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news The top national and world news since last issue you should know BY CRAIG OGAN
Nondiscrimination flairs again in North Carolina A million years ago… well 2017… the North Carolina legislature put a moratorium on municipalities passing nondiscrimination protection of LGBT people. It was a compromise to affect the repeal of the infamous “bathroom bill.” The moratorium expired in 2020 and three municipalities are moving to pass ordinances with LGBT on the list of protected classes: Hillsborough (near Raleigh), Chapel Hill, (home of the University of North Carolina’s flagship campus), and the city of Durham. The ordinance in Hillsborough ruled discrimination as a misdemeanor with a $500 fine. The ordinance, however, does not cover multiple occupancy restrooms, showers, or changing facilities. Under NC state law, the general assembly is still the only body that can regulate access in those places.
Siegfried & Roy, again, RIP Siegfried Fischbacher, half of the magician team of Siegfried & Roy, has died of pancreatic cancer at age 81. He and his longtime partner, Roy Horn, were one of the most visible same-sex partners in the last half of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries. They partnered on stage — and off — for more than 40 years.
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They began working together as teenagers and ended up as headliners at their 1,500-seat theater at the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas. Roy Horn was mauled by a tiger during their act in 2003.
Missed putt, watch your mouth Justin Thomas, once No. 1 on the men’s U.S.A. Professional Golf Association, and who won 13 tournaments on the PGA Tour, missed a putt and exclaimed a self-criticism using a word, starting with “F”. Not “the F word” by the “Gay F Word.” The word has many meanings, from an oboe to a metal-working term. In the U.S., it’s sometimes a mean word directed at gay men. It was caught on video at a tournament and since he wasn’t in an orchestra or welding, outrage ensued. He expressed regret for using the word. The PGA called his outburst “unacceptable,” and Thomas is expected to be fined. For all his transgression and remorse, Thomas still managed to shoot a 66, missing the playoff by one stroke.
Greek gay action It has always seemed odd that the country which gave the world the word “Greek”, suggesting gay sex, being gay or lesbian was discriminated against by the Greek culture. It is nice that Greece now has an admittedly gay government minister, Nicholas Yatromanolakis. He is the deputy minister for contemporary culture. Almost as oddly, the appointment was aimed at boosting the government’s image as COVID-19 continues to infect more Grecians. Yatromanolakis said he had often been discouraged from seeking elected office due to his “profile.” He recounted being told, “Hush, darling,” on live TV, but said,
“You can’t let that bother you, because it’s your life and you have to do what you believe is the right thing.”
No straight-washing in UK series The creator of the new UK AIDS-era drama It’s a Sin believed it important to cast gay actors in gay roles. UK Broadcaster, Channel 4, described the show: “Three young lads, strangers at first, leaving home at 18 and heading off to London in 1981 with hope and ambition and joy… and walking straight into a plague that most of the world ignores.” The series is scheduled for HBO Max in the U.S. “I’m not being woke about this,” said creator and director Richard Davies, “but I feel strongly that if I cast someone in a story, they are not there to ‘act gay’ because ‘acting gay’ is a bunch of codes for performance. It’s about authenticity, the taste of 2020.”
Straight-washing in lesbian fantasy, revealed According to the Advocate, “The ‘lesbian internet’ is going wild over the idea of a Zendaya and Anya Taylor-Joy lesbian period drama.” Both actresses, reportedly not-lesbian, have played queer characters. Zendaya in HBO’s Euphoria. Taylor-Joy does a lesbian turn in one episode of the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit. The fantasies were launched by the women at the famous Met Gala, both in period costume. Zendaya wore a dress inspired by depictions of Joan of Arc, while Taylor-Joy was clothed in gold raiment. The fantasies got pretty specific, like one sug-
gesting the actress play young queens from rival kingdoms who have to form an unlikely bond after one of their nations is attacked. The straight-washing of a lesbian-fantasy did get push-back, pointing out that media is rife with pairings exactly like this — thin, femme, and played by straight actors. Another “actually what I want is darker-skinned Black women to have swords and romance stories in which they can be strong and not killed off as plot devices.”
Better to be thought a fool A gay man claims he’s received death threats after participating in the riots at the U.S. Capitol. Kristopher “Dreww,” a far-right activist, who is also known as the “Adorable Deplorable” on social media, had initially gloated about his involvement in the uprising in Washington, D.C., “I just got back from storming the Capitol. It was successful. For all you bitches on Facebook going crazy talking about it was Antifa and saying it wasn’t us, it was us. We had the fucking cops running from us.” Once the blowback began, he backtracked, “Dreww” claimed he never went inside the capitol building and that the closest he got was the lawn, where he ate sandwiches with some very fine people he met there.
Lesbian archivist, RIP The founder of the Bay Area Lesbian Archives, Lenn Keller, has died at age 69 of cancer in Oakland. The collection, started in 2014, aimed for a regional rather than a national focus. After a 2004 call for local stories, the collection includes posters, flyers, and other memorabilia and is the largest archive on the West Coast dedicated to preserving and promoting the lesbian and feminist history and culture. Q
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Anti-trans bills heading the Utah Legislature BY MICHAEL AARON
Republican lawmakers across the country, including several from Utah, are bringing anti-transgender bills to their state legislatures. Some target medical procedures and healthcare for those under 18 years of age and others seek to ban transgender people from participating in sports. Some go as far as to press “child abuse” charges against parents who support their transgender children. Conservative anti-LGBTQ organizations are spearheading the efforts behind the scenes, as was shown in Utah last year as a group of Utah legislators hijacked a bill seeking to end so-called conversion therapy on minors in the state. It turned out that Family Watch International leaders flew into the state as the state legislature considered the bill. Family Watch International was designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
HB92: Transgender youth healthcare The first bill in Utah that has been released is HB92 with the ambiguous title, “Medical Practice Amendments.” The bill’s intent is to prohibit a doctor from performing any transgender-related procedure on a minor.
dures would include and typical gender correction surgeries, facial feminization surgeries, administration of testosterone or estrogen, or “removing any otherwise healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue.” Exceptions to the restrictions would be surgeries or procedures performed of sexually ambiguous or with certain chromosomal variations.
Alliance Defending Freedom Rep. Rex Shipp, Sen. Curt Bramble
The bill is sponsored by financial advisor Rep. Rex Shipp, R-Cedar City, in the House, and CPA Sen. Curt Bramble in the Senate. Bramble has long been a “traditional marriage” supporter and is considered one of the most conservative legislators on the Hill. The bill has a long list of medical definitions and adds several procedures to the “unprofessional conduct” statute, including “unnecessary puberty inhibitions” or “sex characteristic-altering procedure” for those under 18 years old. Sex characteristic-altering proce-
The Alliance Defending Freedom is a Christian Right-based group that develops “religious liberty” legislation and case law in the United States and around the world. The group seeks to recriminalize sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ adults, has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of transgender people abroad, contends that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in pedophilia, and says the “homosexual agenda” will destroy Christianity and society. On transgender issues, the group refers to trans women as men, saying, “Allowing males to compete in the female category isn’t fair and destroys girls’ athletic opportunities. Males will always have inherent physical advantages over compara-
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bly talented and trained girls — that’s the reason we have girls’ sports in the first place. And a male’s belief about his gender doesn’t eliminate those advantages.” “Men who self-identify as women are still biological men. Sure, they can take synthetic hormones to make themselves appear more feminine, style their hair, and wear makeup (or not). But being a woman is more than a physical appearance or a feeling—it is a biological reality. And no amount of wishing or desire will ever change the fact that a feminized man will never truly experience what it is to be a woman,” wrote ADF senior writer Marissa Mayer on the ADF website. The group has a media reference guide where they encourage the media to use such terms as “homosexual agenda” for the lesbian and gay civil rights movement; “cross-dressing,” and “sexually confused” rather than the term transgender; “gender-identity confusion/gender confusion” for gender identity; “(leftist) sexual indoctrination programs” for sexual education programs and health education; “sexual preference/choice” for sexual orientation; “sexually mutilated male/female, self-proclaimed male/female, biological male/female” for intersex person/male/female; “special legal protections, privileged class” for equal rights, equal protection, and protected class; and using quotation marks around the word marriage when referring to same-sex couples and around the word hate when referring to hate crimes. The group is now “peddling” drafted bills as first volleys against the transgender movement, both “for the children.”
LGBTQ reaction Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah, says the legislature shouldn’t intrude in the decisions between a parent and physicians. “We don’t need more government intrusion in the lives of our families. Parents should make decisions
about the healthcare for transgender youth in accordance with evidence-based medical best practices, which are well established,” Williams said. “Guidelines for transgender health have been clearly affirmed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, and many more.” “Our state leaders should be finding ways to manage the pandemic and pull us together, rather than entertaining legislation designed to harm transgender youth,” he said. Transgender and intersex activist Sue Robbins points to Alliance Defending Freedom, also on the list of Southern Poverty Law Center’s designated hate groups, as being a fringe group trying to push their agenda on more conservative states. “HB92 is another of the bills that are originating from the Alliance Defending Freedom and being shopped to many states. Transgender healthcare has evidence-based science behind it, and these hate bills are perpetuated by taking fringe stances and using fear for our youth’s well-being to generate early support,” Robbins said. “This is pretty much the same as the bill we saw from Rep. Brad Daw last year. As he learned more about the community, he kept removing restrictions from the bill until it became only a study and was easily defeated in a House vote. We will do as we have before and educate the bill sponsors to create an understanding of the reality of the positive impact and needs of Transgender healthcare for our youth and work to defeat it once again. Utah is better than this.” Trans activist and ACLU staff attorney Chase Strangio questions why these groups and legislators want to interfere with the medical care of trans youth. “These anti-science bills cannot be understood as motivated by concerns about children or their ability to consent to medical treatment. Rather, they’re mo-
tivated by some adults’ need to police young people’s bodies and to make them align with those adults’ expectations of how young male and female bodies should look,” Strangio said. “These bills run counter to every prevailing norm of medical science in the United States and have been condemned by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the Endocrine Society, among others, because they would cut off young transgender people from treatment known to save their lives.” “Together, all of these legislative efforts — like other anti-trans legislative efforts before them — attempt to weaponize the current distorted, pseudoscientific public discourse about transgender people, both for larger political aims of right-wing lawmakers and as part of a larger project to stop people from being transgender at all,” Strangio continued. “But the reality that these lawmakers and other anti-trans forces will eventually have to face is that when transgender young people are able to access health care, play sports, go to the restroom without fear and use pronouns that affirm who they are, nothing bad happens to anyone,” Strangio concluded. Transgender Education Advocates of Utah Executive Director Candice Metzler is saddened the bills are basically a religious test. “I have spent many, many years working with transgender youth and I hate to see their lives and medical decisions politicized in this way. It’s unacceptable, really,” Metzler said. “H.B. 92 demonstrates how power and authority can be used to stigmatize and degrade
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vulnerable groups of people.” “One only needs to examine the language in the bill to understand that it is about bias towards people whose gender identity and/or body do not conform to social expectations,” Metzler continued. Metzler said that what legislators are calling “transgender procedures” are routinely used in many situations not related to transgender care. “For example, puberty blockers are often used for treating precocious, or early onset, puberty, which can have long-lasting health implications if not treated early,” Metzler explained. Metzler calls the bill a “purity test.” “This bill is an attempt to establish what a ‘proper human body’ should look like and act like,” Metzler said.
What science says Medical researchers and doctors say intrusion into the medical care of transgender youth can be harmful. “Several studies demonstrate the clear mental health benefit of gender-affirming medical treatment, including puberty blockers. Withholding such treatment is harmful and carries potential life-long social, psychological, and medical consequences,” the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and a coalition of other worldwide health organizations said in a statement last year. “Treatment of transgender adolescents involving gender-affirming medical interventions (puberty suppression and subsequent gender-affirming hormones) is the most widely accepted and preferred clinical approach in health services for transgender people around the world,” the statement continues. “The aim of puberty suppression is to prevent the psychological suffering which stems from undesired physical changes that occur during puberty and to allow the adolescent time to carefully consider whether or not to pursue further transition when they are eligible.” The group says that earlier commencement of the treatment has greater effectiveness than later. The interventions, they write, are “stepped up” as time progresses, from reversible treatments to, eventually, irreversible ones.
