Metro, Volume 2, Issue 21 by QSaltLake Magazine

Utah’s Gay and Lesbian Biweekly Newspaper Volume 2 ■ Issue 21 October 13–26

Evergreen Conference Report Mason: ‘You did not choose to have these feelings’

Candidates Support Gay Rights, Benefits City council candidates respond to Metro questions

UofU Researchers Reveal First HIV Protein Images A step in understanding how HIV replicates and spreads

8,500 Shoes to Be Displayed at City Hall Campaign 2 End AIDS will make stop in Salt Lake Rofes: It’s Time to Stand Up Against Unsafe Sex OutStanding Comic Alan Walker Gay Agenda

JUDY G. ROLFE

WORLD AND NATIONAL

Cyndi Lauper and Joe Solmonese at the national dinner celebrating the Human Rights Campaign’s 25th year.

Human Rights Campaign Marks 25th Anniversary

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Dinner Event Honored Julian Bond, Cyndi Lauper, Wanda Alston Washington, D.C.—Celebrating “25 Years on the Road to Equality,” the Human Rights Campaign’s national dinner on Oct. 1 honored NAACP chairman Julian Bond, Grammy-winner Cyndi Lauper and civil rights leader Wanda Alston. More than 2,500 attendees, including corporate executives and employees representing more than 90 companies, also enjoyed performances by Kimberly Locke, Sam Harris and the B-52’s. “The Human Rights Campaign has been proud to be part of the enormous progress made on the road to equality over the last 25 years,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “While we have miles to go, the national dinner gave us an opportunity to look at the distance we’ve crossed. Twenty-five years ago, there were no companies that offered samesex domestic partner benefits. Today, there are more than 8,000. Twenty-five years ago, there were no states with laws that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Today, there are 16 that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Twenty-five years ago, the Human Rights Campaign endorsed only one candidate for Congress. Last year, we endorsed 201. We were proud to have the opportunity to celebrate those and so

many other benchmarks with some of our strongest allies in the fight for equality.” Receiving the Human Rights Campaign National Civil Rights Award, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond has been on the cutting edge of social change, promoting civil rights and economic justice for all citizens for more than four decades. A Grammy Award-winning musician, Cyndi Lauper has also become a national leader in the fight for equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals and was honored with this year’s HRC National Equality Award. In addition, HRC posthumously presented the National Capital Area Leadership Award to civil and equal rights leader Wanda Alston, who served as director of the District of Columbia Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs. Also taking the stage at the national dinner were top Billboard artist and American Idol star Kimberley Locke, legendary alternative pop band the B-52’s and accomplished singer Sam Harris. “When others have shied away, our awardees have shown great commitment in their advocacy for equal rights,” added Solmonese. “It is our pleasure to say, ‘Thank you for never backing down. Today, we are closer to equality because of your work.’”

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Schwarzenegger Vetoes California Same-Sex Marriage Bill

NATIONAL BRIEFS Court Nominee Harriet Miers Finds Unlikely Gay Support

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by Angela D’Amboise The latest Bush Supreme Court Justice nominee is finding friends—or at least sympathy—in some unexpected places. Gay and lesbian advocates are providing some of the rare positive response to Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, who has found herself under a barrage of hostile fire from nearly the entire conservative establishment in Washington. In a questionnaire by the Lesbian/Gay Political Coalition of Dallas, Miers gave conflicting and sometimes ambiguous answers. Oddly, Miers filled out the questionnaire even though she was not seeking the group’s endorsement. She stated she agreed that homosexuals should have the same civil rights as heterosexuals. Miers, at the time a prominent corporate lawyer, also stated that she supported increasing city funding for AIDS education and patient support, adding, “I do consider the AIDS illness as a serious total community problem.” Asked whether she believed lesbians and gays should be denied city employment, Miers said, “I believe that employers should be able to pick the best qualified person

for any position to be filled considering all relevant factors.” Joe Solmonese, president of the gay Human Rights Campaign, said Miers’ answers more than 15 years ago indicated “at the very least maybe she’s sort of open to the idea of fairness.” He said the responses should be viewed in the context of Dallas in 1989, when many national Democratic politicians refused contributions from gay groups. “If you go back to 1989, her answers around AIDS were forward thinking, and she said she believed gays and lesbians deserve the same civil rights, even though she was not for overturning sodomy laws,” Solmonese said. “Those answers were not all that out of line with people who were inclined to be fair at that time and who developed into fair-minded individuals over the years.” Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, which has withheld its endorsement of Miers, responded in a statement that he had “a concern that Miss Miers was helping to legitimize the drive of homosexual organizations for power and influence over our public policies.” He predicted that Miers would be closely questioned on the topic in her Senate hearings.

by Ross von Metzke Sacramento, Calif.—As was expected, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed California’s same-sex marriage bill late Thursday afternoon. The action came on a day in which he rejected 51 other bills as well. In explaining his decision, Schwarzenegger wrote that he believed gay couples were entitled to “full protection under the law and should not be discriminated against,” but that he felt the bill would have reversed a 2000 ballot measure that declared only a marriage between a man and a woman is legal in California. The same-sex marriage bill—which squeaked by in the State Senate and Assembly earlier this month with no Republican votes—was the first in the country that legalized gay marriage using the power of the legislature without a court order. In recent weeks, Democratic San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno, the sponsor of the bill, attempted every conceivable means possible to persuade the Governor to change his mind. Earlier this week, Leno accused the Governor of “hiding behind the fig leaf” of the 2000 ballot measure, Proposition 22. That measure was approved by 61 percent of voters, but recent polls have suggested that Californians are now almost evenly divided on the issue. Leno said the veto “puts the governor on the wrong side of history. He cannot claim to support fair and equal legal protections for same-sex couples and veto the very bill that would have provided it to them.”

Opponents of gay marriage praised the veto, characterizing Leno’s bill as an attempt to do an end-around Proposition 22. The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that the veto comes at a time when Schwarzenegger’s Republican base has become essential to any attempt at a bid for re-election. With his approval rating slipping to an all-time low of 33-percent, the former action star has announced that he will seek re-election next year. Meanwhile, Connecticut will join Vermont as the only states to offer same-sex civil unions. Unfortunately for those planning their ceremonies, the launch comes on a day when only a handful of town clerks’ offices plan to be open, according to a report by MTV News. “Saturday is going to be a landmark day in the civil rights movement in Connecticut,” said Democratic State Senator Andrew McDonald, one of only a few openly gay legislators in Connecticut’s General Assembly. Connecticut’s law passed in April, making it the first state to recognize same-sex unions without court intervention. The civil unions will give same-sex couples the same legal protections as married couples, including spousal health-care benefits. Laws allowing gay couples to marry in Vermont and Massachusetts were passed as the result of legal action. Despite the change, Connecticut will not recognize same-sex marriages because its law specifies marriage is between a man and a woman only.

