editorial, the backers of Amendment 3 told Utah voters that the measure would not be used to prevent private businesses and government agencies from offering these types of benefits to unmarried employees. This is the second time (first Utah State University, now Salt Lake County) that the anti-gay marriage vote has been used to do exactly that.

The voters of Utah have been lied to by the likes of Rep. Chris Buttars and others who pushed for the passage of the amendment. Try to conceal your shock.

Let’s not forget that Salt Lake County also had 45.5% of voters opposed to Amendment 3. We would bet that if the voters knew what the political fallout on issues such as employee benefits would be, that number would have been higher.

We, as a community, have three things we must

do in response to the current state of affairs.

First, we must hold our elected officials accountable to do the right thing. Not just the thing that will appease the radicals within their own parties, but the ethical and fair things that they know are right to do. Anyone who has studied history at all knows that true leadership isn’t about doing the easiest or least controversial thing, but about doing the right thing at the right time. Those are the kinds of leaders we need.

Second, we must continue to speak the truth—that Amendment 3 is being used to discriminate against queer citizens, that votes like the Salt Lake County Council’s do send messages that we are second-class citizens (no tearful words will change that, Mr. Crockett), and that we know there is nothing wrong or shameful or bad or unworthy about being queer.

Finally, we should offer the County Council an opportunity to correct their mistake. Now is the time to tell the Salt Lake County Council what they could do to prove that they do value their diverse employees. Perhaps the county could take the $75,000 that would have been spent on these benefits and give it to The Center to fund a youth crisis hotline, giving young people who are hurt and in pain (in part because votes like this reinforce the idea that they are bad and wrong and unworthy) a place to get help. Perhaps the county could reinforce and expand their anti-discrimination laws, like forbidding the county to do business with any company that does not have a written anti-discrimination policy. Or they could outlaw housing discrimination within the county on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Let’s just hope that next time a vote like this comes up, those council members who know the right thing to do will follow their conscience and do it.

Do you ever wonder what happened to the good ol’ “lazy days of summer?”

Since my last column, I spent a week in the Bay Area, watched my sister elope in Las Vegas with streaming video on the internet, wrote several letters to my county councilman urging him to vote in favor of domestic partner benefits, read the new Harry Potter book cover to cover, attended two birthday parties and one wedding and gave my room the thorough cleaning it’s been needing since Pride ended and things “settled down.”

I also updated my calendar with important dates and events through the upcoming months and realized that I’ve accounted for nearly every weekend until November (which we all know will be a slow and boring month because nobody celebrates anything in November or December).

I thought summer was a time to relax and kick back alongside the pool with a pitcher of margaritas! Where are my margaritas?

Being committed to the queer community can be exhausting at times. Especially when you’re also trying to maintain your involvement in family, church and social functions as well. Not that I’m complaining (much).

Take, for example, the weekend of August 20th. This is the weekend that Metro is sponsoring our Hot August Weekend, which will include a “gay day” at Raging Waters and another one at Lagoon. It’s also the weekend of the Utah Gay Rodeo Association’s campout, Pridaho in Pocatello (which Metro also sponsors), and Reno Gay Pride. Believe me when I say that we tried to find a different date for our Hot August Weekend, but it wasn’t happening.

This summer is turning out to be anything except a vacation.

However, I had the opportunity to sit and talk with Metro columnist and queer Utah’s foremost historian Ben Williams last week. Ben is no stranger to the incredible demands of community involvement. For 30 years, Ben has been to (and organized) more events than I can even fathom.

As we talked about ideas for our Queer History edition of Metro, one of the topics we touched upon was this problem of overlapping events and the craziness of the community calendar. I guess it’s a sign of the growth in our community that it’s simply impossible to avoid these sorts of conflicts anymore. The days when a single individual can attend every major event are long gone.

I also began to realize that maybe I’ve been missing the point of a lot of these sorts of events.

Sure, it’s important to the organizers of these events that their attendance is high. Sure, visibility when we come together is an important political statement. I’ll never stop believing that simply showing up to community events is part of the activist’s mission. However, it’s also important to have fun.

In the early days of my activism, I was told that the average “lifespan” of a grassroots activist was three years. People simply burn out, get bored, and feel underappreciated after about three years. I won’t pretend I haven’t felt all those things in my years of community involvement.

That’s when I take a breath, let myself just have fun for a bit, and renew my spirit for a while. Even in the most hectic, crazy times (like, for example, just before opening the gates on Pride day), a good laugh can get me through a lot. Hey, somebody bring me a margarita.

Letters Three Queers For Metro’s Language Choice Dear Editor, I agree with you 100 percent when it comes LGBT, GLBT, or any of those other politicallycorrect acronyms we use to represent our community (“Language is Queerific” July 7, 2005). These acronyms are code words for our community, where only we understand them. They tend to make our community invisible to the general population, a population that neither understands us nor wants to know that we actually exists. It’s much easier for the media to use “LGBT” or “GLBT” rather than the words “gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender” because the acronyms make it easier to pretend we don’t really exist.

And if we don’t really exist, then we don’t deserve any rights at all. We as a community have shot ourselves in the foot by creating and using these acronyms. We’ve made ourselves less visible to the straight community by using the terms rather than being more out in the open with our own orientation.

As for your second reasoning, I again agree with you. Acronyms do become less inclusive and leave our straight allies out of the picture. Remember: our straight allies would be considered “queer” within their straight families or friends who disagree with their thinking when it comes to queer rights. So, likewise, I personally go along with the word “queer” because it’s not conforming to what our society wants to hear or use and it basically states it like it is.

We are “queer” because we don’t fall under the so-called “norm” of society. We are unique and queer from the rest of society.

We need to keep it this way and remain “queerfic” instead of becoming totally assimilated into general society. Otherwise we are going to lose ourselves into the general population forever.

Mark Swonson Salt Lake City Dear Editor, As a straight woman involved in the leather scene, I agree with you one hundred percent about using “queer” instead of gay or GLBT. So many of my friends are gay or lesbian or bisexual that I find myself taking part in Pride and other similar events all the time.

“Queer” is great because I think it lets people like me—open-minded people who have explored their sexuality beyond

vanilla, missionary-position stuff—feel welcome and included. Thanks.

Mistress Ravenholm Evanston, Wyo.

William T. Park

“Donkey”

Weapons of Mass Deception

Salt Lake City

by William Todd Park

Dear Editor, Props to you on your use of the word queer.

Who really wants to be considered average anyway?

Two Views on Bisexuality Dear Editor, I just wanted to say that your coverage of bisexuality was way off (“Getting It From Both Sides” July 7, 2005). I don’t know where you found these people in your paper, but every single person I’ve ever met who claimed to be bisexual was either just afraid to admit they were gay, or such drunken sluts that they really didn’t care who got them off as long as someone did— usually a different person every weekend.

Why should we, gays and lesbians, embrace bisexuality? Even if there are a few people like the kind of bisexuals interviewed in your article, they are perfectly capable of getting by in the straight world by deciding to only date people of their opposite sex for a while. If they decide to date people of their same sex, they should call themselves gay while they do it and support our cause instead of hiding from it.

But in my experience, bisexuality is a disgusting, perverted whore-ish lifestyle that will never be accepted by hetero society and shouldn’t be accepted by us, either.

Jessi Reade Layton Dear Editor, I wanted to thank you guys for your thoughtful and informative coverage of bisexuality. I’m actually straight, but my sister is bisexual and I never really understood what she meant by that. I just thought she was confused and probably a lesbian. When I saw your paper at Coffee Garden, I decided to read it to see if I could better understand what made sis tick.

You’ve certainly opened up my eyes. I think I’m starting to get a better understanding of alternative sexuality—not just bisexuals, but I think I understand homosexuality better than I used to. Even though I’m straight, you’ve got a new loyal reader.

Keep up the excellent work!

Cody Telfer Salt Lake City

liam@slmetro.com

For the past few weeks, my email inbox has been getting a steady influx of urgent messages from all manner of organizations insisting they need lots of my money to stop the infidels in Washington. With the recent announcement that Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is resigning, the red and the blue political action committees alike are rattling their sabers, stockpiling their weapons of mass deception and filling their war chests with millions of dollars in contributions.