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Withholding such treatment until later in a teen’s life, they say, means they will experience complete puberty incongruent with their gender identity, which has potential life-long harmful consequences such as stigmatization, personal physical discomfort, difficulty with sexual function, and social integration. The American Medical Association estimates that 1.4 million adults and 150,000 youth ages 13 to 17 in the United States identify as transgender. Over a third, they say, suffer a major depressive episode in their lifetimes. At least one study showed that 20 percent were diagnosed with suicidality in the past 30 days. “The increased prevalence of these mental health conditions is widely thought to be a consequence of minority stress, the chronic stress from coping with societal stigma and discrimination because of one’s gender identity and expression. Indeed, gender-based discrimination affecting access to services is a strong predictor of suicide risk among transgender persons. Lack of access to gender-affirming care may directly contribute to poor mental health: individuals with gender dysphoria who have undergone no gender confirmation treatment are twice as likely to experience moderate to severe depression and four times more likely to experience anxiety than their surgically-affirmed peers.” “Improving access to gender-affirming care is an important means of improving health outcomes for the transgender population,” the group said. The American Psychiatric Association also says that it is important for youth to have access to supportive treatment. “The APA supports access to affirming and supportive treatment for trans and gender diverse youth and their families, including appropriate mental health services and, when indicated, puberty suppression and medical transition support,” the APA said in a statement. “The APA opposes all legislative and other governmental attempts to limit access to these services for trans and gender diverse youth or to sanction or criminalize the actions of physicians and other clinicians who provide them.” Similar bills that restrict medical treatments for transgender youth are being
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run so far in Missouri, Indiana, Alabama, and New Hampshire.
Upcoming bill: Transgender athletes in sports While a bill expected by Rep. Kera Birkeland, R-Morgan, is still in the process of being drafted. It will be under the title, “Student Athletics Participation Amendments,” and is expected to require student athletes to participate under the sex assigned at birth. Legislatures in Montana and New Hampshire are already debating similar bills. Montana’s bill is modeled closely to the Idaho bill that passed last year. Also titled the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” the bill would require public school athletic teams be based on “biological sex.” A federal judge ruled in August 2020 that Idaho’s law was likely unconstitutional and passed strictly due to animus against transgender people, prompting him to grant a preliminary injunction that stalled HB500’s implementation. Metzler believes this bill will provide an opportuntiy to “have the conversation” about transgender exclusion. “The time for transgender exclusion is coming to an end,” Metzler said. “It is a mirror of what is going on — denying the reality that humans are diverse.” “In the history of the international Olympics, they realize this diversity is a lot more complex than they originally thought. Right now they test on testosterone and estrogen levels, saying that certain levels ‘shouldn’t’ compete in the women’s category. But they only scrutinize people they suspect are transgender.” “If you tested all individuals assigned female at birth you’d find extreme differences in levels. We only test people when they are breaking records and people start complaining,” Metzler concluded. The Utah Legislative session began January 19 and will adjourn on March 5. Q
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Encircle to build LGBTQ youth center in Heber City While the Heber City Council restricted flags on Main Street because of rainbow “Pride in the Wasatch Back” banners, the town will still boast an LGBTQ youth resource center. Encircle plans on building a resource center just a few blocks from Wasatch High School. The newly constructed house will have a large gathering area, therapy rooms, and rooms for music and art. “The house, of course, is a safe space; it makes it feel like home, looks like home so that these individuals have a place to come every day and feel loved and accepted, maybe when they don’t feel at home in a school or church or even their own homes,” Encircle Executive Director Stephenie Larsen told NBC News. Larsen said the banner ruckus contributed to the non-profit organization’s desire to expand to Heber City. “We call flags ‘political,’ yet behind every flag, there is an individual who, I believe, those flags are sending a message of acceptance and love for those who are in the community who are LGBTQ,” said Larsen. The rainbow banners were made possible by a lesbian Heber City resident, Allison Phillips Belnap, who is a suicide survivor and a former Mormon. For the past two
years, she raised the funds needed to install the rainbow banners on the city’s lampposts hoping to show support for the LGBTQ community and to support young people she fears feel alienated and at greater risk of suicide. Heber City’s mayor welcomes the center. “Heber is a relatively small, religiously conservative city. Over the last few years, many people have reached out to me and shared stories about the painful experiences and exclusion they have experienced living in this community, Mayor Kelleen Potter said. “Unfortunately identifying as part of the LGBTQ community still carries some stigma here. A school counselor recently told me many kids would rather take their lives than come out in Heber. It is time to do more to provide love, support, and acceptance for our LGBTQ youth in Heber Valley.” Encircle encouraged people to create fundraisers for the center, which they say costs $350,000. That amount was successfully raised in December with matching funds from several foundations. The Heber location will be Encircle’s fourth, along with Provo, Salt Lake City, and St. George. Q More information can be found at encircletogether.org/heber
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Utah Gay Ski Week 2021 canceled “With great disappointment,” organizers of Utah Gay Ski Week, Elevation Utah 2021, announced that all events are canceled. “We were simultaneously planning Elevation Utah while holding out hope that we would turn the corner on COVID-19 at the end of 2020,” event founder Tom Whitman said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we have not turned that corner.” “Throughout this challenging time, we had always planned to produce reduced capacity and socially distanced events for 2021 in Park City. But as COVID has surged, capacities have been further reduced, ICUs are close to full, and some regions have gone back into stay-at-home orders,” he continued. “There is not a feasible way to produce the quality of the events you deserve while guaranteeing the health and safety of my staff, my talent, and the
attendees of Elevation Utah.” “We need to get through this pandemic and come out the other side. And I don’t want to be a part of organizing an event that has the potential to spread COVID to the ski family I love, and beyond to our friends, families, and neighbors, both at home and in Park City,” Whitman said. Whitman said he would be heartbroken if Elevation Utah became a superspreader event. He said he plans to move forward with future events as soon as they are feasible. “I’m still a big proponent of skiing (and gay skiing) in 2021,” he said. “Get on the slopes. Have a great time. We just shouldn’t gather in big groups inside of a bar or a nightclub until we turn that corner.” Utah ski resorts are still open for skiing, and Park City venues that have historically supported Elevation are open to limited capacity. “If you are heading to Park
City, please support those venues by stopping by to have a drink or a meal. Those venues are Downstairs, OP Rockwell, and The Cabin. They have each supported our big gay events for years, and we need to be there for them in return,” Whitman said. Whitman is still hopeful that he can produce the Elevation Mammoth events in March. “The events will be smaller and will look different, but with the ability to have more
outdoor space, and some additional weeks to turn our numbers around on COVID, Mammoth is looking good,” he said. The Mammoth event was canceled in 2020 as the mountain closed, and the first lockdowns started in California. “I want to be on a dance floor as soon as possible, with flashing lights and hundreds of you,” Whitman said. “We’ll get there sooner if we support each other and stay safe.” Q
Int’l swim meet in Salt Lake canceled The International Gay and Lesbian Aquatic Association announced that their 2021 event, scheduled in Salt Lake City, has been canceled due to the worldwide pandemic. “It is with great sadness and disappointment that we report that IGLA 2021 is canceled,” the group’s board said in a statement. “This was not an easy decision — we were all excited for the event, and the organizing committee in Salt Lake was committed to making it work as planned. Regrettably, based on the ongoing concerns for the health and safety of our attendees, travel restrictions, and the inability to fund and hold the wonderful social activities that make IGLA so important to our community, we have jointly reached this decision.” The group is hoping to host smaller, regional events throughout the year and is “fully supportive” of the Gay Games in
Hong Kong to be held in November 2022. Queer Utah Aquatic Club (QUAC) was to host the event this May where swim masters athletes from all over the world would compete in the only international LGBTQ+ inclusive aquatics tournament. IGLA originated in 1978 in San Diego, California, and was concurrently held with the second-ever Gay Games — a global LGBTQ+ athletic event that includes a larger range of sporting events: track & field, ballgame sports, mat sports, racquet sports, and more. Since then, the competition has been held in cities all over the world including Berlin, Stockholm, Sydney, Reykjavik, and Montreal. In February 2020, over 800 aquatic athletes competed and celebrated their athletic achievements in water polo, swimming, diving, and synchronized swimming in Melbourne, Australia. “Events like these can be very mean-
ingful to the LBGTQ+ community, and especially for those from countries where people still face oppression for living their authentic lives,” wrote QUAC leaders in a statement. In 2016, a few of the competing teams, the IGLA Board, and a QUAC team member made it possible for Ugandan swimmers to participate in the tournament. In Uganda, same-sex sexual acts are still criminalized. In fact, just before the competition, two of the Ugandan swimmers were arrested and placed in jail for participating in a local Pride event. Q
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Project Rainbow to give community grants Project Rainbow announced this month the formation of their Community Fund to help finance LGBTQ+ events and projects throughout Utah. Individuals, groups, and organizations may apply for grants ranging from $100 to $7,000 for a specific, defined project or event that is in alignment with Project Rainbow Utah’s mission to “promote LGBTQ+ visibility throughout Utah.” Project Rainbow Utah has supported many Pride Festivals and direct service organizations throughout Utah since 2018, raising funds by staking temporary pride flags in the yards of thousands of homes and businesses across the state. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Utahns helped raise more money through staked flags than ever before. In all, 3,369 flags staked over the course of the year at homes and businesses throughout the state. Donations received from those hosting flags or sponsoring Project Rainbow Utah, in
2021, go to fund grants. The initial period for a grant application began January 8 and runs through Feb. 12. The first grants will be handed out by March 12. Among the guidelines that favor receiving a grant include an ability to impact a large group of people, involve people in the community, a commitment to inclusivity and accessibility, and the possibility of project expansion in the future. The group seeks to spread the funds geographically, by project type, size, and timing. There are three levels of grants available: Public art/ community activism projects which could receive between $100 and $1,000; medium-sized projects and first-time events which receive up to $3,000; large projects and established events which can receive up to $7,000. Q
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Scholarships to be awarded to humanitarian students Youthlinc is accepting applications for the 2021 Youthlinc Utah Young Humanitarian Award, which recognizes service-minded high school students in Utah with $22,000 in college scholarships. “This year as we have faced challenges like never before, I’m reminded of a quote by Mr. Rogers ‘When I was a young boy and would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping,’” Youthlinc Local Service Director Shannon Moss said in a statement. “Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen our Utah students become ‘helpers’ and perform remarkable acts of kindness in both large and small ways. We
have been amazed at the many ways they have stepped up to help one another.” “We want to celebrate all of the many ways Utah students are working to create change and make this world a little kinder place to be, especially during the events of the last year,” Moss continued. The application deadline is March 21. To apply, visit youthlinc.org and review the requirements on the Young Humanitarian Award webpage. Also, any student committed to attending the University of Utah will receive additional scholarship funds from the University Union Scholarship Fund managed by the A. Ray Olpin University Union Building. Q
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Two Salt Lake men die on Puerto Vallarta vacation New Year’s Eve. Two Salt Lake men, vacationing in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, were found dead of apparent overdoses on New Year’s Eve. According to local news outlet Debate, at 10:25 p.m. December 31, police were called to check on two men who appeared to be unconscious in a room of a condominium near Playa Los Muertos, the main public beach in Puerto Vallarta. The condo was in the gay Zona Romantica area. Upon entering the unit, police found Dustin Terry Childs, 35, and Austin Jordan Hales, 32, dead in their beds. Police say the unofficial cause of death is drug overdose. Mexican law requires an autopsy to be performed. Second-hand reports on social media vary widely on what happened to the pair. Childs was self-employed, assisting people to generate income using social media. He also helped people lose weight and feel better through Isagenix dietary supplements and personal care products. According to his Facebook
page, Hales was a technical support representative at Dealertrack DMS, an automotive software and online service company. Roommate Alex Aguila called the pair good-natured and fabulous. “They are healers/guides in their own respects as well as positive forces in the world, that if you got to meet and chat with had an overwhelmingly constant energy of love and soulfulness,” Aguila wrote. “They were such sweet, kind people that didn’t deserve to leave us so early on. But their love, outlook, and even jargon still circulate around those that spent enough time with them. We had our disagreements, but the love we had for each other remained and what mattered most was that we felt cared for and valued for one another within our homey space. I’m gonna miss the cooking, the super smashing, dancing, and the vibing we all did together. Even the small ‘I love yous’ before bed made me feel like I was part of a loving home and that I
mattered. I sincerely hope you two are doing what you love most through the other side, whatever that is, I just hope you’re doing it with the same fabulousness and good-natured will you always had.” Childs’ niece, Madi Childs, has put together a fundraising page to help with funeral services and bringing the pair’s bodies home. “Dustin Childs is loved by many. A son, brother, uncle, and friend to everyone. He has impacted the lives of everyone he has met in a special way. He genuinely cared about everyone he crossed paths with. Always checking in on everyone and welcoming everyone with open arms, he has a big heart and a kind soul. His love and light will shine on, Madi wrote. “He and his partner Austin Hales unexpectedly passed away while vacationing
in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico with friends over New Year’s Eve. Dustin and Austin were both very caring and welcoming to everyone. They will be deeply missed.” In Childs’ obituary, his family wrote that he was “disciplined and dedicated enough to accomplish whatever he set his mind to; from mastering video games, perfecting multiple gymnastic maneuvers, obtaining a black belt in Shaolin Kempo, graduating as the Class of 2003 Valedictorian from Springville High School, speaking fluent Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and German. In Hales’ obituary, his family wrote that “He was always the one called upon to fix, setup or recommend new technology to his family and friends.” Funerals were held Jan. 15 and 17. Q
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2020 IN REVIEW | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 15
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Qsaltlake.com | ISSUE 320 | FEBRUARY, 2021
quotes “I’m sure everyone at some point in the last nine months has broken the rule and said, ‘I’m going to see this one friend that I trust,’ but this is someone that decided to buy a plane ticket and book a hotel, figure out transportation and figure out parties.” —Anonymous founder of @GaysOverCovid
“For gay people, clubbing and bars ... it’s a sanctuary where we can be free and forget about reality for a little bit. It’s been so long, and a lot of people are starting to want their normal lives back.” — Lan Vu, who tested positive for Coronavirus in March, May, and September
“My fiancé & I had to leave our home this evening with our 4 dogs thanks to the @nytimes publishing of my Instagram showing me attending the #MarALago New Year’s Eve party ... My fiancé a pharmacist who worked 12h/7days shifts for 9 months was fired! The violence against us is real.” — George Santos, a gay former candidate for New York’s 3rd Congressional District seat
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guest editorial
Biden’s LGBTQ agenda BY MARK SEGAL, PGN
As a
journalist covering LGBT issues, this will be the eigth presidential transition I’ve witnessed, from the Carter Administration to the Biden Administration. Of those eight presidents-elect, no one has reached into the LGBT community as Biden has, and no one has made so many promises. While Biden has a strong record on LGBT issues, some had suggested his promises were just campaign talk, as so many elected officials are apt to do. But he has quickly proven those people wrong. He has already backed up his words with action. Even before Biden/Harris took the oath of office and walked in the White House, they have fulfilled several of their promises to the LGBT community. They promised that their administration would look like America and would include the LGBT community, particularly the trans community. The incoming Biden administration has already delivered more LGBT appointments to high level administration positions than any other in U.S. history, including Pete Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary, who will become the first LGBT cabinet member confirmed by the Senate, Karine Jean-Pierre as Principal Deputy White House press secretary, Pili Tobar as deputy White House communications director, and Gautam Raghavan Deputy Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office.
