QSaltLake March 29, 2012 Spring Fashions

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March 29, 2012 Issue 203

UVU Students Rally Interviews with Transgender Moab for Equality Candidates Mistreatment Adventures

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4 NATIONAL NEWS NEWS

MARCH 29, 2012

US Senate confirms first gay judicial nominee The U.S. Senate confirmed Michael Fitzgerald to the U.S. District Court for Central District of California after Republicans held his and over a dozen other nominations for four months.

President Obama nominated Fitzgerald in July, but Republicans threatened to hold up all pending nominations since he used his recess appointment power to install the director of a powerful consumer protection agency.

Fitzgerald was approved by a vote of 91–6. A simple majority was required for confirmation.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee voted against Fitzgerald, along with Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and David Vitter (R-La.). Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who’s been recovering from a stroke, did not vote.

Lee questioned Fitzgerald on his role working “personally and professionally as an activist in various political and legal causes” and asked about the “difference between advocacy and jurisprudence.”

Fitzgerald answered, “As a judge, I would respect the rule of law, I would respect the court system as a system which is trying to do justice for the litigants in front of it pursuant to the facts as they were found without any reference to the background of the litigants ... and, of course, pursuant to the binding precedent of the Supreme Court and of our circuit court.”

He also said, “I would not bring any personal or political views to bear on any of the cases that I determined as a United States district judge.”

staff

publisher Michael Aaron editor Seth Bracken arts & entertainment

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Men arrested for buggery on gay cruise in Dominica

John Robert Hart and Dennis Jay Mayer

their actions. Police said they were witnessed having sex aboard the ship which prompted the arrest. The two were charged with suspicion of “buggery” or sodomy, which is illegal on the eastern Caribbean island where gay sex is outlawed. The men had to pay a $900 fine

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Quips & Quotes

Fitzgerald becomes the first openly gay federal judge outside of New York.

Fitzgerald’s nomination came to the floor only after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid threatened Republicans that the country would “watch for weeks as you hold up the bipartisan JOBS Act. I dare you.”

District Court Judge Michael Fitzgerald

Two California men pleaded guilty to indecent exposure in the island-nation of Dominica after being arrested during a stop on a gay cruise of the Caribbean.

John Robert Hart, 41, and Dennis Jay Mayer, 43, told the court they regretted

ISSUE 203

and were called “rogues and vagabonds” by the chief magistrate of the court. The pair made no comment regarding the verdict and police drove them to the airport and released them.

Atlantis Events, which is the event company that chartered the ship, said the experience of most of the passengers was very positive in Dominica and the company would return to the island.

“Please understand that the complaint and subsequent arrests had nothing to do with the guests’ sexual orientation, nor was any anti-gay law invoked. These guests were engaged in behavior that is inappropriate in any port of call, or major city for that matter,” said Atlantis president Rich Campbell. “The guests were never left on their own. We had both representatives from Atlantis and Celebrity cruises with them at all times during their ordeal and had our local representatives look after them last night. Furthermore, we worked closely with the US Embassy in Barbados to assure that their safety was always being monitored.”

QSaltLake is a trademark of Salt Lick Publishing, LLC. Copyright © 2012, Salt Lick Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted or reproduced without written permission from the publisher. 10,000 copies of QSaltLake are distributed free of charge at over 300 locations across Utah. Free copies are limited to one per person. For additional copies, contact us at 801-649-6663. It is a crime to destroy or dispose of current issues or otherwise interfere with the distribution of this newsmagazine. Publication of the name or photograph of any individual or organization in articles or advertising in QSaltLake is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such persons. Printed in the U.S.A. on recycled paper.

Please recycle this copy when you are through with it.

❝❝

Unlike our opponents, we do not target whole companies for the actions of an individual business executive in that company. But Starbucks has taken a corporate position in support of redefining marriage for all of society. We will not tolerate an international company attempting to force its misguided values on citizens.

The majority of Americans and virtually every consumer in some countries in which Starbucks operates believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. They will not be pleased to learn that their money is being used to advance gay marriage in society.”

—Brian Brown, of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage

❝ ❝I will come to St. Petersburg to speak up for the gay community and to give strength and inspiration to anyone who is or feels ­oppressed. I’m a freedom fighter.

I don’t run away from adversity.

I will speak during my show about this ridiculous atrocity.”

—Madonna, announcing she will break a new law against “promoting homosexuality” during her Russian concerts

❝❝

I think about my own kids and you know, I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this. And that everybody pulls together, federal, state and local, to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened.”

—President Barack Obama speaking out about the Trayvon Martin case

❝❝

I know my brother, he’s a great guy, goes to church, doesn’t screw anybody over, and yet he’s still got some religious yahoos and politicos over to the side going: ‘Change your ways or you’re going to hell. Stay out of my brother’s bedroom, buddy.

Like I don’t know what else to tell you. He’s a good dude, as are most people in this world.”

—Director and activist Kevin Smith

QSALTLAKE.COM

ISSUE 203

MARCH 29, 2012

NEWS

Rutgers student guilty of spying on gay roommate After more than 12 hours of deliberation, the jury in the Dharun Ravi case found him guilty on various major counts, including bias intimidation and invasion of privacy.

Ravi faces five and 10 years of jail time for his involvement in using a webcam to spy on his Rutgers roommate, Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide after a sexual encounter with another man was broadcast to other students.

The jury fo u n d Rav i motivated by anti-gay bias when he spied on his roommate. In addition to jail, Dharun Ravi Ravi could be deported to his native home of India. This was the first time in New Jersey that bias intimidation charges linked to invasion of privacy were brought against a defendant. It is possible that this case sets a precedent for how young adults interact with each other on the Internet.

Ravi, 20, was convicted of the most serious counts of bias intimidation. Of the 35 charges on 15 counts, 24 came in guilty, with 11 not guilty. The not guilty verdicts applied to Clementi’s companion during the incident, identified only as M.B. Prosecutors in the case presented 20 witnesses over 10 days of testimony. The trial lasted more than a month and included students who lived in the same dormitory, law enforcement officials, Rutgers residence staff and computer experts. Witnesses for the prosecution said Ravi turned on the “automatic accept” feature on his webcam so it could be accessed anywhere.

When Clementi asked to use the dorm room on Sept. 19, 2001, Ravi turned on his

webcam and saw the pair kissing. Ravi tweeted that he saw his “roommate making out with a dude.” Two days later, Clementi asked to use the room again. Ravi set up the camera and angled it at the bed, according to students who testified.

One witness said that Ravi was uncomfortable having a gay roommate and another said Ravi explained his computer would, “keep the gays away.”

The defense maintained Ravi only spied on his roommate because he felt uncomfortable having M.B. in the room and that he got a “bad vibe” from the visitor.

Clementi leaped to his death from the George Washington Bridge after a series of suicides of other young teenagers around the country who were bullied because they were gay.

“I was 18 ... I did do things wrong and I was stupid about a lot of stuff,” Ravi told ABC News. “I was a dumb kid not thinking about it.”

“I didn’t act out of hate and I wasn’t uncomfortable with Tyler being gay,” Ravi said in an interview with New Jersey’s The Star-Ledger.

Ravi insists he is not homophobic.

not as I do Tennessee Senate passes bill allowing creationism in schools The Tennessee Senate passed a bill allowing teachers to advocate for creationism and openly oppose climate change in class. The bill’s wording says it’s “protecting the right to open discussion.” The bill cleared the Senate with a 24-8 vote. It says teachers cannot be punished for “helping students to understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses

Marriage equality update Marriage equality battles are waging around the nation as ballot initiatives are prepared for this November’s elections. Queer-rights activists are fighting to stop constitutional amendments banning gay marriage in some states, while others are fighting to reaffirm state legislatures who legalized same-sex unions.

Here’s an update of what to expect this fall.

North Carolina Amendment One is the state’s proposition to include a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Recent polling data is not good for equality advocates, but President Barack Obama spoke out against the measure and encouraged voters to vote down Amendment One. The queer-rights group Protect All NC Families is spearheading a campaign to stop the measure from passing and anti-Proposition 8 attorney Ted Olson is visiting the state in April to fight the anti-gay Amendment One.

Minnesota Voters will face a potential constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman this November. A recent poll conducted by Star Tribune indicates 48 percent support the amendment and 43 percent oppose it, which falls well within the margin of error of 4.5 percent.

of existing scientific theories.” The bill is opposed by virtually every scientific and civil-rights groups in the nation, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Center for Science Education and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Maine The House of Representatives voted unanimously to send a bill legalizing same-sex marriage directly to voters. A similar ballot measure in 2008 ended in a 52-48 percent split by voters to deny gay couples marriage equality. However, advocates point to recent polling that indicates growing support for their cause. The issue will be on the ballot in November.

Washington A Thurston County judge approved language for Referendum 74, which will appear on the state’s November ballot, provided the initiative proponents collect the required 121,000 signatures by June 6. The referendum would repeal a marriage-equality law passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor.

Anti-gay groups wanted to include the phrase “redefine marriage,” in the ballot, but a judge denied that request.

Maryland Marriage equality opponents launched a petition drive to overturn the law passed that legalizes same-sex marriage. They have to collect 56,000 signatures to take the question to the November ballot. Recent polling by Maryland news outlets indicates a split electorate on the issue of gay marriage.

from the 2005 incident in Magna, Utah. Dalton could face two life sentences.

Georgia student reprimanded

A Georgia student says that administrators removed him as student body president after he promoted changes trying to make the school’s prom more inclusive to gay students. Reuben Religious rape Lack filed a lawsuit in a federal court, asking the A religious leader was found guilty of rape judge to issue an injunction reinstating him as for commanding the rape of a 15-year-old Utah the student body president. Rather than have girl and then having sex with her himself. Terrill gender-specific prom royalty, Lack suggested usDalton, president of the Church of the Firstborn ing terms such as “prom court.” He said he was of the General Assembly of Heaven, was convict- told by administrators that he was removed from ed of two, first-degree felony counts stemming his position for pushing personal agendas.

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6 LOCAL NEWS NEWS

MARCH 29, 2012

Dozens gather at UVU Rally for Equality

By Seth Bracken

In a move to show Utah Valley University administration that the student body supports adopting a nondiscrimination policy that includes protections for queers, dozens of students and faculty attended a Rally for Equality on March 26.

The rally was also protesting recent Tweets from UVU vice president of student life Joe Jurisic using derogatory words toward women referring to them as “elephants” and “hoes,” said rally organizers.

The protest comes after an email asking students to vote against an openly gay candidate for school office circulated the campus.

The email said that Tom Hawkins, a candidate for vice president of clubs and organizations, could not be trusted because he is gay. After the votes were tallied on March 7, he was informed that he lost the race.

The email was sent to clubs and club contacts through the school’s email server and the identity of the sender is unknown.

He or she simply signed the letter, “a concerned student.” Hawkins’ candidacy was unique in that only club members and club presidencies are allowed to vote for the position, making it much easier for an email to reach all the possible voters.

“Because of Tom Hawkins’ sexuality his judgment is impaired, and biased. This is a risky thing as he will be imposing his biasis (sic) and judgments into all of the clubs and organizations on campus,” the email read. “Because of our traditions, beliefs, and values here in Utah, and specifically Utah County, we cannot afford to let this person into the VP position.”

Hawkins spoke to the crowd at the rally, which was sponsored by the UVU Coalition Against Discrimination, and said that although the university issued a statement condemning the email, unless action is taken, there is risk of further discrimination that will go unpunished and unanswered.

“I was a little shocked at first. It’s not something I expected here on campus,” Hawkins said. “While I am appreciative for what the administration said, those are just empty words. They’re not really anything other than empty words without action.”

The Coalition Against Discrimination has met with UVU President Mike Holland and will continue to hold meetings discussing the expansion of the school’s nondiscrimination policy. However, UVU is currently the only public institution of higher education that does not include sexual orientation and gender identity in its policies.

Racism, sexism and discrimination are real problems on the campus and ones that need to be addressed, despite social pressures not to, said Natalie Bankhead,

a rally speaker. “ We all have a million stories of (discrimination) happening,” Bank- Tweets by UVU vice president of student life Joe Jurisic head said. “We can’t tion clauses of UVU literature and policies, be engaged, we can’t have community, we Jonassaint said Holland and other admincan’t have a real education until we protect istration were reluctant to deal with it uneveryone from these situations.” til there was evidence of a major problem.

Problems of discrimination don’t end “I’m mad because a year before it hapwith students’ situations; queer faculty pened, President Holland and other adoften face repercussions for who they are, ministration basically asked for that memo said UVU anthropology professor David to be sent out about Tom. They asked for Knowlton. something horrible to happen to a student “There is discrimination here,” Knowlbefore they acted and they’re still asking for ton said. “We need a university where all of something even worse to happen,” he said. us can be participants. … It may not happen Rally organizers included representatoday, it may not happen tomorrow, but we tives from the Spectrum, the Revolutionneed to put President Holland on notice ary Student Union, the Peace and Justice that it is going to happen.”

Club, the Philosophy Club, the Unidos SalDealing with racial and other discrimidremos Adelante (Latin student) Club and nation is a constant struggle for former the Secular Humanism, Agnosticism and Spectrum (the UVU queer straight alliFree Thought Club. Organizers are asking ance) co-chair Matthew Jonassaint. From concerned parties to tell Holland to supstrange looks in the halls of the university port the drive for sexual orientation and buildings to homophobic remarks in classgender identity to be included in the unies, UVU needs to institute change immediversity’s policies. Q ately, he said.

In a push to include sexual orientation To contact UVU administration, go to uvu.edu/ and gender identity in the nondiscrimina- president.

Gov. vetoes sex-ed bill Gov. Gary Herbert vetoed a controversial bill that would have required schools to teach abstinence-only sex education and allowed them the option to drop such courses all together. HB363, sponsored by Rep. Bill Wright, R-Holden, also would have prevented the “advocacy” of homosexuality.

The decision followed pressure from thousands of Utahns on both sides of the issue after the bill cleared the Utah Legislature. More than 40,000 people signed an online petition against the bill and hundreds rallied on Capitol Hill asking the governor for his veto.

“After careful review of existing law and following extensive discussions with stakeholders on both sides of the issue,” Herbert said in a statement. “I am convinced the existing statutory framework respects these two principles, while HB363 simply goes too far by constricting parental options.”

He announced his veto Feb. 16 over Twitter saying, ““I just vetoed HB363. I cannot sign a bill that deprives parents of their choice.”

The bill’s co-sponsor Sen. Margaret Dayton told The Salt Lake Tribune that she was disappointed in the governor and that she had expected him to support the measure. She said teaching children about contraception is like telling kids to avoid drugs and then

showing them how to “mainline” heroin.

Dayton said one of her main motivations in sponsoring the bill was to remove the influence of Planned Parenthood on the education system. However, The State Office of Education has already pulled its official approval of a Planned Parenthood presentation that was used in elementary school maturation programs.

The bill was opposed by queer rights groups, the Utah Education Association and the Utah PTA. Herbert’s veto came the night after the Utah Republican political caucuses, where delegates who will pick the party’s nominees at the state convention were selected.

The governor’s spokesperson, Ally Isom, denied that politics played a role in his timing or decision.

The governor’s office received more than 8,000 letters, emails and phone calls on the topic, which is more feedback than the office received on immigration and open-records legislation from previous sessions, Isom said.

Utah law already prohibits the “advocacy” of homosexuality, however, many queer-rights activists feared the bill would lead to more stifling of teachers who are already wary of touching on the sensitive subject in Utah schools.

ISSUE 203

QSALTLAKE

Qmmunity O Film Screening: ‘Bullied’ c e B Join the University of Utah LGBT Resource Center in a community screening of the documentary, Bullied, with a panel discussion to follow. The panel will be moderated by Kilo Zamora, executive director of the Inclusion Center. Panelists include Jamie Nabozny, LGBT anti-bullying activist; Don Strassberg, UofU professor; Brandie Balken, executive director of Equality Utah; and Erin Summers. The panelists will discuss the impacts of bullying both in schools and online, the psychological effects of bullying, and bullying from a youth’s perspective.

WHEN: Monday, April 16, 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Salt Lake City Library, 210 E. 400 South

Drive up and Drop Off Drive Up and Drop Off is designed for students and other people in the area to load items of donation in their cars for the Homeless Youth Resource Center and drive to the UofU campus to drop them off. The friendly social work students will help unload the cars and deliver the items to the center on your behalf. The center provides homeless youth with basic-need items.

Items such as socks, sleeping bags, tents, shoes and dress clothes are badly needed.

Monetary donations also accepted.