Conventional wisdom predicted the imminent resignation of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who is suffering from thyroid cancer, so it was a bit of a surprise that O’Connor tendered hers when she did. With two major vacancies on our nation’s highest court to fill in the very near future and the Dems hamstrung after the recent filibuster “compromise,” the big question on everyone’s mind in this high stakes game of “chicken” is how much political capital will be needed to avoid the cataclysmic collision of Washington titans. The alternative could very conceivably include pushing the button to launch the “nuclear option,” which has the potential of dismantling decades of social and legislative progress and throwing a free nation back to a time of theocratic tyranny that would have Osama bin Ladan howling with laughter and the founding fathers turning in their graves.

Although the president may think he has significant political capital in his back pocket, the figures at the polls indicate that he’s running a deficit, which makes sense when you look at his record on the federal budget. The folks on the other side of the aisle are rolling up their sleeves for a fight because their ledger is looking pretty bleak as well.

Evangelicals are raising their hands to the sky and speaking in tongues, insisting that the good Lord has indeed blessed their faithfulness. They’ve prayed years for just this opportunity. Gary Bauer, conservative activist and former president of the Family Research Council, pitched the totalitarian tack to his followers: “So many Americans have given sweat, toil and tears to elect a conservative president and a conservative Senate majority for precisely this moment.”

Shortly after the White House released the news that Justice O’Connor had tendered

her resignation, tales of the Robert Bork nomination were told. The left recounted the blood-letting as a battle won, proving that they would not let the president use the court to push an agenda. The right recited the account as a hard lesson learned, one that would not be repeated.

Justice O’Connor has been a leveling influence on the court, especially on historically important rulings. Replacing her will be a daunting task, even for a politically savvy leader. Since Mr. Bush has shown himself to “stay the course” rather than think critically and with the best interest of all the people, it will truly stretch his political abilities. If he nominates an überconservative for one of the vacancies, he risks the resurgence of bad blood in the Senate. Majority leader Tom Frist has already revived the threat of eliminating the filibuster for judicial nominees should the Democrats resist assimilation into the Republican fold. The president also risks the ire of conservative supporters if he doesn’t nominate someone who has enough red character. With the mid-term election season in the wings, more than just a few Republicans could find themselves joining the common man in the unemployment line.

At the peril of being labeled judicial activists, the court may hear arguments that will, regardless of their decisions, send major shock waves far into the future. Watershed rulings concerning abortion, gay rights, church and state separation, the death penalty and affirmative action hang in the balance, notwithstanding other hot potatoes.

Judicial activism on a national scale could have disastrous results. Overturning landmark decisions is a tinderbox that could create uprisings, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1960s. Does that mean the neocons won’t try to do something really inane? I wouldn’t hold my breath. If history is any indicator, they’ll press the limits of political ethics and then attempt to justify it with patriotic language.

The average person takes a little pleasure in lampooning our elected officials, knowing full well that living the public life and making decisions that impact millions of people carries a lot of weight personally. While agendas are appropriate for Congress and for presidential administrations, they are clearly not for the court that weighs the constitutionality of the lawmakers’ measures. But wit, political maneuvering and agendas must be put aside in the best interest of the country as a whole.

If there were ever a time when wisdom that surpasses the pitfalls of politics was needed in selecting the best candidate for the court, it is now.

JULY 21, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 9

Ruby Ridge Living 30 Days 30 Ways

by Ruby Ridge ruby@slmetro.com

So muffins, have you been watching the new reality series on FX called 30 Days?

If not, dammit, why not? I tell you, I just love this series and its really cheeky premise. Take an ordinary person and for 30 days put them in an environment totally opposite to what they are used to, document their experiences and edit the whole process down to an hourlong, quirky documentary for cable TV. It reminds me of that saying ... you know the one I’m thinking about,

by Abbie Hoffman—or was it Kyle Minogue who said that “Structure is more important than content in the transmission of information?”

I can’t remember who said it, but I’m sure it will come back to me eventually. Anyway, you can just imagine the mayhem that ensues when you take an Evangelical Christian and immerse him in Muslim culture, or take a straight guy and strand him in the Castro for a month. It’s an amazingly simple concept that it is so politically revealing and just plain smart, that it boggles my mind that a semi-sleazy channel like FX ever picked it up.

Last week’s episode had this very rural, very athletic, very religious straight guy being sent to live with a gay man in San Francisco for a month. It was an interesting and fairly predictable show but, pumpkins, I kept thinking to myself: as ultra-gay as I am, even I couldn’t last 30 days in the

Castro! I know, I know, it’s supposed to be our version of Mecca, but the Castro just grosses me out because it’s too gay! It just seems like everyone is in cruise mode 24/7. In the coffee shops, the deli, the dry cleaners, the Muni, everywhere ... and after a while the whole scene just gets icky. The constant inescapable culture of gayness is just overwhelming, and the meat market out on the streets must be hell on relationships. The last time I was in San Francisco I couldn’t get out of the Castro fast enough and I ended up going out for drinks with the hotel’s straight shuttle driver and we had a great time. But I digress.

The producer-director of 30 Days is Morgan Spurlock, the award-winning director of Super Size Me. Petals, if you haven’t seen this film, do yourself a favor and run out and rent the DVD. You will never be able to look at a fast food combo meal with a free conscience ever again, and trust me on this one, kittens: that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Spurlock’s style is as quirky, funny and politically pointed as Michael Moore’s, but without the holierthan-thou sarcasm. The thing that cracks me up about him is that although he’s straight, Spurlock has the gayest moustache this side of the Village People. You know—those big bushy moustaches that droop down to create a goatee? Oh my God, it takes you right back to the glory days of the leather bars and the leather clones of the 1970s.

Ironically enough, just like the bars in ... the Castro!

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As ultra-gay as I am, even I couldn’t last 30 days in the Castro!

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 winter weight gain in July.

AberRant Neurotica

By Laurie Mecham laurie@slmetro.com

Laurie Mecham has to make sure that all of the telephones are returned to their chargers every night, or something bad might happen.

JULY 21, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 11

Human Beans—oh, we are a funny crop.

Somehow both environment and genetics have adjusted our settings so that one person will always be attracted to people who are emotionally unavailable and don’t speak the same language, while another can only fall in love with left-handed pianists.

My wife and I each have our own access code. I call these quirks “neurotica.” She has a provision for everything—sort of like the kind of document you get before surgery, acknowledging all possible risks and waiving your rights of redress. When we were dating, she had this disclaimer and I was required to sign it. One was, “If, during the course of your intimate interaction with my body, you experience anything that is unpleasant or unsavory, has an unnatural texture, or that squeaks or emits strange frequencies, an eerie glow, or just has a weird vibe, you will immediately withdraw from that area.” I give my standard reply, which is, “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, praiseworthy, or of good report, I seek after these things.” And she is praiseworthy, to say the least.

Of course, for every couple (or every single who is coupling), no matter how magically their settings jive, at some point the unexpected happens at an unlucky time. The protocol in such a situation is to remove oneself gracefully and, at the appropriate time, inform the other party. Or not.

We’ve been together for three years now, so you’d think I could roll over in the morning and give her a little kiss, if not a big kiss.

But she turns her head and scrunches her whole mouth over to the side of her face and says through her clenched jaw, “I hvn’t brshd my tith!”

Well, that’s news.

Because I sneak out of bed about 30 minutes early, brush, floss and gargle so that I’m ready for that first peck.

Not. But I believe in equality. Like, morning breath A should equal morning breath B. I believe the recent tooth brushing of one person covers both people as long as the minty freshness is still lingering there somewhere between the two.

Now I’m not saying that she is neurotic any more than any of us, and I’m also not saying that either of us is not neurotic. But she’s got another little funny thing she does.

Actually, several things. We joke, like couples do. We make sexual jokes. Usually it’s something about our puppies, who hump—er, attempt to dominate each other—with great vigor and regularity, as dogs are prone to do. (They are, right? It’s normal?) Lola and Maxie take turns and wind up in all kinds of different positions (including 69—and I’m not even kidding). The most disturbing thing is when Maxie wriggles free and Lola continues thrusting while she walks across the room, back curved and bow-legged, hips popping forward rhythmically like a canine Tina Turner.

This will lead to one of us hollering,

“STOP HUMPING HER HEAD!” which then immediately causes my wife to frantically grab for any nearby phones, obsessively pressing “end” to make sure we weren’t accidentally and inexplicably connected for the last 45 minutes to her parents, my boss or the CIA. I could be commenting on someone’s car-top bicycle carrier, but as soon as I say, “Nice rack!” she’s searching my purse to check the phone. If we’re in the house, she will also turn toward the nearest window, whether open or closed, and holler, “We’re just kidding, neighbors!”