But it with his announcement that Pennsylvania’s Dr. Rachel Levine was appointed Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, the highest ever trans appointment to the U.S. Government. Dr. Levine has been stellar in keeping Pennsylvanians safe and informed during the COVID-19 pandemic. She will be a great addition to the Biden administration. Her appointment stands in stark difference to the TrumpPence administration, which removed trans protections in healthcare among many other anti-trans acts. Knowing that the transition team is keeping details very close to their vest, I smiled when I was told to read the Q & A with then-candidate Biden that we did in PGN as well as his official position paper. Both contain too many things to complete in one day. But, as transition spokesperson Jamal Brown told me, “President-elect Biden is committed to advancing the most pro-equality agenda in history and his administration will begin implementing that vision on day one on key LGBTQ+ priorities.” Step-by-step, change will come. President Biden and Vice President Harris have already created LGBT history with their appointments. I have no doubt they will take action on the rest of their promises to the LGBT community. Their ambitious LGBT equality agenda will begin shortly after they take the oath of office. Of that, we can be 100% certain. Q
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in a family where I heard Greek spoken almost daily. It took me a while, but eventually, I put forth the agonizing effort to become more fluent than ordering food and asking for the bathroom. What I love about the language is its versatility, or as my friend (and actual Greek teacher) Nitsa calls, “the richness of the Greek language.” You may remember a New York Life Super Bowl commercial from last year in which they explained the ancient Greeks had four words for “love.” Their pronunciation and interpretation of the meanings may not be on target, but those words are still in the language today: “ahgapy” is love, “filia” is friendship, “erotas” is sexual love, and “storhgy” is affection. I like that delineation because we use the word love too freely in English. I love spaghetti. I love those shoes. Hell, I admitted to loving an aspect of a foreign language. For all its flexibility, Greek does lack one important word for love — the love between a parent and child. Yes, technically, it is “ahgapy” but to me, the intensity falls short. The other day I was having a heated paternal discussion with my 17-year-old son, and out of frustration, I asked why he continually does things that stress me out. His response was to remind me I’m always stressed out. I heard my own father in my reply back, “You’ll understand when you have your own kids.” One aspect of parenthood that no one can ever truly prepare you for is how insanely you love your children. I once admitted to the boys that the way fatherhood changed me the most was when I realized that Kelly was no longer the
person whom I loved more than anyone else on the planet — they were. That crazy level of love isn’t unique for gay parents. But maybe because gay people frequently have to work harder to become parents, we notice it more. For many of us, parenthood wasn’t a consideration, so we could easily dismiss with an eye roll that same prophecy I lobbed at my kid. That love a parent has for a child is so strong that it has prevented another word from ever existing in any language — a word to describe a parent who has lost a child. Tragically, my mom is one of those parents; my big brother Ted passed away in December. To be totally honest, for a long time he wasn’t always the nicest guy. But following a near-fatal accident 20 years ago, he was given another chance at life and turned kinder and happier. For their part, our parents’ love for him never wavered — even when he wasn’t so easy to love. Kids — and big brothers — aren’t always easy to love. None of us ever are. In the end, I am forever grateful that as his life came to an end, my brother and I both knew we loved each other. If love has taught me anything, it’s to never be surprised by it. Nor should it ever be underestimated. In those ways, love is a lot like kids, I suppose. Being a parent has introduced me to a level of love I never knew existed. But in all the manifestations of love I’ve experienced over the years, there’s only been one person for whom all four Greek meanings are true: Kelly. Since he gets angry if I try to speak Greek with him, I’m forced to use my English tongue to convey what’s in my Greek heart — it must be love, love, love. Q
FEBRUARY, 2021 |
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creep of the month
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2020 A year is
BY D’ANNE WITKOWSKI
not a person. It’s not an entity at all, actually, just a collection of hours, days and months. But when so many of those hours, days and months suck, well, a year can get a bad rep. And 2020 has more than earned the title of fully awful. Good riddance, cruel year. Alas, 2020 is gone, but not forgotten. The damage wrought during this year was staggering and a glass of sparkling rosé and an off-key rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” isn’t going to be enough to get past it. In fact, it will take years, even decades, to undo the damage. And that’s only the damage that can be undone. Here’s a list of some of the things that got worse in 2020: DEMOCRACY: Donald Trump was bad for democracy from day one, but in 2020 he turned up the heat on his conspiracy theories. As of this writing on Dec. 29, he still hasn’t conceded the election. Never forget that in a pandemic Republicans worked hard to make it more difficult for people to vote, claimed voting by mail was fraudulent and tried to get hundreds of thousands of votes tossed in order to hand the election to a narcissistic garbage monster. HEALTH: We are rapidly approaching 400,000 people dead from COVID-19 in the U.S. Under the Trump Administration, we still don’t have a national strategy to combat the virus. Trump’s strategy is to ignore it and instead focus on his tantrum over the election that he totally, 100 percent lost. THE ECONOMY: The COVID-19 pandemic led to shutdowns and stay-at-home orders in a desperate attempt to save lives by elected officials who saw keeping people alive and stopping the spread the most important goal. Most of those leaders were Democrats. Republicans downplayed the virus and fought against mitigation efforts. This not only led to more death, but also led to deeper economic harm. So many people lost jobs, so
many small businesses closed their doors for good. And yet all Republicans have offered is, “Open everything up and pretend COVID-19 doesn’t exist.” But until the virus is under control we will not have a healthy economy. RACIAL JUSTICE: Racism didn’t get worse in 2020. What changed is that the most powerful people were proud white supremacists who used the government as a weapon against anyone who wasn’t white. This inspired closet racists to come out in droves and scream the quiet parts out loud and commit violence. But this also inspired anti-racists to take to the streets and demand change and forced white Americans to more closely examine this nation’s history and acknowledge that racism isn’t a fringe ideology but a deeply systemic problem that we ignore at everyone’s peril. THE ENVIRONMENT: Trump, who doesn’t believe in climate change, brags about rolling back regulations during his presidency, as if regulations were simply pointless rules designed to hurt capitalism. According to the Washington Post, Trump trashed than 125 policies that protected the environment including making it easier for power plants leak waste into the water, keeping insecticide that causes brain cancer on the market, scrapping wetland protections and basically telling endangered plants and animals, “Good luck out there, suckers.” Biden has his work cut out for him as much of this sabotage will be hard to reverse. TRUTH: The divisions in American society are deep and the distrust between people is not something a new administration is going to fix. Conspiracy theories have always existed on the fringe, but Trump brought them into the mainstream. This is not a bipartisan phenomenon. A majority of Republi-
cans think COVID is overblown and that the election was stolen or rigged. A sizable number of people believe that the Democratic Party is a satanic pedophile ring, a notion Trump has only helped to perpetuate by refusing to denounce it. Trump told more lies on TV during his presidency than any other president in our history. And yet here we are in a country where millions of Americans looked at Trump and his record and still said, “Yeah, that’s the guy I want to lead us.” He may have lost the election, but his lies will live on. SOCIETY: A strong society has strong relationships between people. The division that Trump sowed has wreaked many of those relationships while the COVID-19 pandemic has isolated many of us from our family, friends, neighbors and coworkers. Our interactions with people we care about have been curtailed or ceased. We have Zoom funerals and drive-by birthday celebrations. Weddings have been canceled, vacations scrapped. I haven’t hugged my mom in almost a year. Don’t get me wrong, I love being able to wear sweatpants to work every day, but the tradeoff is far too steep. The bar is set terribly low, so 2021 has a real chance to be better. But only if we learn from the horror show that was 2020. Happy New Year! Q D’Anne Witkowski is a poet, writer and comedian living with her wife and son. She has been writing about LGBTQ politics for over a decade. Twitter @MamaDWitkowski.
20 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | GAYS OVER COVID
Qsaltlake.com | ISSUE 320 | FEBRUARY, 2021
@gaysovercovid public shaming over maskless massive circuit parties starts a ‘gay civil war’
Over the past month, people online have been fascinated by an anonymous Instagram account called @GaysOverCovid,
which curates publicly-posted videos and photos of gay influencers and healthcare workers disregarding public-safety guidelines by partying during the pandemic. The account’s feed showcases gay Christmas soirées with dozens of grinning guests in holiday sweaters, indoor non-socially distant gatherings, and packed all-night circuit parties in COVID-hotspots like Mexico and Brazil. One popular post, which might best be described as an example of gaydenfreude, is a video of a handful of men bobbing in the warm waters of Puerto Vallarta after a gay cruise capsized. The incident, the account joked, was “a series finale ending to 2020.” In the wake of data pointing to massive spikes in infection after holiday travel, GaysOverCovid’s 120,000 followers view the Instagram page as an urgent civic duty. “It’s an opportunity to do something that hadn’t been done before by holding these people who are really popular on social media accountable for their actions,” said Zack Ford, a former editor at the news site ThinkProgress. The thinking goes that “Covid-shaming,” a concept originally used to criticize celebrities like television anchor George Stephanopoulos for running afoul of social distancing measures during the salad days of the pandemic, is a way to reduce the impulse for people to spread the virus and save lives. But as GaysOverCovid continues to enjoy lockdown popularity, one lingering concern has yet to be locked down: Who exactly is the mysterious operator behind the account? Through a series of careful
negotiations and assurances, we were able to conduct a series of brief interviews via Instagram direct message and a 60-minute phone conversation. Here is what we know: The provocateur behind GaysOverCovid is, you guessed it, a gay man. Besides stating that he is in his “late 20s,” he was tight-lipped about all other aspects of his identity due to “threats” made against him online. On the phone, he speaks confidently and has an affable demeanor. He recounted that he started the account in July after joking with friends about how people could not seem to stay indoors during the pandemic. Largely working from home, he noticed many of his peers seemed to be “ignoring the threat of the virus” by being out and about. The account was not an instant sensation. For the first five months of its existence, it garnered just a few thousand followers. But over time, people started to submit content of friends not abiding by public health guidelines for the account to call out. “We would run polls and ask questions about why they would rather have us call them out than confront their own friends,” GaysOverCovid said. “Their response was that they don’t listen. A public forum is better because it sparks change, or at least attempts to.” Heading into the holiday season, the account was noticed by the meme account The LA Basics, which began sharing posts by GaysOverCovid to its close to 100,000 followers on Instagram Stories.
As the covid-vigilante account grew, so too did the intrigue.