WHEN: Thursday, April 19, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

WHERE: University of Utah campus, 201 Presidents Circle

Sugar House Art Walk and film screening The Sugar House Merchants Association, in conjunction with the Sugar House Art Walk, will be screening Love Free or Die, the Sundance 2012 documentary film selection that follows the triumphs and tribulations of Gene Robinson, the first elected openly gay bishop into the Episcopalian Church. Co-sponsored by QSaltLake, ticket sales will be used to help sustain the art walk, which is free to the public the second Friday of each month.

WHEN: April 13, 9 p.m. & 11 p.m.

WHERE: Sugar Space, 616 Wilmington Ave. TICKETS: $7/advance and $10/day of, www.thesugarspace.com

Pioneers in HIV The second annual Pioneers in HIV is a celebratory recognition of those Utahns at the forefront of HIV care. The event is sponsored by the Utah AIDS Foundation, the LDS Church and Zions Bank.

WHEN: May 2, 6 p.m.

WHERE: Hilton Hotel, 255 S. West Temple COST: $100 per person, or a table for 10 is $1,000 INFO: utahaids.org

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QSALTLAKE.COM

ISSUE 203

MARCH 29, 2012

Orem man charged with extorting male BYU student for sex, money

A 36-year-old Orem man was arrested and charged with extorting a 21-year-old Brigham Young University student for sex and money.

Brad Ray Adams was charged in 4th District Court on March 12 on one count of attempted forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony; one count of voyeurism, and one count of theft by extortion and attempted theft by extortion.

The student met Adams on Craigslist and the two began exchanging emails and text messages, Provo police said. After the student sent Adams suggestive photos of himself, Adams threatened to expose the student to his school and family, which could result in his expulsion, police said.

The two eventually met and had consensual sex, charging documents state. After the encounter, the student tried to stop all future contact, but Adams persisted and told the student that he had recorded the

7

UVU Spectrum plans masquerade ball Utah Valley University’s queer-straight alliance, UVU Spectrum, is hosting a masquerade ball for the college and adult queer community to show that the campus is more accepting than most people realize, Tom Hawkins, Spectrum president, said in a press release.

The ball, which will be held April 7, 7 p.m., UVU Ballroom, is also designed to show straight campus members that there’s more to the queer community than they might think, he said.

In combination with the ball, Spectrum is holding a food and hygiene drive for the Brad Ray Adams Homeless Youth Resource Center. Portions entire sexual experience and would release of the ticket sales and sales from the phothe video to BYU honor-code officials unless he was paid $260, police said.

The victim paid Adams the money, but continued to be pressured by Adams for more money — $800 or $600 plus sex, charging documents say.

The student contacted police who set up a sting operation. After the victim paid By Seth Bracken Adams an additional $800 in exchange for Taking advantage of everything that Moab the compromising photos, Adams was ar- has to offer to queer and straight tourists rested and later confessed to the crime, alike, Gay Adventure Week is planning a police said. number of activities, including rafting, Officials seized Adams’ electronics to hiking, Jeep tours, climbing and much look for other victims. Anyone with infor- more, all leading up to the city’s second mation on other victims is encouraged to annual Pride Festival. With all proceeds call Detective Brian Taylor at 801-852-7328. from the week’s events being donated to

tographer will be donated to the HYRC. Students from schools around the state are invited to attend the ball.

Formal attire and masks are required, although masks cannot cover more than half the face. The campus is dry and alcohol will not be served. Tickets are $15 per couple and $10 for singles in advance and $20 and $15 on the day of the event.

Discounts will be given for student identifications and cans of food and hygiene items for HYRC. Tickets can be purchased from Hawkins at medicalman92682@yahoo.com or online at ticketleap.com.

Moab Adventure Week serves as a precursor to pride festival

Syphilis infection rate up in Utah

The infection rate of syphilis is on the rise in Utah — 65 new cases of the disease were reported in 2010. More than 95 percent of new cases were reported along the Wasatch Front, according to a report issued by the Utah Department of Health.

The bacterial disease occurs mainly in men who have sex with men.

The rate of syphilis in 2010 was 2.3 per 100,000 persons, a 93 percent increase from the rate of 1.2 per 100,000 persons documented in 2009. Syphilis rates have consistently increased since 2007, which had a documented rate of 0.7 per 100,000 persons.

Syphilis is a treatable and curable condition that is spread through contact with an open sore. The first stage of syphilis occurs nine to 90 days after infection and usually manifests itself in a sore that looks somewhat like a red pimple, said Tyler Fisher, a programming director at the Utah AIDS Foundation. The sore is not painful and many won’t even know they are infected, he said. It looks like a cold sore, pimple or other growth.

The bacteria can be spread through skin-to-skin contact, oral sex and anal sex.

The sore often appears on the genitals and the mouth, and can infect both men and women.

“It’s so important to check your partner’s

NEWS

genitals before engaging in sexual activities. Also, wearing protection is always an important step,” Fisher said. “Syphilis can be cured, but needs to be taken care of as soon as possible.”

Having an open sore greatly increases the risk for contracting HIV and even someone topping in anal sex who is infected with syphilis greatly increases his chances of contracting HIV, he said.

“We also want to spread the word that those who are already infected with HIV need to worry about syphilis. The majority of those who contract it are already HIV positive,” Fisher said. “Too often people who are HIV positive think they don’t have anything else to worry about, but the effects can be devastating.”

If left untreated, syphilis can result in rashes on the hands and feet and eventually lead to brain damage.

The UAF offers syphilis testing for $5, and other agencies, such as the Salt Lake Valley Health Department, also offer lowcost testing and treatment. HIV and other tests are available Mondays and Thursdays, 5-7 p.m., at the UAF, 1408 S. 1100 East.

“People hear all about HIV testing, but I think sometimes we forget how important it is to be aware of other threats, such as syphilis,” Fisher said.

For more information, go to utahaids.org.

Moab Pride, there’s no good reason to skip the adventurous event with attractions for outdoor enthusiasts and vanilla visitors.

“Moab is a playground for adults and we want to help people see that,” said Helene Rohr, the organizer of the event. “I think too often people think that gay people aren’t up for adventure, but that’s simply not the case.”

The adventures, which will take place Sept. 23–28, can be purchased at a discount price by registering for the entire week’s schedule, or can be purchased a la carte.

With three “prix fixe” packages, Challenging, Moderate and Relaxing, there’s something for everyone in the schedule.

Featuring activities such as rafting one of the most dangerous and difficult stretches of river in the U.S., Cataract Canyon, biking the Slickrock Trail, one of the most strenuous and rewarding trails in the U.S., and a Jeep excursion through Arches National Park, the Challenging schedule is an action-packed week.

The Moderate section still features some of the best attractions Utah has to offer with whitewater rafting, hiking and horseback riding. The Relaxing group will still have the chance to hike, mountain bike a more approachable trail and raft a less intimidating part of the Colorado River. If participants want to only join for dinner in the evenings or other activities, they are all invited. Also, registered participants will receive discounts at local eateries and other shops.

“We are looking to provide an extension of sorts to the pride festival,” she said. “We want to showcase everything Moab has to offer.”

The event is attracting men and women alike and will provide an excellent opportunity for gay people to meet others who are interested in the outdoors. People

from around the nation are attending and Utahns are invited to participate and become familiarized with the area.

“Even if you’ve been to Moab a dozen times, there’s always something new and exciting to do. And what better way to do it than in an inclusive environment with other gay people and allies?” Rohr said.

The Pride Festival attracted hundreds last year and is looking to grow this year.

“By participating in the event helps Moab Pride to grow into something beautiful and are also helping a community in rural Utah to be able to help their kids and teenagers from not feeling that they are alone,” she said.

For pricing information and to reserve a spot, go to gayadventureweek.com.

8 NEWS

MARCH 29, 2012

Rep. Doughty talks unfinished business, second term

At the same time it’s frustrating to watch good legislation that has solid public support rejected. The session was, as I had expected, fast paced and furious at times.

Q: Why did you decide to run again?

an adult designee if they are not using the benefit for a spouse; remove the requirement that county clerks put a straight parBrian DOUGHTY: My first session was fun ty ticket vote on the election ballots; and and frustrating at the same time. It’s great create a task force to examine after-school to be part of the process and represent my programs and how they can help to close constituents and the LGBT community. the achievement gap in our Hispanic and white students in public education.

Q: Your adult designee benefits for state employees bill received a hearing. Did you consider that a success?

BD: HB64 was given a hearing on the last day the committee met and was the last bill on the agenda. Having the bill heard in committee was a success in my eyes. I had to convince the committee chair to put it on the agenda. While I knew it was a long shot this year I wanted to have the discussion. Legislation such as HB64 generally takes a few years to get through the process. This past year gave me the ability to hear concerns from the committee chair, the committee and PEHP. Going forward

manner in which it is presented. I think the nondiscrimination legislation needs to begin in the House next year. It’s important that it be presented to a committee that will be willing to hear the debate and make a decision on the facts. I had discussions with several moderate house Republicans this past session and I think many are willing to vote in favor of nondiscrimination. Q

Melvin Nimer seeks Salt Lake County Council at-large seat

BD: I feel I can be an effective voice for the Although he might dislike the correlation, constituents of House District 26. During Republican Salt Lake City Council canmy first session I was able to reach across didate Melvin Nimer is following the old the aisle and build some relationships and friendships with several Republican legislators. Any progressive legislation that is passed will require Democrat and Republican votes. I also feel it is important to have an elected representative or senator from the LGBT community that can speak from personal experience when those issues come up for debate. Discussing family life and attending legislative functions with spouses and partners helps some repreUtah’s first openly gay legislator, Jackie sentatives and senators realize we are just Biskupski, who resigned last summer. like many Utah families. Having an elected However, the district he represented was LGBT person brings a perspective that our combined with a neighboring area. Rep. straight allies can’t bring to the debate.

David Litvack stepped down and Doughty is now facing an intraparty challenge from Q: What bills and issues are you going to Angela Romero for the Democratic nomi- push next session? nation. QSaltLake asked Doughty how his BD: If given the opportunity to serve my first session went and what he hopes to ac- district, I would like to continue to pursue complish if elected in November to repre- the legislation I began this past session: sent House District 26.

Give state employees the ability to insure

QSaltLake: How was your first session?

Was it what you thought it would be?

QSALTLAKE

I can either adjust the legislation or find Q: Do you think next year might be the facts to alleviate their concerns. year for a statewide nondiscrimination Q: What issues do you think will be the bill? biggest overall next session?

BD: It could be. I feel it depends on the

BD: It’s hard to say what issues will come forward this far in advance. Many contentious issues are not known until the bill is Rep. Brian Doughty, D-Salt Lake City, is Utah’s only openly gay lawmaker currently released mid-session. HB116 (Immigration serving on Capitol Hill. He was selected by Guest Worker Program) will be coming onrepresentatives in his district to replace Q: What were the biggest challenges you line in 2013, so there could be attempts to revoke this legislation or amend the legisfaced? lation. I hope that whatever issues come up BD: One of the challenges I faced was time. for 2013, they will address the real issues Making sure your legislation is ready to go facing Utahns and not be wasteful of time and getting it to a committee hearing early and energy on message bills. is the best way for success. Even though I had two of my bills ready to go on the first day of the session, getting them to a committee hearing seemed to be my biggest challenge.

By Seth Bracken

ISSUE 203

Democratic adage, “It’s the economy, stupid!” in his race. Nimer has extensive business and accounting backgrounds and said he will use his experience to help balance the county budget and prioritize the most important details of the budget.

With the very nature of the county likely to be shaped in the upcoming years, including incorporating townships, having a candidate that knows how to prioritize and run a business should be on voters’ minds, Nimer said.

Unlike conventional wisdom would denote, Nimer is an openly gay Republican and is no stranger to Utah politics or running for office. Nimer ran for Senate District 2 in 2010 against current Democratic Salt Lake County mayoral candidate Ben McAdams.

“I wanted to make a difference in my community as well as for myself and my neighbors so I began looking at where I could go and what I could do,” Nimer said.

While often perceived as unfriendly to gays and lesbians, the Utah Republican Party is opening up to queer issues, and Nimer said he has seen enormous progress during his time in the party. He is the chair of the Log Cabin Republicans, a queer caucus within the Republican Party.

“We’ve had very good support from the state party and the county party. We’re good friends with (Utah Republican Party chairman) Thomas Wright and (Salt Lake County Republican Party chairwoman) Julie Dole,” he said. “I think by being involved in the Republican Party, we’ve gained a lot of respect from all of the party people,” Nimer said. “They know I’m openly gay and I don’t hide it. It’s not an issue.”

Nimer said he supports small government and would work to reduce taxes and find better ways to provide the muchneeded services that the county provides.

Nimer faces two intraparty challengers for the party nomination, Joe Demma, a former aide to Gov. Gary Herbert’s election campaign, and Steve Harmsen, a businessman who was a county councilman from 2001 to 2005.

After the nomination is secured, Nimer would then face Democratic Councilman Jim Bradley, who has been on the council since 2001 and was previously a county commissioner since 1991.

Bradley has supported the Unified Police Department fee and is slowly losing touch with voters, Nimer said. In place of a councilman who implements plans without listening to constituents’ concerns, Nimer said he would try to best reflect the issues and values of Salt Lake County residents.

Salt Lake County already has ordinances in place to protect against bias in workplace and housing based on gender identity as well as adult designee benefits gay couples can use.

While in the early stages of the campaign, Nimer is still looking for volunteers and donors and information can be found on his website, melnimer.com.

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Social justice advocate seeks to run against Doughty

By Seth Bracken

Angela Romero, a lifelong Democrat, has been working within the party for years, and is now launching her bid for the Utah House of Representatives. In a bid for House District 26, against fellow Democrat Brian Doughty, Romero said she hopes to bring years of experience working with Sen. Pete Suazo, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, Rep. David Litvack and others to the Utah House. She spoke with QSaltLake about her history advocating for social justice and her support for queerrights issues.

QSaltLake: When did you decide to run and why?

Angela Romero: I’m running for House District 26 because I care about my comdmunity and want to ensure our voices are sheard in the state legislature. District 26 is largely the west end of Salt Lake City.

The Glendale neighborhood is the heart of District 26, but it also branches out into eWest Valley City, Central City and Downetown Salt Lake City. I have lived, worked yand volunteered on the west side of Salt eLake for over 20 years, primarily advocating for social justice. I have the experience das a community organizer in the area and know the issues and needs of the commu”nity. As for when I decided to run, I have considered running for elected office for a number of years, but when Rep. David Litvack announced he was resigning from the Legislature, I decided that now was the right time for me to step up.

.Q: What are some of the issues that are most important to you?

access to health care. I’m interested in identifying ways to manage cost and provide affordable health care for all Utahns.

I have been and always will be a strong advocate for issues of social justice and human rights. As a Democrat that will represent one of the most diverse districts in Utah, I will fight for our communities of color, our LGBT community and our working families.

Q: What bills/issues would you champion next session?

AR: At this point, I don’t know what bills I will champion. I will support and fight for issues and legislation that grants equal rights to all Utahns. I will support legislation that protects and supports our public schools. I also will support legislation that identifies ways to manage cost and provide affordable health care for all Utahns.

NEWS

sanctity of marriage Gay marriage could boost government coffers

A new study estimates that allowing gay marriage in Rhode Island would be extremely beneficial to the state’s government. The Williams Institute at the University of California says the state could generate $1.2 million in new government revenue over the first three years if same-sex marriage is recognized. The revenue would come from additional tax dollars and same-sex weddings would generate more than $400,000 in new sales tax dollars. Rhode Island lawmakers approved civil

unions after a bill to legalize gay were married for 20 years or marriage failed last year. more, where 41 percent of women with a high school diploma Debt hits marriage hard reached the 20-year mark.

The recession has dropped the chances for women getting A Facebook affair married before the age of 25 to A Facebook friend suggestion less than 50 percent, a recent led two women to discover they government report says. The are married to the same man at probability of a woman being married before 25 went from 59 the same time. The discovery percent in 1995 to 44 percent also led the man to be charged in 2012. The median age of the with bigamy in a Washington first marriage increased for both court. Alan O’Neil married his men and women in recent years first wife in 2001 and after movand is now 25 for women and ing out and changing his name, 28 for men. Experts estimate he married his second wife in that debt and financial stress is one key factor in the change of 2009. The first wife went to the wedding ages. The report shows second wife’s page and saw a that 78 percent of women with picture of her and her husband at least a bachelor’s degree with a wedding cake.

Q: Would you support a statewide nondiscrimination bill protecting against bias in the workplace and housing based on sexual orientation and gender identity? Why or why not?

AR: Absolutely. As a person of color and an advocate for social justice and human rights, I believe that all people should be treated equally regardless of their race/ ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity. I do not tolerate discrimination or prejudice in any form. I would not only support a statewide nondiscrimination bill, I would be an advocate fighting for its passage.