Be honest, we all suffer from some degree of neurotica. How many spontaneous moments have you lost because you were certain that you had something on your teeth, or you had eaten onions at lunch, or you arrived after sharing an elevator with someone who was wearing powerful, ill-advised cologne and you felt the need to run home again and shower?

People groom each other. It’s something couples do when they are intimate. It may be little things, like brushing her bangs out of her eyes or plucking a stray hair off of his sweater. But it all depends on the couple.

For all I know, there’s someone out there right now calling out, “Honey, it’s Thursday.

Time to express your anal glands!”

My daughter found that after she stopped living with her boyfriend, his back cleared up a lot. Perhaps she had been a wee bit zealous in policing his pores. Her friend has a long story that she loves to tell.

It’s called “Poo’s Incredible Pus Pocket.” She likes to illustrate it on paper by showing the size of the blackhead and then, at the climax of the story, drawing two parallel lines across the page to show the treasure in actual scale.

I have a large pore on my arm, and my woman is wild for it. She monitors it and is disappointed when there are no new developments. Once she got suspicious. “Have you been touching this without me?”

“Well, I did mess with it a little the other day…”

“How could you? You know I’ve been waiting for it to fill up again!”

“Oh really?” I replied, testily. “Well you’ve been a little too busy lately. Then you went out of town—what am I supposed to do, just be patient and hope the urge will go away until YOU’RE ready?”

I mean, it’s not like I asked someone else to look at it. I would have saved it for her, but I just couldn’t wait. I had to squeeze it myself.

Another thing we do has to do with food.

Sometimes a shared meal can be incredibly romantic or playful. But spontaneous kissing-while-eating is a no-no. It doesn’t matter what I do. I could have a mouth full of Oreos, but she has to swallow and floss and make a quick run to the dental hygienist. Occasionally I’ll get lucky though. If the mood is just right and I want to kiss her but she’s still got a little bit of food in her mouth, I can sometimes persuade her. I move up behind her and nuzzle her neck.

Then I whisper, “Why don’t you go ahead and masticate, baby? …and can I watch?”

Queer In Utah: A Historian’s Perspective

by Ben Williams ben@slmetro.com

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but unless initiated into such a group, you were out of luck. These cliques jealously guarded their privacy, knowing that exposure could destroy lives. But Mildred Berryman, a lesbian, kept a private journal in the 1920s and 30s of her clique of gay friends in Salt Lake City, for a master’s thesis.

The lucky lesbians had their softball leagues in the 1940s and were always allowed to be more “Tom Boy-ish.” Lesbians were historically divided between “fems” and “butches.” The butches were allowed to wear sporty men’s clothing, with slickedback or short-cropped hair, to distinguish themselves from the fems, who were attired in party dresses and lipstick.

Several individuals who were practicing homosexuals prior to Stonewall tell me that much of the “gay” scene was conducted at such private parties, at private residences—much like what is still happening today in Utah.

Invitees often brought acquaintances or “initiates” to these top-secret parties that were very much middle class soirees, only with the curtains drawn and the shades pulled down. People dressed up, coats and ties for men, dresses and makeup for women. Drag was not even a remote possibility. Cocktails were served, and small talk made. These parties tried to imitate the cosmopolitan air of similar chic parties on the east and west coasts.

If one had not “come out” to himself and did not consider himself a homosexual, which was considered one step worse then being a Communist in the 1950s, then the dangerous world of illicit sexual encounters in semi-public places were all that was available. Quick anonymous sex was sometimes addicting—an adrenaline rush, as was the fear factor of being caught. But anonymous sex afforded the luxury of returning to whatever “normal” life one was leading. It wasn’t really real sex after all . . . just fooling around.

AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT The 1960s “free love” movement never caught on in Utah. Utah was not a place to

“Drop Out, Tune In and Turn On.” Hippie communes and such radical concepts as sexual freedom and control over one’s own body, were just plain “crazy talk” for all but the young. Utah hippies and advocates of free love generally decided that California or Oregon “was the place,” not the barren Great Basin.

As strange as it seems today, it was only a few decades ago that police could issue citations for not wearing enough clothing appropriate for one’s gender. Shirtless men in public parks could also be ticketed.

Often in public lavatories, police officers initiated sexual behavior to make an arrest, using enticing young decoys to entrap people. No one protested. How could they?

When I first moved to Utah in 1973 at the age of 21, I was amazed how easy it was to have sex here with nearly any man as long as you did not talk about it . . . . or kiss.

Some temple-going elders told me that they did not feel they were violating their oaths of chastity by having sex with men because the oath, at that time, only pertained to having sexual intercourse with the “Daughters of Eve.” I guess the Sons of Adam were fair game, or so it seemed.

And of course lesbian sex was not even sex according to Utah patriarchy. Where’s the penis? No penis, no sex. That simple.

When I attended BYU, from 1973 to 1976, there was nary a bathroom stall that did not have some homosexual graffiti on it. I remember one in the Smithfield House that pleaded, “I really need a BJ. I am so desperate.” I bet he was.

When I was cast out into outer darkness in 1976, I soon discovered a local phenomenon—and it wasn’t City Creek’s “Gravity Hill.” It seemed to me that the closer one got to Temple Square the cruisier the bathrooms became. There was a direct correlation between the amount of homosexual bathroom graffiti and the distance from Main and South Temple. Maybe it was gravity hill after all.

JULY 21, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 13

SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 21, 2005

PIONEER DAYS Homosexuality in Utah was a furtive lifestyle fraught with perilous and clandestine conduct; in much of rural Utah, it still is.

Before the gay civil rights movement of the late 20th century, homosexuality was an illicit behavior in Utah, ranging from a felony to a misdemeanor offense. Gays were the sexual outlaws of the wild west.

In Utah’s pioneer theocracy, adultery was a capital offense. Many a pioneer journal recorded that heads of women were found in isolated ravines, cut off for wayward offenses. Wayward men, however, were more likely to be simply castrated by bowie knife or primitive tourniquet.

Nothing happened to aficionados of male on male sex, generally. The most common practices, group and dual masturbation, were perennial pulpit denouncements, but one could live, (and keep ones balls), with that. Gay Gentile men were left alone, unless they diddled with underage Mormon priesthood holders, and then they were often assassinated.

Masturbation, frottage, and vaginal and anal intercourse were, before the days of better penile and vaginal hygiene, the preferred sexual practices over oral sex.

Crotch odors from people who bathed infrequently and generally wore temple undergarments until they rotted off, made keeping one’s nasal organs and taste buds away from such a pungent region paramount. Oral sex is a by-product of modern plumbing. It is a matter of taste.

I have this theory that descendants of Mormon polygamous families inherited a “horny gene” from their stud ancestors. It’s simple really. The more a man copulated, the more children he had, and therefore

simply freaks of nature.

Also, the bars were the only semi-secure place homosexuals could meet, even if discreetly. But yet there still we often had to speak in code. “Do you have a light . . . dear?”

“Do you know Dorothy?” “I have a red tie at home just like yours,” and other antiquated phrases. And as sad as some of these places were, they were safer then being arrested or beaten up in public toilets and parks.

Gay bars and gay-friendly bars were mostly associated with the red light districts of Commercial and Regent Streets in old Salt Lake City in the early half of the 20th century. Later after the brothels closed, 200 South in Salt Lake City became the predominate place for homosexuals to meet and cruise. In Ogden, being a railroad town, the place was wide open. There appears to have even been a gay bar in the basement of the county courthouse called the Court.

Horny heterosexual males often made little distinction between “loose women” and “sissy men” and used each for personal sexual gratification. Frequently, sissy men were preferred because they didn’t charge and would perform oral sex—which the women sometimes loathed to do.

In fact, to many older homosexual men the word “gay” always had a semi-sexual connotation. The term “gay blade” did not connote a happy fellow but rather a person who was “randy” and usually frequented houses of prostitution—male or female.

In the 1930s the term “gay cat” was a man who would punk for another man.

For a good number of police officers, before Stonewall the words homosexual, whore, and prostitute were all synonymous.

Homosexuality was simply a vice that plagued cities and had to be controlled.

Moralists called for regular city sweeps of the dens of Sodom and Gomorrah. Mothers protect your children! Paddy wagons were used in Salt Lake City to empty out saloons and bars, wholesale, of suspected prostitutes and homosexuals. Same gender dancing was completely illegal.