“The crazy thing is was we only had 8,000 to 10,000 followers, but the views we were getting on a story were 35,000 to 40,000,” GaysOverCovid said. “That
told me people didn’t want to follow the account because they didn’t want to be associated with it or look like they were supporting it. But they would peek at the stories.” In addition to calling out parties and mask-less gatherings, GaysOverCovid began spotlighting individual gay men, including handsome influencers with perfect bodies and healthcare professionals that flouted social-distancing measures. “If you’re a nurse who has preached all year long about staying home, and the strain everyone has put on the healthcare system, you probably should have stayed home, too,” read a post published last week documenting a gay nurse who had traveled to a Puerto Vallarta for New Year’s celebrations. Another featured Mike Schultz, a nurse at San Francisco’s California Pacific Medical Center who previously contracted COVID-19. He was accused of posting content that showed him preparing for a circuit party in Mexico. While carefree men posted photos and videos from parties, those stuck at home grew angrier. Fights broke out online. Sleuths worked backwards from photos posted by GaysOverCovid to identify people featured in party photos. In response, some gays called out the account as an attack on queer livelihoods. “People stay home too long and they lose control of their lives and try to control other people’s lives,” said Lan Vu, a 37-year-old beauty salon owner from San Francisco who moonlights as an operator of a Facebook party hub called Circuit Bitch (Let Go). Mr. Vu was open about crisscrossing the gay party circuit to attend large all-night events in cities like Houston and Atlanta, pandemic be damned. He said watchdog accounts are “like Salem Witch hunting,” adding that
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“people don’t think about if people lose their jobs or income.” Critics have questioned whether public shaming is a useful way to police behavior at all. Others say the posts are dangerously invasive. Unsuspecting men have been identified by name, location details, travel itinerary, Venmo transactions, and employment information. The outing of gay revelers at crowded vacation destinations or underground dance parties even prompted many popular gay influencers to do the unthinkable: They made their accounts private.
Sure enough, it didn’t take long before the same espionage tactics employed by the call-out account became weaponized against the account itself. Mr. Vu
issued a startling bounty: $500 to anyone who could expose the identity of the gay behind GaysOverCovid. That same day, an attempt to hack the account’s password led many online detectives to conclude that the man behind the memes was a digital creator named PK Creedon, who goes by the handle @pk514. Mr. Creedon responded to the accusation by uploading a rambling, near 10-minute long combative video on Instagram disputing the accusations. The clip has been viewed over 75 thousand times. The cancel-culture game of cat and mouse coupled with the low cash reward for an Instagram account with relatively few followers was a perfect piece of camp drama for extremely-online gay culture starved for winter content. Hundreds of people began flooding Mr. Vu’s inbox
with erroneous claims. Celebrities like Lisa Rinna and Jonathan Van Ness followed GaysOverCovid. Perez Hilton joked that he was the mastermind behind the account. The story was picked up by Good Morning America and some media outlets went as far as to call it the “gay civil war.” (This was before the attempted coup, mind you.) On the phone, GaysOverCovid insisted that the overarching goal of the page is to spark conversation, not controversy. “I just want people to stay home and if we can save one life then I feel good, and we — the community that’s submitting content — have done a good deed,” he said. “We have to live more empathetic lives. We have to care for our mothers, brothers, sisters and the people we’re going to come into contact with.” He said he was especially disturbed at how flagrant people are with sharing content about their escapades. “They want to go to a party and they want to gather — it’s just crazy,” he said. “Then they do it publicly. These aren’t paparazzi sneaking shots in the bushes. You’re sharing these things to your public Instagram story. People say this is a shaming profile, but they have no shame in what they’re doing.” He said he now receives tens of thousands of direct messages daily, which has made his schedule hectic. “I’m employed full time in a career,” he clarified. Although some followers view GaysOverCovid as broader commentary on the gay community’s relationship to a previous deadly virus, he is not so sure. But he is heartened to see the ways the account has opened up broader conver-
sations in the gay community around around race, class and representation. “The privilege of being white and gay is different than being black and gay, or trans and black,” he said. “There is privilege to a white man, no matter if he’s gay or straight.” He noted that there is also something of a social-media feedback loop at play: Most of the men featured on the account are white and cisgender because those are generally the influencers with the most followers, which more people see and thus put on his radar. The account’s sudden success has made him think critically about callout culture. He knows people can potentially suffer consequences from his posts. “Is this responsible to call somebody out and potentially have them lose their job?” he wondered. “Who am I to do that? That’s the conversation I see out there. While I empathize with that thought process, the bottom line is there are people dying. People dying! And you can be sick and not know it. I wouldn’t want to be treated in a hospital if I knew my nurse or doctor got off the boat from a circuit party.”
He doesn’t fault everyone at the parties, however.
“If you’re a gogo dancer and a drag queen making money off tips and everything is closed down and your unemployment is expired and you’re trying to get by, I have empathy for those people,” he said. “But there’s always personal responsibility. The government failed, but the health experts have spoken up, community leaders have spoken up.” He promised that he wanted the pan-
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demic to be over just as much as the celebrating gays he critiques on Instagram. “I love a good circuit party,” he admitted, perhaps surprisingly (or not). “But not now. Now when the CDC is screaming, ‘Stay home.’ Now when L.A. County is screaming, ‘Stay home — there’s no beds left in the ICU.’” Tackling thorny issues of public health and personal identity has meant that he’s been met with plenty of negative feedback online.
In the late hours of a Sunday night, GaysOverCovid’s Instagram page was suddenly deactivated after being hacked by an online mob. “I had 506 emails last night of people trying to get into my account,” he said. He was able to get the page back up within a few hours after resetting some security settings, but he almost let it stay dead. “When the account got taken down last night I was kind of relieved. It was a sigh of relief — not having anything coming back to haunt me. It was just over. I really didn’t care. I wasn’t going to miss it.” Imposters moved fast during the brief downtime. A purported backup account called @GaysOverCovid2.0 quickly accumulated thousands of fans online. “I’m not on Twitter; there are no other GaysOverCovid anything,” he said. (He said he is not related to other accounts that have been widely-criticized for detailing people’s private health issues outside of the coronavirus.) He has no desire to start a replacement account if the main page is ever deleted for good. “I’ve made my impact.”
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Although the future of GaysOverCovid is uncertain, branding opportunities are not off the table. As of now, he has not made a dollar off the page and he eschews the idea of monetization. He has cross-promoted other accounts like The LA Basics for free, he said. Overheard At A Gay Bar, another anonymous Instagram meme page, is authorized to sell GaysOverCovid merchandise provided they donate the profits. “I didn’t have any goals with this,” he insisted. “This started as a joke, literally: ‘Oh, the gays are over Covid. Look at them go and party.’ I don’t want to make any money. I’m not trying to get notoriety or get fame. I just want people to stay home.” He is currently considering bequeathing the account to someone else because he said he simply isn’t sure if he is up for the stress and hassle of maintaining it. “At this point, I’m like, ‘Here, take over this account.’” Whatever headaches the account has caused him but might be over soon. In a world where each day can feel like an entire month of content, GaysOverCovid is increasingly less and less the internet’s main character of the week. After Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, social media lit up with accounts that sought to identify any of the violent extremists involved. On Twitter, the journalist Chris Weidner wrote: “The new #gaysovercovid is @homegrownterrorists on Instagram. The account is identifying #maga terrorists from the Capitol insurrection and has nearly 15K followers already.” An hour later, Home Grown Terrorists had doubled its followers. Q
FEBRUARY, 2021 |
ISSUE 320 | Qsaltlake.com
PEOPLE OF THE YEAR | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 23
24 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | ARTS
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ISSUE 320 | FEBRUARY, 2021
Why a gay woman wrote the play ‘P.G. Anon’ BY JULIE JENSEN Written from the playwright’s point of view.
P.G. Anon
is about three women, all pregnant. One is too old, one too young, and one is not up to the task of raising a child. It’s the time between suspecting pregnancy and any decisions about what’s next. Women are alone at those times, living in two heads, one firmly planted in the present, the other threatened by a future turned upside down. Why should a gay woman write about this subject? I am telling these women’s stories because no one else will. Virtually all women have had experiences like these; few have ever spoken about them. We must share these stories and remember our own. Otherwise, we leave out a very important part of women’s experience. Why can’t women talk about this subject? Women are under great pressure to be silent about the subject. Those who have had children are conflicted. They cannot tell others, particularly their own children, that their pregnancies were unplanned, a surprise, perhaps unwanted. They loathe ruining the illusion that all their children were fervently wanted. In the meantime, the fact is that fully half of the pregnancies in this country are unplanned, amounting to three million each year. That’s three million women going through an emotional upheaval and adjustment largely by themselves. All girls are taught from the beginning of their lives that what they want or should want is to be a mother. Take a look, for example, at this Mormon song for little girls.
“When I grow up, I want to be a mother, And have a family. One little, two little, three little Babies of my own. Of all the jobs for me I choose no other. I’ll have a family. Four little, five little, six little Babies in my home.” If women are not in lockstep with their socialization, they are pressured to keep still. What happens to women who do not accept their socialized role? From an early age, I was aware that my mother had a job she did not care for. She did a good job, I think, but she was far from happy with her work. In her case, she was a victim of her times. She had children to keep my father out of the war. She did her duty. But given other options, she would not have chosen motherhood. She had a degree and wanted to go to graduate school. She never did. That saddened her.
But don’t all women adapt to motherhood and are happy for it? I should not have to be a nurse if I sicken at the sight of blood. I should not have to be a teacher if I dislike the chaos of children together. Not all women will be good at motherhood, and they shouldn’t have to do a job they don’t want. And, no, we’re not all the same, just as all men are not the same. What’s the point? I hope at the very least we can all remember our own experiences with the threat of unplanned pregnancy. Virtually all women have had the experience, some of us several times. In remembering our own fears and fury, perhaps we can be less judgmental, more sympathetic and helpful. When subjects are kept a secret, we harbor the wound, when subjects are opened to the light, we can heal. Q Playwright Julie Jensen is Utah’s most-produced playwright. Plan-B has previously produced her plays SHE WAS MY BROTHER and CHRISTMAS WITH MISFITS. The world premiere of her latest, P.G. ANON, opens Plan-B’s 2021 Audio-Only Subscription Series, streaming February 25-March 7 on their website or on free app in partnership with Planned Parenthood Association of Utah.