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LOCAL AND REGIONAL

Salt Lake City’s Partner Benefits Saga Continues by JoSelle Vanderhooft

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joselle@slmetro.com

Salt Lake City’s insurance administrator has taken the mayor’s executive order granting health insurance benefits to the same-sex partners of city employees to court. In the lawsuit, filed before Third District Judge Stephen L. Roth on Sept. 27, representatives from the Public Employees Health Program said they wanted to determine whether the mayor’s executive order complied with Utah law. “Our purpose is simply to find out what the law is and follow it. There are valid interpretations either way,” PEHP attorney Dan Andersen told the Salt Lake Tribune. Opponents of the mayor’s Sept. 21 executive order, including Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, have said Anderson’s proposal doesn’t fit with Utah law. They cite the state’s 2004 Marriage Recognition Policy—which defines marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman—as well as Amendment 3 which banned gay marriage. Utah’s voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 3 during last year’s election. PEHP’s lawsuit has asked Judge Roth to determine whether or not Anderson’s order constituted a contract negotiation between the city and its employees or a law. If the judge determines it’s the first, says PEHP, the Marriage Recognition Policy would protect such an order. If it constitutes a law, the same policy and Amendment 3 would strike it down. The insurer also wants an answer to the key question of whether or not offering the benefits is the same thing as granting gay couples legal status equal to marriage. If the judge determines this to be so, the mayor’s executive order would be illegal. In the meantime, Phoenix-based Alliance Defense Fund has filed suit to stop the executive order as well. The organization, which describes itself as a “religious liberty legal alliance” committed to protecting and defending “traditional family values, religious freedom, and the sanctity of human life” has said that the executive order “blatantly disregards state law.” “The state’s Defense of Marriage Act and the Utah Constitution clearly prohibit Mayor Anderson from creating this type of order,” said ADF attorney Dale Schowengerdt. “He has flagrantly made clear his desire to create a special class for ‘domestic partners’ nonetheless.” The suit, filed Sept. 28 by ADF-allied attorney Frank Mylar in the Third District Court of Salt Lake County is Norman v. Anderson. Utah’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has also considered joining the fray to defend Anderson’s executive order, particularly in light of the ACLU’s involvement in a similar domestic partner benefits case in Michigan. In this Sept. 27 case, an Ingham County Circuit Judge ruled that

the state’s constitutional amendment only banned gay marriage and civil unions, not public employers offering benefits to the partners of gay employees. According to executive director Dani Eyer, the organization is still deciding whether or not they should get involved. “We’ve been involved in the process that’s in discussion with the various parties [to see] if our involvement would be helpful or not,” she said. “The ACLU case [in Michigan] was a different scenario. There we had to bring legal action because nobody like the city was doing what it was doing here. Because [Salt Lake City] is actually pushing for the domestic partner benefits there’s not necessarily a role for us to [get involved]” because the city is already fighting for it. “Sometimes when you jump in it just muddies the water when another party is ably defending the principles you’d like to defend.” At the same time, three Salt Lake City Council members, Dave Buhler, Eric Jergensen and Jill Remington Love, are talking about offering their own benefits proposal. Unlike the mayor’s order, they want to include family members of city employees, like parents and siblings. The three met with city attorneys Sept. 27 to discuss their ideas. “If we could find a way to do it that PEHP is comfortable with then we would broaden it to include family members,” said Love. “I think we want individuals with long term interdependent relationships to be able to add that partner. That could be a sibling or it could be someone in a platonic relationship and it could be someone in a more intimate romantic relationship. We understand that families don’t all come in the same packages and we want to be fair and support family units whatever that unit may be.” The council’s alternate proposal, however, has some gay rights leaders worried. They contend that council members may widen the proposal to include so many people that implementing it would be economically impossible. “Our fear is that nothing will end up really happening,” said Jane Marquardt, Equality Utah chair. “I commend the council for what they’re trying to do…because everyone in our society needs more access to health insurance. My concern is that by not endorsing the mayor’s executive ordinance they’re really turning away from immediately offering benefits to the families of their LGBT employees.” She added that she is concerned the council isn’t backing Anderson’s executive order because they’re trying to “shy away from making an active statement” that gay employees have family members to support just like their straight counterparts. Love argues that her plan “in no way distracts from the domestic partner domestic order that the mayor passed.”

Evergreen Holds 15th Conference Pruden: Don’t seek ‘magic bullet’ to same-sex attraction by Michael Aaron michael@slmetro.com

Dr. Lee Beckstead can be reached at Aspen Grove Counseling, 1400 S. Foothill Drive, Ste 24, leebeckst@yahoo.com, or at 581-0422.

Mason: Sexuality Not a Choice by Darren Tucker darren@slmetro.com

“I commend you for your unshakable faith in the face of unwanted feelings you did not choose to have.” That’s how Elder James O. Mason of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints greeted members of the group Evergreen International in a speech written for their 15th annual conference. “I commend you for never forgetting that God loves you and that you are his sons and daughters. I commend you for not forgetting your magnificent divine potential and for using your God-given moral agency in resisting temptation and evil,” the text reads. At first glance the James O. Mason comments could be interpreted as a new acceptance of homosexuality by the LDS Church, but Mason explains in the text that this is the way the church has always felt. He quotes a letter to the editor in the Deseret Morning News: “From what I have witnessed in conference the last few years, the brethren have rarely missed an opportunity to tell gay people exactly what the church thinks of them. I know that in some people’s distorted logic, this is ‘true’ kindness, but my gay friends don’t feel the warmth. It feels more like hatred to them.” Mason counters these comments by explaining that he has attended every general conference held by the church for the last 20 years and has never detected anything but “kindness toward individuals with same-sex attraction.” But he goes on to say that expressing homosexuality—gay sex and erotic thoughts about gay sex—is sinful and is subject to church discipline. He claims that although homosexuals did not choose to have feelings of attraction to the same sex, acting on those feelings is a grievous sin. And he quotes Elder Dallin H. Oakes of the church’s governing “Quorum of the Twelve” as saying, “Our doctrines obviously condemn those who engage in socalled ‘gay bashing’—physical or verbal attacks on persons thought to be involved in homosexual or lesbian behavior.” So is accepting homosexuality as “unwanted feelings you did not choose to have” a change for the LDS Church? No, according to Mason. He does not claim to know what causes homosexuality