In Utah, a fortunate few homosexuals had cliques that functioned as a social gathering place outside the bars and parks,

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

building a relationship with a partner. Hetero-controlled society pushed homosexuals into areas of semi-public places to “hook up” and then pointed to these practices as examples of homosexuals being perverted.

Most homosexuals did not dare live with a partner even if they could find an accommodating landlord. People were expected to more likely to pass on his ability to have prodigious amounts of sex. Mormon men marry and raise families or stay home with who were not as potent, or were not driven their parents as “old maids” or “confirmed bachelors.” Those who did not were subject by a desire for copious amounts of sex, obviously had fewer descendants. Someone to all forms of scurrilous speculation. should do a study on the Mormon sex gene. Rumors and innuendos of being After all, these were the days before Viagra. homosexual ended careers, and often drove people to despair, self-loathing and Some others proposed a theory that “socialized homosexuality” was dominant in suicide. Lillian Hellmann’s 1930s classic Utah because of the lack of a sexual outlet for play, The Children’s Hour, was made into a males with females. While the ratio of males Hollywood movie in the late 1950s. In the film, Shirley MacLaine is driven to suicide to females was pretty similar in polygamy simply because of her desire for Audrey days, access to the female population was limited to the whims and dictates of Brigham Hepburn. “I feel so damn dirty!” she agonized. Homosexual lust alone, espeYoung as holder of the keys of who could cially for the angelic heterosexual Audrey, marry in Utah. When one man married 26 women, it is obvious that 26 other men it seemed to Hollywood, was justification went without connubial bliss. Penalties for enough for Shirley McLaine to kick a chair straying from marriage vows were severe in out from beneath her.

In the 1970s it was a good thing that Mormon pioneer Utah. See above.

Laverne DeFazio never told Shirley Feeney THE FIRST NEW MILLENIUM how much she loved sharing an apartment The only hard records of homosexuality with her in Milwaukee, or the sitcom Lafound in Utah archives, from the 19th and verne & Shirley would never have been so early 20th century, are criminal records. funny. Imagine Lenny and Squiggy pulling Sodomy was a felony and men, usually Laverne down from the rafters, dangling non-Mormon transients, were sent to from her pasted-on letter ‘L.’ Of course the prison for up to 20 years. True, many of ‘L’ was for “lesbian!” these cases involved male rape, but many others were of a consensual nature which THE BEGINNINGS OF COMMUNITY Some today are upset that gay culture is had the misfortune of being caught flaidentifi ed with tavern life, but they have grante delicto. no concept of history. Gay bars have never Homosexuals were not simply being been about getting an alcoholic beverage, arrested for engaging in sexual conduct in barns, stables, public parks and public especially in Salt Lake City. While gay bars were never safe, due to police raids, blacktoilets—they were also being spied on by vice officers in private spaces. Homosexuals mail, or assault on queers by heterosexuwere pursued in hotels and motels, sneak- als, they were, however, the wellsprings of modern gay culture, where the beginnings peeked on in parked vehicles, and even of homosexual consciousness bubbled up. arrested in their own homes. Until the early 1980’s, many landlords even had the They were, in effect, pseudo-community centers. In these places we knew we were legal right to refuse to rent one bedroom apartments to more than one person of the not alone. We were not an aberration, for same gender. This was hardly conducive for there were simply too many of us to be

Ten Most Significant Events for Queer Utah in the 20th Century

by Ben Williams, ben@slmetro.com

BOHEMIAN CLUB (1890s-1910s) The Bohemian Club was an elite intellectual club associated with the University of Utah from the 1890s through the early part of the 20th century. The club was named for the free thinking communities of New York City and other east coast cities.

Bohemian is equivalent to the hip, beatnik, hippie, new wave, punk, and grunge movements of the latter half of the 20th century.

In most counter-cultures, gay and lesbians are at the forefront of alternative ways of thinking and living. Within the Bohemian Club young gentile and Mormon Utahns met and shared ideas outside the parameters of the dominant Mormon culture.

WWII ERA AND THE KINSEY REPORT (1939-50) World War II brought the largest inland military installation in the U.S. to Utah, located at Kearns Field. This installation in western Salt Lake County brought in the greatest number of gentiles to Utah ever, which, by its very nature, challenged the dominant culture. Young gay and lesbian Mormons were able to experience during the war years a relaxing of the strict prohibition against fraternizing with the forbidden gentile world. Lesbians were freed from the restriction of male supervision, and gay men were thrown into close intimate situations with other gay men. Fort Douglas became the main cruising spot for gay men. Shortly after World War II, Dr. Alfred Kinsey published his work on male sexuality that claimed that 10 percent of men were homosexual to some degree. This powerful concept cemented the notion that gays could be found in significant numbers in any given community—even in Utah.

CLEON SKOUSEN’S MORALITY DRIVE (1955–60)

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 21, 2005

The topic of homosexuality was breached in the 1940s, but by the 1950s homosexuality became identified as un-American and subversive. The far right, fueled by the McCarthy era’s “homosexual panic,” led a crusade against homosexuals in America. In

Utah, Salt Lake City’s Chief of Police, Cleon Skousen, used “immorality” as a political opportunity. He began a public education program that instilled the fear of gay men as the enemy of children. He increased his budget by enlarging his vice department, which was then sent out to arrest more gay men and drive them underground. His well-publicized crusade against “perverts” justified his budget, but so ruthless was his tactics that in 1959 even the Salt Lake Tribune pleaded for compassion towards homosexuals.

Progressive citizens began to see Skousen’s scapegoating homosexuals as part of his conservative political agenda. Progressive judges started sentencing homosexuals to psychiatric treatment instead of jail.

UTAH GAY LIBERATION (1969) Within months of the Stonewall riots in NYC, gay liberation was organized in Utah.

Forming coalitions with other oppressed minorities and joining the anti-Vietnam War movement, gay liberation allowed gay Utahns to view themselves historically as part of a great civil rights movement. By elevating the nature of the gay struggle from oppression, homosexuals by the thousands came out of closets in the 1970s. “Proud to be gay” was a paradigm shift in the consciousness of homosexuals. Within a few short years, Salt Lake City had the Lesbian and Gay Student Union at the University of Utah, a gay-friendly church, and several gay and lesbian bars.

THE SUN TAVERN (1973) While it was not the first tavern to cater to a homosexual clientele, the Sun was the first to be solely owned by a social activist who saw his bar as more than just a business, and it quickly became the unofficial home of the blossoming gay community. Gay politics, the anti-war movement, the Equal Rights Amendment and other social agendas were as part of the atmosphere of the Sun as disco dancing and cruising. The Sun embodied gay liberation in the 1970s and was the university for the post-Stonewall man and woman. The Sun set the standard

for future gay-oriented businesses catering to gays and lesbians wherein its patrons demanded to be treated with respect.

nity Center of Utah, which, fittingly, had the same acronym (GLCCU) as the old council.

THE ANITA BRYANT UTAH FAIRGROUNDS PROTEST (1977)

Began by a courageous set of teenagers and bullied by a homophobic state legislature, the movement to establish a gay club at a high school level sent shock waves through conservative Utah—and much of the nation. Ironically, a federal bill supported by Senator Hatch to permit more religious expression in public schools allowed the Gay Straight Alliance federal protection.

Although the Salt Lake School Board cowardly disbanded all non-curricular student clubs at East High, eventually a federal judge upheld the club’s right to legally exist and thus securing the right for other Utah schools to form similar gay clubs.

In 1977 for the first time, gay Utahns felt empowered enough to say to the anti-progressive establishment that it would not tolerate homophobia without protest. The broad base community protest formed coalitions between diverse elements in the newly formed gay and lesbian communities. Many gay and lesbian individuals allowed themselves to accept—for the first time—the concept that they belonged to a collective community working towards a common good through the form of protest.

AIDS PROJECT UTAH AND SALT LAKE AIDS FOUNDATION (1985-89) Two organizations founded separately but simultaneously formed the core of Utah’s response to the AIDS epidemic. Almost as if divinely inspired, the two organizations emerged to educate Utahns against the disease, while at the same time the gay men’s community was being devastated by the plague until uncaring authorities could muster an official response. The proudest moments in the history of the gay and lesbian movement occurred in these first few years of the epidemic when no one would help us but each other. Those who lived during these times are forever marked by the experience.