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SLAC announces virtual New Play Sounding Series Festival Salt Lake Acting Company will host its first-ever New Play Sounding Series Festival. The virtual festival, comprised of three new works, will be presented free to the public in January, February, and March. Building on its support of Black Lives Matter and commitment to making meaningful and lasting change at SLAC and the American theatre as a whole, the company sought new plays written, and to be directed by, BIPOC artists. A focus on diversity has also been made in casting for the festival. “For nearly 30 years, SLAC has presented cutting-edge works by burgeoning playwrights through its New Play Sounding Series. But for too long, the voices of so many in our BIPOC communities have been silenced by systemic oppression in the American theatre,” said executive artistic director Cynthia Fleming. “SLAC is committed to playing its part in implementing meaningful and lasting change. It is in this spirit that we present our first ever NPSS Festival. Each of these three plays is written and directed by some of the most promising voices the American theatre has to offer.” “Nearly a year into this pandemic, we’re continuing to learn more about ourselves and community. We’ve been forced to face a temporary reality where live theatre is not a part of our lives. I’m proud of the work we’ve put into creating digital entertainment, yet I’m even more humbled by our supportive audiences who continue to adapt with us,” continued Fleming. “We’ve been encouraged by the response to our digital offerings, including Climbing with Tigers, American Dreams so much that we’ve decided to bring the community three new digital works over
the next few months, instead of the previously-announced single. This allows us to uphold what SLAC has always done best: develop new works for our adventurous audiences.” Kicking off the festival is Daddy Issues by Kimi Handa Brown. In addition to appearing in last year’s Digital Shorts series, Brown is a recent graduate of the University of Utah, where the play had a digital student production last year. The production will be directed by Summer L. Williams, who serves as Associate Artistic Director at Company One Theatre in Boston. Daddy Issues is a new play focused on four college girls and how their experiences with the men in their lives affect them on a day-to-day basis. We follow them throughout their days as they bond with each other, make mistakes, and try to learn to grow during a time when it seems that everyone else’s opinion matters more than your own. “This whole experience is a dream come true. Salt Lake Acting Company has provided me with the best environment to learn and grow. This also feels like a second chance for Daddy Issues, which will be nurtured in a professional setting with wonderful working artists,” said Brown. “I have loved being able to work on this play in its many iterations, especially during a time when theater is scarce.” Appearing in Daddy Issues are Brynn Duncan, Helena Goei, Eva Merrill, Nadia Sine, and Matthew Rudolph. Francisca Da Silveira serves as dramaturg, Sammee Jackman will read stage directions, and Jennie Sant is stage manager. Q The virtual reading of DADDY ISSUES is free to the public. Attendees can register at bit.ly/slac-daddyissues
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On TV, the hero is a Black transman
An interview with Brian Michael Smith, the first trans man to star as a series regular on network TV BY CHRIS AZZOPARDI
Without
any positive trans role models, Brian Michael Smith grew up in 1980s Michigan thinking a Black transman couldn’t be an actor. He wasn’t seeing himself on TV, or anywhere. But now and then, things change for the better. Today, people are seeing him everywhere, most notably on Fox’s 9-1-1: Lone Star, a spin-off of the 9-1-1 first-responders show, this time set in Austin, Texas. It’s a history-making role: Smith, as Paul Strickland, with a Sherlock Holmes-type mind, is the first transman to star as a series regular on network TV. Before joining the procedural drama, Smith played Officer Antoine “Toine” Wilkins, another transman, on OWN’s Queen Sugar, which was executive produced by Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay. His other acting credits include The L Word: Generation Q, HBO’s Girls, NBC’s Chicago P.D. and Showtime+++’s Homeland. In the 2020 documentary Disclosure, Smith spoke about the historical evolution of trans depiction and representation in media alongside other Hollywood trans influencers and icons, including Laverne Cox and Matrix filmmaker Lilly Wachowski. Smith is now the change he yearned to see as a kid, when he’d cut through the woods of Ann Arbor with friends to get to school, acting out scenes from movies and cartoons on the way. And hoping that, one day, the rest of the world would accept him as he is. What kind of kid were you? I was such an Ann Arbor kid. I would spend so much time outside. I was born in ’83, so Stranger Things is a lot like how I spent my afternoons. I had a core group of four friends and we would just get
together after school and go play in the woods. Go walk in the woods to get to a certain playground, or go to the woods, just to go to another neighborhood; get in some mischief, knock over garbage cans, bike away. I was one of those kids. (Laughs.) Did you know then that you wanted to be an actor? Yeah, I loved to perform. My mom and her sisters all had kids around the same time and then they lived together for a while. They liked to get together and tell stories and have us tell stories, so it’d be a lot like, “Come here and do your thing.” It was fifth grade when I wrote a play, and what was really cool was I got a chance to write this character. I (introduced) my character on stage, with all the attention on me, and nobody challenged that. That was really powerful for me. Because when I was really little, I was telling people, “I’m a boy, I’m a boy,” and you know, having to defend myself when I would say that. So I liked having that transformative power that I could be whoever I wanted to be when I was performing. When I went to school, I was only getting these female roles given to me in class and thought, “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do this.” What was your experience growing up in Ann Arbor knowing you identified as a boy? I didn’t even know much about queerness or queer identity. But I was able to be myself. I played football on the boys team at Pioneer [High School]. I scored a touchdown, and I’m technically the only female in the state of Michigan history to ever score a touchdown in football on varsity. I say that distinctly because it was Ann Arbor. I remember how afraid I was when I was crossing that giant parking lot to go to the football practice field for tryouts that first day and thinking, “They’re gonna say no, I’m going to have to really fight for this.” So I walked right up to the coach and said, “I’m here to play football.” He goes, “OK, the equipment’s over there; go check in with that guy.” And the freshmen are up on the upper field and I’m like, “Oh, shit.” I think that was a uniquely Ann Arbor experience, the lack of resistance. You’ve blown up in the last few years. Does this feel like a breakthrough moment for you? Absolutely. It feels incredible because a lot of what I wanted for myself has manifested this year. And it’s been kind of a challenge because this started
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to blossom the most [last] January and February. I was riding this wave after I got booked (on 9-1-1: Lone Star) in September of 2019. We were filming and so much of what I wanted to experience, things that I sacrificed for the past 11 years, all this hustling and grinding in New York, started to come to fruition. Then the pandemic hit. So it’s been challenging for me because I know how many people are going through what I would have been going through had this pandemic hit my life in 2018.
to be a secret. So I was thinking for a long time that I’m not going to be able to do what I want to do: performance, being an actor and being fully myself. Then slowly I came to realize, because of trailblazers that went before me like Laverne Cox, that, “Wait, we can. And maybe I can be a trans actor and maybe I can play a trans character.” And not just a trans character who’s a victim or the butt of a joke, or a villain, or a side character. A whole series regular.” That was only six years ago.
How did you get involved in Lone Star ? I was talking to a friend of mine at this event and I’m just like, “Oh, man, I’m having a good time and I’m performing but it’s not exactly what I want. I want to be a series regular on an action-oriented show.” I swear to God that as I’m talking to him, he goes, “Say what you want.” And as soon as I stopped talking I got an email from my agent: “Hey, you got an audition for the 9-1-1 spinoff.” Then I read the character breakdown and it’s like, “Trans, roughneck, from Chicago, Midwest.” I was geeked! It checked all the boxes.
What can other writers and creators learn from the way Lone Star depicts its trans character? I think they do a great job of listening to trans people. There isn’t a trans writer in the room right now, but they’ve listened to the input that I have. It’s also part of the Ryan Murphy universe, so I think they learned a lot from the Pose experience and how having actual trans voices and listening to other trans consultants and showrunners is what brings the authenticity to a role. Then writing to the humanity of the character and not just what feels sensational about them. The character can just happen to be trans. They can be all these other things, and that is just a part of who they are.
When I watched the pilot, I was really blown away that I was watching something as LGBTQ-inclusive as this, a show that feels like something my Midwestern mom and dad would watch, on Fox. Yes, that’s the thing. That is the thing. It’s an honor, for sure, to be working on The L Word and to bring that kind of authentic representation into a show that didn’t necessarily have the greatest history with transmasculine representation. But it’s a Showtime show. I grew up watching network prestige dramas. I’m a huge fan of these cop dramas and medical dramas, and I’m aware that that’s what people gather around. Those are the fireside chats. These go to the homes in the Midwest. You have to look for Queen Sugar. You have to look for The L Word. But this is on Fox. This is going to reach so many people who may not ever have an opportunity to see anyone like this. There’s a built-in audience for this kind of show already, and then they see a Black transman playing a Black transman on a network TV show getting to be as heroic as a cis white man gets to be on these kinds of shows. What does that feel like? It feels right and unreal, at the same time. Unreal given that I came from the Midwest and I never even knew that there were other people like me until I was 20. In the generation that I came up in, everything had
What can you say about Paul’s character arc this season? We get to know a lot more about Paul in this season that I’m excited about. What’s great is they’ve sort of built in the timeline, so time has passed and because of the quarantine the team is spending even more time together than they would just being firefighters who work 48-hour shifts together. They’ve changed up even how we respond to calls based on what COVID protocols would be. What about Paul’s personal life and romantic life? To be honest, what I know about his personal life so far is... I think dates are happening. I haven’t seen anything OK’d yet, but we get to know more about his family life, which is interesting. Would you like to see Paul with a romantic interest? Oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah! Come on! Paul’s been getting in shape! He’s got his quarantine body together! (Laughs.) When interviewing for the job in the first season, you tell the firefighter captain that being trans means you’ve had to be a step ahead of everyone simply because you’re trans, for survival purposes. Was that true for you in your own life as well? I think to some degree, yeah. I didn’t know if I knew any trans people growing up. For a long
time, I thought I was the only one. And the only real representation I had of an actual trans person was Brandon Teena, and he was murdered. And it was by people he trusted, or tried to trust. So I think in the back of my mind I’ve probably always had that: “How much of this do I need to protect?” So yeah, just reading people, keeping an eye on people. I grew up in a very Southern Baptist traditional household and a very heteronormative space, so when I did start to hear even just the word “gay” it was in the negative connotation that kids use in middle school. On talk shows and in tabloids all I saw were negative depictions of transwomen. I didn’t know an actual transman existed until I was 20. The first was Jamison Green on this website, and I saw this fully functioning adult man, a writer, and he’s all these things I was. Then when I saw that transmen existed, I knew exactly who I was. It was this very beautiful, eye-opening, tears-with-joy moment when I realized that there’s a future for me. During that same interview, the captain says to you, “Somewhere in this town right now is a kid who’s just like you were. Feeling scared, hopeless. I’d like you to show him, or her, or they it’s OK to be who you are.” That’s true of Paul, but that’s also true of you, Brian. What do you hear from young trans and gender-nonconforming people who watch the show? It was that line that really hit home for me. That was in the audition material that they sent to me when I wanted to audition. I read that line and felt like that was my life mission as a trans person. Knowing I was different and had all these struggles because I was different, I asked myself this question: Why? Why was I born like this? Just why, why, why? Then I’m doing this and parents are telling me now that they don’t feel as afraid for their child because they know they can be a happy, functioning person because of the character and me, the person. Children reach out and say, “You’re my hero and I can grow up and be like you.” Forty-yearold adults who have never seen anybody like themselves and now feel the courage to be themselves. Well, that’s why. That’s why I went through all that stuff. That’s why I was born the way I was born Q As editor of Q Syndicate, Chris Azzopardi has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Cher, Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, GQ and Billboard. Reach him via Twitter @chrisazzopardi.
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A threesome remedy for our times
Social Distance stars talk COVID-era series and pandemic dating BY CHRIS AZZOPARDI
File this
under 2020’s “Content We Lived” category: Social Distance , Netflix’s anthology series completely conceived, cast and shot in quarantine. Tucked into the show’s eight episodes is “Zero Feet Away,” which follows a gay couple suffering from cabin fever who give a threesome a shot after they’ve had enough of each other. “Zero Feet Away” stars Max Jenkins, who has a part on Dead to Me as Christina Applegate’s gay real-estate partner; Brian Jordan Alvarez, who portrays Jack’s husband, Estefan, on Will & Grace , and Mozart in the Jungle star Peter Vack. In October, they talked about their longtime friendship, filming during a pandemic and Funfetti.
Brian and I met and became basically best friends our freshman year of college.
Did you guys know each other beforehand? Had you crossed paths?
Was the script set?