Q: Would you support a statewide second-parent adoption bill to allow unAR: The issues that are most important to married couples, including gay couples, me are education, health care, and social to adopt? Why or why not? justice and human rights.

Supporting public education is impor- AR: Being a parent and raising a child has tant to me. The majority of elementary- been the most important and rewarding r aged students live on the west side of experience I have ever done. As I menSalt Lake City. Our public schools need tioned above, I believe everyone should support to improve graduation rates and be treated equally and deciding to start or y the achievement gap that disadvantages becoming a family is part of that equality. students of color and other marginalized I feel that anyone that is in a position to adopt and provide a loving household for a groups. h Access to quality health care is impor- child should have the opportunity to do so. tant to me. District 26 has many residents I would strongly support a second-parent that cannot afford or have difficulty with adoption bill. Q r

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MARCH 29, 2012

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snaps & slaps

SLAP: Two men arrested for buggery Two California men pleaded guilty to indecent exposure in the island-nation of Dominica after being arrested during a stop on a gay cruise of the Caribbean. John Robert Hart, 41, and Dennis Jay Mayer, 43, told the court they regretted their actions. Police said they were seen having sex by people on land which prompted officers to board the ship and arrest them. The two were arrested on suspicion of “buggery” or sodomy, which is illegal on the eastern Caribbean island where gay sex is outlawed. The men had to pay a $900 fine and were called “rogues and vagabonds” by the chief magistrate in the court. The pair made no comment regarding the verdict and police drove them to the airport and released them.

SLAP: Starbucks boycott

from the editor A closet divided cannot stand

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By Seth Bracken

oming out of the closet, for me, was a two-year process. It started with a little exploration. I still remember the first time I sat outside the Queer Resource Center at Utah State University. I would watch people walk in and out of the little room that was not much bigger than a closet. On Wednesday afternoons they would have lunch together, and I would sit on a plush leather couch just outside the office.

I would listen to conversations about dating, sex and coming out. I even ventured in occasionally to ask some questions for stories I was working on for the school paper or for a class. I think everyone must have known, but no one ever pushed me.

I also remember the first time I went to Bear Coffee, an event on Wednesday nights in Salt Lake City for big, hairy guys and their admirers. I had just finished helping my friend move into her new apartment and I had stopped at Raw Bean Coffee House to do some studying and enjoy a cappuccino before heading back up the mountain. As the upstairs area filled

with large, oftentimes effeminate men, my palms grew sweaty and I wondered if the big gay mafia was onto me.

“You here for bear coffee?” one of them

My palms grew sweaty and I wondered if the big gay mafia was onto me asked me.

“Uh … sure. Why not?” I wasn’t sure what a bear was or why a woodland creature would want coffee, but I knew I was intrigued.

I doubt I muttered more than three words the whole night. I couldn’t believe I stumbled on this unusual group of men

who seemed at ease with themselves and with their sexuality. I left the coffee shop and drove back to school in Logan shuttering with adrenaline the entire way.

Coming out was the most exhilarating and excruciatingly difficult experience of my life. There were bad times too. Seeing the disappointment in my parent’s face and coming to the realization that I would always be seen as just a little different.

Recently, a young closeted gay man at Brigham Young University turned in a blackmailer who threatened to expose him to his family and school if he didn’t have sex with him. The deplorable action of Brad Ray Adams illustrates perfectly the extreme case of coming-out-gonewrong. Coming out is tough enough. One gay man turning on another and exploiting his situation for sex and money is beyond inexcusable. If you, or anyone you know, has come in contact with Adams and experienced something similar, police are asking you to call Detective Brian Taylor at 801-852-7328. Confidentiality can be assured. Q

After challenging Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on the company’s proequality stance, a representative from the anti-gay National Organization of Marriage called for a boycott of the coffee giant. When NOM’s Jonathan Baker asked if the pro-gay marriage stance was shared by Starbucks CEOs and other business leaders, Schultz spoke out strongly and swiftly against him, saying the support of gay rights was “not a difficult decision for us.”

SNAP: Anti-gay marriage vote fails A vote to repeal marriage equality has failed in the Republican-controlled New Hampshire House by a vote of 211-116. The bill would have replaced the current marriage-equality bill with civil unions. Although the governor promised a veto if the bill reached his desk, the bill sputtered and died by an overwhelming majority. Many Republicans joined Democrats in voicing opposition to the bill.

QSaltLake welcomes your letters to the editor.

Please send your letter of 300 words or less to letters@qsaltlake.com.

We reserve the right to edit for length or libel if a letter is chosen for publication.

QSALTLAKE.COM

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MARCH 29, 2012

the straight line Faltering extremism

By Bob Henline

ould it possibly be that rightwing extremism is losing ground in Utah?

The 2012 neighborhood and precinct caucuses are behind us and all signs point to record turnouts from both the Democrats and Republicans. For many, high attendance was expected as both parties have high-profile races coming up at convention and the various campaigns involved were working hard to get their supporters elected as delegates.

What wasn’t expected, however, is that the extremist right would lose so much ground. Just two short years ago the various tea party groups managed to come together and elect enough delegates to unseat Sen. Robert F. Bennett in the first round of balloting at the GOP convention.

At this year’s caucus, however, the tides had turned and it appears that six-term U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch may have enough delegates to not only get through convention, he may have the 60 percent needed to avoid a primary altogether.

Take as another example the actions of Gov. Gary Herbert on Friday, March 16.

After meeting with the face of Utah extremism, Gayle Ruzicka, he defied her expressed desire and used his veto on HB363.

This was the bill that would eliminate everything but abstinence from Utah’s sexeducation curriculum, as well as prohibit any discussion or advocacy of homosexuality in Utah schools.

Ruzicka, president of Utah’s Eagle Forum, was quoted as saying: “It never entered our minds that the governor who told us he was conservative would veto such an appropriate piece of legislation.”

Take special note of that. It never entered Ruzicka’s mind that Utah’s governor would defy her wishes with regard to legislation, yet he did.

These two events inspire hope in me that extremism is on the decline in Utah. The far-right seemingly failed to elect enough delegates to unseat Senator Hatch and, for the moment, it appears that Governor Herbert no longer fears the wrath of Ruzicka.

I’ve made this argument several times, and I will continue to make it: the power of Utah’s extreme right (Gayle Ruzicka, Paul Mero, et al…) is based entirely upon perception. It is perceived by our elected officials that there are serious electoral consequences for defying the wishes of the UEF or the various tea party groups.

That perception was reinforced with Bennett’s defeat in 2010, although that could as easily be attributed to good strategy on

the part of the challengers as it has been to general feelings that Bennett was too liberal for Utah.

Now another election cycle is upon us and Herbert has apparently heard the voice of the masses. The far-right doesn’t have the delegates it thought it would and it seems logical to assume that with Philpot and Kirkham in the race, Herbert figures he’s not going to get those extremist delegates that were elected. So he appealed to the more moderate areas of Utah’s po-

litical spectrum and vetoed HB363.

There is one fundamental truth in politics: perception is reality. As long as the extremist right was perceived as powerful by those in office, they were powerful. That trend, though, is starting to shift. We’ve seen thousands of Utahns mobilized in response to shenanigans that might have slipped by unnoticed in previous years.

Last session it was HB477, the gutting of the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA); this session it was HB363. The people managed to put enough pressure on the governor to force a veto, something the far right never saw coming.

The fight, however, is far from won.

Politics is an ever-evolving arena, the players and the rules change every day.

What is important now is that we keep the momentum going, not just to November, but through this election cycle and into the next.

creep of the week Rush Limbaugh

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By D’Anne Witkowski

oor Rush Limbaugh. Can’t a guy call a girl a slut on the radio these days without people getting all mad? It’s not like he called a private citizen a prostitute, and then suggested she post online videos of all the sex she’s had in order to “pay” for her birth control pills.

Oh, wait! That’s exactly what he did. And it’s apparently a very big deal. Advertisers are fleeing from Limbaugh’s show faster than you can say “birth control pills are basically Skittles for whores.”

And good for those companies for speaking out against blatant misogyny in the only speech that is actually free in America: money.

Still, I can’t help but think, “What the hell took so long?” Because the fact is, this guy has had a hatespout in his mouth for decades. His long history of misogyny, racism, homophobia and classism has been well documented.

So what happened? Was it some kind of Muslim Femi-Nazi plot unleashed by the Obama administration? Was it that he crossed a line by targeting a private citizen? Or could it have been that by assailing women’s access to birth control, Limbaugh finally pissed off enough straight women that they’re actually paying attention and

they don’t like what they’re hearing?

Rush is a megaphone for all of the rabid anti-choice, anti-women politicians and voters in America. It’s no fluke that his anti-Fluke ranting coincides with the shitload of bills and proposals flying out of mostly male pieholes nationwide.

Bills that would mandate forced vaginal ultrasounds; allow employers to fire women who use birth control; mandate that a woman must carry a dead fetus to term; exempt employers from offering birth control if it bothers their delicate moral or religious beliefs; allow a doctor to withhold any negative result from prenatal tests that may tip the scale toward abortion; and refuse funding for women’s health if any of it is to go toward birth control.

The list goes on. Margaret Sanger would be so pissed.

These are actual proposals being seriously suggested. In America. In 2012. Limbaugh’s merely providing the soundtrack.

So I have to say that I wasn’t surprised by Limbaugh’s “slut” comments. Nor am I surprised by the assault on birth control and the women who use it or want access to it.

Is this trend alarming? Sure. While these debates aren’t new, it’s certainly remarkable that today a Republican candidate for

‘Birth control pills are basically Skittles for whores’

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There are large numbers of good candidates seeking public office this year, and each and every one of us has the power to help ensure that Utah’s elected representation moves further away from the extremist right and closer to the real values and ideals of Utah’s citizens.

The participation of the people, in unprecedented numbers, has helped to weaken the perception of power, and hence the actual power of Utah’s extremist right. That continued participation will fuel even greater change in the months and years ahead.

You never know which voice is heard in the sometimes chaotic political arena.

You never know which email will be read, or which vote will be the one that pushes rationality over the top of extremism. But now you know it can happen, and it can happen here. Keep up the good work, rational Utah! Q

the presidential nomination can say on national TV that a woman should look at a rape-induced pregnancy as a gift from God, and still go on to win primaries.

For years I have been inundated with creeps trying to take away and restrict access to rights for myself and for my family.

I, along with all LGBT people, have been characterized as a sex-pervert undeserving of equal protection under the law. I’ve listened to countless elected officials debate the most intimate details of my life — love, sex, family — and declare I have no right to any of them because I’ve “chosen” the “gay lifestyle.”

So all of this “slut shaming” that folks like Limbaugh are doing, all of this antiwoman legislation, it’s been coming down the pike all along. For years gay and lesbian activists, myself included, have been saying to straight folks, “Look out. These guys are coming after you next.” And part of me, I must say, feels a tinge of “I told you so” directed at all of the hetero folks who never really felt they had a stake in this fight.

Welcome to the club. Better late than never. Q

Everyone deserves to be happy and healthy Check out our website for information and a resource directory www.lgbtqtherapists.com

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MARCH 29, 2012

lambda lore Royal beginnings

By Ben Williams Contribution by Marty Pollack

n Redwood Road at the outer western limit of Salt Lake City, a new bar opened in July 1975. Far from the emerging gay nightlife of downtown, three business partners, Jim Beverage, Paul Douglas and Mack Hunt, opened a tavern called the Rusty Bell. It was to play an important role in the foundation of Utah’s gay communities.

This watering hole was located at 996 S. Redwood Rd., but was not the first bar in Salt Lake City to cater specifically to gay men and women. The Sun Tavern, opened

by Joe Redburn, has that distinction when he turned the old Railroad Exchange saloon, located on the northwest corner of South Temple and 400 West, into an exclusively gay bar in February 1973.

The Rusty Bell was an immediate sensation with the non-clubbing gay crowd, where both men and women felt comfortable to socialize, have a drink and escape the pressures of a hostile world. Whereas the mid 1970s were the zenith of the disco era, the Rusty Bell had its own less-pulsating ambience. There, one was as likely to hear country as Donna Summers tunes.

Lesbians especially found themselves at home in the bar. The Rusty Bell spon-

sored a women’s organization called “The Western Rustlers” which held fundraisers for such charities as the Grace Christian Church and Sub-for-Santa programs. In fact, the Rusty Bell hosted the first public gay wedding in Utah when Shirley Price and Camille Tartagila held a double-ring ceremony there in November 1975.

However, the most important legacy of the Rusty Bell is that it was where the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire originated. Shortly after the tavern held a 1950s party to raise building funds for the Grace Christian Church, more than 20 people, straight, lesbian, drag queen, activist, and businessman, met over the Veteran’s Day weekend to create a Founders Council to organize an Imperial Court system for Utah.

The tradition of the Imperial Court systems was started in 1965 when Jose Sarria, a legendary San Francisco drag performer and political activist, put a crown on his head and proclaimed himself by his own powers, “Dowager Widow of the Emperor Norton, Empress of San Francisco and Protectress of Mexico.” All courts systems received their charters from organizations authorized by Jose Sarria, and the court

DecideToDrive.org

system has since become the largest charitable and philanthropic gay organization in the world.

It was 10 years after Sarria created the system that some gay Utah folks decided to create a social and charitable organization. These folks were friends and lovers, mostly in their 20s, and gathered to discuss forming a community-based organization after the Imperial Court models in San Francisco and Portland. Henry Bender, a man from Washington had participated in the fledgling organizations of Washington and Oregon and encouraged the creation of a court in Utah.

In late October, this eclectic group agreed to meet at the Rusty Bell to hammer out Utah’s first gay nonprofit organization for charitable fundraisers. The group, the Founders Council, included three straight women, Rose Carrier, Thelma Ensign and Carole Martindale, who loved the gay community and were like surrogate mothers to a lot of gays. Two lesbians, Chad Herinborg, and Pepper Prespente also joined the group. The gay men in the Founders Council included drag performers Henry Bender (Deanna), Jay Bradley (Tiffany Dawn), Gordon Winklekotter (Joanie Lynn), Larry Kasper (Lois Lane), Marty Pollock (Marita Gayle), as well as gay activists Bruce Allred, Earl Ashley, Terry Jones, Len Mathesen, and Bob Mandrake.

The owners of the Rusty Bell supported the idea of a charitable nonprofit and joined the Founders Council, as well as the bar’s popular disc jockey, Dennis Felix.

One additional member, who never had his name published, was probably Ron, who was Jones’ lover.

The Founders Council was responsible for the creation of the first Court system’s charter, choosing the name of the organization and picking its first empress, who would act as president. The name chosen was the “Imperial Court of the Wasatch Empire of Utah.” This moniker was later shortened to the Imperial Court of Utah and only after the crisis in leadership of 1980 did the name change to the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire.

Next, Henry Bender was selected by a panel of five judges to be the first empress of the organization. He, in turn, picked Pepper Prespente as his vice president and first emperor. They chose members to serve in the court and be responsible for helping sponsor charity shows. Role reversals continued in the first court with Terry Jones, a gay man, chosen as Princess Royale I and Lesbian Chad Herinborg as Prince Royale I. Other members were Gordon “Gordie” Winklekotter (Joanie Lynn) as czarina, Kasper as czar, Bradley as grand duchess, Ron as grand duke, Marty Pollock (Marita Gayle) as queen of the realm and Bruce Allred, a tall, handsome, red-headed man from Ogden as prime minister. Bob Mandrake was chosen as treasurer, a position he held for nine years.

To promote the formation of Utah’s

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court, in the late fall of 1975, Empress I, Deanna, made several visits to the Courts of the Pacific Northwest. While still registered in the state of Washington, Deanna entered the Miss Gay Washington Contest and received awards for Miss Congeniality and Best Performance. He also met with the Imperial Court of the Emerald Empire of Eugene Oregon who agreed to sponsor Utah’s court. Eugene’s court, which later changed the name to the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Emerald Empire, is still the “mother court” for Utah.

In December 1975, Empress Deanna, while visiting Denver’s Court for their Snowball, made arrangements to have the Imperial Court of the Rocky Mountain Empire, officiate a coronation in Utah. Thus, it was a very busy time preparing for Utah’s first coronation.

On Sunday, Feb. 22 1976, the ICWE of Utah held their coronation at the Rusty Bell. In attendance were Empresses Cherisse of the Emerald Court of Eugene, Oregon and Scotti Carlyle of the Imperial Court of The Rocky Mountain Empire of Denver who crowned Deanna as Empress I of the Wasatch Court. Empress Cherisse was there to grant Utah’s court its official charter. Nearly 100 people were in attendance.

The first reign of the Imperial Court served for 14 months, February, 1976 to April, 1977, the longest of any reign. It was called “The Salt and Pepper Court” a play on Deanna’s blondness and Pepper, well, being Pepper! Empress Deanna’s title was “The Origin of the Spike” and Emperor Pepper’s was “The Spice of the Spike, The Genesis Emperor.”