GAY AND LESBIAN COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF UTAH (1986) The formation of the Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah was a visionary attempt to unify a diverse (and some what cantankerous gay and lesbian community) through the networking of its organizations and activists. GLCCU overcame distrust by some and diversionary tactics from others to become the premier clearing house for Utah’s gay communities for nearly a decade. Among its achievements were the following: the community council formed a liaison with the SLC police department, elected chairs for the Anti-Violence Project, Out Reach Program, AIDS Awareness, and Pride Day. But probably the most successful of all the committees of GLCCU was the Utah Stonewall Center established in 1991. In 1998 this name was changed to the Gay and Lesbian Commu-

1

EAST HIGH GAY STRAIGHT ALLIANCE (1996)

THE ELECTION OF JACKIE BISKUPSKI (1998) The election of Biskupski culminated the political process by which gays and lesbians in Utah have been trying to achieve political power and recognition for the past 30 years.

Gay men and women have served in Utah political office probably since the first ox cart—but never out of the closet. Stephen Holbrook, a social activist representing the university district in the 1970s, was not able to be open publicly about his homosexuality although he was out to close friends. Social activist Joe Redburn ran against Genevieve Atwood and lost. Willie Marshall ran for Bountiful city council but was smeared as not being “a family man.” Perennial Libertarian, Bob Waldrop, ran openly as a gay man in several state elections but was never elected.

Political mover and shaker David Nelson also ran several times as a gay candidate but to no avail. The radical rights’ vicious slander and smear tactics have even been brought down upon just “gay friendly” straight politicians. Therefore Biskupski’s win, in a state where an LDS elite makes all the decisions, is a very significant event. But even more then that, the election showed that even in Salt Lake City, a person’s sexual orientation is no longer an automatic disqualifier from public service. It demonstrated clearly how the struggles of the past 30 years, of constant progressive increments no matter how small, were able to wear down a mountain of ignorance and fear about the true nature of our same-gender love.

100 Utah Activists, 1969–99 Michael Aaron, Lesbian & Gay Student Union officer, Anti-Violence Project founder, political activist, Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats chair, Gay & Lesbian Comm. Council of Utah, publisher Robert Austin Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah chair, AIDS educator, activist Steve Barker organizer, activist, benefactor Barb Barnhart AIDS educator, supporter, Kristen Ries Award Ben Barr AIDS educator, Utah AIDS Foundation director, Kristen Ries Award, Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah Bruce Barton- Metropolitan Community Church Pastor, Kristen Ries Award, Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah officer Beau Chaine Community Center organizer, editor, Gay Help Line, GLCCU John Bennett Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah chair, Utah Stonewall Center Director, activist, Lesbian and Gay Student Union officer Nikki Boyer Organizer, benefactor, Kristen Ries Award Chris Brown Lesbian and Gay Student Union officer, Anti-Violence Project chair, political activist, GLCCU, Lesbian and Gay Student Union Marshall Brunner Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire, organizer, benefactor Debra Burrington

feminist, University of Utah Women Studies Center, Utah Human Rights Campaign, KRCL, Kelly Byrnes Metropolitan Community Church pastor, Kristen Ries Award, supporter Clariss Cartier Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire officer, Kristen Ries Award, benefactor Garth Chamberlain Youth Group founder, organizer, activist, GLCCU John Cooper Affirmation officer, organizer Richard Cottino USWest Eagles, Utah Stonewall Center trustee, organizer, GLCCU Marlin Criddle Utah Stonewall Center chair, Film Festival, GLCCU, National Gay Lawyers Guild Jim Dabakis Affirmation, Gay and Lesbian Community Center chair, benefactor Babs Delay KRCL, feminist, Editor, Utah Stonewall Center trustee, activist Duane Dawson AIDS Project Utah founder, Affirmation officer, supporter Todd Dayley Editor, supporter, benefactor Dick Dotson AIDS Educator, Horizon House founder, benefactor Donny Eastepp Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire, Pride Day chair, GLCCU, benefactor, bar owner Laura L. Ferreira Editor, feminist, activist

Jeff Freedman Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire, KRCL, Pride Day chair, Kristen Ries Award, Marita Gayle Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire, benefactor, supporter Greg Garcia Activist, organizer, GLCCU Carrie Gaylor GLCCU, Anti-Violence Project, Pride Day chair, activist Eve Goldman feminist, activist, women’s community organizer Carla Gourdin feminist, organizer, activist, GLCCU, supporter Brook Hallock feminist, activist, supporter Bruce Harmon Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire officer, benefactor, Kristen Ries Award, GLCCU Laverl Harris Grace Christian Church founder, feminist, organizer Ray Henke Editor, gay activist, organizer, Gay Help Line Kevin Hillman Activist, Pride Day chair, DIG Awards founder, GLCCU, Utah gay Rodeo Association Steve Holbrook KRCL founder, legislator, benefactor Jim Hunsaker GLCCU chair, activist, Lesbian and Gay Student Union officer Mac Hunt Benefactor, supporter, bar owner Cloy Jenkins Author of Prologue, A Rebuttal to BYU’s Anti Gay Stance Norm Jenks

Cache Valley Alliance founder, GLCCU, supporter Curtis Jensen Queer Nation, DMSC, activist, GLCCU, Lesbian and Gay Student Union officer Duane Jennings Wasatch Affirmation, supporter Wes Jolley Activist, builder, Lesbian and Gay Student Union officer Ron Johnson Supporter, benefactor, Utah Gay Rodeo Association Chad Keller Editor, activist, supporter, organizer Ken Kline Lesbian and Gay Student Union founder, editor, activist, builder Ray King Affirmation, supporter Gordon “Jodie Lynn” Kotterwinkle Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire officer, benefactor Krazy Pete Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire officer, supporter, benefactor, bar owner Russ Lane Wasatch Affirmation founder, organizer, GLCCU Walter Larabee Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire officer, benefactor John Lorenzini AIDS Educator, supporter Pam Mayne Utah Gay Liberation founder Abby Maestas Feminist, organizer, supporter, KRCL Stuart McDonald Gay Rights promoter, opinion

writer Robert McIntire Organizer, Restoration Church of Jesus Christ official, GLCCU Dorothy Makin Gay Center chair, activist Luci Malin Feminist, Now, women’s community supporter, GLCCU Val Mansfield DMSC Member, Kristen Ries Award, benefactor, GLCCU Jane Marquardt Supporter, benefactor, activist, Equality Utah Ladonna Moore Utah AIDS Foundation, AIDS educator, Kristen Ries Award, activist Becky Moorman Editor, feminist, activist, GLCCU Becky Moss Kristen Ries Award, KRCL, activist, political activist Marci Malloy Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire officer, benefactor David Nelson Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats founder, political activist, GLCCU, LGSU officer Rocky O’Donavan Queer Nation founder, Gay and Lesbian Historical Society, activist, GLCCU Charlene Orchard Kristen Ries Award, UHRC, KRCL, GLCCU, activist, Utah Stonewall Center founder Larry Pacheco Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire officer, benefactor, activist Mike Perry Editor, KRCL, activist, supporter Kelli Peterson Gay/Straight Alliance East High

founder, political activist, organizer Julie Pollock Knights of Malta, benefactor, political activist, GLCCU Pepper Prespentt Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire officer/founder, benefactor Mason Rankin Political activist, organizer, benefactor Patty Reagan Kristen Ries Award, AIDS Educator Joe Redburn Activist, organizer, supporter, benefactor, bar owner Kristen Ries AIDS Physician, benefactor Renee Rinaldi Utah Stonewall Center director, GLCCU officer, Queer Nation Debra Rosenberg GLCCU, Pride Day chair, political activist, feminist Kim Russo Kristen Ries Award, Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire, AIDS Educator. Editor, GLCCU Satu Servigna GLCCU officer, editor, political activist, benefactor David Sharpton AIDS Educator, People with AIDS Coalition of Utah founder, activist Melissa Sillitoe Utah Stonewall Center director, Youth Group organizer, activist, GLCCU Liza Smart GLCCU, feminist, organizer, supporter, Older Wiser Lesbians Randy “Ethyl” Smith Activist, organizer Robert Smith GLCCU officer, editor, Utah Stonewall Center library founder, activist

Dale Sorenson GLCCU, Youth Group leader, Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats officer, activist Sheldon C. Spears AIDS Educator, organizer Donald Stewart AIDS Educator, Horizon House founder, supporter Scott Stites Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire officer, benefactor David Thometz Political activist, Lesbian and Gay Student Union officer, Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats Chris Trujillo Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire officer, supporter, benefactor, Utah Gay Rodeo Association Brenda Voisard GLCCU chair, feminist. DIG Awards founder, activist Robert Waldrop Metropolitan Community Church pastor, editor, political activist Dean Walton (Auntie De) Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire officer, benefactor Chuck Whyte Kristen Ries Award, GLCCU officer Ben Williams, Kristen Ries Award, KRCL, Utah Stonewall Historical Society Doug Wortham GLCCU, Gay and Lesbian Community Center Director, GLSTEN founder, Kathy Worthington Kristen Ries Award, GLCCU, political activist, editor Steve Zakharias Affirmation founder, activist, supporter By the Utah Stonewall Historical Society

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BETTY. SEE SUNDAY, JULY 17

THE GAY AGENDA

by Eric Tierney, eric@slmetro.com

21THURSDAY

Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg over a labor dispute.