Brian Jordan Alvarez: Very much so. Peter Vack: Max and I’s friendship goes back to childhood. We went to performing arts summer camp together, and then
Alvarez: When he met me he told me, “You should meet my friend Max, you would like him,” and it turned out to be true. We’ve all become friends now. Vack: I just want to underscore that these two are two of the people I love most in the world as friends. So often the job with acting is to become very close and intimate with people immediately; with this, it really felt like a party from moment one. It really was like a summer camp vibe. I think that is in part due to the fact that they allowed friends and, in fact, sought out friends to do this or people that had these deep, decades-long connections. Alvarez: It was set, we had nothing to do with it. It was a totally wonderfully written piece that was just given to us. They were great about – sorry, am I bulldozing? Max Jenkins: Shut up. Just talk. I love
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hearing you talk. Alvarez: They were really generous, which always helps me in letting us improv. We also had a lot of freedom to just say the line slightly differently or improv. It was just cool to have that freedom. Max, did you improv the line “zhuzh my crack”? Jenkins: I can’t believe they used that! You know, that was the moment that we really hit on something beautiful. I thought it was “zhuzh my taint.” Alvarez: That might’ve been a different take. Jenkins: Yeah. The director’s cut has “zhuzh my taint,” I believe. (Everyone laughs.) Did you actually shoot on April 17, the day the episode says it took place? Alvarez: No, no. I was gonna say it was funny that Peter called it summer camp because we were calling it that when we were doing it, but I don’t think we realized that it was also the dead middle of summer. Jenkins: The solstice. Alvarez: (Laughs.) It was like literally, what, mid July? Vack: I now have some handle on it
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because I’m back in New York and it gets cold, but in L.A. with the coronavirus it was all one month. Jenkins: That’s why this experience was like, “before this and after this”; that was my only milestone. Alvarez: Right, that’s true! Jenkins: And we’re so lucky that we had this gift of breaking out of our quarantine, you know? And also, I’m working now and everybody is so scared on Special ; everyone’s freaked out and it’s like, girl, I ripped the Band-Aid off in July. We already did this, and it was a blast, and everybody is kind of more focused, so I feel very at ease working with all these stipulations and with all the PPE. Peter, when you come over with a mask on in the episode, that’s now the reality for dating and hooking up. Did that speak to you on a personal level as much as it spoke to me? Vack: Oh, totally. I have been both single and partnered in this experience and, yeah, it totally felt like… it’s hard to even articulate. There’s new rules now, I guess. And I am something of a hypochondriac, so that was very easy to tap into. Jenkins: For me, I tend to be single. (Laughs.) I haven’t really attacked it consciously, like this new challenge of dating. It’s been more [like] if I’m truly obsessed with the idea of this person, I might hang out with them. There are so many more gates for my psyche to go through (laughs), and my psyche does not tend to clear those gates; therefore, there are few prospects. So no virtual pandemic dating for you? Jenkins: Well, I have been doing quite a bit of that, but it tends to be boring. There’s not so much going on in people’s lives, there’s not so much to catch each other up on. I find it just not… it’s a facsimile of getting to know someone. It’s like we’re all doing performances of being
chill and being our normal selves. That’s just my experience. Alvarez: Yeah, I was doing a lot more FaceTiming than ever. Jenkins: I can’t get down. I just [don’t] feel like I’m really getting to know someone. Alvarez: I guess I haven’t done any real formal dates, but I have FaceTimed with people, you know, in maybe a more romantic way. (Laughs.) And yeah, it’s definitely not as good as the real thing. (Laughs.) But yeah, I think after the lonesomeness set in after a while, FaceTime was really able to quell that in a way that just staring at my wall could not. Jenkins: At first I felt so sorry for myself. And I was like, “My friends who are partnered don’t understand and they need to be checking in on me more!” Then I started to feel even worse for them than for myself, which I guess is what our episode is sort of about, a little bit: the challenge of that. Because I started to see them jumping out of their skins. (Laughs.) I started to see my partnered friends freaking the fuck out. Alvarez: I prefer the solitude to being bottled up with one other person. Jenkins: Yeah. I’m already traumatized that I have to share my space with…. him. (He pans the camera to his dog, Rock.) Since you had a rapport, I imagine the threesome, when you actually get down to it, was very giggle-worthy. I was in stitches watching you guys. Was it even more hysterical actually doing it? Jenkins: It was so normal, so oddly second nature. Vack: Yeah. Alvarez: It felt a lot like doing a play in the best ways. Because it’s very physical comedy, almost farcical. Jenkins: It’s true. Typically the crew is
not laughing at you, so you have this kind of unresponsive audience. But in our case we were making ourselves laugh, so we didn’t give a fuck about anything but what each other was saying about it. Vack: It just felt like effortless fun. And I agree: The fact that it was just us there, it was giddy. It was just pure pleasure, top to bottom. How long did it take to shoot? Jenkins: A week. We had a week of isolating in the hotel prior to shooting. Did you use that time in the hotel to rehearse, or just screw around? Jenkins: We weren’t allowed to see each other. Vack: We’d be, like, on the balcony, far apart. Jenkins: With our masks. I thought that they would’ve made you a pod and put you all in a hotel room together. Jenkins: We agreed that the pod thing could’ve worked, but they were determined to divide and conquer us any possible way. It was like every precaution you could think of. There was no precaution too silly-seeming. (Laughs.) We had to gargle mouthwash before every kiss. Is there anything about the episode you’d like to spotlight that happened behind the scenes? Alvarez: We had like 30 jars of Funfetti. (Everyone laughs.) Because in filmmaking if you’re going to do a lot of takes, you also have to have options. Jenkins: And on the first take I was just eating heaping spoonfuls and my body started to shut down pretty quickly. I mean, talk about coronavirus. Q As editor of Q Syndicate, Chris Azzopardi has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Cher, Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, GQ and Billboard. Reach him via Twitter @chrisazzopardi.
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positive thoughts
Finding love in the time of Coronavirus
Our first
BY CHARLES SANCHEZ
date was on a Tuesday night. I wasn’t sure it was a date at first, but I was hopeful. To be dating during a(nother) pandemic is a little nutzo, but my Romeo is completely COVID-worthy, if you know what I mean. We didn’t actually meet during the novel coronavirus pandemic. I met Romey — sometimes I call him Romey — about seven or eight months ago. He works for a major national retailer and contacted me via Instagram with an idea to do an HIV awareness event at the store’s SOHO location featuring my web series, Merce. We got together for a long coffee and kicked around ideas. I found him criminally handsome — tall, with brown hair and blue-hazel eyes. I like big fellas, and he fit the bill. He’s smart, very funny, an artist, in his fabulous 50s (like me), and he’s living with HIV. We live in the same area of Queens, New York City, and that Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m., I huffed and puffed up the four flights of stairs to his apartment. I dressed cute but didn’t overdo it. He opened the door wearing relaxie clothes: shorts, a T-shirt, and a huge devilish smile. Once I de-masked, Romey showed me around his quaint one-bedroom apartment. Every wall in every room is filled with his paintings, political and passionate, each containing an amiable image juxtaposed with a protest phrase like “End AIDS” or “Black Lives Matter.” Even his bathroom had art! I was charmed. As a classical radio station played, we dug into eggplant with garlic sauce and chicken with broccoli (I was touched that he also got me an eggroll), and sat in his living room with our plates balanced on our laps, party-style. I offered to pay for half of the food, and he dismissed the idea. As we noshed, we talked about art, his life, my life. I’m sober, and he doesn’t really drink, so that’s great. The fact that we both are living with HIV made certain conversations (“Are you on PrEP?” “Do you know what U equals U means?”) unPHOTO: RICK GUIDOTTI
necessary. I gushed about his art. He complimented my comedy and encouraged my creative work. We talked for more than two hours. When I got up to leave, we hugged. The hug lingered. He slowly started to rub my back, then nuzzled my neck. Gradually, my mouth found his. He took my hand and led me to his bedroom. I told him that I wasn’t going to have sex. It was our first date, and while I’m certainly no prude, I need to protect my tender heart. Like the old song says, “My heart has been well schooled, for I have been fooled in the past.” He responded by saying, “Let’s just get more comfortable.” We laid down, continued our smack fest, and although our shirts were opened and hands went under pants, we didn’t have sex. We were both excited, and at one point he said, “Isn’t this great? We’ll have November and December and January…” I thought, “Wait a minute. Are we dating already?” We kissed more and more, and the armor around my heart began to melt away. In 30-plus years of dating, I don’t know if I’ve ever been kissed like that. I felt we were releasing ourselves into each other. It was beautiful and overwhelming. When we noticed the time, it was almost 2:30 a.m. I realized that I hadn’t taken my HIV medication and needed to go home. The subways stop running at 1, so I called a Lyft. Romeo stuffed a 20-dollar bill in my pants pocket, saying, “You shouldn’t have to pay for the ride home.” I tried to hand it back to him, and he insisted. He walked me down the stairs, and we hugged as the driver pulled up. “Call me when you get home,” Romey said. And I did. The next day, I woke thinking the night before had been a dream. Dabbing balm on my kiss-worn lips, I texted Romeo, and he assured me that the night had been real and certainly dreamy. Then he asked when he could see me again. We made a date for that night. I warned him that I still wasn’t going to have sex yet, but he encouraged me to
bring my meds so I could stay the night. “Cuddling will be wonderful,” he said. Hours later, I leapt back up the stairs to his apartment two at a time. He greeted me this second night with a little box: a sweet gift of cologne samples he got from work. I trepidly kissed him hello, and he asked if something was wrong. I said that I was just a bit reserved since this was all brand new. He wrapped his big arms around me, saying, “There’s no need to be scared. I’m right here.” We nibbled on mediocre tacos as we talked more about our lives. We giggled about ex-boyfriends and crazy guys we’d hooked up with, adventurous sex we’d had. Romeo told me how nice it was to be with someone close to his age. He had dated a lot of younger guys, “dented cans,” he calls them. We then got ready for bed, and he gifted me a fresh toothbrush. He placed it in his medicine cabinet, saying, “And it begins.” He then insisted I moisturize my face before sleep, and he tenderly stippled my face with luxurious lotion. We went to his bed and kissed, and it was everything the night before had been and more. At one point, he could sense that I was trying to emotionally protect myself and whispered, “Come on, Charles. Come home to me. I love it when you come home to me.” When he said that, the knees of my heart buckled. My mind swirled, “Oh, my God. Is this my boyfriend? Could we be happy together? This is unbelievable!” Everything about being with him felt like the future. The next morning, he made coffee for me, sweetened with Splenda that he’d swiped from his work for the occasion, and he cooked us scrambled eggs and toast with melted butter. We talked about plans for the weekend (sex was certainly going to be on the agenda), and it was all romantic and comfy and delicious. I floated home like a cartoon balloon in a holiday parade. Around 4 that afternoon, I sent him a little goofy text. Then at 10:30 or so, I texted to ask how his day was. No response. Huh. Friday, I texted a sweet, “Good morning, beautiful” gif. No response. I sent another text a half hour later asking if everything was OK, and no response. I started to feel a knot in my stomach.
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ISSUE 320 | Qsaltlake.com
On Saturday morning, I called Romeo and left a message. I thought that there might be a possibility that his phone had conked out, but deep down, I knew the truth. I never heard from Romeo again. Two incredible nights, romantic gestures, incredible kissing, cooking breakfast for me, paying for my cab, talking about the future, then poltergeist. What was it? Was it me? Did he decide that I was another “dented can?” I thought I was past this kind of craziness from men, that I was too savvy after 30-plus years of dating to be romantically conned again. Ah, but remember the song that says, “My heart should be well schooled, for I’ve been fooled in the past?” The next line is, “Still I fall in love too easily. I fall in love too fast.” DAMMIT. Thank the Universe that I didn’t have sex with him. If I’d have done that, the ghosting would have been much more devastating. From the emotion that I felt in his kisses, I may not have ever recovered from the emotions that sex with Romeo would have evoked. What makes this sting more sharply is that before meeting Romeo, I’d resigned myself to being alone and felt fine about it. Finding true love had come to seem like a fairy tale notion for jaded ol’ me. Not everybody has to find the mythical “One,” and just because gay marriage is legal (for now) doesn’t make it a requirement. I was cool with being single, having my bevy of beautiful friends, my family, and the occasional kinky trick when the itch needed scratching. This experience with Romey shook that notion up and spun it around, making me long for and dream about romantic love again. DAMMIT.
I suppose I was extra vulnerable. We’re all going through this pandemic, collectively trying to stay safe and socially distant. I’m touch starved, man starved, and affection starved. The anniversary of my HIV diagnosis is right around now (Nov. 4), and I’m always extra sensitive in the weeks surrounding that day. Add to that the stress of the political climate, rampant racism, violence, fear, so much that’s unknown. When I think about it with all that in mind, what defense did I have? Friends who I’ve shared the experience with have said well-meaning, encouraging things to me, like, “What an asshole!” “He’s crazy!” “Men are such fucktards!” and “Gay men are so damaged, they don’t even know how to be a grownup.” All that may be true, but if Romeo is a damaged-crazy-ass‑hole-fucktard, then who was I kissing? Thinking about him that way invalidates my experience. I don’t know why Romey chose to ghost me. I thought he was feeling what I felt. I had a fantastic whirlwind of a time with an incredibly attractive, smart, funny, artistic, super sexy, great guy. Moreover, he made me feel handsome, sexy, smart and all of it. It still sucks, though, and it’s going to be a bit before I again deem someone COVID-worthy. Heartache is another kind of virus, and I can’t imagine there’ll be a vaccine for that anytime soon. Q Charles Sanchez is a Mexican-American gay writer and actor living with HIV in New York City. A contributing editor for TheBody, he is also the creator, lead writer, and star of the award-winning musical comedy web series “Merce,” about a fabulous HIV-positive guy living in New York who isn’t sad, sick, or dying. This column is a project of TheBody, Plus, Positively Aware, POZ, QSaltLake Magazine, and Q Syndicate. Visit their websites for the latest updates on HIV/AIDS.
RELATIONSHIPS | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 31
First-time Exam, Bite-wing X-rays, Cleaning
Dr Josef Benzon, DDS www.alpenglowdentists.com
Salt Lake 2150 S. Main St 104 801-883-9177
Bountiful 425 S. Medical Dr 211 801-397-5220
New patients only. Limitations and exclusions may apply. Not valid with any other offers.