or whether it is congenital or acquired after birth. He does state emphatically that as far as being a choice, “My experience with persons struggling with same-gender attraction tells me that this is not so or very rarely so.” Mason said in his speech that homosexuality is a disorder, and likens it to diabetes or other medical disorders. Can diabetes be cured? No. Can it be controlled? Yes. “Feelings of attraction toward someone of the same gender should be eliminated if possible or controlled. You did not choose to have these feelings but you can do something about them. “Homosexual or lesbian erotic thoughts are consequences of uncontrolled feelings and they are wrong, just as heterosexual erotic thoughts are wrong. They must be stopped! Homosexual or lesbian behavior is a serious sin, as is heterosexual fornication or adultery. It must be stopped!” Mason explains that through organizations like Evergreen International and with counseling and “proper repentance,” men and women with same-sex attraction can avoid sin and be worthy members of the LDS Church. “The person resisting unwanted feelings is entitled to every blessing of church membership,” he said. “Repentance is needed for those dwelling on homosexual or improper heterosexual thoughts or participating in sinful behavior. When they are worthy, bishops may extend appropriate church callings to members with same-gender attraction.” Mason concludes with his promise that people who “control” their feelings of same-sex attraction and are “faithful and keep baptism, priesthood and temple covenants” will have no blessing pertaining to exaltation withheld because of same gender attraction. “In the day of resurrection you will have normal affections and be attracted to the opposite sex,” he writes. Evergreen International was founded 16 years ago by a group of men trying to reconcile their religious beliefs with their homosexuality. The group offers conferences, literature, counseling and other methods for suppressing homosexual thoughts and actions. It is not an official organization of the LDS Church, but is affiliated with it. There is always one “General Authority Emeritus” on the board of Evergreen. The quoted remarks are from a published copy of his remarks, though Mason spoke “extemporaneously” during the speech.

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Evergreen International held its 15th annual conference Sept. 15–16 at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City. The group, with ties to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, teaches that it is possible to diminish same-sex attraction and overcome homosexual behavior. The group’s executive director, David Pruden, warned conference participants not to seek a “magic bullet” or quick cure—same-sex attraction (or, as the group refers to it, SSA) can be overcome through “gospel-oriented effort combined with the love and support of family, Evergreen, the Church, and the Atonement of the Savior.” Most professional organizations, however, say that such claims are false and, in fact, can do great harm to those who attempt to quell their natural-born sexual orientation. The group hosted several workshops for gay men, lesbians, spouses and parents. Most had a spiritual theme, such as “Being a Daughter of God,” “Developing True Manhood—Christ as Our Role Model,” and “Relying on the Lord for Support.” Other workshops dealt with “healthy relationships” and alternative therapies, including meditation and music. Dr. Sterling Ellsworth was the keynote speaker during the first day of the conference and spoke about society’s focus on sex as a substitute for love. Ellsworth is the author of Latter-day Plague: Breaking the Chains of Pornography Addiction. He quoted former church president Spencer Kimball as saying that all sin is wrong, but that it comes from “deep and unmet needs.” Ellsworth also introduced the concept of “three brains:” the lizard brain, the monkey brain and the “angel” brain representing the physical, societal and spiritual parts of our lives, respectively. He claimed that if the “angel” brain is nourished, the other two brains would wither and die—meaning that if one were to truly believe in God and God’s love, their physical desires and the need to be loved and praised by others would simply go away. Michael Merchant, president and executive director of the Phoenix-based ANASAZI Foundation, spoke at the conference on “developing true manhood” and “a spiritual approach to overcoming addictions.” ANASAZI is a wilderness treatment program for adolescents with substance abuse and emotional and behavioral problems that promotes the concept of “spiritual walking.” Larry Richman, chairman of Evergreen’s board of trustees, told conferencegoers that the organization has grown in the last 16 years from one group in 1989 to over 47 today, including 36 for men, two for women, one for spouses and eight for friends and family. The groups are spread from coast to coast and in over six countries. The conference concluded with a “fireside” and an awards dinner. In a speech hosted by Salt Lake Com-

munity College, Dr. Lee Beckstead of Aspen Grove Counseling warned that harm can occur from conversion or reparative therapy due to being misinformed about realistic outcomes or being misled with unsubstantiated theories and treatments.

He said that it is important to have discussion that allows people to sort out their thoughts and feelings about their sexual orientation, enhance their self-worth, develop relationships, consolidate a positive self-identity, and find comfort within their lives.

LOCAL

Campaign 2 End AIDS to Make Stop in Salt Lake City

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Pair Up 2 End AIDS event to display 8,500 pairs of shoes leaving only the need to cut the number by Stuart Merrill of people served. Those impacted most The Campaign 2 End AIDS will display will be the working poor who can’t afford 8,500 pairs of shoes in Salt Lake City or don’t qualify for health insurance. Library Square on Saturday, Oct. 22 from Once these individuals lose the Ryan noon to 6:30 p.m. to symbolize the daily White funds, they will not again qualify global toll of AIDS. Organizers are calling for financial assistance until they are dithe event Pair Up 2 End AIDS. agnosed with full-blown AIDS, when they In Utah, over 4,000 people of every age, would qualify for Medicaid. race, gender, religion, and class have been In Utah, it costs approximately $12,000 infected with HIV. Over 1,000 have died. a year to treat a patient with HIV. Treating Free HIV testing will be available all day. a patient with full-blown AIDS runs into C2EA will hold a rally at 6:30 p.m. to the tens to hundreds of thousands of dolwelcome AIDS activists from San Franlars annually. Organizers argue that Utah cisco, Oakland, Reno, Boise and Portland legislators must choose between paying stopping in Salt Lake along their caravan $12,000 a year per patient now, or pay to Washington, D.C. Salt Lake County many times that cost within two to five Mayor Peter Coroon, Sen. Scott McCoy, years. and AIDS activist Stuart Toward the end of the PAIR UP 2 END AIDS Merrill will speak at the SHOE DROP-OFF LOCATIONS 2005 Utah Legislative Sesrally. Several Utah AIDS Salt Lake Metro, 352 S. Denver St. sion, through a last minute activists will also be joinSam Weller’s lobbying effort, activists ing the caravan. When the Cahoots were able to raise money caravan arrives in WashEquality Utah to continue offering HIV ington, C2EA will lead a GLBT Community Center Utah treatment in Utah to all in week of action, calling on Salt Lake Community College need for one more year. national leaders to do their The Free Speech Zone House Minority Leader part to help with the fight Utah State Democrats Rep. Ralph Becker, D-Salt to end AIDS. Utah AIDS Foundation Lake City, called the effort Organizers are asking the The Harm Reduction Project public to bring old shoes to Salt Lake Valley Health Department a “legislative miracle.” Organizers will be any drop-off location bePeople with AIDS Coalition Utah requesting $500,000 in fore Oct. 21. They are also State Laboratory, 44 Medical Dr. ongoing funding from the asking for a $1 donation Utah State Legislature as a with each pair to pay for permanent part of the state’s budget. Utahns joining the caravan. Pair Up 2 End AIDS was originally sched- Nationally, there is a battle to reauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act led by Senauled for September. The C2EA caravans tors Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch. Also, were postponed due to Hurricane Katrina planned cuts in Medicaid will dramaticalas many were planning to either start in or ly impact the 55 percent of people living drive through the Katrina disaster area. with HIV/AIDS and 90% of HIV-positive Pair Up 2 End AIDS is designed to kick children that rely on it. off a local campaign to ask Utah legislaInternationally, C2EA is advocating for tors for ongoing funding to pay for HIV the U.S. Government to fully fund the treatment. “Global Fund” to combat AIDS, tuberculoOrganizers say over 200 HIV-positive sis and malaria. Utahns are in danger of losing funding The Campaign 2 End AIDS is a diverse for their HIV medication. Under the Bush new coalition of local, national and inadministration, the federal budget for ternational advocacy groups, health care HIV/AIDS treatment through the Ryan professionals and individuals living with, White CARE Act has been flat-funded for or helping those living with HIV/AIDS. six years. The number of people diagTheir goal is to revitalize the movement nosed as HIV-positive and the cost of HIV to end AIDS. In small towns and big cities medication, however, continue to rise. across America, they are mobilizing to During the first years of this flat-funding, ensure the best treatment and care for all the state began to cut services for HIVHIV-positive people. Together, they are positive Utahns, eliminating part or all demanding that elected leaders exert the of their mental health care, dental care, political will to stop the pandemic in the vision care, legal services, transportation, U.S. and abroad. and more. The state is now faced with the reality that no more services are left to cut,