At last ... your chance to see Etta James in concert is here. Not only is she still alive, she’s still singing! James is perhaps the last in a great line of singers like Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughn and Rosemary Clooney, and this is your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see one of the great jazz vocalists live.

Continues Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday from 10am-5pm, Friday 10am9pm, and Sundays 1pm-5pm through October 2 at the Salt Lake Art Center. Admission is free; information at 3258-4201.

8pm, Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South. Tickets $45-$59.50 at 355-2787 or arttix.org

24SUNDAY It’s Sunday and it’s Pioneer Day. What better way to celebrate than by going to a dingy club in West Valley City to see America’s favorite stoner comic? Tommy Chong and Shelby will play two shows tonight in WVC. Here’s your chance to escape all those bonnets and handcarts and spend P Day up in smoke.

7pm and 9pm, Wise Guys Comedy Café, 3500 S. 2200 West, West Valley City. Tickets $15 at 463-2609 or smithstix.com

25MONDAY Utah has a special history with labor unions—after all, we jog in Sugarhouse Park on the site of the former state prison where labor leader Joe Hill was executed.

So it’s no accident that the Salt Lake Art Center has brought The Idaho Project to its Street Level Gallery. The show features 18 sculptures representing figures in the drama surrounding the assassination of

We’re pretty lucky to live here in Salt Lake—hundreds of thousands of people crossed the plains to settle the West in the 19th century, but only Utah takes a weekday off every year to throw a huge parade in celebration of their trials and sacrifices. Come on down to the Days of ’47 Parade and honor our pioneer heritage—with floats!

Begins 9am at S. Temple and Main Street, continues to 200 East, south to 900 South, and east to Liberty Park. Limited bleacher seating is available for $7 at Zion’s Bank branches. Information at 257-4656.

26TUESDAY Were it not for Josef Haydn, there would be no Mozart. Tonight, the Utah Festival Opera Company presents the classical master’s masterpiece oratorio, The Creation, a monumental exploration of the birth of the Universe. A little high-culture could be just the thing for you after that Tommy Chong show earlier in the week.

7:30pm, Ellen Eccles Theatre, 43 S. Main Street, Logan. Tickets $9-39, 355-2787.

27WEDNESDAY So Haydn’s legacy led us to history’s most prolific composer, a young man named Mozart—maybe you’ve heard of him? As part of the Deer Valley Music Festival,

PIONEER DAY PARADE See July 25

the Utah Symphony tonight presents Morales Plays Mozart—the Symphony’s own Dara Morales will tackle Wolfie’s Third Violin Concerto.

7:30pm, St. Mary’s of the Assumption Church, 1505 White Pine Canyon Road, Park City. Tickets $20 at 355-2787 or arttix.org.

If it weren’t for Utah, Howard Jones would probably be resting in a comfortable retirement right now, collecting royalty checks and drinking a single-malt somewhere. But his devoted Beehive State following keeps him busy—and today we’re in for a special treat: MODified Music and 107.5 The End are presenting HoJo in concert with the legendary Colin Hay, as well as new-wavers Naked Eyes.

If the sartorial habits of the ladies of Kearns weren’t proof enough that in many ways it’s still 1985 in Utah, surely this is.

8pm, McKay Events Center, 800 W. University Park Way, Orem. Tickets $17.50-$54 at (800) 888-8499 or smithstix.com

28THURSDAY The Muir Quartet is a powerhouse chamber group, renowned throughout the classical music world. Tonight, as part of the ongoing Deer Valley Music Festival, they’ll present a Chamber Concert featuring string quartets by Mozart, Beethoven, and Debussy.

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7:30pm, St. Mary’s of the Assumption Church, 1505 White Pine Canyon Road, Park City. Tickets $20 at 355-2787 or arttix.org.

29FRIDAY Remember the mid-to-late nineties?

Better Than Ezra, Sister Hazel...Collective Soul…the boys have been touring and recording nonstop for more than ten years now, and yet everyone still just wants them to play “The World I Know.”

Chances are you’ll hear it tonight if you go to the show ... and if you’re patient enough to sit through tracks from their newest album, From the Ground Up. 7pm, In the Venue, 219 S. 600 West. Tickets $20 in advance, $22 day of show, at 467TIXX or smithstix.com

30SATURDAY The Center’s youth programs are among their most successful and valuable, and the contributions of community volunteers are part of what makes them work.

Today, the Center holds its Youth Activity Center Volunteer Training, another chance for you to give back to the organization that gives so much to us. Help reach out to our community’s youth and ensure them a safe, happy and healthy coming out process.

9am-1pm, The Center, 355 N. 300 West.

539-8800, ext. 14.

There’s a notion that lesbians are notorious for spending second dates opening joint checking accounts and filling out Fannie Mae applications. Beyond the UHaul, a workshop held tonight as a benefit for the Center, will explore issues specific to lesbian relationships—exploding the myths, tightening the nuts and bolts, and questioning conventions. The day-long event will be led by Sue Morrow and Donna Hawxhurst, activists, therapists, and lovers for more than thirty years.

9am-4:30pm, The Center, 355 N. 300 West.

Pre-registration required, $25. glbtccu.org.

While the lesbians explore their feelings and relationships, the gay men will probably just want to sing a few show tunes. Why not hang out under the stars at the Utah Symphony’s From Hollywood to Broadway concert? The orchestra will accompany such accomplished Broadway performers as Michael Maguire, who created the role of Enjolras in Les Miserables on Broadway, and Susan Egan, who originated Belle in Beauty and the Beast and went on to star in Thoroughly Modern Millie, as they perform songs from Hollywood and Broadway musicals.

7:30pm, Deer Valley, 2250 Deer Valley Drive South, Park City. Tickets $24, 355-2787

Good music isn’t always about floppy hair on skinny boys who play the same 8 chords as all the other skinny boys with floppy hair. For something truly different

and unique, try “Faerie” Elaine Silver tonight and tap into your inner new-ager.

Couldn’t we all use a little more magic in our lives?

7pm, South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, 6876 South Highland Drive (2000 East). Tickets $15 at Spellbound (1057 E..

2100 S.) or at the door. For information call 561-0954

31SUNDAY Since the 1960s, John Prine has been a prolific and celebrated songwriter. He recently wrote and produced his first album in nine years, and tonight he (with special guest Kathleen Edwards) will perform songs from it and throughout his career. The album has been described as “sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hilarious.” The same thing could be said about my sex life.

8pm, Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple.

Tickets $45.50-47.50, 355-2787 or arttix.org.

1MONDAY Austin’s Flatbed Press was founded fifteen years ago and since then has collaborated with 65 artists and produced more than 100 print editions. The Salt Lake Arts Center presents an exhibit called Fresh Ink that features an array of printmaking styles and techniques by 22 of the Press’ artists.

Continues Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday from 10am-5pm, Friday 10am9pm, and Sundays 1pm-5pm September 25

at the Salt Lake Art Center. Admission is free; information at 3258-4201.

2TUESDAY Yet another amazing songwriter comes to Utah, this one the sweet-voiced, heart-breaking melodist Allison Krauss.

Krauss plus a bottle of wine will equal the kind of first date that will end in a relationship seminar like the one described above. Fair warning.

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

3WEDNESDAY In order to save the life of her dear brother, a nun must sleep with an evil politician. Sound like the kind of novel you’d find for sale in the checkout line at the grocery store? Nope—it’s Shakespeare!

Measure for Measure—one of the Bard’s most complicated and controversial plays—is set in the dark underworld of a sinful and corrupt Vienna. Salt Lake Shakespeare’s production has a contemporary setting, providing an insightful context for a play that relates more to life in modern America than many of us would like to admit.