To schedule an appointment, please call 801.878.1700 Evening and Saturday Appointments Available Most Insurances Accepted
32 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | COMICS
Qsaltlake.com | ISSUE 320 | FEBRUARY, 2021
PUZZLES | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 33
FEBRUARY, 2021 | ISSUE 320 | Qsaltlake.com
Eddie Izzard’s Wardrobe
Q doku
Each Sudoku puzzle has a unique solution which can be reached logically without guessing. Enter digits 1 through 9 into the blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit, as must each column and each 3x3 square. Qdoku
Level: EASY
6 8 4
8 9
9
2
1 5 8 7 4 7 2 6 8 4 3
3
8
5
7 6 5 2
1 9 2 8 4 7 9 2 3 6 4 9 9 6 8 5 6 2 7 1 3 8 3 7 2 9 5 2 9 7 6 3 8 5 7 4 3 6 4 5 7 6 4 4 1 8 6 5 3 7 7 5 6 4 2 9 8 8 6 9 7 5 8 6 9 9 3 1 8 2 1 4 2 6
4 9 1
4
6 7
4 1 5 3 2 9 4 6 3 9 7 6
2
8
8 7 6 2 5 7
1
6 7 9 7 5 1
9
9
3 1 8
48 “Murder on the ___ Express” 49 Greek group, for short ACROSS 51 Kofi once of the UN 1 Lance once of ‘N 52 End of the quote Sync 56 Gershwin of Of Thee 5 “Put roses on the I Sing piano and tulips on 59 Lubricates the ___” 60 Canal of Sal 10 Milk-colored stone 14 In midvoyage, maybe 61 Digital dealings 63 Becomes wife and 15 Dorothy, to Em 16 Lesbian porn star wife, e.g. Hartley 64 Caesar’s city 17 Start of an Eddie 65 Alternative to TNT Izzard quote about 66 On top of that his wardrobe 67 Looked at 20 Gaydar and such 68 Goes down in defeat 21 “No need to explain” DOWN 22 Designer Cassini 1 Clubs for Cubs 24 Cold War letters 2 Arthur of the AIDS 25 You betcha Quilt 26 Cary Grant’s ___ Girl 3 Stein’s Wars I Have Friday ___ 29 More of the quote 4 Affirm orally 32 Actor Milo of Oz 5 Singular type of sex? 35 Bowie collaborator 6 ___ Tin Tin Brian 36 Job for Burr’s Mason 7 Prefix with political 8 Thespians do it 40 Scary Movie Cheri 41 Callas wooer Onassis 9 Just out, kinda 42 Baked, to Buonarroti 10 Janis Joplin’s “Down ___” 43 More of the quote 11 Religious reverence 46 Mo. with 30 days 12 Singer of “Tomor47 Home, to Glenn Burke row” PUZZLE SOLUTIONS ON PAGE 36
13 Stays hard 18 Fam. member 19 Shrek, for one 23 Sparkles 24 Greek philosophical type 26 Cries of derision 27 “Grease ___ word!” 28 Places for Mary and her little lamb 30 One way to serve your meat 31 Nova follower 33 Brew ending 34 Crash cushion 37 Socrates, and others 38 British gun 39 All-star game side, maybe 42 Bread ingredient for Gomer 44 Diner sign 45 John of M. Butterfly 50 The Celluloid Closet author Vito 51 At the front 52 The Music Man setting 53 Jessica of The Illusionist 54 Rev. Perry 55 Martinac’s Out of ___ 57 Disneyland feature 58 They have foamy heads 62 Way, out east
34 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | SEX
sex and salt lake city
Qsaltlake.com | ISSUE 320 | FEBRUARY, 2021
February is for lovin’ BY DR. LAURIE BENNETT-COOK
This year
is markedly different than years past and many are certainly not feeling the anticipation of sexy love. I’ve heard many expressions lately of people feeling bored. Here we are closing in on February, and it’s hard to imagine doing anything other than surfing Netflix or Hulu or Prime, or any other number of online hosts to find the “next best thing to binge.” With nearly a full year of COVID among us, it feels a bit challenging to think of any holiday as sexy. So how does one enjoy some sexy fun despite living through a civil uprising in the middle of a global pandemic? Well, thankfully, some very arousing options are enjoyable right from the comfort of home.
A Most Unique Movie Night HUMP will be streaming for the entire month of February! If you like porn, this may be just the fun escape you need.
HUMP is a yearly film festival put on by Dan Savage. Since COVID, you no longer need to find it playing at a theater near you. For those of us who live in Utah, that’s fantastic because HUMP has never visited our city. HUMP features a host of short films (3–5 minutes each) made by everyday folx who want to show off their kinks and fantasies to others. Per its site: “It’s a carefully curated program with a cornucopia of body types, shapes, ages, colors, sexualities, genders, kinks, and fetishes. HUMP celebrates creative sexual expression.” Personally, I’ve attended HUMP screenings in LA for the past several years. But I gotta say, there’s something nice about having it stream from the comfort of my own home. If you’re seeking a good movie night — this might be just the thing. For tickets and more information about HUMP check out bit.ly/humpfest
Online Sexy Play Party: Feeling kinky and looking for an online sexy play community? Check out KINKY SALON. From their site: “Virtual Kinky Salons are wild and sexy adventures into the digital realm. Hosted by creative teams from multiple cities, these events push the boundaries of what’s possible in a virtual event. With costumes, interactive weirdness, silly ice-breakers, dancing, deep conversations, flirty fun, and saucy sexy times, all creatively packaged in silly themes, this multi-roomed extrav-
aganza will satisfy your yearning for fun, connection, and community in a way that only Kinky Salon can.” Personally, I’ve attended a few different Kinky Salon events over the years. I’ve found them to be incredibly entertaining, diverse, and sex-positive. With the pausing of in-person events, they have become quite masterful at putting together online, very sexy, events. If you’re interested in Kink, or even just a bit curious, I suggest checking them out. For information about party times go to bit.ly/kinkysalon
Something Still Sexy, But More Tame Bawdy Story Telling is a fantastic way to watch or hear people tell their personal stories of their sexual escapades. Pre-quarantine days Bawdy would travel the country and people from cities across would bravely come up to the stage and share stories of their most interesting, vulnerable, fun, sexy encounters. Now all online, performances are watched live or heard via their podcast. Storytellers are not merely educators, professional sex workers, and adult film stars, but everyday people who share good stories. If that’s not intriguing enough, you too could be a Bawdy Story Teller. On the site, there is a link to apply to tell your story and have it aired for the Bawdy Nation. Personally, I believe everyone has a story worth telling. For tickets and information about Bawdy go to: bawdystorytelling.com While these ideas may be a bit unconventional from years past, they are each worth checking out on their own merit. And of course, if none of these ideas interest you, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of solo lovin’. Q Dr. Laurie Bennett-Cook is a Clinical Sexologist and is currently seeing all therapy clients virtually. She can be reached at DrLaurieBennettCook@gmail.com
FEBRUARY, 2021 | ISSUE 320 | Qsaltlake.com
BARBER
marketplace HAIR SALON
MARKETPLACE | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 35
WEDDING SERVICE S
VO I C E L E S S O N S
TYING THE KNOT? hair
UTAH VOCAL STUDIO
Know who WANTS your business and will treat you with the DIGNITY and RESPECT you deserve
SINGING LESSONS Robert Moody
ROGER COX 801.609.4332 UtahVocalStudio.com
at Image Studios Draper 177 W 12300 S
801-688-3118
COUNSELORS
BEGINNERS TO ADVANCED
M A S S AG E
Aloha
BODYWORKS
Embracing the health & resilience of our community
Troy Hunter, LMT
801-308-2050
www.jonjepsen.com
801.455.2497 COUNSELORS
ADVANCED awareness COUNSELING Proudly gender affirming and supporting
S PA N I S H C L A S S E S
SPANISH
TUTORING ONE-ON-ONE OR TWO
Private classes, your place or mine. Learn at your own pace.
advancedawarenesscounseling.com 9140 S State St Ste 202
spanishnow.corsizio.com
GRAPHIC DESIGN
T R AV E L
408-375-3311
801·609·4332
Making customers happy since 1984!
GREEN
36 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | QMMUNITY
SPORTS
QUAC — Queer Utah Aquatic Club quacquac.org questions@ quacquac.org Salt Lake Goodtime Bowling League bit.ly/slgoodtime Stonewall Sports SLC fb.me/SLCStonewall stonewallsaltlakecity. leagueapps.com 385-243-1828 Utah Gay Football League UtahGayFootballLeague.com fb.me/UtahGayFootballLeague Venture Out Utah facebook.com/groups/ Venture.OUT.Utah SUPPORT
Alcoholics Anonymous 801-484-7871 utahaa.org LGBT meetings: Sun. 3p Acceptance Group, UPC,1380 S Main Tues. 8:15p Live & Let Live, Mt Tabor Lutheran, 175 S 700 E Wed. 7p Sober Today, 375 Harrison Blvd, Ogden Fri. 8p Stonewall Group, Mt Tabor Lutheran, 175 S 700 E
utahpridecenter. org/programs/youthfamily-programs/
Puzzle Solutions
9 4 6 5 3 8 2 1 7
8 7 3 9 6 1 4 5 2
4 5 9 3 7 2 8 6 1
1 6 2 8 4 5 7 3 9
7 1 5 4 2 9 3 8 6
2 3 8 7 1 6 9 4 5
6 8 4 1 9 7 5 2 3 8 7 4 9 1 6 2 4 5 3 7 8
7 3 2 9 1 6 8 5 4
4 8 5 2 3 7 6 9 1
9 6 1 4 8 5 3 7 2
3 9 4 7 8 5 2 1 6 3 5 8 7 4 9 8 6 3 5 1 2
7 5 2 6 3 1 8 4 9 7 6 2 1 3 5 4 7 2 8 6 9
1 8 6 2 9 4 3 5 7 1 4 9 2 6 8 1 5 9 4 7 3
4 2 1 5 9 8 6 3 7 8 7 5 9 2 6 4 3 1
8 9 3 6 1 7 2 5 4 4 6 3 1 7 8 5 9 2
5 7 6 3 2 4 1 9 8 9 2 1 5 4 3 6 7 8
6 8 7 9 4 5 3 2 1 5 4 9 8 1 2 7 6 3
3 1 2 7 8 6 9 4 5 6 1 8 3 5 7 9 2 4
9 5 4 2 3 1 7 8 6 2 3 7 4 6 9 1 8 5
umen.org
5 2 7 6 8 3 1 9 4 6 2 3 5 8 7 3 1 6 4 9 2
OUT U.S. OLYMPIC MEN’S SLOPESTYLE SILVER MEDALIST GUS KENWORTHY
3 9 1 2 5 4 6 7 8 5 9 1 4 2 3 7 9 8 5 1 6
RELIGIOUS
First Baptist Church firstbaptist-slc.org * office@firstbaptistslc.org 11a Sundays 777 S 1300 E 801-582-4921 Sacred Light of Christ slcchurch.org 823 S 600 E 801-595-0052 11a Sundays
utahpridecenter.org
Alternative Garden Club bit.ly/altgarden * altgardenclub@gmail.com blackBOARD Men’s Kink/Sex/BDSM education, 1st, 3rd Mons. blackbootsslc.org blackBOOTS Kink/BDSM Men’s leather/kink/ fetish/BDSM 4th Sats. blackbootsslc.org Gay Writes writing group, DiverseCity 6:30 pm 2nd, 4th Mondays, Community Writing Ctr, 210 E 400 S Men Who Move menwhomove.org OWLS of Utah (Older, Wiser, Lesbian. Sisters) bit.ly/owlsutah qVinum Wine Tasting qvinum.com Sage Utah, Seniors fb.me/sageutah sageutah@ utahpridecenter.org 801-557-9203 Temple Squares Square Dance Club templesquares.org 801-449-1293 Utah Bears utahbears.com fb.me/utahbears info@utahbears.com
1 3 5 9 8 2 7 6 4
POLITICAL
Equality Utah equalityutah.org * info@equalityutah.org 175 W 200 S, Ste 1004 801-355-3479 Utah Libertarian Party 6885 S State St #200 888-957-8824 Utah Log Cabin Republicans bit.ly/logcabinutah 801-657-9611 Utah Stonewall Democrats utahstonewalldemocrats.org fb.me/ utahstonewalldems
1to5club@
YOUTH/COLLEGE
Encircle LGBTQ Family and Youth Resource Ctr encircletogether.org fb.me/encircletogether 91 W 200 S, Provo, 331 S 600 E, SLC Families Like Ours (ages 2-10) utahpridecenter.org/ programs/youth-familyprograms/ Gay-Straight Alliance Network gsanetwork.org Salt Lake Community College LGBTQ+ 8 slcc.edu/lgbtq/ University of Utah LGBT Resource Center 8 lgbt.utah.edu 200 S Central Campus Dr Rm 409 801-587-7973 USGA at BYU usgabyu.com fb.me/UsgaAtByu Utah State Univ. Access & Diversity Ctr inclusion.usu.edu/ lgbtqa Utah Valley Univ Spectrum facebook.com/ groups/uvuspectrum Weber State University LGBT Resource Center weber.edu/ lgbtresourcecenter 801-626-7271 Youth Activity Night ages 10-14, 14-20 utahpridecenter.org/ programs/youth-familyprograms/
2 6 9 4 3 7 8 5 1
HEALTH & HIV
Peer Support for Mental Illness — PSMI Thurs 7pm, Utah Pride Ctr Planned Parenthood 654 S 900 E 800-230-PLAN Salt Lake County Health Dept HIV/STD Clinic 660 S 200 E, 4th Floor Walk-ins M–F 10a–4p Appts 385-468-4242 Utah AIDS Foundation utahaids.org * mail@utahaids.org 1408 S 1100 E 801-487-2323
Rainbow Law Free Clinic 2nd Thurs 6:30–7:30pm UofU Law School, 383 S University St
1 to 5 Club (bisexual) fb.me/1to5ClubUtah
Youth Survivors of Suicide Attempt utahpridecenter.org/ programs/youth-familyprograms/ youthsosa@ utahpridecenter.org
Crystal Meth Anon crystalmeth.org Sun. 1:30pm Clean, Sober & Proud LGBTQIA+Straight USARA, 180 E 2100 S LifeRing Secular Recovery 801-608-8146 liferingutah.org Sun. 10am Univ. Neuropsychiatric Institute, 501 Chipeta Way #1566 Thurs. 7pm, USARA, 180 E 2100 S, #100 Sat. 11am, First Baptist Church, 777 S 1300 E Men’s Support Group utahpridecenter. org/programs/lgbtqadults/ joshuabravo@ utahpridecenter.org Survivors of Suicide Attempt bit.ly/upc_sosa sosa@ utahpridecenter.org Trans Adult Support utahpridecenter.org/ programs/lgbtq-adults/ lanegardinier@ utahpridecenter.org TransAction utahpridecenter.org/ programs/transaction/ Sundays 2–3:30pm Women’s Support Group utahpridecenter.org/ programs/lgbtq-adults/ mariananibley@ utahpridecenter.org Youth Support Group ages 10-14, 14-20
8 7 4 5 6 1 9 2 3
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233 YWCA of Salt Lake ywca.org/saltlakecity 322 E 300 S 801-537-8600
LEGAL
SOCIAL