Empress Deanna traveled extensively during her reign to court functions in Seattle, Spokane, Denver and Nevada to represent Utah. The entire court visited Denver on April 24 for its coronation.

The new reign hosted Salt Lake City’s first official gay awards banquet called the Salt Lick Seagull Awards Banquet. It was held April 1976 in the East Room of the Sun Tavern where approximately 30 awards were given out; including “Best Baths Attendants,” “Judy Garland Comeback of the Year” and “Best Advise Bitch of the Year.”

The first reign of the Imperial Court was a time of excitement and possibilities for an emerging gay community. The court, being primarily a social group, provided fun activities and sparked curiosity and interest. The dedication of its small membership and their new monarchs ignited possibilities for young gay men and women emerging from the dominant rigid Utah culture.

On Saturday, April 30, 1977 Empress Deanna and Emperor Pepper stepped down after a long and successful reign. The foundation laid by the Founders Council at the Rusty Bell in 1975 has endured for 37 years. A remarkable organization, it changed Salt Lake City. It changed Utah. It made us all a little more fabulous. Q

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who’s your daddy?

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By Christopher Katis

everal years ago Kelly and I went backpacking in Southern Utah with our best friends, John and Sabine.

On the drive back to California, we stopped in Las Vegas to spend a couple of hours. We knew exactly which tourist attraction we absolutely had to visit: The sLiberace Museum. OK, so we were going for the kitsch of it.

Now, I could tell you about the rainbow f of garish costumes on display, the gaudy y jewelry exhibited, or even the mirror-covered car (it looked like a drivable disco ball).

But what really stood a out was the ginormous painting of Libs erace’s mother. And I probably only remember that because two older women also visiting the museum were admiring it. s As we stood behind those women, they quietly praised Liberace for his devotion to ,his mother, how he took such good care of her. Then one of them paused and said, “He rnever did get married, did he?” The four of us spent the next several seconds awkwardly trying not to split our sides laughing. y No, Liberace never did get married, did he?

- For generations of elderly woman, the best thing about having a gay son was that he would take care of you. In fact, gay kids were always the natural choice to care for aging parents since they didn’t have famislies of their own.

But times are changing, and millions of gay men and women with kids are finding -themselves in a similar situation to their estraight siblings: balancing the needs of their kids and the needs of their parents. It’s tcalled being in the Sandwich Generation.

Well guess what? I’m a big old piece of gay meat in that sandwich.

- The first time I recognized I was a member of the Sandwich Generation was when I moved five minutes away from my late -aunt Tina. She didn’t have any children, dand I was probably the closest thing to a son she ever had. That’s something that meant a lot to me. But it also meant a lot of sadded responsibility.

My aunt was visually impaired, so she needed help with a lot of everyday activities: from paying her bills and grocery shopping to getting to the beauty salon or tthe bank. Sometimes she just needed me to help find something in her apartment she’d misplaced. Living just five minutes

away meant I was her go-to guy.

Actually, we often had a great time together. And it was really a wonderful opportunity for the boys to deepen a relationship with her, as well as a gain an understanding about inter-generational relationships.

With my parents, it’s been a much more complicated and nuanced situation. They are, after all, my parents. And no matter how old I become, nothing will ever change that.

There’s good and bad news for the boys witnessing my evolving relationship with my parents.

Good news is that, although in their 80s, my parents remain in pretty amazing health. The bad news is my sons often see me being bossy and “determined” with my parents. Wait, maybe that’s not bad news for them, maybe it’s bad news for my future.

Because believe it or not, being a father has made being a caring, involved child more difficult. And not because one morning a few weeks ago I literally went from the boys’ school program to a meeting with my parents and their lawyer.

No, it’s difficult because you realize that one day the little children you’ve nurtured and cared for may in fact be telling you in no uncertain terms that those 1,000-mile road trips you were so fond of are now in the past. They may be threatening to call your doctor to ask questions if you don’t.

I know my parents appreciate the small things I’ve done for them. I know it’s not always been an easy road for us to take. It’s plain awkward, for everyone, to have the child guide the parent. But sometimes I think it also can be a relief: There are some topics that the child will raise with lawyers, doctors, financial planners, etc., that parents can’t or won’t.

This whole experience of being stuck in the middle has been stressful, yet strangely rewarding. I want my boys to understand that although they are my number one priority, I have responsibilities to other family members as well.

If some future generation of backpackers ever stumbles on a museum dedicated to me — hopefully not in a cheesy strip mall like Liberace’s — I hope that as they gaze at the painting of my parents they’d comment on what a devoted son and father I was. Q

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guest editorial Deconstructing faith at BYU

By Anonymous

I

t’s a cold Monday night in Provo, Utah and thousands of young students gather in small groups for family home evening.

Countless young men and women flirt in a way that makes their sexual repression obvious. I give them a faint, curious smile and fasten my coat as I walk – slipping through a group of them on my way to the door. They stop me, and invite me to join them. To them I am their neighbor, a fellow Brigham Young University student, and most importantly, another member of their massive eternal family.

“Brother” they call me, and tell me they are doing some kind of arts-and-craft activity that will be “super fun.” Huge, stupefying, forced smiles plaster their faces and they stare at me with gazes that radiate pure, naive innocence. If ignorance is bliss, then these are the happiest people on earth. And in a way I envy them their happiness. But they and I are worlds apart; they just don’t know it. I politely decline their offer and push on into the cold. Tightening my jacket against the frigid wintery night air as I go. There is somewhere else I want to be.

BYU is the home of some 30,000 students. Nestled in the heart of Provo, it is “the Lord’s flagship university” and in some ways the very Mecca of Mormonism.

But even here, where the church’s narrative is the strongest, and the game of selfrighteous one-upmanship is perhaps at its

most comically absurd, there is a minority of dissenters who find themselves apart from the blissfully simple — not particularly realistic — worldview touted by the church’s leadership.

For a majority of people, the narrative seems to work. They find safety in numbers and even extreme views are welcome, so long as they are conservative and Christian. But for the 1-in-10 students at BYU who are gay (and one in five who experience some level of same-sex attraction), as well as the liberals and those who’ve lost their faith, surviving here is not so easy.

When taken as a loud majority, Mormonism’s message — ostensibly about family, hope and happiness — is one that is uncompromising and wildly unaccepting of alternative views. Because of this, those who find themselves even just a little off the beaten “straight-and-narrow” path must either weather the tempest alone or else seek out like-minded people at great personal risk — potentially jeopardizing their status as a student.

For many, including myself, the risk is worth it. The burden of living in the closet as a disaffected Mormon, forced to hide behind a mask of pretense, having to attend church and hold one’s tongue, and of course jumping through the ultimate hoop — not being able to publicly say what one truly feels, is far too heavy a burden to shoulder alone.

It is with a group of these brave souls that I meet with on this Monday night.

Every one of us putting our “good student status” in danger. But we meet anyway.

Because, to survive, we must have a place where we can take off our masks and be our true selves.

After driving for some time, I arrive and enter the building. The smell of coffee fills the air. A few games of chess are going and everyone is relaxed, socializing, letting down their hair, venting and finding strength in one another’s company. It is a diverse group that includes straight and gay, Christian and atheist, liberal and conservative, but there is one unifying thread.

We’d all at one time been sincere believers of the LDS Church and have since become disaffected.

Our reasons are almost as diverse as we are. And for most it is an avalanche of factors that eventually broke us. Like taking The Matrix red pill, we awakened to a larger reality than what we’d been taught.

For some it’s because they are gay and realized that is a truth about them they could not reconcile with the church’s anti-homosexuality. For others it is because of the church’s shameful political activism regarding Proposition 8; a stance, like blacks and the priesthood, where the church again finds itself on the wrong side of history. Other common factors include: the questionable historicity of the Book of Mormon, dubious history and claims of Joseph Smith, treatment of women in the church, the Book of Abraham, past racism, the church’s white-washing of its own history, past polygamy, Masonic origins of the temple ritual, history of blood atonement, and so on. No one that I have met lost their faith in the church over “being offended” or “a desire to sin” which, somewhat comically, is what people expect from us once they know we no longer consider ourselves believers.

So why are we here? No doubt there are many who would tell us: “If you don’t like it here at BYU, and don’t like what BYU stands for, then you should just leave.”

And on the surface that idea makes a lot of sense. But for many of us, it is not so easy.

Most of us were faithful believers when we came to BYU. And many of us served missions for the LDS Church, just like we’d been told we should. We come from families that are deeply devoted to the LDS Church and we’ve been raised within

that bubble all our lives. The process of de-conversion was, and continues to be, a painful one. And not one that any sane person would wish upon him or herself.

After some time it does get better, and it is liberating, but the loss of the security blanket the church provides: of a Heavenly father that is genuinely interested in our personal happiness, and the promise that family members survive death, and of course the social benefits of belonging to such a community — few would choose to give up those things. In fact most of us never sought out our journey of disillusionment, we simply kept an open mind and — believing our testimonies could weather tempests — did not hide from information. Certainly I never suspected that my beliefs were ultimately empty. Not until it was too late. And now, like the others, I am stuck here, slowly working my way toward a BYU degree. Not wanting the school to freeze my credits and prevent my continued enrollment, ultimately holding my degree hostage. Not to mention the social suicide it would bring, coming out as a nonbeliever, and the unwanted family complications. Many are in my same position. And cannot afford to let their true feelings be known. So we soldier on. Hiding who we are. For at least a little longer.

Sometimes I wish there were a blue pill that could make me forget what I know.

Let me slide back into the church and have a slice of the same blissful ignorance that BYU cooks up in such quantities. Let me be the naive person I used to be. But even if such a pill existed, I know I couldn’t take it. Yes, life is harder without that security blanket. And now I can’t be lazy and let someone else do my moral decisionmaking for me. But the freedom to be my own person, and the need to make up my own mind, and the fear that life may end at death, all of it has made every moment that much more precious and beautiful.

It is a realization that has been forced on all of us here. But meeting together, lending each other support and friendship, makes life in Provo seem much less bleak.

BYU might assume we are a hateful band of sinners and depressed nihilists. But, as I look around me at these genuine faces with their warm, resilient smiles, I realize that nothing could be further from the truth.

We are survivors. People just trying to be honest with ourselves. And here, in this lonely coffee shop, we are free. Q

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ISSUE 203

mountain meadow mascara Heavenly bodies?

H

By Ruby Ridge

appy Spring Solstice, muffins!

Recently, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Mars aligned in a rare celestial event, but this was nothing, petals, compared to what will happen April 1. All .of the original Madams of the Utah Cyber Sluts (and their various in-bred off-spring) have pulled together to put on a show -— “Plastered, A Decade of Glitter in your Face!” at 8 p.m., Sunday, April 1, at the Paper Moon to benefit the International Gay dRodeo Association. g Now, for those of you too young to remember back to when the Cyber Sluts sactually performed shows and didn’t just host bingo every dthree-and-a-half days, take my word for it: -this a monumental event. The mathematical odds of getting any two Cyber Slut Madams in the same room eis astronomical, but to get somewhere near 11 -of us in the same place eat the same time is tsimply mind-numbing y(and trust me, kittens, -if “Beneatha Serta” Madam No. 3 wears gone of her short, clingy outfits of yesteryear lat her advanced age, .your mind will defienitely be numbed!)

A lot of the credit for this glittery reunion goes to “Lucky nCharms” who served as the original Madam No. 1 of the Cyber Sluts. Officially, the -show coincides with the 10th anniversary of her reign, but in my mind, it probably has more to do with the Mayan calendar running out and civilization ending as we know it. Oh, speaking of cosmic catastrotphes, that reminds me ... Madam No. 4, tChevy Suburban, will be performing in the show.

This time capsule of tackiness will fea-ture quite a few of the classic Cyber Slut group numbers which we are frantically .rehearsing even as this edition goes to dpress, including some of our more notoriIous, politically incorrect, small group numhbers that cannot be shared outside of a restricted, 21-and-over venue. We even have .

s

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MARCH 29, 2012

one of our original lesbian members performing (yes kiddies, there were actually real women in the Cyber Sluts at one time — with real boobies, not Nerf footballs!).

Now, I know some of you are thinking “but Ruby (that’s Madam No. 5 to you), wasn’t there some angst between you and some of the other Sluts,” and to be perfectly truthful, yes there kind of was. But despite all of the gay community gossip and the drunken bar talk which exponentially exaggerated things, our minor disagreements never really reached the magnitude of Israel versus Palestine, or Coke versus Pepsi. They were just your typical personality-driven squabbles and bouts of huffiness, where I was perfectly blameless, virtuous and kind, while some of the other Madams, without naming names, were just hateful, bloated, irritable hags. Oh that reminds me, Madam No. 9, Fonda Dixx, will also be performing at “Plastered.” I just can wait!

(Note to editor: No, that wasn’t a typo).

“Lucky Charms” and I were at Try-Angles the other night reminiscing the good old days of the Cyber Sluts, and we were trying to add up how much money the Sluts and the Matrons have raised for local charities over the last decade. We eventually gave up, because like counting the stars, we simply lost count.

Whatever the total is though, it’s a hell of a lot. Oh, and speaking of stars, Madam No. 2, Andromeda Strange, is reprising her infamous Star Trek/Fifth Element number. So be afraid, cherubs, be very afraid.

Ciao, babies! Q

If Beneatha Serta wears some of her short, clingy outfits of yesteryear at her advanced age, your mind will definitely be numbed

You can see Ruby Ridge and the Matrons of Mayhem in all of their polyester glory, every third Friday of the month at Third Friday Bingo at 7 p.m., First Baptist Church, 777 S. 1300 East; or Dinner and Bingo every second and fourth Sunday of the month at the Fraternal Order of Eagles in West Valley City, 5-8 p.m., which includes dinner, don’t cha know!

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15

16 NEWS

MARCH 29, 2012

ISSUE 203

QSALTLAKE

Q exclusive

A License to Humiliate The following is an experience of mistreatment that Krystal Etsitty received at a Utah Driver’s License Division location.

To share your experience and help in a needs assessment survey about the gender queer community of Utah, go to tinyurl.com/utransgender.

By Krystal Etsitty

I

decided to renew my driver’s license on Valentine’s Day this year so I went down to the West Valley office at 2780 W. 4700 south. To get myself ready, I logged onto the Driver License Division website to know exactly what type of documentation I would need. I got everything ready and had all the paperwork filled out to make the whole process go that much faster. I walked in and handed the documents to the employee who took my picture.

She had no problem with the female gender marker on my license and the fact that I identify as female. She looked over everything I brought in and took my photo, treating me exactly like everyone else already had been treated.

My number was called and I approached the gentleman in the window.

“What can I do for you today,” he asked, in a cheerful, upbeat voice.

“I just need to renew my license,” I replied as I handed him my birth certificate, which indicated that I was a male, my driver’s license, which indicated female and was a product of the old policy that allowed me to self-identify, my Department of Transportation card and my social security card.

I had already spoken with people at the Utah Pride Center who told me that due to new regulations I would either have to get a new birth certificate, take a passport or allow the DLD to change my driver’s license marker back to male. I didn’t have a passport and I didn’t want to go through the hassle of getting one or a new birth certificate, so I decided to simply allow them to change my gender marker.

The old process to change it was so much simpler and I didn’t have any problems whatsoever when I first changed the marker from male to female. In fact, it was the DLD that said you are obviously female and they changed my marker to female. I remember that day like it was yesterday, it’s one of those things that stay with you; a feeling of confidence that you pass as female. I am sure other transgender people feel a time and a moment when they are accepted as their true self.

He began typing on his computer and pulled up my information.

“We’re going to have to change your gender marker to male to match your birth certificate,” he said, growing colder and sterner.

“I figured you would have to do that. It’s totally fine, go

‘Your makeup is what’s wrong.

You’re a male and males don’t look like this’

right ahead. I don’t really understand because my old license already says I am a female and it’s been fine for years, but go ahead,” I said, trying to keep everything friendly.

“Until you get your birth certificate changed, we can’t allow that on your license,” he said, with an enormous shift in attitude. I felt like I had made him really mad.

As he typed, I tried to start idle conversation about a funnylooking toy he had on his station. I just wanted to lighten the mood. But he wasn’t budging. I just stayed calm as he finished typing.

He pulled up my photo and said, “We may have a problem.”

“What is it? Is my photo bad? Do I need to do it again?” I asked.

“I’ll be back,” he retorted, and left.

He came back with a woman, who I assumed was his supervisor. She told me I could not have a license, “looking like that.”

“What is wrong with me?” I asked, starting to register the shock.

“Your makeup is what’s wrong.

You’re a male and males don’t look like this,” she said.