Wednesdays through Sundays at 7:30 through August 14, Babcock Theatre, 300 S. 1400 East, University of Utah, Tickets $15 at 355-2787 or arttix.org

Center to Screen Revolutionary Queer Documentary

by John Wilkes john@slmetro.com

in sexuality, psychology, sociology, and conflict resolution classes. Over 40 PFLAG chapters utilize the documentary as an educational tool.

“Those coming to watch this film can export the dialogues and experiences they’ll see and hear to their own lives,” says Valerie Larabee, executive director of The Center. She encourages everyone to see the film and to bring their straight friends with them. “The more we enter into open, honest conversations with the people in our lives, the more those people have an opportunity to change their perspective.”

Naomi Lee, Salt Lake Film Center Development Officer and co-curator for the Pride Film Festival, will facilitate an informal discussion after the screening. “I can’t imagine anyone who’s seen this film won’t have an anecdote to share or an opinion to express,” she says. Salt Lake Film Center is also teaming with The Center to host similar screenings in the future.

The screening is scheduled for Tuesday, July 26 at 7:00pm in the Center Space, 361 North 300 West.

For a calendar of other events visit glbtccu. com. For more information on Experiment visit www.whatsup.com/experiment.

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Imagine that you are confined to a threebedroom, three-bath house with nine strangers for seven consecutive days. The youngest of you is 23, the oldest 47. Five are male, five female. Your backgrounds range from actor/waiter to chemist. Perhaps you’re thinking, “Sounds uncomfortable, but not unbearable.”

Wait—there’s more.

No one in the house is allowed communication with or information from the outside: no phone, no computer, no television, no privacy ... no sex. Still think you could handle it?

Oh, yeah: half are straight, half gay or lesbian. If you’re not yet cringing, hissing and putting two fingers together in the sign of the cross, there’s one more thing: the cameras are rolling 24/7.

That’s what ten Chicagoarea residents endured in September 2002. The result is Experiment: Gay & Straight, which will be shown next week at The Center.

Experiment originally aired on WFLD-TV (Fox News Chicago) in November 2002 as a series of special news reports. Public reaction and a desire to reach a larger audience prompted reporters Mark Saxenmeyer and Darlene Hill, along with producer Kathleen Minnis, to transform those broadcasts into a 90-minute documentary resembling MTV’s The Real World, or CBS’s Big Brother. Saxenmeyer, who also directed the film, calls it “reality TV with a purpose.”

That purpose was to encourage frank dialogue among the participants about sexuality, human rights and discrimination. This was accomplished by exposing everyone in the show to information on a variety of queer topics, like gay marriage and parenting, homophobia and hate crimes, HIV/AIDS, nature vs. nurture, and religious views on homosexuality. Evenings were spent viewing videotapes and reading articles designed to prompt the following day’s discussion. Topics often reflected specific aspects of housemates’ personal lives. The conditions imposed on the ten people who sacrificed their daily routines, anonymity, and privacy for the experience allowed no opportunity to skirt the issues, resulting in heated, emotional interaction. Saxenmeyer or Hill interviewed cast members one-on-one each day; they also expressed confidential thoughts and feelings on-camera in the “disclosure den.”

In the end, producers shaped 164 hours of various recorded media into a program that all participants agree left

an indelible imprint upon them. Some people’s minds changed, others did not; but most everyone involved seems glad to have been a part of the project and some keep in touch to this day, participating in speaking tours and educational presentations on the film. Experiment has won numerous local, national and international awards. Churches, schools and universities nationwide use the program

EarPiece Rappers, Reality Stars and Fantasy

by Eric J. Tierney eric@slmetro.com

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I come to you this week in agony, kids, having tweaked something in my wrist that makes typing something akin to repeatedly putting my hand on a hot stove. But for the several of you who read this column each issue, my devoted followers, no pain is too great to fulfill my celebrity mocking and half-baked opinion-concocting duties.

50 Cent, who be appeared in Our Fair City recently, has announced plans for a brand of luxury watches, called G-Unit, which will be priced as high as $3,500. Let me put this into perspective for those of us not benefiting from the president’s tax cuts: that’s the same amount of money you get for one semester of college from a Stafford student loan.

This comes amidst news of many other entertainers throwing down with other high-profile brands: the Game is gonna make shoes (which means his assistant will approve sketches and then deposit the checks), Jessica Simpson’s got lingerie, the list goes on and on. It occurs to me that buying these products is much the same thing we used to do as children: you like Josie and the Pusycats? Get the lunchbox!

Think Fifty is sick (sic)? Buy this three thousand-dollar watch! We are consumerists to our core in this country, kiddos, and nothing pleases us more than when we can associate one purchase with another—doing so helps us feel like our choices have meaning and say something about us. It helps us not to feel like mindless, soulless money zombies all buying essentially the same stuff from different people. Also, the shoes are hot.

In other news, Bobby Brown’s reality show Being Bobby Brown is now airing on Bravo, the network that gave us Inside the Actor’s Studio. I become more certain in my conviction everyday that, if the world isn’t about to actually end, our “culture” probably is. I’m quite sure that had they known this is where their work would lead, the

Renaissance masters would have packed it in and led nice lives as innkeepers or something.

In other news, our beloved Scissor Sister Ana Matronic blasted Paris Hilton for attending the Live 8 concert in London, pointing out that Paris didn’t even know what the event was about. To her credit, ol’ Par admitted that this was so, but then said she felt ashamed of her ignorance and vowed to take action: “I want to get more involved in this cause, so I’m going to read all the newspapers while I’m in Athens planning my wedding.” Now that’s taking a stand for what you believe in!

Finally, it’s that time again: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has launched itself from the shelves and into the faces of parents and children all across the country. The first printing of the book ran 10.8 million copies—that’s seven times the number of President Clinton’s biography. As author J.K. Rowling has been dramatically increasing the scale of the novels lately, I think we can look forward to about 2,500 or so pages of wonder and wizardry.

That should make for some nice summer reading for the kiddies, who will probably finish the thing in two days and read it twice more before the week is out. Have you ever seen these kids with the Potter? It’s the like the Maoist Chinese with the Little Red Book. It’s like someone put Snickers bars into book form. Which is a splendid thing, of course. When I was a kid, it wasn’t cool to read, but I did anyway. Now all the non-readers are managing Wal-Marts and repairing air conditioners—and I have this glamorous job! Ha! On the other hand, Paris doesn’t strike me as much of a reader, and look where she’s gotten. So I guess my advice to your children is that if they don’t particularly care for reading, they should start early on their provocateur and shameless display skills. Paris’ have taken her very far—all the way to a newsstand in Athens.

Squatters Pub Brewery

by Vanessa Chang vanessa@slmetro.com

147 W. Broadway, 363-2729 Monday-Thursday 11:00am-midnight Friday 11:00am-1:00am, Saturday 10:30-1:00am Sunday 10:30am-midnight As much as we like to try different places, sometimes it’s the familiar that gives us the most satisfaction from the dining experience. For some of us (i.e. me), we have a handful of restaurants to which we always return for various reasons. A place that can make you feel good, where the vibe fits any occasion, from an impromptu get together, to a late-night nacho fest, to a genuine celebration. And of course, the food is good; the menu is familiar and you have your core of favorites that never fail your appetite. For me, such a place is Squatters Pub Brewery.

Housed in the old Boston Hotel, it exemplifies gentrification. Yet as progressive as the vision is, there’s also a presence of the elemental. This is a place with a conscience.

They employ green energy, buy organic, sustainable, and local products whenever possible. Original brick walls and wooden beams create a cavernous space. The enclosed patio with yellow canopies and overhead misters is one the best seats in town for a meal. When it

opened in 1989, it was Salt Lake’s first brewpub. Now, it’s an indispensable fixture of the city’s downtown character.

The large steel vats and one lone desk that flank the main dining space is the origin of what Squatters refers to as some “damn fine beer”—award-winning brews that have earned the pub a formidable reputation. I dare not disagree. Sometimes, you can even see brew master Jenny Talley in action. In her Wellies and ponytail, you can’t help but think, “Wow, what a bad ass. She creates some of the most wicked brews (like Full Suspension, Chasing Tail, India Pale Ale, and Captain Bastard’s Oatmeal Stout) this side of Boston AND she looks good in overalls.”

The range of beer is astounding, just as extensive as the menu from Chef Eric Bell and Squatters’ kitchen team. There are the usual suspects—what one would call pub grub. Grub doesn’t do the fare justice. Some folks call the menu eclectic. I prefer to call it real. It spans the spectrum of folks who dine there. The point being, whether you’re in a suit and tie or just fresh off the Outdoor Retailer convention floor, there’s something for you at this pub.