Weds 6pm Raw Bean Coffee, 611 W Temple Utah Male Naturists umen.org info@umen.org Utah Pride Center utahpridecenter.org info@utahpridecenter.org 1380 S Main St 801-539-8800 Venture OUT Utah bit.ly/GetOutsideUtah
3 9 2 6 5 4 1 8 7
LGBTQ-Affirmative Psycho-therapists Guild of Utah lgbtqtherapists.com * jim@lgbtqtherapists.com Utah Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce utahgaychamber.com * info@utahgaychamber.com LGBT & Allied Lawyers of Utah lgbtutahlawyers.com * lgbtutahlawyers@gmail.com Utah Independent Business Coalition utahindependentbusiness.org 801-879-4928
HOMELESS SVCS
VOA Homeless Youth Resource Ctr, ages 15–21 880 S 400 W 801-364-0744 Transition Homes: Young Men’s 801-433-1713 Young Women’s 801-359-5545
Wasatch Metropolitan Community Church wasatchmcc.org 801-889-8764 Sundays except the 2nd Sunday, 11:15a at Crone’s Hollow, 3834 S. Main
6 5 8 1 7 3 2 4 9
BUSINESS
Weber-Morgan Health Mon., Weds 1-4:30p 477 23rd St, Ogden Appt 801-399-7250
7 4 1 8 2 9 6 3 5
Qmmunity Groups
Qsaltlake.com | ISSUE 320 | FEBRUARY, 2021
BOOK REVIEW | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 37
FEBRUARY, 2021 | ISSUE 320 | Qsaltlake.com
the bookworm sez REVIEW BY TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER
Raising Them: Our Adventure in Gender Creative Parenting BY KYL MYERS C.2020, BRILLIANCE AUDIO, $34.99, 6 DISCS, 7:18 IN LENGTH
Pink or blue? When you’re pregnant, everybody asks that question. What kind of clothing or toys will you require: dolls or trucks, pink or blue? They’ll want to know about the gender reveal party, and what kind of names you’re considering. Do you want a boy or girl or, as in the new audiobook Raising Them by Kyl Myers, do you mind not knowing for a few years? Long before she ever became a mother, even before she met
and married her husband, Brent, Kyl Myers had thought about what she calls “gender creative parenting.” Myers identifies as queer and she was somewhat of an activist, so she was pretty well-versed on a subject that asks why we, as a society, place emphasis on the chromosomes of an infant when physical, often intimate, body parts have nothing to do with simply being a child. Once Myers was pregnant, this became more than just something to think about, and she and her husband decided to raise their child gender-free. They weren’t the first to do so: in years past, other parents around the world went public with successful gender creative parenting. Still, it took plenty of determined pre-planning: Myers would deny knowledge of the baby’s gender to anyone who didn’t absolutely, genuinely need to know. That meant restricting diaper-duty, and it meant four grandparents who
wouldn’t know their grandchild’s gender until the child was several months old. Once Zoomer Coyote entered the world, there would be no pink or blue bassinet cards in the hospital nursery. Myers had to learn to find non-gendered infant and toddler clothing for her child, gender-neutral-hued toys for them to play with, and items that didn’t scream “Boy!” or “Girl!”. Later, Zoomer’s daycare was “cool” with the neutrality, but strangers and even other parents were a challenge and were nonetheless challenged to open their minds. Raising Them will bring out a lot of emotions that will likely be dependent on which side of parenting you stand. It’s intriguing but exhausting, too chirpy, and too, too sunny. It’s also too precious by half, and the cute-Zoomer tales wear thin after a (very, very short) while. And yet, the idea of giving your child time to know themself is intriguing. Still,
the meantime, take some time to have a good time.
involved and show your stuff.
author Kyl Myers should be commended for not throwing in the towel with hurricane force. Indeed, her struggles were exactly what you might expect. Although… particularly if you’re expecting a baby, Myers may inspire you. Clearly, gender creative parenting involves work, vigilance, and forethought, and while it’s not for everyone, it’s a compelling enough idea to stick in your mind like glue. You’ll be convinced that it’s worth a try, even if only sometimes. And this: if you can’t rest without knowing, Myers drops hints to soothe your boy-or-girl curiosity, but that’s not the end of this story. No, this is a website-supported, mind-opening, ongoing tale for parents-to-be, or for anyone who wishes they’d been reared in a similar kind of household. That you? Read Raising Them, or you’ll be blue. Q
q scopes FEBRUARY BY SAM KELLEY-MILLS
ARIES March 20–April 19
Everything you are going through is amazing, as long as you don’t spend much focus on what is going wrong. Allow bad things to slide off and have faith that the universe will repair itself. In the end, it’s better to be happy than perfect.
TAURUS Apr 20–May 20
Congratulations are in order for the time being. There is much that you have accomplished, and even the small victories are worth celebrating. Be sure to include friends and family in the festivities but don’t get too full of yourself.
GEMINI May 21–June 20
Even if no one is coming to your rescue, there is a good solution to the problems you face. Never let anyone get in your way, and take the time to focus on what needs to be done. In
CANCER June 21–July 22
There could be a long waiting period to find the answer you seek. Don’t fret, for there is a lot of discovery that comes with waiting. Even if something doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t mean it won’t someday. Enjoy the mystery.
LIBRA Sept 23–October 22
The dread you’ve been feeling for a while now is starting to pass. It may not seem likely, but good things are coming. Take the time to prepare and learn how to be happy again. You may have been a good sport, but soon you won’t need to try.
SCORPIO Oct. 23–Nov. 21
LEO July 23–August 22
Give yourself a little break and take some time for yourself. You know what you like better than anybody else. When you think about the possibilities, ask yourself if you can teach others to provide the same thing. The answers may surprise you.
VIRGO August 23–Sep. 2
Nov. 22–December 20.
Whatever is being concealed by someone you desire, it isn’t worth losing yourself over. A lot is going on behind the scenes, but smoke and mirrors are simply a way of generating awe. The real truth comes from the quiet moment to come. Feeling good and looking gorgeous is always the best way to be! Everyone could be looking at you if you know where to show off and not look like an arrogant punk. Find a forum that really makes you proud to be
SAGITTARIUS
It A heavy burden seems to be lifting. Even if there is still work to do, what remains to be done may actually be fun. Gather your marbles and get ready to make some progress in your love life. Nothing is better than a fresh
start, even a late one
CAPRICORN Dec 21–Jan 19
Overthinking the big questions is nothing new to you. However, finding small truths is somewhat challenging these days. The best thing you can do is figure out how to use small answers to answer big dilemmas. It turns out that size.
AQUARIUS Jan. 20–Feb. 18
A new age seems to have dawned, even if it really hasn’t. It could be the world or simply your perception of it, but this could be a good time to apply new feelings to old associations. Get finances in order.
PISCES Feb 19–Mar 19
No matter what the cost may be, it’s not worth getting into trouble over a matter that compromises your principles. You never intend to harm others, but you could be blind to their needs and agenda. Find enjoyment in walking in others’ shoes.
38 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | FINAL WORD
Qsaltlake.com | ISSUE 320 | FEBRUARY, 2021
the perils of petunia pap smear
The tale of attempted murder most fowl BY PETUNIA PAP SMEAR
The road
to Sugar House Park is fraught with danger and excitement. Being stuck here at Chateau Pap Smear during a COVID-19 quarantine and social distancing is beginning to drive me a little bit crazier. To help pass the time in lockdown, I have been partaking in that ever so queenly of activities, binge-watching British costume dramas. I had finished binge-watching — Downton Abby, The Crown, and many others, all the while coveting the ball gowns, jewelry, and wigs of queens, duchesses, and all ladies in waiting. I was left wondering what’s next when the Netflix-suggestion list brought up Bridgerton. The Duke in Bridgerton was so hot he made me so moist that my breasticle lights were shorting out. I decided that since all the society queens in the movies had a herd of ladies-in-waiting to attend to their needs, I also would establish a harem of attendants to cater to my every whim and desire. Not wanting to surround a bunch of fashionista competitors, I opted for some eye-candy. Plus, I have discovered in these last few months that it would be handy to have a few young, healthy, strapping boys around to lift heavy things for me. Such as my make-up case, glitter, and extra batteries for my breasticles. Furthermore, one glance around Chateau Pap Smear’s floor cluttered with purses, lipsticks, breasticles, and all other items, I may have dropped, and can no longer retrieve would reveal my need for assistants. Thus, I invited some handsome young attendants, and loand-behold to my astonishment, a baker’s dozen showed up for the opportunity. I looked in the dictionary for the collective noun for a ‘group of boys’, and it said “riot.” After the events of the uprising at the U.s. capitol, I thought that “riot” might be an ill-advised choice. Next on the list was “blush” and “leer.” Viola! When others are gazing at them, I will refer to them as a “blush of boys” and when I’m staring at them, they will henceforth and forever be known as my
“leer of boys.” I was getting cabin fever, so I decided I needed to take my leer of boys on an outing to Sugar House Park to feed the ducks. It was a bright sunny day but being wintertime, I dressed for the occasion with my warmest insulated caftan with heated breasticles and a fur-lined girdle. However, twinks being twinks, many of them were wearing tight booty shorts and sleeveless muscle shirts and upon arriving at the park, tended to squeal and huddle like penguins. I went to IFA to purchase a bucket of corn seed, especially since I have come to learn that feeding bread to ducks is not good for them. When we arrived, there were many ducks and geese in the middle of the pond walking on ice. After the boys threw corn in the air, the ducks and geese noticed our activity and waddled in our direction. Eventually, they flocked around us and nibbled at the twinks’ toes, and the boys commenced giggles of delight. The ducks were subsequently joined by a flock of pigeons. I was content to remain in the center of the group and leer at the “buns” picturesquely displayed by the booty shorts. A good time was being had by all. Subsequently, some seagulls noticed our actions and swooped to get at the food. The gulls became more and more aggressive and dive-bombed the group. An out-of-control feeding frenzy soon developed. Immediately, the geese arrived on the scene and chased the twinks and biting their bums. Apparently, booty shorts do not provide much protection from goose bites. My leer of twinks shrieked in panic
and commenced to scattering in all directions, leaving me with the bucket full of corn at the center of the avian assault. I was left to my devices, so I threw corn with great gusto, in hopes that the birds would be distracted; but no, they were more interested in me and my bucket. Picture if you will, the scene of many birds attacking in the Hitchcock movie The Birds. Eventually, the corn ran out, the sky cleared, and I was left, a defeated, bedraggled, bird shit-covered queen. As the flock dissipated, the twinks returned one by one. One of the boys noticed a small bird
had been caught in my beehive hair. He proceeded to free the trapped creature. A couple of the boys tried in vain to scrape away some of the bird droppings. I threw a quilt over the car seat of Queertanic so as not to contaminate it with bird shit. This story leaves us with several important questions: 1. I know I shouldn’t have favorites, but should I give him the title of “best boy” like on a movie crew? 2. Was the bird in my hair trying to set up a nest? 3. How big of a bird population could my beehive wig support? 4. Should I attach helium balloons to my breasticles to suspend anti-bird nets? 5. Or should I install anti-aircraft guns in my breasticles? 6. Should I have captured the bird shit and used it to fertilize flowerbeds or convert it into make-up? These and other eternal questions will be answered in future chapters of The Perils of Petunia Pap Smear. Q
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