I was taken aback and paused for a moment to regain my composure.

She handed me a piece of paper that said ‘Processing of transgender sex designation change requests.’ When I read this I thought to myself, I’m not requesting my gender marker to be changed. But to them I needed to, and they took it upon themselves to change it to match my birth certificate.

By this time I felt so humiliated and embarrassed. I felt singled out and that everyone could hear what she was saying. My heart fell and I didn’t want to turn around. I was afraid everyone knew exactly what was going on because she was speaking very loudly.

I felt sick and dizzy. I couldn’t even think, and stuttered words escaped my mouth as the woman interrupted me.

“Read the

bottom. It says, ‘At no time will an applicant be photographed when it appears that they are purposely altering their appearance in a way that would misrepresent their identity,’” she said.

“This is not right. This is stupid. How can you say I am misrepresenting myself. You just saw me not a minute ago and wouldn’t know I was male until now,” I replied, growing frustrated. “The girl that took my picture thought I was female

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MARCH 29, 2012

because my picture on my old license looks like the person in front of her. I look like this every day to my family, my coworkers, my friends and all my other identifications, such as Sam’s Club and Costco and my work identifications are this way.

I pointed out that some people who normally have beards and long hair could shave and dye their hair before coming in and no one would know the difference. I also pointed out she was wearing makeup and altering her own true identity.

“Well, women wear makeup. Men don’t,” she said.

“Some men wear makeup too,” I replied.

“We’re not going to give you your license unless you remove your makeup and take another photo,” she said, ending the discussion.

I was so humiliated and angry. How can someone know what you look like if they’ve never seen you before? This policy is wrong and discriminatory. I pointed out that if I had brought in a passport with an ID saying I am female, no one would have a problem. To get a passport’s gender marker changed is a simple process and only requires a note from your doctor.

“Well, we know now that you’re a male because your birth certificate says so. We will

NEWS

not give you a license unless you have a birth certificate that indicates you’re female,” she said.

By this time I was so sick of arguing that I told them I would simply get a license from another state where it is simpler.

The man handed me my paperwork and I began to leave. As the supervisor asked the man if he had anything scanned or saved, he said no and I could tell she was frustrated that my information wasn’t saved.

I sheepishly left the office; humiliated, I couldn’t even look at the others who were in line. I drove away, shaken and feeling worthless, violated and just plain upset. I told my son and others about the situation as the only way to vent my frustration.

Ironically, I went to the DLD in January to obtain my driving record at the same location.

I used my driver’s license for identification, looking almost exactly as I did when I visited to renew it. No one questioned my looks or gender marker on my first visit. I represented Krystal Etsitty exactly as she appeared on her state identification and they gave me my driving record without any problems. Q To participate in a needs assessment survey about the gender queer community of Utah, go to tinyurl.com/utransgender

Utah State Driver License policy The Utah Driver License Division accommodates requests to change a person’s gender designation on a license if one of the following is provided:

A U.S. passport with the updated gender A gender change on a passport may be obtained by providing a letter from a licensed physician that certifies a patient has had appropriate clinical treatment to facilitate gender transition.

An amended birth certificate

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MARCH 29, 2012

18 FEATURE

ISSUE 203

QSALTLAKE

John C. Stallings shows the best Utah has to offer

By Seth Bracken

S

hortly after appearing on the Bravo TV show, Manhunt: The Search For America’s Most Gorgeous Male Model, John C. Stallings chatted with QSaltLake about the show and his career aspirations. Well, with nearly a decade since Q’s last interview, we checked in with Stallings to hear about his experience on The Janice Dickison Modeling Agency and what he’s up to now.

With a recently launched line of accessories, KOKO LIAR, Stallings has been traveling the world strutting his stuff and showing off the best Utah has to offer. The Sandy, Utah native may travel the world, but he hasn’t forgotten his Utah roots.

How was your experience on The Janice Dickison Modeling Agency? The experience itself was a “trip,” literally all around Los Angeles, New York and then I received the contract to Tokyo, Japan.

I believe I got a lot of recognition from the show. I have come to understand you are a fan of mine too, Seth!

Thank you! The one thing that a lot of people don’t understand when they watched this particular documentarystyle reality show is that we were not paid for our time to be available for filming. We received lunches and dinners, and of course if we booked a job through the “agency” we received payment from that.

It was hard and frustrating all the same.

After Manhunt: The Search for America’s Most Gorgeous Male Model, I came to find out how reality-show programming works and I was prepared for the next round with Janice Dickinson and her new agency. I gained more experience in acting, having cameras in your face all around you capturing anything and everything they could for perfect editing direction and more lasting friendships from creative individuals. That’s what life is about anyway – staying connected with people and the relationships that can evolve.

I could call Janice today and we could gab about our careers together and carryon just like we were back on the show.

How did it help you as a model? The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency only helped my career in this industry by helping me become a stronger individual, more comfortable in expressing myself in front of people and knowing that “reality” is not reality. I’ve been traveling as a professional male model for more than eight years now to so many countries that what you see on a television program is hardly the real truth

of what actually happens. It is still fun to be a part of and I never regret participating, but you can’t just participate in life, you live it!

What projects are you working on now? Currently you are interviewing me while I’m sitting in a Starbucks in Istanbul, Turkey. I made it out here the first of January; actually rung in the New Year on an airplane to Germany and the flight attendant didn’t even give me a free glass of champagne.

I’m about finished with this modeling contract and going to Dubai next week for a large fashion show event called Splash, then back to Los Angeles to await where I fly off next. I really wanted to keep this year completely open for traveling again as I was in Los Angeles all last year and I really missed the traveling aspect of this industry.

I think I heard that Asia may be on the horizon again — so we’ll see what happens.

As an openly gay model, what are some of the reactions you’ve received? Is it as gay-friendly as one might expect? When I first started modeling in New York, while attending college, I was openly gay then, but it was suggested not to let anyone know much about that side of me. Even though we all know that a lot of the creative individuals in the modeling industry: ad execs, photographers, hair/makeup artists, agents, bookers, etc. are, in-fact, gay, but since the model is the “product,” you must cater to everyone, no matter what sexuality you are born with.

As the years have flown by though, it seems a lot less strict and less important to keep secrets like that. I’m more apt to meet another openly gay model with my agency now, then when I first started traveling.

Depending on where you travel to around the world, it will still take more time for the progression of acceptance in relation to cultural diversity and religious background, but at the end of the day it should never matter what your sexuality is; it’s about your experience, hard work and thick skin that can keep you in this industry for a while.

I’m still a sensitive guy and will always be, but I’ve learned over the years when and where to put my foot down and fight for what I deserve.

What can you tell us about your KOKO LIAR Collection? Well “KOKO LIAR” came about after my granddaddy passed away and I wanted to keep a part of him with me at all times. When he wrote me letters the salutation would read, “Keep on keeping on, John Boy John.”

Even though ‘keep on keeping on’ is a common phrase to use, it was still special to me and I made it into “KOKO” then added another acronym, “LIAR” to complete my motto “Life Is A Runway!”

The collection consists of hand-knit, long scarves and also hand-knit, cowl neck-line scarves which I started just last year. I would love to branch out and start a large collection of other items. I have always had a goal to have my own fragrance one day, that is something that would be a dream come true!

I started to learn how to knit from a previous model in Las Vegas when we were booked for a fashion show that lasted all day. There is a lot of downtime in modeling and I

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asked her to teach me and the rest is downhill from there.

I’m not sure how far “KOKO LIAR” will go, but I would love to see it turn into something bigger than accessories. I have ideas for graphic T-shirts related to modeling and the industry that could be fun, but for now I’m enjoying having the time to still hand-knit things for my fans and supporters.

From modeling to acting, you’ve experienced different aspects of the entertainment industry, what do you expect to do in the future?

What are your career goals? I expect to stay grounded and ambitious. I expect to showcase my talent in any way that I can.

I’ve always been an entertainer throughout my life. I was a dancer from age 4 to 18, mixed in some piano lessons and took clarinet in middle school and high school, took a theater class and then was scouted by a modeling agency at 18.

Modeling opened my eyes to many new opportunities, especially when I can incorporate my other talents into it. I acted in my first movie, Eating Out: All You Can Eat, which was such a blast and I still love it all.

My future is wide open as is everyone’s!

You have to stay true to what your heart says and where it pulls you. My future consists of more movies, more runways, more editorials, more commercials, more exposure and my goal is to “Live Life, Live!”

I just started saying this here in Istanbul because you never know what kind of news you’re going to get each day of your life. It may be amazing, it may break your heart, but to stay in the moment and “Live Life, Live” also corresponds to my personal motto. You have to “Keep On Keeping On — Life is A Runway!”

Pick your personal walk, listen to your favorite music, dress in a style that reflects your personality and always be ready for someone to take your photo.

Do you visit Utah often? Are you saying you’re going to take me out for a drink, Seth?

Of course, I’ll enjoy a glass of champagne with you — my favorite is Veuve Clicquot.

I rarely get to visit Utah. I miss family more and more as I get older, but we are all spread around the continent, so it’s now turning into an annual trip to the beach in North Carolina where I was born. My two best friends and parents are still in Utah, but I try to get them to visit me wherever I am. I think Utah is such a beautiful state, but honestly, it’s just not metropolitan enough for me.

Do you have any advice for aspiring, young gay models in Utah? Guys and gals, do not pay for modeling classes and be pressured into thinking that you have to pay a photographer $500 for three looks to start off your modeling portfolio. The best agencies will take digital snapshots of you and tell if you will succeed in this industry. They will then help start things by sending you off to a test shoot, which is a free photo shoot that benefits you as the model and also the photographer that needs more subjects for their own portfolio. Photographers need to

make a living too, don’t get me wrong, but as a new model, shoot with new photographers first, that way everyone wins and gains more experience and comfort in their own craft.

There is no one look you have to possess as a model — a model is beautiful, but in their own way — a uniqueness they have about themselves that photographers and hair/ makeup artists love to use to create something from a blank canvas.

I want to stress the word unique. A model is not pageant, perfect teeth nor perfect proportions. You may have a “flaw” to you that makes you insecure, but when you own that “flaw,” your confidence radiates and truer beauty is revealed. You may be lanky, tall and awkward, have gaps in your teeth, a large mole, high forehead — these are the unique qualities that go into this industry each and every day.

But please understand that there are requirements to have in order to achieve high

FEATURE

levels in the modeling world. A male fashion model should be no shorter than 5’11” and work out a bit too — take health seriously and own your body. Guys have it easier than gals do — fashion female models are under more strict requirements, but you never have to do anything you don’t want to do.

Be honest to yourself if you are pursuing this industry. If things don’t work out, stay open to knowing when to get out and go after something else. The reason you really enjoy modeling may mean that you are more cut out to be a booker, an agent or scout. What about a photographer, a hair/makeup artist or even working in an advertising agency that gets to think about what is going to be the new look for a product and gets to hire models for a commercial, catalog, etc.

Keep an open mind throughout your life, stay limitless and “Keep On Keeping On — Life is A Runway!” Q

19

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20 FEATURE

spring fashion review

ISSUE 203

QSALTLAKE

We asked Dav.d Daniels if he would be willing to do our annual swimwear and spring fashion shoot and he had to think about it ... for about .3 seconds.

Spring trends get bold

B

old and bright is back, baby!

This spring think pink, yellow and blues for tops and bottoms. Colored jeans are moving into all the best boutiques and wardrobes and are being paired with, get this, more bright colors.

Often referred to as color blocking, matching bright colors on top and bottom is making waves this spring and moving into the summer lineup, said Connor Giws, assistant manager at Urban Blues, a local clothing boutique that offers designer clothes in an extremely discounted fashion.

“This spring we’re seeing all different colors of jeans. From light, tan colors to bright reds and blues it’s really a trend we’re starting to see explode,” Giws said.

A three-quarter-length sleeve Raglan Henley shirt that ranges in size for men and women has been flying off the shelves, he said.

The bright-colors trend extends to swimwear and underwear as designers ready their upcoming summer line. With Pride around the corner, there’s no excuse to start getting in shape to fit into that cute swimsuit or box-cut brief.

“We’re seeing a lot of plaid and other textures in underwear this spring,” said Dale LeBaron, owner of Spark/Cockers. “And that’s not just from one designer, that’s something everyone is doing.”

The plaid briefs and swimwear to start an outfit is the perfect building block to add bright colors on top and strut your stuff at Pride, the pool, the club or the beach. Whatever styles you’re looking for, be sure to check out Spark/Cockers, 629 S. State St., which co-sponsored the QSaltLake Spring Fashion photo shoot.

Urban Blues donated clothing for the shoot and it’s two locations, one in Salt Lake City, 2931 E. 3300 South, and one in Draper, 278 E. 12300 South, offer some of the cutest and most affordable designer clothes. Always ready to accept queer shoppers, Urban Blues is a mustvisit for this season’s latest trends.

Pistol Pete nylonPistol Pete nylonWhittall & Shon mid- Pistol Pete bikini-brief Pistol Pete nylon plaid Pistol Pete nylon plaid spandex blend square- spandex blend square- length vertical stripes nylon shorts with box-cut swim shorts bikini-cut swim shorts Available at Spark/ cut swim trunks cut swim trunks swim shorts anchor adornment Available at Spark/ Available at Spark/ Cockers – $42

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Cockers – $44 MODEL: TAYLOR WUERTH

PHOTOS: DAV.D DANIELS

QSALTLAKE.COM

ISSUE 203

MARCH 29, 2012

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ISSUE 203

QSALTLAKE

spring fashion review Continued from previous page

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KINGSBURY HALL PRESENTS “Whether bending their bodies into seemingly impossible positions or balancing each other in feats of incredible strength, they rival anything [you’ve seen]…”

—New York Post

n e d gol n o g a dr s t a b o r c a April 13 & 14 | 7:30 pm

Tickets: 801-581-7100 | www.kingtix.com Tickets starting at $19.50 | U of U Discounts Available Sorenson Legacy Foundation

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MARCH 29, 2012

24 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

ISSUE 203

QSALTLAKE

Out From Under

‘Bully’ director and lesbian teen talk controversial documentary

by Chris Azzopardi

L Bully director Lee Hirsch (above) and Kelby Johnson (right), a teen followed by the film

ee Hirsch will never forget the brutality of his middle-school years, when he was the victim of what, in recent years, has become a tragic epidemic – bullying. The punches, taunts and name-calling were all wielded his way. And the bullshit justification for all the above: that it’s just part of being a kid.

But, as Hirsch’s controversial documentary Bully argues, it shouldn’t be.

“The driving force behind the film was to give a voice to that experience for myself and for others,” says the Long Island-raised writer/director, who sensitively spotlights the national issue in the film. “I made it for all of us ex-bullied and once-bullied – the coalition.”

And he did it by putting a face on the evergrowing problem. Five faces, in fact. Harrowing and heartbreaking, the docu follows the teens – one of which is then-16-year-old lesbian Kelby Johnson, living in Tuttle, Okla. – as they’re victimized within their own schools, often brushing it off as just a part of growing up.

“I was looking for a way to change something,” Kelby says, “and Lee gave me that opportunity, and I was excited to take that and run with it.”

To many gay teens, Kelby’s story of being ostracized is devastatingly familiar: She’s the reject of her small-town community, which doesn’t accept that she’s a lesbian – or that she has a girlfriend. Tuttle turns against not only Kelby but also her family.

“Kelby and I didn’t bond over a conversation about sexuality,” says Hirsch, who didn’t want to discuss his own orientation with us. “We bonded over the experience of being bullied, and that was really the same as it was with all the kids. I feel like our relationship began with a real conversation about what I experienced, what I wanted to set out to achieve with this film, why her story mattered and why what was happening wasn’t OK.” They met via The Ellen DeGeneres Show, after Kelby’s mom, desperate to help her daughter, reached out to the outspoken talk-show host through a message board because she was afraid her daughter would succumb to the same fate of the many gay teens who’ve killed themselves in the last few years. Kelby not only didn’t, but she’s now helping others get through those hard years.

“I know that being gay, you can feel very alone,” she says, “and I hope that when they watch the movie, that goes away and they realize there is someone standing with them who has gone through that. The world is going to change and people are going to get more accustomed to (LGBT people), and they should be here to see it.”

Hirsch began filming in 2009, before the rush of LGBTrelated suicides was met with national attention: Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, who jumped off the

George Washington Bridge; 13-year-old Seth Walsh, who hanged himself; and Asher Brown, who shot himself after being bullied for coming out.

“They didn’t inspire the film, but it informed the early stages,” Hirsch says of the suicides. “You’re just overwhelmed by how much tragedy there is. The suicides were deeply moving, and people were writing in response to them – and it seemed that people everywhere were really struggling with this issue.”