For more information see our web site: campaigntoendaids.org

University of Utah Researchers Reveal First Images of HIV Protein Researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine have produced the first high-resolution images of a protein that the AIDS virus must use to replicate and spread through the human body—a possible step toward new drugs against the disease. The first structures of the VPS4 protein have shed light on its role as HIV-1 “buds” or escapes from cells, according to the U of U researchers, who published their findings in the Oct. 4 edition of EMBO Journal (EuroWesley I. Sundquist pean Molecular Biology Organization) and the Sept. 20 online edition of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “By understanding how the virus buds from a cell, we might be able to develop drugs to inhibit the virus from spreading,” said Wesley I. Sundquist, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry at the U of U School of Medicine and head of the research team. “Although VPS4 itself may not be an ideal

of the EMBO Journal study, showed several years ago that the AIDS virus needs VPS4 to bud, but the protein’s precise role in vesicle formation and budding has been unclear. Led by doctoral candidate Anna Scott, first author on the two studies, the U researchers produced images of two regions on VPS4the MIT Domain and the ATPase region. The structure of these two regions suggests how VPS4 binds to another protein complex and then unfolds those proteins

drug target, because it is so important for the cell, the protein’s structure does tell us more about the budding process.” To exit cells, HIV uses the same cellular machinery used to make tiny compartments inside cells, called vesicles, which help the cell to store, transport or digest cellular products. Vesicle formation is a complex process involving the assembly and disassembly of a large number of proteins. When HIV leaves an infected cell, it uses those same proteins to form HIV-1 “budding.” COURTESY OF THE UNIV. OF UTAH DEPT. OF BIOCHEMISTRY viral particles that break through the cellular in a process that must take place before vesicle formation, according to Sundquist. membrane and spread the virus throughout The MIT (Microtubule Interacting and the body. VSP4 directs the disassembly of Transport) Domain forms a bundle of these proteins, and therefore is essential for three helixes that bind to the ESCRT-III virus replication. (Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required “These proteins are like little machines for Transport) protein complex. The ESCRT and have to do complex things,” Sundquist (pronounced escort) complexes sort other said. “We are now learning what a lot of proteins as part of the process of vesicle them look like, although we still don’t unformation. These proteins must be assemderstand how many of them work.” bled and then disassembled for multiple Scientists already knew that VPS4 is rounds of vesicle formation to take place, needed to form vesicles. Sundquist and according to Sundquist. Christopher P. Hill, Ph.D., professor of An ATPase is a protein complex that biochemistry and a corresponding author

converts chemical energy into mechanical energy. Although the region of ATPase on the VPS4 protein has not been studied before, the structure showed that this region is similar to ATPases known to unfold other proteins. The U researchers therefore suspect that the ATPase region of VPS4 unfolds the ESCRT complexes to recycle them. (In 1998, Markus Babst, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology at the U, was the first researcher to show that VPS4 APTase is necessary for vesicle formation.) When VPS4 unfolds the ESCRT protein, the ATPase region forms a ring through which single strands of ESCRT protein are pulled before a vesicle is formed, the U researchers believe. “It’s like taking a single strand from a plate of spaghetti and by sucking it through your pursed lips,” Sundquist said. He, Hill, and the other Utah researchers now are trying to confirm that VPS4 does actually work by unfolding the ESCRT complex. Researchers still have many more questions than answers about what happens in the process of vesicle formation, according to Sundquist. For example, they do not understand whether disassembly of the protein complex is mechanistically required for vesicle formation or HIV budding. “This is a pretty complex process and we don’t understand how most of it works,” he said.

Candidates Support Gay Rights, Benefits by Michael Aaron michael@slmetro.com

Equality Utah Announces Candidate Endorsements Equality Utah has announced their Salt Lake City Council endorsements for the November General Election. Endorsed Candidates are: District 1: Leslie Benns District 3: Janneke House District 5: Jill Remington Love District 7: Soren Simonsen Endorsements are based on the candidate’s response to interviews and to Equality Utah’s position statements. Past public acts and statements demonstrating support or lack of support for queer issues were also considered. Equality Utah urges people to volunteer, contribute to and vote for these candidates on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

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All Salt Lake City Council candidates that responded to four questions from Salt Lake Metro said they support benefits and rights for gay and lesbian people. Those who responded, and that made it through the Oct. 4 primary, are Leslie Benns, Janneke House, Eric Jergensen and Soren Simonsen. Metro asked “Do you support granting gay and lesbian employees of Salt Lake City Corp. health benefits equal to those of married employees?” All four respondents said yes. “Discrimination against individuals on grounds such as marital status or sexual orientation adversely affects the general welfare of the city and its employees,” said Simonsen. Jergensen supports the council’s expanded health benefits proposal. “I believe that we should also provide benefits to a dependent parent or sibling of SLC employees—and, thus, be able to provide health care more universally to our employees and those in their homes who need it. That is why I’ve been one of the leaders in developing for approval by the Council a meaningful program that would allow all employees these benefits,” he said. All four also support granting gay and lesbian people bereavement and dependent-care leave. “Everyone deserves these important benefits,” said House. Asked if they support an ordinance banning discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees in city hiring practices, all four were in support. Currently, the city is covered by an executive order from mayor Rocky Anderson. “Jill Remington Love and I worked for two years to develop and draft into ordinance the Human Rights Commission which demands that any discrimination on account of race, religion, age, education or

sexual orientation be banned in our city,” stated Jergensen. “Once this ordinance is created, it needs to be enforced,” House added. Metro then asked if the candidates would require companies that do business with Salt Lake City to have a nondiscrimination policy that included sexual orientation and gender identity. All four said yes, but Jergensen noted he would need to see how it could be approached legally. “This is the direction progressive cities are taking,” noted House. “I believe that the City should require similar equitable hiring practices from companies it contracts with. My company is a contractor who has provided services to Salt Lake City in the past, and we follow this practice, even though not currently required,” said Simonsen. Candidate Gary Reihle, who did not make it past the primary election, was also in favor of the right and benefits we posed.