It’s where something as elegant as roasted chicken embellished with Szechuan green beans is just as appropriate as a platter of bratwursts with good mustard. Even what sounds typical comes with a characteristic flair: Hefeweizen in the batter for fish and chips, ahi tuna in the crisp spring rolls (with

wasabi aioli) and tacos, and organic beef for the line of stellar burgers—which, by the way, every person should consume at least once it their lives, if not twice. Once for the bourbon burger with caramelized onions, and twice for the black & bleu with strips of bacon and lumps of blue cheese.

What’s more astounding is that on top of the consistent range, Squatters also offers a huge list of daily specials, including fresh fish.

On one occasion, I tasted ivory wild king salmon—ivory because the fish has an enzyme that can process the stuff in their diet that usually makes salmon flesh coral pink. Swathed in a fragrant yellow curry with plenty of veggies and jasmine rice, it was rich and flavorful, with just enough heat to make it interesting. I just wish the product were around long enough to try in other incarnations.

Brunch is a popular time to stop by.

Chances are, I’ve probably seen most of you there. You know you go there for the cheap mimosas and Bloody Marys—a buck for the midday cocktail. At least, that was the case.

Reports from avid brunchers say that $2 is now the price tag. But that shouldn’t thwart you. Though I’ve encountered some problems with consistency during my many brunch sessions there (over-poached eggs, flavorless benedict, pancakes that could’ve been cooked a little longer), it’s still a favorite. The Grand Marnier French toast has a toasty exterior with a soft, almost custardy interior. And the huevos rancheros and the brewers breakfast are both hearty enough to soak up any alcoholic remnants from the night before.

When you consider a place to be a favorite, you’re willing to take the bad days with the good. And in my experiences at Squatters, there’s no shortage of quality.

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Red,White Bubbly Return of the Boom-Bap

by Beau Jarvis beau@slmetro.com

I dreaded writing this article. It was to be a simple, straightforward article (read: generic) on Syrah/Shiraz. I planned to compare several wines labeled Syrah and Shiraz. The grand point was to see if there’s any truth to the accepted notion that Syrah-labeled wine is generally old world in style and Shiraz-labeled wine is generally new world in style. But here’s the deal: I love wine. I love to learn about wine. And this article sounded positively boring. I couldn’t write it. On top of that, I was trying to comply with the writing style that mainstream wine publications expect. You see, I’ve submitted a few articles to these magazines. The answer each and every time has been, “We’re going to pass on your article.”

Well, in the spirit of classic hip-hop battles from the 1980s, involving the likes of LL Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee and KRS One vs. MC Shan (if you’ve got no idea who these people are then I suggest you’re either too old, too white, or too old and too white), I’m going to rhyme about Syrah/Shiraz. At the same time, I’ll dis those musty old school wine writers and their magazines using the classic over-the-top Braggadocio, hip-hop style.

Shall we begin?

Been scribblin’ ‘bout vines since twothousand-two Choppin’ boring wine writers with verbal kung-fu Got a nose and palate made of platin-um Each and every wine, I be nailin’ ‘em You know I got juicy mad skills Makin’ ya’ll wiggle like bunches of eels Are you nervous punks?

Yes you better be / ‘Cause you will never see Wines described exact, to a ‘T’ 100% unique; word up—that’s me

I’m gonna pop this cork and start spreadin’ the juice Dig this style flowin’ loud / flowin’ free / flowin’ loose Got two wines on the docket for discussion Not difficult though unlike, you know, like Russian.

Two names’ one grape / say Shir-az, say Syr-ah If you’re with me / raise your hands, yell out, “Da!”

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 21, 2005

Brace yourself / Arrange yourself Sit down / Zip up Buckle-up and shut the fuck up

Vino numero uno is a Shiraz / Annie’s

Lane from down under, southern ‘Oz Black cherry color, dark, and opaque / Like a glass of that purple Welch’s grape Ain’t no typical Aussie Jumpin’ out the goblet, loud and bossy No need to stop it, see / Annie wafts up slowly / sort of struts, kind of moseys With a fruit tri-pack—red ‘n black berries and plums / hold up—nope; she’s not done A little black pepper / bumpin’ for the setter Funky Aussie tar / like a scent from the car Or pavement—It makes you wonder where the fruit went Ms. Lane’s a light-booty Shiraz / packin’ funky zest, zing, and dope pizz-az But drink it with roasted meat or something salty, something cheesy / ‘cause alone—in the glass she’s just too damn sleepy For one Hamilton plus three singles you’re good to go / Annie’s Lane, Clare Valley, ’02, Shiraz, in the house, yo!

Next up, we headin’ back to Cali / gonna sip a little somethin’ from the coast, from the valley Ring the bell, yo—class in session / Liberty School Syrah, 2000 / ain’t half steppin’ Glass full of ink with some rusty red edges / smells like dried black fruit cut in little pie wedges Swirl it up / mix it up Let it ... air out—‘til the heavy duty scents / start to ... bail out Sniff it—the School’s servin’ up pepper— but just a little shake Then boom! Blueberry pie like mom used to bake Liberty don’t go in the mouth and then toe-tippitty Nope—it’s like a fat politician & his action committee No room for food with this chubby, big dude Drink it alone, or maybe chomp snack food At fourteen bills / the price, it ain’t ill Break your Jackson / get some change and you ready to roll Call your posse / pop the cork—let the Lib School flow!

To the old school wine writers / it’s out with your old style, in with my new Got a problem? Here’s my number—it’s 222-FUFU I got an answer machine—it can talk to you Now step off, take back your musty old rag ‘Cause this here’s the wine-papa’s brand new bag Cheers, yo.

Beau Jarvis is a sommelier and wine educator. He operates basicjuice.com, an independent wine review and information website.

He also manages basicjuice.blogs.com, a weblog of entertainment and culture.

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 21, 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

EAST MILLCREEK 20th East. All new 1 bedroom, gararge. $580/month, utls. included. Must see to appreciate. 466-8809.

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 LARGE fully furnished studio.

Washer/dryer, A/C, new furniture, electronics, and linens. 1 person, non-smoking, no pets.

Just bring your clothes and move in. 633-8531 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.

MISC. STUFF 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.

ROOMMATES WANTED PAY NO RENT/deposit/ utilities in Phoenix to watch the house when owner is away/help part time in the office.

Will become full time salaried job as manager of fast-growing business. Comfortable home, private room.

No smoking, drinking, drugs. Friendly, congenial, single male w/LDS values seeking same. Terrific opportunity for a successful new life. The right person is now earning a low wage, extremely eager to study and learn and anxious to build a new career. Will help relocate. Email azhomedog@yahoo.

PROVO GAY roommate wanted to share an apartment. 1303 N Riverside Ave #32 Provo, 84601.

DOWNTOWN GAY roommate wanted. 2 bdrm, 1 bath condo.

Completely furnished.

HS Internet, cable, A/C, garage, great view. No Smokers/No Drugs! $325/month $150 Dep. Call 355-1762, leave msg.

ROOM NEAR 15th and 15th area. Newly remodeled house with hottub, landscaped yard, media room, high speed wireless internet, TIVO and more. All utilities incl. $400 per month.

Quiet clean roommates, must be open minded and gay or gay friendly.

Call 415-5142 AIRPORT/DOWNTOWN. Male to share large furnished home.

No smoking, no pets. $350/month Call 6318110.

MIDVALE SHARE 4 bdrm house. 2 rooms available. $400/month plus 1/2 utilities. Call Jamie at 566-2508 or 582-1457.

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

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ JULY 21, 2005

ADDRESS CITY/STATE

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*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

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.

ARE YOU HIV+?

Pride Counseling has restarted a Therapy/ Support Group for men who are HIV infected and seeking support from others in similar situations. For information please call Jerry Buie LCSW at 801-595-0666

TIRED OF THE BAR LIFE? Pride Counseling is offering a Gay Men’s Therapy/Support Group. Gay men often find that their options to socialize limited to clubs and bars. Most insurance companies billed, sliding fee scale.

For information please call Jerry Buie LCSW at 801-595-0666.

ADVERTISE IN the Salt Lake Metro Classifieds.

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

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

AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES

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

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.

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

EMPLOYMENT SERVICES

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/

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

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 21, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 23

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

UTAH GAY Rodeo Association ugra.net PO Box 511255 SLC, UT 84151-1255 A social & Rodeo Sport Organization

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