Youth selected for the film were all, coincidentally, from rural communities and not vast urban cities. “It wasn’t intentional. It was the way it fell together, and the stories we found were most compelling there. A lot of it had to do with getting that access in Sioux City (the home of then-12-yearold lead, Alex Libby) which kind of landed us in the Midwest to begin with.”

Some footage was filmed in New York and Minneapolis, but none as powerful as what made the final cut, Hirsch says. “There was something about the landscape of smalltown America, the quiet and incredible heroism of the families, that I was really drawn to. There are so few outlets there; in big cities, there’s more for kids who don’t fit in or are different, so I think bullying in a small town can be more acute. It can be a harder world.”

Once he had his subjects, shooting was another challenge. Kelby’s school, unlike that of Alex, denied them access to film inside the premises. And the scenes involving bird’s-eye-views of bus rides and principal office sit-downs were “incredibly difficult” to capture.

One scene, on the bus, involves coarse language that the MPAA deemed too obscene for anything less than a hard R rating. Disappointed that the film’s message wouldn’t reach those it intended to, the studio fought the decision – with Michigan teen Katy Butler leading a movement that rallied nearly a half-million supporters, including – no kidding – Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp. Just days before its release date, Weinstein Co. decided to go the unrated route, snubbing the MPAA and leaving the decision to screen the film up to individual theaters.

“We were just shocked,” Hirsch says of the MPAA’s decision. “I guess I wasn’t as shocked at the initial R, because technically we knew that that might happen, but the appeal was really devastating because we had such a strong, compelling argument and other films had been overturned and had much worse profanity. We really thought they’d understand and recognize the value and the merit and the hope that this film offers to so many.”

One of them being Kelby, who’s now 19, just got her GED and is living in Oklahoma City – somewhat less close-minded, she mentions – with her girlfriend. Her plan now involves becoming a gay activist and working with LGBT groups, like Do Something, to continue blasting the bullying issue.

“There’s always going to be something, but (the bullying) has calmed down a little bit for me after the film,” she says, “and there are a lot of things I can brush off now. The film has helped me grow stronger and be more aware of others around me. It’s definitely been a positive experience, and I will carry it with me for the rest of my life.”

Chris Azzopardi is the editor of Q Syndicate, the international LGBT wire service. Reach him at chris-azzopardi.com.

QSALTLAKE.COM

ISSUE 203

MARCH 29, 2012

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26 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT gay agenda

Kings, English

By Tony Hobday

Finally, Krishna devirginized me on March 24, 2012, at 1:13 p.m., in the Lotus Temple, atop a grassy knoll. That sounds sacreligious, but I’m a nonpracticing atheist, so it’s all good. I traveled a long road to Spanish Fark to have Kool-Aid with Sister Dottie but was rerouted to the small, but elegant temple, which appeared to be guarded by an army of llamas. It was the Holi celebration (Festival of Colors) and the hillside was jam-packed full of rainbow-infused earth-children, spreading love and togetherness. As I roamed the grounds, I sprinkled all the striking hot dudes with my colorful fairy dust, and bowed on my knees to their godliness. Aaaah!

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thursday — Adapted from Joseph Moncure March’s once-banned poem of the 1920s, The Wild Party tells of one wild evening in the Manhattan apartment shared by lovers Queenie and Burrs, a vaudeville dancer and a vaudeville clown. In a relationship marked by vicious behavior and recklessness, they decide to throw a party to end all parties. Warning: If you are under the age of 21 or live in Clearfield don’t try this at home.

7:30pm, through April 8, Studio 115, Performing Arts Bldg., 240 S. 1500 East, UofU. Tickets $5–15, 801-581-7100 or kingtix.com.

QQ What happens when a handsome prince falls in love with his fiancee’s bridesmaid? (Ooo, I hope it’s Melissa McCarthy, she totally packs my lunch.) The answer lies in Desert Star Theatres’ The Princess Bridesmaid, a wacky tale of treachery, bitchiness and murder plots — fabulous fun!

Times vary, through June 9, Desert Star Theatres, 4861 S. State St. Tickets $9.95–19.95, 801-266-2600 or desertstar.biz.

UPCOMING EVENTS Apr. 19 Ingrid Michaelson In The Venue

Apr. 21 Queer Prom SLC Library

Jun. 13 Melissa Etheridge Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre

Jun. 22 kd lang Peppermill Concert Hall, Wendover

Jul. 2 The B52s Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre

Jul. 5 Foster The People Saltair

Aug. 4-5 “8” The Play (a reading) Rose Wagner Center

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friDAY — The English indie, electropop duo The Ting Tings come to the Utah stage promoting their new album Sounds from Nowheresville, which has been called “glistening with polished pop perfection.” The album, just released in the U.S., is only their second but, as much acclaim as their first received, this ting-ting should be fanciful.

7pm, In The Venue, 615 W. 200 South. Tickets $20.50 adv/$22 day of, 801467-8499 or smithstix.com.

QQ So, Madonna has moved behind the movie camera ... maybe because in front it was all too flopish. Anyhoo, her film W.E. (she co-wrote and directed) has garnered mixed reviews. It’s the story of two fragile but determined women — Wally Winthrop and Wallis Simpson — separated by more than six decades. In 1998, lonely New Yorker Wally is obsessed with what she perceives as the ultimate love story: King Edward’s VIII’s abdication of the British throne for the woman he loved, Wallis. But Wally’s research reveals that the couple’s life together was not so perfect.

Opens today, Broadway Centre Cinemas, 111 E. Broadway. Tickets $6.25–8.75, saltlakefilmsociety.org.

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saturday — When she was just a Georgia mini-

lesbian, rock musician Amy Ray (one-half Indigo Girl) plucked out Partridge Family songs on her guitar, dreaming of becoming David Cassidy ... oh lord, it’s because he had feathered hair. The talented artist has released six solo albums in a decade, and she’s bringing it all here with special guest Lindsay Fuller.

9pm, The State Room, 638 S. State St. Tickets $20, 800-501-2885 or ­thestateroomslc.com.

ISSUE 203

QSALTLAKE Great Expectations See Apr. 1

QQ On the cusp of April Fool’s Day is Cabaret of Fools, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company’s annual benefit gala and auction. Cute, right?

Ummm, enjoy fabulous food and entertainment including special guest Haywire Outfit.

Also, prizes will be awarded to those in attendance with the most foolish, flamboyant and fabulous hats. Lovin’ it!

6:30pm, Rose Wagner Center, 138 W. Broadway. Tickets $85 adv/$100 day of, 801-297-4236, ririewoodbury. com.

1

sunday — One of

my favorite actresses, Gillian Anderson, is playing Miss Havisham, the creepy, jilted bride-tobe in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. In case you didn’t know, Anderson recently admitted to having a long-term relationship with a girl while in high school. Oh please, she was a punker back then, they all had same-sex “relationships.”

Anyhoo, check out Gilly in this television adaptation of the great classic.

7pm, and April 8, KUED Masterpiece Theatre, check your provider for channel.

3

tuesday — Women’s music legend Alix Dobkin will read from and sign her book My Red Blood, chronicling her rise to fame as the first artist to record an openly lesbian album in 1973 and sharing stories about the New York music scene at the height of the feminist movement.

7pm, King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East.

Free, for more info call 801-484-9100 or email jenny@kingsenglish.com.

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thursday — The UofU’s Department of Modern Dance presents its annual Senior Concert, highlighting the talents and final works of the department’s graduating class.

The show, called On Your Mark, is a riveting showcase of choreography, including a piece by guest choreographer Kendra Portier from New York.

7:30pm, through April 12, Marriott Center for Dance, 330 S. 1500 East, UofU. Tickets $7–10, 801-581-7100 or kingtix.com.

QQ Weber State University Department of Performing Arts presents Orchesis Dance Theatre’s spring concert, COIL, featuring five inspired pieces with themes covering several areas of ideology ... and of the circus! Yaay, dancing monkeys! J/K, this program should be really quite mesmerizing, keeping you bound to your seat.

7:30pm, through Saturday, Allred Theater, Val A. Browning Center, 3848 Harrison Blvd., Ogden. Tickets $8-11, 800-WSU-TIKS or weberstatetickets.com.

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friday — The Utah Symphony, with conductor Thierry Fischer, presents Mahler’s Symphony No.4. Special guest Lisa Milne, a gorgeous Scottish soprano, will accompany the sympho-

ny in renditions of Joseph Haydn’s “Symphony No.2,” Richard Strauss’ “Four Songs” and Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No.4.” Yes, this is exciting, but for the love of Lou Diamond Phillips, compose yourself!

8pm, through Saturday, Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple. Tickets $17–65, 801-355-ARTS or arttix.org.

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saturday — The dance troupe, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, blends classical and contemporary dance while consistently exploring edgy, vibrant works that charm and dazzle. Twelve sexy, athletic dancers (including UofU Department of Ballet graduates Sam Chittenden and Katie Dehler) will entertain with “striking precision.”

7:30pm, Eccles Center, 1750 Kearns Blvd., Park City.

Tickets $18–65, 435-655-3114 or ecclescenter.org

QQ In celebration of National Poetry Month, well-known local poet Jesse Parent will host an evening of slam poetry. No, you don’t go in smashing clay dishes. Anyhoo: There’s a big, burly boy from Somerset; he has a big shiny head and a big shiny jet; he’s Facebook friends with tiny Michael Aaron; but really, like anyone’s comparin’; poetry is certainly Jesse’s niche; but I hope he likes to pitch. Oh, that’s just a dirty limerick. Damn, I’m a sick prick!

6pm, King’s English Bookshop, 1511 S. 1500 East.

Free, for more info call 801-484-9100 or email jenny@kingsenglish.com.

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wednesday —

Playwright Kathleen Cahill, on the skirt of her Pulitzernominated play Charm, brings the world premiere of Course 86B in the Catalogue to the SLAC stage. 86B is a comedic riff on evolution and time set at a small community college in an arid state where extraordinary artifacts from the ancient past abound — some of them still living.

7:30pm, through May 6, Salt Lake Acting Company, 168 W. 500 North. Tickets $15–38, 801-363-7522 or saltlakeactingcompany.org.

QSALTLAKE.COM

ISSUE 203

MARCH 29, 2012

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

27

Walk Sugar House free or die

By Tony Hobday

T

he Sugar House Art Walk came to be shortly after James Adelman opened The Joint, a chic chiropratic care center nestled in the McIntyre Shopping Center (southeast side of Barnes & Noble parking lot). Similar to the downtown Gallery Stroll, the art walk, co-organzied by Adelman, is an opportunity to familiarize, or reacquaint, people with the Sugar House art community and, according to Adelman, “to get people walking.”

The first SHAW took place in September 2011 and featured approximately 30 artists in eight venues. Since then the list of participating venues has nearly doubled to 15, and featured artists range from painters to photographers and from sculptors to craftsmen. The art venues, though mostly clustered loosely around the 2100 South and 1100 East intersection, include Two Dancing Cats Gift & Gourmet at 1790 S. 1100 East, and The Sugar Space Studio for the Arts at 616 E. Wilmington Ave (2190 South).

This month’s art walk, on April 13, will also include an exclusive event at The Sugar Space, a multidisciplinary arts organization.

The founder, Brittany Reese, has generously

The Sugar House Art Walk will be held Friday, April 13, 6-9 p.m., followed by screenings of the film at 9 p.m. and again at 11 p.m., at Sugar Space. Although the art walk is a free event, tickets to the screenings are $7 in advance and $10 and will help in sustaining the monthly art event. To purchase tickets go to sugarspace.com.

Sugar House Art Walk Calendar Friday, April 13 Friday, May 11 Friday June 8 Friday, July 13 Friday, August 10 Friday, September 14 Friday, October 12 Friday, November 9

Participating Venues

offered the use of the black-box performance space for two special-engagement screenings of the Sundance award-winning documentary film Love Free or Die. The film, by Macky Alston, received a U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize for an Agent of Change at the 2012

y

festival. The documentary’s core study is how the Episcopalian Church and Gene Robinson underwent much heated scrutiny, in 2003, when he was elected the church’s first openly gay bishop. Alston’s vision for Love Free or Die exudes unbridled passion unlike many others I have seen. It is angelic and will give you faith and hope, if nowhere else, in yourself.

save the date Email arts@qsaltlake.com

April 7

UVU Spectrum Masquerade Prom tinyurl.com/spectrumball April 19

UofU Ally Social lgbt.utah.edu April 20

Day of Silence dayofsilence.org

The Joint The Sugar Space Studio Two Dancing Cats Gift & Gourmet The Bar Method Rockwood Studios Artistic Framing 21st Studios Salt Grass Print Makers Adjusting Sails Dirtworks Awakening Heart Urbana Local Colors of Utah Sugar House Coffee Fankhauser Jewelry Unhinged

April 21

June 1–3

utahpridecenter.org

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May 1–9

June 9

Queer Prom

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Make sure you are in this year’s PINQ Pages!

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Damn These Heels Film Festival damntheseheels.org

August 18

October 5–7

pocatellopride.com

gaydaysanaheim.com

August 26

November 11

Pocatello Pride

Gay Days Anaheim

Salt Lake Men’s Choir Summer Concert

August 3–5

Park City Arts Festival

Pride Center Golf Classic

saltlakemenschoir.org

kimballartcenter.org

utahpridecenter.org

Bill of Rights Celebration

June 9

August 5

September 22

acluutah.org

hrc.org

qsaltlake.com

pinkdotut.org

June 21–24

August 5

September 26

uaf.org

utahpridecenter.org

equalityutah.org

July 20–23

August 10–11

September 28–29

Moab Pride Festival

Salt Lake Men’s Choir Christmas Concert

umen.org

redrockwomensfest.com

moabpride.org

saltlakemenschoir.org

Journey to Magical Peru QueerSpirit.org May 2

May 19

Gay Day at Hogle Zoo tinyurl.com/gayzooutah May 24–28

RCGSE Coronation XXXVII rcgse.org

HRC Gala Dinner Utah Arts Festival Pionude Day Campout

QSaltLake Lagoon Day SAGE Garden Party Women’s Redrock Music Fest

Pink Dot Utah EU Allies Dinner

Natl Coming Out Day utahpridecenter.org November 12

TransAction Gender Conference utahpridecenter.org December 1

World AIDS Day utahpridecenter.org December 7–9

MARCH 29, 2012

28 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

”S

Author Timothy Jay Smith

By Tony Hobday

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upside down in threes. He becomes distracted by his diamond dealer’s son, Sadiq; he discovers Lucy is a pawn in human trafficking shortly after she disappears; and he is approached by a mysterious man with an offer he comes to learn he cannot refuse. The latter, a true-to-form American response to anything pertaining to money, his only hope for returning home with a full military pardon.

Smith brings to fruition, in vivid prose, a well-concieved story of a lost and yet stoic gay soldier; he refreshingly underplays Cooper’s sexuality, stripping away most all stereotypes; and he fills the pages with unique, three-dimensional characters. —She was an ample woman fond of the loose-fitting floral prints favored by the local women and wore a flamboyant headdress crafted from stiff red material shaped into a flying saucer that towered three feet over her head and was just as wide. Popeye, her oneeyed parrot with an eye patch, sat perched on her shoulder.

Cooper is gay, but, first and foremost, he is a man who struggles, like anyone else, to understand himself and the world around him. —So fatiqued by the exhaustion of remorse, he could hardly stand on his tremulous legs. He wanted to open the top of his head and let the water flush away his memory of the children’s slaughter, but he knew God wouldn’t let him forgive himself that easily. Filling his mouth with water, he spat in a steady stream at the moldy patch on the ceiling as black as he imagined God’s soul to be. ...

Once living the life of a drifter, of sorts, and carrying a desire to speak up about critical issues, Smith uses his irreverent voice loudly, longingly, making good on an unintentional promise to open eyes wide. Q

Cryptogram: The House was right to reject efforts to turn back the clock on freedom and fairness in New Hampshire.

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i dunno. where should we look?

et in a fictitious West African nation, though very much derived from cultural and social aspects plaguing the continent, Timothy Jay Smith’s action-thriller, Cooper’s Promise, tells of a U.S. soldier’s inherent need for redemption, both patriotically and personally. Swift in delivery, yet beckoning profound consideration, Smith unveils a wasteless journey, of a big-hearted man, embedded with emotional resonance and harrowing intrique in this second novel by the award-winning writer.

Sergeant Chance Cooper, a prolific Army sharpshooter, fearing for his well being, deserts his country and his honor to save what little of a life he seems to have left. Having harbored attraction for his male friends since childhood, Cooper’s naivety marks him an easy target for his commanding officer Captain Morrow’s selfish advances. —He could express his desires only in terms that embarrassed him, and for a long time, he believed they were his desires uniquely. Until the day Rick, slipping out of the shower, said, “I want to see you in my tent Sergeant Chance.” Eventually forced, contemptuously, into the “tunnels and booby-trapped souks” of the Iraqi desert on conceived suicide missions, Cooper flees into hiding in an impoverished African country teetering on the brink of upheaval. —The country had more tribes, factions and shifting alliances than a diamond has facets, and precisely because of its diamonds the chronic civil war plodded along.