Center Holds Women’s Wellness Fair by JoSelle Vanderhooft joselle@slmetro.com

PROVO: HALESTORM ENTERTAINMENT/FRESHMEX PRODUCTIONS. ADORED: WOLFE VIDEO BOOBS: JOELLE VANDERHOOFT

LOCAL

Left: Kirby Heyborne, Will Swenson and Danny Tarasevich of Sons of Provo. Right: Marco Filiberti of Adored: Diary of a Porn Star.

Sons of Porno? Video Pulled. Perhaps HaleStorm Entertainment should update the sonsofprovo.com website to be something a bit more risqué as well. At least four of the 40,000 DVD copies of HaleStorm’s Sons of Provo were not the story of “squeaky clean” Mormon boy band Everclean, but Wolfe Video’s Adored: Diary of a Porn Star. After four complaints, HaleStorm executives called all retailers to pull the DVD from their shelves. Deseret Book refuses to put the movie back on the shelves until they have a 100 percent guarantee the snafu has been fixed. Though not pornographic, Adored is a story of a French gay porn star who is reunited with his family after his father’s death. The film is unrated and contains no nudity, but does imply a gay sexual encounter and has sexual themes. Sons of Provo, on the other hand, is a mockumentary about Will, Danny and Kirby (a scrapbook specialist) as they strive to become the next boy band sensation of the world. Well, of Utah, anyway. It is rated PG

for “mild language and thematic elements.” HaleStorm executives blame a DVD duplication service for the error. Both HaleStorm and Wolfe Video used the same service, which both refuse to name, to mass-produce the disks. They theorize that the wrong master copy was placed into the machine during replication. HaleStorm quickly put up a $100 reward for the return of any of the wrongly-pressed DVDs and an additional $100 donation to CP80, an anti-porn initiative. Kathy Wolfe, founder and CEO of Wolfe Video, comes from a family with several Mormons, and says of the mix-up, “Of course our company has no responsibility or involvement in the mistake, but we are concerned that some families might have been upset by the sexual nature of the film.” And, she added with a wink, “But, if any of the adults in the audience enjoyed what they saw, we encourage them to check out the entire DVD of Adored and some of the many fine films available from Wolfe.”—MA

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ OCTOBER 13, 2005

Anderson Named Top Straight Advocate In celebration of National Coming Out Day, Human Rights Campaign released their list of Top Ten Straight Advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality Oct. 11. Included in the list are Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, actress Kristin Chenoweth, Rev. Al Sharpton, actress Felicity Huffman, talk show host Cristina Saralegui, Rev. Norm Kansfield, Peter Hams, IBM executive Ted Childs, hip-hop artist Kanye West, and Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero. “Being out and open about our lives is not just for gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender people, but for everyone who cares about equality,” said HRC president Joe Solmonese. “These ten leaders for fairness represent millions of family members, people of faith, friends and co-workers

who are helping make America fairer and more equal.” The list emphasizes this year’s Coming Out Project theme “Talk About It,” which encourages fair-minded people to talk openly and honestly about their lives and the inequalities queer Americans face under current law. “Every single time we talk about it, we are one step closer to equality,” said Solmonese. “Each word helps build bridges that change hearts and minds—and eventually our laws.” “We need to tear down the barriers that separate us,” said Rev. Al Sharpton. “I am honored not only to be named on this list, but also to stand with my gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters to end hatred and intolerance wherever they live.”

Glaucoma, depression, diabetes and breast cancer; these were only a few of the health issues discussed at this year’s Alternative Women’s Wellness Fair, held Saturday October 8 at the Salt Lake Hardware Building. Sponsored by the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Center of Utah and held biannually (the last one happened in 2003), the wellness fair exists to educate lesbians, bisexual women and transgender people— male to female as well as female to male— about health issues pertaining specifically to them, according to Jennifer Nuttall, the Center’s director of adult programs. Nuttall said that the fair was initially conceived as a women’s counterpoint to the annual Gay Men’s Health Summit. “The summit is happening here in October, so we felt that was at least covered by someone whereas lesbians, bisexual women and transgenders weren’t covered, so we went for a grant for that specific community,” she explained. “The idea was that [for this population] there are some barriers to health care access,” added Nuttall. “So we thought of the idea of having a health fair to hook them up with resources and information in the community and let them know that everyone here tabling is going to have an interest in them as a community.” Because of the fair’s focus on breast cancer, the Center received grant money from the Salt Lake’s chapter of the Susan G. Koleman Breast Cancer Foundation in 2003. Representatives from the chapter were also present at this year’s event. “We’re very proud to be here today,” said Glenda Seelos, chair of the education committee for the Koleman Foundation’s Salt Lake affiliate. “October is breast cancer awareness month and we are involved in a lot of the different activities going on this month.” Her booth provided literature on lesbians and breast cancer and cards instructing men and women on performing monthly breast exams. Breast health was a concern for many Fair attendees, including Felicitas “Lita” Montelongo, president of Latinas Lesbianas Unidas, a weekly support and social group for Latina lesbians. Montelongo said she encouraged her friends from the Latina lesbian community to attend so they could educate themselves about their health. “Breast cancer has come into our community,” she said. “I just realized by reading some of the pamphlets that we have a higher risk in the lesbian community. It opened my eyes and I wanted to make them aware of the fact that we have a greater risk and we should check for cancer once a month.” Nuttall also stressed the importance of transgender involvement in the health fair—and female to male transgenders in particular—because issues like breast cancer can effect them profoundly.

“That’s a community that’s very hard to reach in the healthcare perspective because they have transitioned to men but biologically they have a lot of the same health care needs as women because biologically they have female parts,” she explained. “But if you don’t identify with those how much more difficult is it to go in and get a pap smear or a breast exam if you still have your breasts? It’s a very difficult population to reach but an important one.” Luchas Stamp, a female-to-male transsexual and founder of the nascent transgender support group Transcendence, agreed. A security guard who took the day off work to set up a booth at the fair, Stamp dispensed articles on transgender health with such titles as “Lower Income Trans Health Concerns” and “What We (Don’t) Know about Estrogens”. “There are breast cancer issues among FtMs and MtFs; there’s also a risk of fibromialgia among trans men,” he said. “Other major issues are if a trans man doesn’t get a hysterectomy within so much time after taking testosterone it causes a lot of problems internally. There are great risks and people don’t know that so I’m here to make people aware of the health issues that we have.” But breast cancer and fibromialgia weren’t the only health issues the fair addressed. The more than thirty booths included representatives from GLBT-friendly doctors, counseling centers, chiroprac-

tors, herbologists and even tarot readers. Representatives from the Utah Domestic Violence Council were also on hand to educate attendees about where to turn for help in escaping domestic violence. Although attendance and the number of booths were down from 2003, Nuttall said this had more to do with the Center’s planning than a lack of community interest. “I think that we didn’t have as much time this year to dedicate to marketing it as we did the first year,” she said, noting that other events had taken some time out of planning for this year’s fair. Still, she said she and her interns (several from the University of Utah’s College of Nursing) had worked over four months to bring the fair to the people who need it. “[We’ve had] really good feedback,” she said. “Everyone who participated the first year were really positive about it. All the women had a great experience and came away with a lot of good information, and the providers are happy because they can reach so many women.”