Fully on his own, Cooper simply exists, filling the days under the influence of unbearable heat and “G and Ts,” dodging restless rebels and thieving children, and trading stolen diamonds for money. His only friend, a teenage prostitute called Lucy, reminds him of his stepsister for whom he had long ago let down. Having failed in protecting her from their abusive father, Cooper now makes a promise to Lucy to always be there to protect her.

Cooper’s simple existence however turns

7 9 3 4 1 5 8 2 6

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QSALTLAKE

book review Cooper’s Promise

1 6 5 9 8 2 3 7 4

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what should we do this weekend?

ISSUE 203

QSALTLAKE.COM

ISSUE 203

MARCH 29, 2012

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Catching Up With Kristine W W

By Chris Azzopardi

e all know Kristine W – or do we? In one of her most revealing interviews ever, the gay-adored dance-music powerhouse recently caught up with us to chat about the closeted gay choir director who inspired her as a kid, her upcoming summer release and the pressure on her – a farm girl from Washington – to pursue country.

this kid who could sing really good. I brought an audience and helped make the church popular.

But he was my first. He was always around after my dad died when I was 3. I was about 8 years old when I realized that he was definitely not my mom’s boyfriend. In Vegas we call them a “shill,” where gamblers are hired by the casino

I remember the turning point was when I was a kid and I heard Donna Summer on the radio and that just stopped me in my tracks – her combination of a gospel voice with dance music.

I remember being a kid and my mom going, “What’s wrong with you?”

What’s new, Kristine? Working on the new album. I just got out of the studio, and got my hard drive stuffed in my purse. We do sessions and put everything on our hard drive, so I run around with hard drives stuffed in my purse. (Laughs) The new album is so fun. Bimbo Jones is a great production team to work with. It’s been a wild ride and very labor-intensive, but the next few months we’re going to be really churning and burning to finish it up. We shot the album cover with Mike Ruiz in New York this past week.

We’re just having a hard time coming up with a title. We’re all over the place.

How do you approach new music? I don’t want to be an ambulance chaser. I always find it annoying that someone does what the last five people have done, so I try to create stuff that’s different and tap into my audience and see what they’re feeling at the moment and do songs they can relate to.

A lot of songs on the new album will be new productions of my original hits. We’re doing a mix of brand-new material and a few of the No. 1s that we tend to do a lot, because if we don’t people start freaking out. If there’s no “Land of the Living” or “One More Try,” you get hate mail.

Weren’t you raised on a farm? Yeah, totally. My grandpa was an alfalfa and wheat farmer and he raised black angus beef cattle for the Black Angus restaurant chain back in the day. So I kind of brought the ranch with me, because I have a little ranch where we perform. It looks like a little farmhouse, but it’s actually a rehearsal studio. We call it “the ranch.” It’s on two-and-ahalf acres, so we can be as loud as we want and nobody gets mad at us. I have my horses out there, and I have a sheep and a goat, and random animals that people drop off that they don’t want anymore. (Laughs) My mom was telling me I remind her of Eva Gabor in “Green Acres.”

Not many gay people around, I assume. Not really. When I was a kid, the first person that I figured out was gay was my choir director – believe it or not, I figured that one out! (Laughs) Obviously he wasn’t out at all, but my mom used to pretend to be his girlfriend and I was hip to the fact that he was definitely not her boyfriend, that he was her confidante or best friend. I was like, “Wait a minute!”

What kind of influence did he have on you musically? I remember I’d go over to his house all the time; I just adored him. He was one of my best friends and he gave me piano lessons and singing lessons. He and I were super tight.

He always gave me the solos because I had this big ol’ voice, so I got to be the calling card as the church got fuller. People were talking about

to pretend that they’re gambling. So, she was that. He was a sixth-grade teacher, and she knew that if anyone caught wind that he was gay, he would’ve lost his job – he would’ve lost everything. So I learned early on how the party rolls. When I was embraced by the gay community, I just thought how proud he would’ve been.

What was your mom like? My mom was a working musician, so she performed six nights a week from 5 to 11 o’clock. I don’t think she had a hardcore passion for it; it was more about survival. She’s really good at the wigs; she looked like Liz Taylor. She had the black hair and beautiful blue eyes. And perfect boobs. I call her a musical therapist, because she sang half the time, talked half the time and knew everyone.

It was like a “Cheers” atmosphere. And, for me, that’s where that comes from.

How did you wind up taking the dance-pop route instead of going country? There was a lot of pressure for me to do country because I was good at it. But I started winning these competitions in junior high as a jazz soloist, because my mom would perform on the weekends with jazz trios. I was around all these amazing musicians and people would constantly teach me old music. When I came to Vegas, there really wasn’t any style of music I couldn’t sing, because I grew up with a mom who sang country and sang jazz tunes and standards. My two best friends – one Mexican, one black – turned me onto all the killer R&B, soul and dance music.

You have more No. 1s on the Billboard dance charts than Donna Summer and Whitney Houston, both of whom also have big voices.

What are your thoughts on Whitney’s legacy? While performing in Vegas, we did Whitney Houston medleys all the time. I remember us doing “Queen of the Night” and “I’m Every Woman.” We did a whole medley for my Vegas show. Nobody sounded like her. They’ve tried to emulate her, but she’s one of a kind.

I’m angry, because she was constantly surrounded by people. Why didn’t someone just say, “This is it, sister, we gotta clean this shit up”? It’s weird. I’ve been asking myself, “Why are you so mad about it?” But it’s sad. They just watched a train go off its tracks. It makes my heart ache. I wish I would’ve been her friend.

If my gay boys get out of hand, I figure out something.

Have you intervened in the lives of your gay friends before? Oh god, yes. One, a really talented drag performer, lived with me for four or five months, and he got on crack. Boy, did I witness some shit. His teeth were falling out, and to see how he deteriorated in a year was just shocking. But I turned his life around. He’s so successful now. I’ve never done any drugs, no pot, but I like my champagne. Pinot noir if I’m really partying hard!

Chris Azzopardi is the editor of Q Syndicate, the international LGBT wire service. Reach him at chris-azzopardi.com.

29

MARCH 29, 2012

30 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Rachel Has Two Daddies

51 Part played by Nabors 52 Unexpected pleasures 54 Tickle a funny bone 58 Duet sung by Rachel’s two daddies 62 Current events in Corinth?

63 Poet Gidlow 64 Stay home for supper 65 State, in St. Lô 66 Actor Mapa 67 “I Got a Name” singer Jim 68 It was gauche, for Debussy 69 The Bridge poet Crane 70 Patton’s vehicles 71 Rachel’s TV show

13 Monster’s loch 21 Streisand, for short 22 New Ager John 24 TV announcer Hall Across 27 Gore and Green 1 With 32-Across, 29 Canal traveled by New portrayer of one of York ferries Rachel’s dads 30 Bear market order 5 Take down a peg 31 Work the land 10 Bone of the leg 32 What the fruits did in 14 Trucker’s rod the orchard 15 Runway walker 33 Sometime Capote as16 Go in only partway, at sociate Chaplin the beach 34 Tender ender?

17 “It’s ___ a while” 35 Elton John’s mother 18 Big name in Chinese 39 Crankcase rod, or history slang for your rod 19 Mail carriers at 40 Porking place?

Hogwarts 43 What drawers do Down 20 Suntan spoiler 44 Serious attention 1 Star Wars villain with a 46 Encourage the cast 21 With 45-Across, big tongue portrayer of one of 47 Line of Todd Oldham 2 Bring to bear Rachel’s dads dresses?

3 They bother bitches 23 Cruising, maybe 49 Do a private eye’s job 4 Low boggy land 25 Cozy corners 50 1943 Bogart film 26 Pull a boa behind you? 5 Pt. of USA 53 Range of the Rockies 6 Sex with the top on 28 Least taxing 55 “___ we meet again” bottom?

32 See 1-Across 56 Like a metrosexual 7 Ike’s opponent 36 Beginning to come?

57 Makeup maker Lauder 8 Medium meeting 37 Piglet’s pal 58 Positive reply 38 Taters 9 Inventor Otis 59 Stew in Sitges 41 Kind of will 10 Kurtz of More Tales of 60 Friendly opening 42 Seminal computer the City 61 Wallet wad 65 Piece of work 45 See 21-Across 11 Overhead predator 48 Classified rectangles PUZZLE SOLUTIONS ARE ON PAGE 28 12 Spamalot writer Eric

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase that can be made using the letters from another word or phrase. Rearrange the letters below to answer:

Name the lcoal clothier featured in the fashion section

anus rubble

_____

_____

ISSUE 203

QSALTLAKE

QSALTLAKE.COM

ISSUE 203

MARCH 29, 2012

Q scopes Pay attention, Aries!

by Jack Fertig

Mars retrograde in Virgo quincunx to Uranus in Aries triggers arguments galore and accidents especially at work. Think and consult before acting! Look before you leap.

e

ARIES (March 20–April 19) You are now as prone to accidents as ever. Second-guessing yourself won’t help. Just slow down and pay attention! As a bonus you might notice details that can improve your work, your health and your reputation as a genius.

r

TAURUS (April 20–May 20) Seeing your mother in the mirror might be a bit spooky, but there are lessons there (besides acceptance!). With maturity comes an appreciation for what she intended at least. A part of her will always be with you, so find the good in that.

t

GEMINI (May 21- June 20) A hard reality check can make you recalculate your goals, but it’s not all bad. We all have to trim our sails now and then. Trust your instincts. Friends offering challenges may not have your best interest at heart. Think ahead!

you have to prove something is the surest way to trouble.

o

LIBRA (September 23–October 22) Be very careful of your health. Cold and wet are not your friends! Temptations and invitations to parade around in something skimpy may be irresistible, but if you want to get hot, stay warm!

p

SCORPIO (October 23–November 21) Innovative efforts are likely to fail, but even then you can learn something important. Be careful not to damage material resources, working relationships or your health.

Your dark, nasty humor wants to emerge for the wrong audience. Be careful!

[

SAGITTARIUS (November 22–Dec. 20) Unless you and your mate really are partners in work as well as at home, helping each other with work is going to create trouble. If you’re seeking new work, polish your résumé over the weekend and get it out next week.

]

CAPRICORN (December 21–January 19) Setbacks at work can get under your skin, triggering arguments with the boss. Don’t let passing annoyances get to you.

Take it out on some rough or challenging fun.

Anything from a game of rugby to a good intellectual stretch will shake off the tension.

q

CANCER (June 21–July 22) If you seek the spotlight, you’ll regret it.

Someone’s likely to shove you under it anyway, and you may not like that either. Share credit, shoulder blame and be careful of who you trust.

AQUARIUS (January 20–February 18) Recent inspirations and brilliant utterings may have you feeling invincible, but the gift of gab is passing. Wherever being crude and nasty, or brutally to the point can serve you, have at it. Otherwise modest reticence is best.

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w

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LEO (July 23–August 22) Trying too hard to promote yourself can antagonize colleagues. Modesty doesn’t mean you have to deny yourself, but try to keep your ego out of it and present your work in a simple, straightforward way.

i

VIRGO (August 23–September 22) Erotic exploration is likelier to teach you what you don’t like than what you do. Experimenting is fine if you can joke about it afterwards. Trust the instinctive “no.” Feeling

PISCES (February 19–March 19) Dissatisfaction in love may get so bad that the only thing holding you together is the expense of splitting up. Problems that seem unsolvable now may find answers later.

List the positives and the negatives; remember the good stuff when you talk.

Professional astrologer Jack Fertig can be reached at 415-864-8302, through his website at www.starjack.com, and by email at QScopes@qsaltlake.com.

Utah Male Naturists can’t wait for summer

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

PRIDE IS COMING Reserve your advertising space now for our largest issue of the year.

This is the best time to reach the 28,000 festival attendees with an issue they seek out, save and share.

Call 801-649-6663 ext. 1 today or email sales@qsaltlake.com

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31

MARCH 29, 2012

32 NIGHTLIFE

Q health Healthy aging in the queer community

Q giggles

By Dr. Tineke Malus

G

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Find the one to rock your world Open Daily from 10am–9pm

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cryptogram A cryptogram is a puzzle where one letter in the puzzle issubstituted with another. For example: ECOLVGNCYXW YCR EQYIIRZNBZN YZU

PSZ! Has the solution: CRYPTOGRAMS ARE CHALLENGING AND FUN! In the above example Es are all replaced by Cs. The puzzle is solved by

recognizing letter patterns in words and successively substituting letters until the solution is reached. This week’s hint: K = C

Theme: A quote by Rea Carey, NGLTF executive director, on the unsuccessful repeal of marriage equality in the Granite State.

Fwc Wvslc pel oghwf fv octcxf crrvofl fv fsoy iexd fwc xjvxd vy roccnvk eyn regoycll gy Ycp Wekulwgoc. ___ _____ ___ _____ __ ______ _______ __ ____ ____ ___ _____ __ _______ ___ ________ __ ___ _________.

ay America is going gray. There are 4.7 million LGBT elders (over 65 years old) including one million transgender elders, according to the best estimates.

There are several issues that affect the LGBT community disproportionately to the rest of society. These include HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, breast cancer, substance abuse, issues affecting mental health (including suicide, hate violence and elder abuse) and, for many transgender individuals, the long-term health impact of hormone replacement therapy. Additionally for trans elders, there are different implications and concerns depending on how long someone has been taking hormones.

Solid public-health data on LGBT elders is quite limited, but a 1994 survey suggested that the majority of the population felt they received substandard care from providers who knew they were LGBT. Research findings also indicated that gay men had negative views of how gay society viewed growing older and how they viewed their own aging than do lesbian respondents. Gay men were also found to have a greater fear of negative evaluation by others, and had given more importance to their own physical attractiveness.

Access to health care is seemingly more complex for everyone these days, but for people who have a lifetime history of discrimination, the barriers are even more insurmountable.

For example, it’s a barrier to care if you have to constantly educate your care provider on LGBT issues, or wonder if your care provider will be negatively biased. LGBT patients are less likely to tell their care providers that they are LGBT. There are few providers who are trained to ask.

Long-Term Care There are many unanswered questions regarding long-term care for our community. What are the options for long-term care? Are nursing homes safe spaces? What is life like for gay elders?

Elder abuse and neglect can happen to anyone, but isolated seniors are considered at higher risk. LGBT elders are less likely to turn to law enforcement due to history patterns of discrimination.

Who will take care of us? We tend not to have the same resources, such as pensions, partner benefits and security. There are higher degrees of isolation and marginalization. LGBT elders experience a sense of invisibility in the community. This is something to address across our life spans.

ISSUE 203

QSALTLAKE

What’s Included in Successful Aging?

Health care access: Improving access by requiring some education for caregivers.

Social adjustment: We need honored and respected roles for our elders within the LGBT community to carry the wisdom they hold, understand our own history and create the traditions that will carry us all into a supported position within society. The wider community can get involved in creating health programs that will eventually serve them as they age.

Prevention: Get screening tests, blood pressure, cholesterol, breast exams, pap smears, testicular and prostate exams, yearly dental exams, eye exams, HIV, hepatitis, skin exams, bone density test, colorectal exams, thyroid testing, pneumococcal and influenza vaccines.

Maintain a healthy weight.

Naturopathic Ideas of Healthy Aging Nutrition from whole food sources is best (phytonutrients). With declining age, appetite and digestive enzyme, some supplementation may be appropriate. Micronutrient deficiencies

can result from chronic eating disorders, alcohol intake and the ‘poly pharmacy’ that so many of the elderly of this country are faced with.

Practices that encourage the healthy maintenance of the life force are the best way to encourage healthy aging. Physical activity that helps keep range of motion in the joints such as tai chi or gentle yoga can affect the ability to sleep and digest as well.

It’s helpful to embrace the phase of life where you are able to slow down and have an appreciation of life from an expanded perspective. Growing old may be inevitable, but we have many choices along the way about how we want to carry ourselves through that process.

Maintaining a spiritual practice and community can help.

LGBT Elder Care Resources The Services and Advocacy for GBLT Elders program began in New York in 1978 and has since expanded to include 21 affiliates across the country. The Utah chapter of SAGE is run out of the Utah Pride Center. For more information, contact the SAGE Utah Program Manager, Charles Lynn Frost, charles@utahpridecenter. org, 801-913-8884.­­­ Q

Dr. Tineke Malus is a naturopathic doctor working out of the Full Circle Care Clinic, 150 S. 600 E. #6B. For more information, visit malushealth.org.