Still ‘Howl’ing After 50 Years by David Nelson

Performance speaker Alex Caldiero pounded and syncopated his way through the angry, proud and often obscene words that were written and first performed 50 years and a day earlier by openly gay Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg. Set in a mock 1950s coffeehouse at the Salt Lake City Public Main Library auditorium, Caldiero’s commemorative performance on Oct. 7 of “Howl” earned him audience applause—something that might Alex Caldiero also have earned him immediate arrest, jailing and likely conviction of violating anti-obscenity laws in 1955 assuming he’d even be able to find a published copy of the infamous poem. Caldiero’s performance was a headline event of the Utah Humanities Council eighth annual “Great Salt Lake Book Festival.” Chosen to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the poem was originally Ginsberg’s somewhat autobiographical commentary about society and his experience a few years earlier in a New York psychiatric hospital. Much of the poem includes some blunt realities of gay America. “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,” Ginsberg wrote. “[Those who] purgatoried their torsos night after night with dreams, with drugs, with waking nightmares, alcohol and cock and endless balls, incomparable blind — who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy, who blew and were blown by those human seraphim, the sailors, caresses of Atlantic and Caribbean love, who balled

in the morning in the evenings in rose gardens and the grass of public parks and cemeteries scattering their semen freely to whomever come who may, who hiccuped endlessly trying to giggle but wound up with a sob behind a partition in a Turkish Bath when the blond & naked angel came to pierce them with a sword, who lost their loveboys to the three old shrews of fate the one eyed shrew of the heterosexual dollar.” In 1957, copies of the poem were seized in San Francisco by a U.S. Customs Service officer, and two of Ginsberg’s booksellers were arrested for publishing and selling the poem. Their aggressive defense succeeded ultimately and a landmark decision by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Clayton W. Horn vindicated Ginsberg and ensured his poem’s acclaim and continuous publication since. “No two persons think alike; we were all made from the same mold but in different patterns,” Judge Horn, who served also as a Sunday-school Bible teacher, wrote in his 39page decision. “An author should be real in treating his subject and be allowed to express his thoughts and ideas in his own words.” “The author of Howl has used those words because he believed that his portrayal required them as being in character,” Horn said. “I do not believe that Howl is without even ‘the slightest redeeming social importance.’” The decision helped clear the way for other writers including Ginsberg’s beatnik friends openly gay William S. Burrows and bisexual Jack Kerouac to expand the limits of their counter-culture expressions and that of the American public. Combined with a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling which protected the publication of the so-called homophile magazine “ONE,” gay publications gained a more secure legal foundation on which to develop. To learn more about the history of “Howl,” visit http://www.citylights.com/His/CLhowl.html.

Community Briefs Live To Ride, Ride With Pride

The ride will be Oct. 29 beginning at 2:00pm at the Trapp. Please call 255-2007 to register and for more information.

Equality Utah Seeks Volunteers Hundreds of volunteers are needed by Equality Utah to help with literature drops to support the group’s endorsed candidates. Each election cycle, Equality Utah polls candidates on their views on gay and lesbian issues. The board then goes through the responses and the candidates’ voting records to determine who will receive an endorsement. Those endorsed can get cash contributions and/or support from volunteers. Literature drops and door-to-door canvassing for candidates will occur on Oct. 15, 22, 29 and Nov. 5. If interested, call Melissa Larsen at 355-3479 or email melissa@equalityutah.org

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 11

Judy Harris loved Harley Davidson motorcycles, her family (especially her boy Johnny) and life. In her honor, the first Pride Memorial Ride will be held to bring toether two of her loves. Harris had a tragic accident while riding her Harley to Sturgis Aug. 9. Her son, Johnny Disco, has been a bartender at The Trapp for over 15 years. She was his mother and his best friend. She rode her Harley to the bar on several occasions and supported the community in many ways. She would donate clothes from the clothing line she represented and was willing to give her time and money to different gay causes. She never once had a bad thought about her son being gay and supported him whole-heartedly. Whether you ride a scooter or a 2000cc racing bike you are welcome to join the ride. A route through the Capitol Hill area, Liberty Park and various gay and straight bars will be involved with the event. The entrance fee is $25 and will include lunch, a t-shirt and a hand of poker for prizes. Proceeds will go towards a head-

stone to mark her grave. “Live to ride, ride to live” was Judy’s favorite saying. She always told Johnny that riding would always keep their family together and this memorial ride will help do just that.

From the Editor Executive Editor Michael Aaron Arts Editor Eric J. Tierney Proofreader Nicholas Rupp Contributing Kim Burgess Writers Vanessa Chang Jason Clark Benjamin Cohen Angela D’Amboise Matthew Gerber Sharon Hadrian Beau Jarvis Laurie Mecham Stuart Merrill David Nelson Ruby Ridge Eric Rofes David Samsel Joel Shoemaker Brendan Shumway Eric J. Tierney Darren Tucker JoSelle Vanderhooft Ross von Metzke Ben Williams Contributing David Harris Photographers William H. Munk Joel Shoemaker Sales Director Steven Peterson Display Ad Russ Moss 259-0844 Sales 801-323-9500 National Rivendell Media Advertising 212-242-6863 Representative 1248 Rte 22 West Mountainside NJ 07092

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ OCTOBER 13, 2005

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Consequences by Michael Aaron michael@slmetro.com

At three o’clock in the morning last week, I was in my bed next to my partner. We both had our faces in our pillows and our hands over our head. We were being held at gunpoint. Three men had muscled their way into our house when one of my roommates answered a knock at the door. At least one had on a ski mask and brandished a gun, commanding him and my other roommate to lie face down on the floor. They demanded to know where the nonexistent floor safe was. I was woken from a deep sleep to loud voices and stomping on the floor above me. After a few minutes of this, I was pissed. Obviously, my roommate that enjoys bringing people home at all hours of the day and night had done just that again. And this time, they were making no pretense to be quiet. I got out of bed, put something on and made my way upstairs. At the top of the stairs was a guy I didn’t know. I stared him in the eyes, annoyed, and intended to go past him. I was struck by how dark and deep and empty his eyes were. “Back up!” he yelled. I stopped and realized that 1) he wasn’t talking to me—he was calling for backup, and 2) he had a gun in his hand and it was pointed at me. I began to become conscious of the fact that I was being robbed at gunpoint. That I would later be asked—if I survived—what he looked like, how tall he was, what kind of gun he had in his hand. I had already begun to forget all of those things. All I could think of was that someone was in my house—my castle, my safe space— and I was no longer the one in control. The training I went through when I started the Anti-Violence Project started going through my head. It now boiled down to what is the most important goal: staying alive. I stepped back down one stair and slowly turned around. He asked if there was anyone else. I thought of my partner lying asleep in the bed, but said, “No.” He followed me down the stairs and flipped on the lights. I hoped that my partner was still asleep and the gunman might miss seeing him on the bed. However, he was sitting up, having been awoken by the noise as well. The gunman told us both to lie with our faces in the pillow and hands over our heads. We did. He asked where the money was, where the jewels were. I told him I had neither. Another of the three came down and they rifled through everything in the room. At one point they said they had only a little over a minute left. There was no noise for a while. Eventually my dogs barked and I wasn’t sure if that indicated them leaving, more people coming, or if they were just barking at some unrelated dog or person in the street. We waited. I turned my head slowly, figuring I’d get yelled at if they were still there. No one said anything. I chanced turning the rest of the way to see if they were still there, pointing their guns at us. They weren’t. I reached for my cell phone and dialed 911. I whispered my address once I heard an answer.

They said nothing. I said it again. They asked what was wrong. I said two words: “Robbery. Guns,” and hung up. I stuffed the phone between the mattresses in case they came back down. A minute later the phone started to ring. “Fuck!” I yanked the phone back out of the mattresses and hurriedly turned it off. We waited. The dogs barked again. I hear footsteps upstairs. The first roommate calls down that the police were here. The whole incident lasted probably only about ten minutes. I went upstairs. It was cold. That must be why I was shaking so hard. I turned up the heat. When the officer went down to look in our room, he asked if I did drugs. “No,” I said. He asked if anyone else in the house did. “One of my roommates used too, but I don’t think he does any more.” It was a lie. I had allowed this roommate to live in the house because he had fallen on bad times. At the time, he promised his drug use was a thing of the past. Within weeks of him moving in I began to find paraphernalia. Simple, easy to dismiss kind of stuff: razor blades, cut up straws, small baggies, large cans of butane. I would also find him awake at strange hours on his hands and knees in a maniacal frenzy, scrubbing the bathroom floor or doing some other household chore. This would be followed by a few days that he looked like death warmed over. He continued to maintain he wasn’t on drugs. “This kind of thing is almost always about drugs,” the officer continued. “They knew or thought that ___ had drugs here.” I then realized that I knew that from the moment I looked into the gunman’s soulless eyes. The months of knowing that I was being lied to but telling myself it was his life; I wasn’t his mother now boiled down to this. It isn’t just his life. It’s mine and my partner’s and my other roommate’s, too. It’s my friends that were over earlier that evening and could very well have

crashed on my couch. We are all living with the consequences of someone else’s bad choices in life. I have run several anti-meth ads in this newspaper. I had a number of people tell me that they were all wrong, that people could use meth responsibly. That what I should be advertising was the proper way to do it and resources they could go to if it got out of hand. Nearly all of these people who were saying this were meth users themselves. The fact is, the ads I put in this paper are not targeted towards the meth user. They are targeted to those who don’t use, but may be thinking about it. Their goal is to deglorify meth and show it for what it is: a death sentence to life as you now know it. But it turns out to be more than that. It turns out it is a death sentence to life as I knew it too. Sleeping in the very bed we were held in is now a different story—one that takes pills. I now awake every time the dogs bark, every time I hear movement upstairs. I close my eyes and I am haunted by either a vision of my partner, face down in a pillow with his hands over his head or those eyes with no soul. I’ve woken up in the middle of the night after having a dream in which I am raping the guy who pointed the gun at me. The next morning I began packing my roommate’s clothes. I dismantled his bed. I found so much drug paraphernalia that it made me sick. I told him that he could no longer live in the house. “I can’t live like this,” I told him. “I can’t live with the consequences of your bad choices in life.” I keep reading the local newspapers to see if there is any mention of what we went through. Nothing. Apparently it has become such an overplayed song that it doesn’t warrant even a paragraph in the “For the Record” column. And apparently it means very little to the Salt Lake City Police Department. The case was assigned to a detective who is out of town for two weeks.

Letters KSL Report Biased, Dangerous Editor, I was very disappointed and frustrated with a report I heard this morning on KSL Radio by Randall Jeppesen. Mr. Jeppesen was reporting on a meeting about same-sex attraction and sexual re-orientation sponsored by an organization called Family Under Fire. Not only did Mr. Jeppesen fail to present any opposing views of those he interviewed, he didn’t even mention that this is a highly-controversial issue. Both in his report and in the interviews, he presented as fact that it is, indeed, possible for a person to rid him/herself of same-sex attraction. He also failed to report that most major medical, scientific and psychological associations strongly discourage sexual re-orientation programs. In fact, these organizations agree that such programs can actually cause damage to a person, rather than help them. These statements are paraphrased from the following organizations: American Academy of Pediatrics, American Counseling, American Association of School, American Federation of Teachers, American Psychological Association, American School Health Association, Interfaith Alliance Foundation, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers, and National Education Association. In my opinion, it is an extremely biased report that would fail to mention the viewpoint of such important organizations such as these. Bias in the media occurs every day, and most of the time I can let it slip by because it rarely will affect someone’s life in any significant way. However, in a case like this, many people will hear this report and accept it as doctrine because it came from KSL. It is misreporting like this that leads many people to even more frustration and possibly worse. When they do not experience this “change” that a respected news organization has promoted to them, some may even commit suicide. Mr. Jeppesen’s report was biased, unfair and dangerous. I hope he will be given the chance to make some sort of restitution by giving another report that will present the views of those organizations listed above.