QSALTLAKE.COM

ISSUE 203

MARCH 29, 2012

cocktail chatter Argh! Rum!

By Ed Sikov

O

nboard the Neue Weimar, queen of the Deutche-America line, I write this column on the second day of the honeymoon Dan and I never had the chance to take before. We’re on one of those VSOP cruises you’re always seeing ads for — not a Pacifica cruise, the brand aimed at the younger set with ads featuring hairless, Speedo-clad gym twinks, but a VSOP, the one pitched at those over, umm ... 40. Well, I am here to tell you that the average gay man over, um ... 40 is in no better physical condition and has no flatter abs, nor a firmer rear, than the average straight man over 23. In fact, I’ve never seen a more grotesquely obese shriek of gay men in my life.

(Fish swim in schools; gay men move in shrieks.)

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of stiffyworthy hunks aboard. The hormones are raging; the heady whiff of male funk wafts through the corridors like tear gas in Syria.

Everywhere you look there’s some shirtless dreamguy with military shoulders and a Peter Pan butt.

But the view is often blocked by an elephantine gentleman wearing shorts sewn together for a circus sideshow and showing more acreage of naked flesh on his single gargantuan body than on the 10 guys he’s blocking. What is wrong with this country? No, we do not need a breakfast of fried eggs, hash browns, bacon, toast, sausage, waffles with syrup and butter, and a side of grits and, oh, yes, that chocolate-chip muffin looks good. ... It’s amazing this tub still floats.

Anyway, last night was our Bon Voyage party.

The theme was “Pirates!” and we’ve had too much on our minds to deal with pulling together clever theme-night outfits. Apparently so did a lot of other guys, who just wore black eyepatches. (One campy fellow added a wig and turned

r

t

himself into Bette Davis in The Anniversary.) But then I spotted two men leaning over the railing wearing matching vintage-looking baseball uniforms with the name “Waner” on the back, and I laughed so abruptly I spat rum out of my mouth and onto Dan’s new white T-shirt.

“Lovely,” he snarled.

“Sorry, but look!” I cried, pointing.

“I don’t get it,” said the sports-hating Manhattanite as he vainly blotted the brown stains with a paper cocktail napkin. “Paul and Lloyd Waner! Pittsburgh Pirates from the ’20s!

We’re meeting these guys. Now!” I dragged a disgruntled Dan through the throngs of one-eyed sea thieves to the two baseball legends, who turned out to look even better from the front than they did from the back. Their firm, round asses were flawlessly stitched into their pants, but their strapping chests and long, lean abs were outlined in what appeared to be spandex. They were both quite cute, too. “Which one’s ‘Big Poison’ and which one’s ‘Little Poison’?” I shouted over the blasting music.

“Thank you,” they yelled back in unison.

“You’re the only guy on this ship of fools who knows anything about baseball,” said the taller of the two.

“I know nothing about baseball,” I confessed.

“I just grew up in Pittsburgh.”

“Good enough,” said the other one. “Yuns havin’ fun?”

We sure did, especially when they turned out to be players in more than one sense of the word.

Fish swim in schools; gay men move in shrieks

Stiffy-worthy rum Get yourself a bottle of good rum, not the kind you mix with cola or waste in one of those hideous fruit-a-bumbas that everybody’s supposed to drink on Caribbean cruises. I like Gosling’s Black Bermuda and Haiti’s Betancourt. Pour it over ice or drink it neat. Savor it, like scotch or good bourbon. And say “argh” a lot. Q

G E T YO U R V I Q C A R D AT

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Vote for Utah’s most fabulous People, Places and Things!

Fill out at least 10 categories of the most fabulous local restaurants, bars, services and others to qualify your ballot.

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ISSUE 203

MARCH 29, 2012

NIGHTLIFE

35

she culture

The Redwood Plan

By Annalisa Millo

he almost all-lesbian band, The Redwood Plan, hails from Seattle.

With a growing repertoire and even faster growing reputation, particularly within the queer and indie communities, their dance-punk style is quickly gaining national attention. They’re set to play Urban Lounge on April 3 with Mr. Gnome, and I was lucky to snag a quick chat with frontwoman, Lesli Wood.

I’ve listened to a couple of your tracks and saw the video of your live performance at Bumbershoot. My impressions of your music were of three artists that came to mind: Sleater Kinney, The Organ, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but how would you describe your sound? We consider ourselves more like The Faint or You Say Party — more dancier bands, but there’s probably some Yeah Yeah Yeahs in there with the vocals. Definitely not Sleater Kinney; we all love, love that band, but I was in a Riot Grrrl band years ago and there was a lot of guitar interplay, like what was going on with Sleater Kinney.

When I started The Redwood Plan my intention was to go a more dancier route, almost like what Kathleen Hanna did with going from Bikini Kill to Le Tigre, and so our influences have been more dance oriented, but we definitely have a background in the rock stuff.

So you have your full-length album, Racing Towards The Heartbreak, and a couple EPs as well? Yeah, the album was released in 2010, and when we began in 2009 we released two EPs that were really well received.

When the band began it was supposed to be a short-term project for me because I was about to move to New York. I just wanted to put together a good band, but more so for the fun of it in the months before I left for New York.

When we released those two EPs they were just really, really well received, so I decided to stick it out in Seattle for a little while longer, and we put out the full-length. Since then, we released a 7-inch last year when we went on tour for South By Southwest, and we’re about to release another full-length this summer.

Do you have a release date for that yet or do you know what you’re going to call it? It’s probably going to be in July, it’s called Green Light Go.

Being that we are a queer publication, what can you tell me about your involvement in the queer community? When we began, I wanted to put together an alllesbian bandstand, and that was actually my

concept behind the band, but that changed when we got Larry Brady, our bassist. He’s just such a great bassist that I thought well, I’m going to forgo this idea for the lineup.

My drummer has been married to her wife for 10 years. And the cool thing is that Washington [state] just passed the same-sex marriage bill, so it’s a fun coincidence that on their 10-year anniversary they can legally get married in Washington.

So, we’ve been very involved in the queer community, I mean, our first shows we were basically playing every pride festival. We’re a very “out” band — last year at SXSW we played GayBiGayGay with Big Freedia and Tuna Helpers and all these really great bands. We were sponsored by Babeland (a sex-toy shop in Seattle), and they actually sponsored specifically to us with their products, so having an identity in the queer community is really important to us.

In consideration of the politics this year, 2012 seems like a huge year in terms of equality issues, what do you think the queer community’s role is in that? I think that what’s been so significant over the past two years with the gay-marriage issue is that we’ve shown as a community that we actually have a voice in politics and I think it’s important to use that in being educated in how we vote and how we express ourselves, and how we involve ourselves in making sure that our issues are given attention.

You think about 20 years ago when the queer community was an entirely marginalized community; we’re not now. We’re actually a very relevant and significant community that needs to have our rights acknowledged, including various civil rights issues [like] harassment and bullying and issues that are systemic; I think we really have an obligation now to use our voice and to use our impact to start to make these issues known and acknowledged.

It sounds like you’ve put a good amount of thought into this and covered it from all sorts of angles. But it seems like you’re socially and politically aware, do you take those things into consideration when you’re making your music as well? Would you say that your music is particularly socially or politically driven? Well, like I said, I was in a very political Riot Grrrl band for 10 years, and that’s an important part of my identity. So when I started The Redwood Plan my concept was to make it more fun and less heavy-handed as far as the lyrical content, but it’s not like the lyrics are dumbed down by any means, it’s just that I used it as less of a platform.

But I am a politically active person, so I think there’s no way for me to completely make my music exclusive of my opinions in the fact that we are getting noticed, and [gaining] a widespread audience, it’s almost like every time we go to Pride in a small town, it’s an activist notion because we are going into a lot of small towns who don’t see a lot of openly queer bands, or that don’t see a lot of female musicians.

I’m very aware of that and I try to make sure that we’re representing ourselves and our community in a positive light, and of course I want people to like our music, but also that we are communicating in a way that we’re being a positive representative of the queer community.

Most of our lyrical content has to do with living life with dignity and integrity and doing what you want to do to live your life to the fullest, and I think that is inclusive in being aware of your place in your community, whether it’s politically or socially. I think there’s sort of this generalized political content to the songs, but I don’t think it’s as straightforward as it has been for me in some other bands.

From seeing videos of their live shows, this band emanates energy and a huge on-stage presence that translates into an exhilarated and dancing audience. Their music is intelligent but fun, and we’re more than excited for their first visit and performance in Salt Lake City on April 3. Q

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36 FOOD & DRINK

ISSUE 203

QSALTLAKE

The Hive Winery showcases Utah wines, mead

By Seth Bracken

W

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ith over 20 selections of wine and mead in his repertoire, Jay Yahne, owner and operator of The Hive Winery, turns a charming Davis County business into a true Utah experience. Wines that are almost entirely made from local fruit and honey, with very few using actual grapes, The Hive has a tasting room and a stateapproved liquor store. The wines are also now available in select Utah liquor stores.

In a move to promote a burgeoning Utah wine scene, Yahne supports local farmers and hives to gather the freshest ingredients for his product.

With offerings ranging from strawberry wine to pie cherry wine and peach wine, the selection is colorful and has something for everyone.

“We focus on the true essence of the product,” Yahne said. “We look for the best ingredients and make some very unique blends.”

After opening the winery and beginning production, the wines were finally ready for purchase last summer and the reception has been phenomenal, Yahne said. The unusual nature of the wines combined with their outstanding new flavors makes The Hive Winery a true Utah treat.

The wine tasting room is open Monday through Saturday, 1:30-6:30 p.m., where tasters can experience the wines and mead before making a purchase. Paired with local cheeses, the experience will transport participants out of Utah, if only for a brief moment.

Some of the wines, such as the “Pioneer Red” Black Currant Wine, have the consistency of a cabernet, with none of the familiar flavor. Instead, the full-bodied wine has a well-balanced black currant bite. The tasty concoction will produce a much softer finish than a cabernet.

Then there’s the Pie Cherry Wine, which pairs perfectly with cheese enchiladas and tastes

just like cherry pie in a bottle. The semi-dry wine has all the spices and flavors of pie filling, with a phenomenal flavor. Another favorite is the Raspberry Honey Wine which is made by co-fermenting Utah red raspberries and Cache Valley honey. The fragrances blend to make it a rich and mellow wine that paired with a summer salad and Beehive’s Barely Buzzed cheese.

Somehow, the wines manage to remain fruity

without overwhelming the imbiber in sweetness.

The entire array of wine available at The Hive Winery and select Utah liquor stores is an astounding testament to Utah’s growing wine industry.

“I think people are usually surprised by a Utah winery. But we have so much to offer here in the state. We’ve got some great wineries in Moab and one in Salt Lake as well,” Yahne said. “I think we can all grow together and show Utahns they don’t have to buy wine from California to enjoy it. They can buy local products that have some interesting and delicious tastes.” Q

For more information, visit the winery at 1220 West Jack D Dr., Ste. 2, Layton or go to thehivewinery.com.

Five Wives knocking over Utah liquor stores Finally, for those looking for the perfect blend of buying local and a delicious vodka libation, Ogden’s Own Five Wives Vodka is generally listed and available at all Utah liquor stores.

The 80-proof vodka, which sells for $20 a bottle, is made with Utah spring water by Ogden’s Own Distillery, best known for its award-winning Underground. The vodka is smooth and the taste of spring water is readily apparent. Whether making a vodka martini or sipping it on the rocks, Five Wives is the perfect weekend companion.

“It’s great to have it going to all stores now,” said Tim Smith, president of the distillery, in a press release. “For 12 weeks we’ve been fielding questions from people asking where they could get Five Wives, and now we will be available statewide.”

Five Wives Vodka is column-distilled from a 50/50 blend of wheat and corn and filtered multiple times through active carbon. It is then blended with spring water from Ogden Canyon.

At 40 percent alcohol by volume (80 proof), the vodka is a potent blend.

Ogden’s Own first produced Underground, America’s Herbal Spirit, that was designed to capture the feeling of the rowdy, early days of Ogden and is now available in 10 states. Five Wives Vodka is the next step in creating a portfolio of products that pay homage to the heritage of the American West. Interest in distribution to Wyoming, Idaho, Texas and Oregon are currently being explored.

“This is a high-quality product at an affordable price,” Smith said.

For more information, go to ogdensown.com.

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MARCH 29, 2012

38 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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the perils of petunia pap smear The tale of my blanket and me

By Petunia Pap Smear

PINK PIG

he road to a Tony award is fraught with danger and excitement.

Recently I had the opportunity to attend Dottie: The Sister Lives On at the Salt Lake Acting Company. What a spectacular show and a triumph for Sister Dottie. I cried until I resembled a raccoon from my mascara running. I laughed until the spandex in my girdle burst and unfortunately took out the back row. This fantastic theatrical experience took me down memory lane, to a simpler time, during the Paleozoic Era, before I donned my first tiara and I was a young high school student in Idaho. I came in from the potato fields to participate in the gay-straight alliance of the day: the drama club.

Of course being in rural Idaho, my high school was very small (my graduating class consisted of 32 students) and our auditorium housed a small stage, located behind the basket in the gymnasium. As you can imagine, the audition process was not very difficult, consisting only of being able to read the lines without sounding like a sheep. Amazingly, even with such low standards, some poor souls didn’t make the cut. It really makes you wonder about their

genealogy doesn’t it? Our budget was so small that the scenery was mostly made from painting farm implements and covering milk cans with papier-mâché.

One of the crowning achievements of my high school acting career was being cast as the lovable, blanket-toting know-it-all, Linus Van Pelt, in the musical You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. I found great comfort in carrying the blanket with me and discovering how many ways I could use the blanket to disguise myself. It even made a great skirt!

After weeks of rehearsal, and tens of dollars spent in costuming and set decoration, we were ready. It was opening night of a two-night run, and magic was in the air. Our Snoopy was cute and energetic, and our Charlie Brown was as sad and depressing as he should be. The songs were even in tune because the school had splurged to have the piano tuned just for the occasion.

About halfway through the play, there was a scene where Lucy and Linus were having an argument and Lucy pushed me. I was supposed to fall to the floor, sit up and make a face at her and then pretend to watch TV while she made a

lengthy speech to the audience. I guess Lucy’s adrenalin was really pumping because she pushed me so hard that I flew halfway across the stage and fell, hitting my head on the solid wooden floor so hard that it bounced up a good four inches and then hit again, leaving me semiunconscious. Witnesses later told me that my head hitting the floor made a very loud thunk that was clearly heard in the back row. The entire audience gasped in horror.

There I was lying unresponsive on the stage floor. (Usually when I’m lying unresponsive somewhere, it’s because I’ve just finished having mind-blowing sex. However, to my continuing consternation, even to this day, my partner still usually gasps in horror.) Back to our story.

Luckily, the blanket landed on my down-stage side, thus shielding my face from the audience.

To her credit, Lucy did not break character. She simply looked down at me, sighed a very audible harrumph, and took a giant step over my lifeless body, proceeding to the far side of the stage to deliver her lengthy speech. I continued to lay unmoving while Lucy droned on.

When Lucy was about halfway through her speech, I started to regain my senses, remembering that I was on stage and supposed to be sitting up pretending to watch TV. I sat up, holding the blanket so that it hid my face from the audience. I looked off stage. The director was visibly distressed, pulling her hair. She mouthed the words “are you OK?” to me. I nodded yes, and thus the scene continued. Later friends in the audience told me that we fooled no one.

By the time the curtain closed on that scene,

ISSUE 203

QSALTLAKE

and I had made my way backstage, the football coach — the nearest thing the town had to an EMT and on whom I had a major secret crush — had come back stage to investigate. Coach Dreamboat sat facing me, our knees inadvertently touching. My heart began pounding with desire. He gently placed his hands on either side of my face and gazed, with strikingly blue eyes, deeply into mine, looking for dilated pupils. I felt as if I couldn’t catch my breath. He gingerly ran his fingers through my hair feeling for bumps.

I nearly swooned. I almost couldn’t remember that Richard Nixon was president of the United States when Coach Adonis asked me. He announced that I probably had a mild concussion but could continue with the play. So despite a rising goose egg the size of a five-hundred-carat diamond ring and a headache that would make any New Year’s hangover pale in comparison, I was thrilled beyond measure that the coach had tenderly touched me.

The show must go on! If it means more attention like this from coach dreamboat, I will break my leg!

Like always these events leave us with several eternal questions: 1. Is the discovery of “sheep people” the reason the church stresses genealogy so much?

2. Is the inclusion of “sheep people” the reason the church’s followers are so loyal?

3. Could one of my beehive wigs have cushioned my head enough to have prevented me from blacking out?

4. Was getting a concussion worth the price to get the coach’s attention? Q

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MARCH 29, 2012

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