Aaron Cloward Salt Lake City, Utah

Williams’ “Little Pet Agenda”

John Moss European Sales

Perhaps There Are Two Sides to a Story Mr. Williams: I was recently forwarded your column entitled “Homosexuals, the Holocaust and Utah” and was disappointed to see your unfair take on the Anne Frank Holocaust exhibit controversy of 1990. I believe both sides (although stating that there were only two sides oversimplifies things) of that particular situation had reason to be frustrated as well as uncomfortable (that is not to say both sides were right, but that is beside the point). Certainly you, as a fifth-grade schoolteacher, can understand the need to exercise sensitive discretion when determining how much information to pass along to your students regarding various historical events—when to draw the line. I think every educator would have a different line, but few, if any, draw their line with the intention of hurting the kids they are responsible for teaching. Without getting into a discussion of the relative importance of the sexual orientation of some of the Holocaust victims, my complaint with your column is more about the tone and personal nature of your accusations. To make your point that sexual orientation did play a role in whether or not someone was persecuted and to what extent that persecution continued, is it really necessary to indirectly describe Mr. Moss as a bigot? Is it really important to sarcastically mention his death from a heart attack at age 48, as if to claim some moral vindication over someone that cannot defend himself from your re-hashed accusations? continued on next page

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 13

Editor, Since you printed Ben William’s article about supposed censorship with the Anne Frank exhibit in 1990, I hope you will be glad to print this response. I am one of the sons of James Rex Moss, whom Williams refers to in his article. Defamation of character is always annoying when it is misguided. But it is even more so when the person being defamed is deceased. At the time of the Anne Frank Holocaust exhibit, my father was serving as the Utah State Superintendent of Education. Those who knew him over the years in government, civic, church and business circles knew he was a man of principle, integrity, character and, as Rod Decker said so well at his viewing, that “Utah school

teachers have lost a leader. Utah school children have lost a friend.” What kind of a person digs up something that happened 15 years ago as a means of trying to promote one’s own agenda? The kind of person who “snuggles in his cozy basement apartment” (two words, by the way, that a man should never use!) while my father was working with his heart and soul for the education of children in this state. At the end of his article, Mr. Williams smugly declares that my father died of a heart attack and that “Education is stressful.” It is indeed stressful, Mr. Williams, when you are doing all you can for the betterment of education in Utah and at the same time having to deal with people like yourself on the sidelines. Throughout his life, my father did what he believed in and acted with character and integrity (though in your book, none of that matters because he didn’t push the gay agenda). Though he may have offended some, like yourself, at times, he did what he thought was right and had many friends on both sides of issues. In the end, my father will continue to be remembered for his goodness, decency, integrity, character and all the good that he did in so many areas of his short 48 year life. You, on the other hand, will, more than likely, simply be remembered by a few gay friends as a man who tried to push his own little pet agenda. You may even get a few pink triangles on your coffin.

Letters Continued from page 13 He is my father and I was 17 when he died suddenly on December 14, 1990. And yes, stress had much to do with it. He was not a bigot. To the contrary, the fact that he “stressed” about that very event (something I remember very clearly) indicates that he recognized that both sides had an argument and deserved to at least be heard, but that both sides would not be equally pleased with a final position on the matter. In determining his position, it simply came down to which would have the greatest positive impact on the school kids and which would have less negative impact on the school kids. There is much truth about the Holocaust that would not be appropriate to showcase to elementary school-age kids, but that is not to say it is not true and never happened. It is simply the exercise of filtering some truth that may be difficult to explain to someone of that sensitive age while still trying to convey the relevance and impact of what occurred. Decent, well-meaning people can disagree over these issues. To refer to him and the others who tended to agree with him on this issue as bigots devalues your own perspective and credibility as it shows your eagerness to oversimplify the viewpoints of the “other side” by attaching universally-repugnant labels—a safe argument tactic when preaching to those who value style over substance—especially when considering that your target is deceased—very weak. Had my father not considered both sides of this issue and taken the time to discuss it with the respective groups, perhaps he would have experienced less stress and still been alive. If only he had attached less value to the opinions of the two sides of the argument and simply made a knee-jerk reaction based on his “gut instinct,” perhaps education would have been less stressful. Please understand that as you continue to fight for your cause, not everyone who disagrees with you is a bigot. If only life and cultural issues were so simple! Dismissing a person with a differing opinion than yours with manufactured shock, cheap sarcasm and smug labels places you all too neatly in the oversimplified, blissfully ignorant world of fifth-grade minds.

David Moss

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ OCTOBER 13, 2005

Why Are Gay Priests Surprised? Editor, Gay priests, hearing they’re about to get axed by the Roman [Catholic] Church, said they “couldn’t believe that after centuries of either explicit or implicit welcoming of celibate gay clergy that the church would turn its back on them.” Why are they surprised? The Roman Catholics are simply coming to grips with sexuality among priests. Since the time of Augustine they’ve encouraged the growth of psychotic anti-sexual hysteria and superstition. They’ve decided gay men can’t be priests and they’ll purge the seminaries. No doubt a witch-hunt will ensue in rectories everywhere and many will be ill-treated. The Vatican adopted this policy because

it urgently needs a scapegoat to draw attention from the punishing scandals of priests raping children. This outrage illustrates that pedophiles, priests, Protestant Boy Scout leaders, Buddhist monks, and orphanage staff go “Where The Boys Are,” as the song says. The prisons are full of their enraged victims. (Child rape is fundamentally different from incidents involving flirtatious testosterone-driven frenzied adolescents.) However, for the church it’s all about money. The Voice of the Faithful estimates the church will lose about $3 billion in the United States, and comparable figures are mounting for Ireland, Latin America and other regions. They want to go to court and say, “Mea Culpa, it wasn’t us. It was those nasty queers. Please don’t hurt us.” Their problem is that all priests, straight and gay, may express their repressed sexuality by raping children. Consequently, the only sound solution is chemical castration before ordination and providing armed guards for altar boys and girls. That resolution flows from the bizarre lifestyle and dogma they choose, so they can’t object. Why should they? Aren’t priests the ones who attack sexuality, who maliciously humiliate unmarried pregnant women, rebuke gay sex, and condemn uncounted thousands to death by opposing condoms? Aren’t they the ones who cause unwanted births and back alley abortions? Gay or straight, priests are backward parasites who promote reactionary politics, superstition, irrationality and bigotry. Turnabout is fair play. And who knows, if they knew they were going to get castrated, maybe the seminaries would empty, and wouldn’t that be nice?

Bill Perdue Las Vegas, Nevada

Heil Reagan Editor, I must take exception to Matthew Tsein’s idealized revisionist view of Ronald Reagan. Having survived as a gay man through two of his administrations—governor of the state of California and president of United States—I am here to tell you that “Let the Bloodbath Begin Here” Reagan was a complete bastard. When he finally dropped dead, long after his brain had, I celebrated! This “great conservative” was personally responsible for dismantling California’s progressive education system, attacking the free speech and anti-war movement, the chain-sawing of the old growth redwood forest (“seen one tree you’ve seen them all”) and catering to the radical anti-gay right forces led by Anita Bryant. He was anti-ERA and pro-military industrial complex. Reagan never met a millionaire he didn’t like. As for him understanding that gays deserve fairness, it was under his watch that the AIDS epidemic spiraled out of control while he watched his former acting colleagues dropping dead from the disease. It took him four years just to get the word AIDS out of his mouth. The Log Cabin crowd constantly uses this Brigg Initiative statement to justify Grandpa Ronnie’s views on gays. Bullshit. Ronald Reagan, George Wallace, and Chicago Mayor Daley were all borderline fascist! Heil Reagan.

Ben Williams Salt Lake City

Ruby Ridge is a local entertainer who raises funds for charitable causes. She has been cranky ever since she found out the Red Butt Café was actually the Red Butte Café. She felt horribly disappointed and betrayed.

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