QSaltLake Magazine - Issue 335 - May 2022

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BEARVASION returns to Salt Lake Last year’s inaugural Bearvasion was a great start to what organizers hoped would be an annual event bringing bears and bear lovers together for four days of camaraderie and fun.

Prepare yourself for BEARVASION 2, May 19–22., in Salt Lake City.

Salt Laker Ricky Regur heads up the team that brings the event each year as sort of a “Bear Pride” week.

There are a ton of events planned for the four-day festival. The kick-off event on Thursday, May 19 is a Bear Pride 80s-themed party with standup comedy by Chris Grace and local comedian Amanda Earl. There will also be 80s trivia, a raffle, and of course dancing the night away. You are encouraged to wear your best 80s outfit. Try Pibs Exchange, Decades, and Iconoclad if your closet contains no 80s wear.

Grace is best known for playing Jerry in the NBC sitcom “Superstore.” He has been in nearly a dozen films and two dozen television shows. He is part of the Baby Wants Candy comedy ensemble.

On Friday morning, Bearvasion will invade the lanes of Bonwood Bowl for Bowling with the Bears.

Friday night is Cowboy Western night with a wiener roast and underwear auction. Yes, the winner gets the underwear right off the model. Hosted by Marky Mark and Tempest.

Saturday afternoon is a Beer Brewery Crawl, followed by Beers, Burgers, and Bears hosted by the Utah Bears.

That night is underwear/gear night.

On Sunday morning, there is Bear Bingo and Brunch.

Sunday night is 80s Drag Show, then a Leather and Gear night and “The Category is Fantasy Bare Chest” Contest. There will also be an AIDS candlelight vigil.

This is a 21+ event an tickets are on sale now. Q Tickets are available on the event website, bearvasion.com

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news The top national and world news since last issue you should know

BY CRAIG OGAN

‘Jeopardy!’ at the White House “Jeopardy!” champion Amy Schneider went to the White House to participate in Trans Day of Visibility ceremonies there. A video at the ceremony condemned the legislation affecting transgender people around the nation and promised further steps to protect their rights. The video said the current administration is, “committed to advancing transgender equality in the classroom, on the playing field, at work, in our military, in our housing and health care systems, everywhere.”

HIV snipped From DNA A promising HIV therapy using “gene-editing” was revealed by a biotechnology company. Recently released results of a groundbreaking and promising preclinical study that highlights what may be a step in curing HIV. The virus is deleted from an individual’s DNA where it has incorporated itself into the genome. “Lipid nanoparticle-delivered CRISPR-Cas9” technology has been used for some years in China and other countries experimenting with “gene therapy” for cancer, birth defects, and other medical maladies.

The technology was used to clone sheep in China.

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Gay dog re-homed The dog named Fezco, left at a North Carolina animal shelter because his owner thought the dog was gay, has gotten a new home. The previous owner observed the dog “humping” another dog and surrendered the dog to a shelter. Steven Nichols and John, his partner of over 30 years, learned of the dog’s abandonment and decided they had to adopt him. “We just thought it would make sense for the gay dog to be adopted by a loving gay family.”

One of the first things they did after adopting Fezco was to rename him Oscar, in honor of the poet Oscar Wilde.

LGBT books expelled from schools Since July 2021, 1,586 requests from a wide range of government and citizens’ groups have restricted the circulation of 1,145 books in libraries and school districts across 26 states.

Texas had the most school book actions (713), followed

by Pennsylvania (456), Florida (204), Oklahoma (43), Kansas (30), and Tennessee (16). The greatest number of restrictions, 467 books, had main characters or prominent secondary characters who were people of color. 247 books addressed race or racism directly. Thirty-three percent or 379 books, concerned LGBTQ issues.

U.S. military loses HIV dismissal suit A federal judge ruled on cases involving the U.S. military’s policy of discharging service

Say Gay in NYC New York City Mayor Eric Adams previewed a digital billboard campaign aimed at Florida residents who may be unhappy with a law recently enacted which regulates how gender, sex, and other “sensitive” topics are taught in Florida public schools. The billboards will be displayed in five major markets in Florida for eight weeks in April, May, and June. “This is the city of Stonewall.

This is the city where we are proud to talk about how you can live in a comfortable setting and not be harassed, not be abused — not only as adults but also as young people,” Adams said. members living with HIV. Two cases were combined and the ruling is good news for each plaintiff. The U. S. Air Force must rescind the discharge of service members released because of HIV status. The judge ruled that the USAF policies “are at odds with known medical science and treatment methods.” The U.S. military was the last entity of the U.S. Government allowed to discriminate against people living with HIV.

Ala. gender-affirming felonies Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed two bills regulating transgender people — one about “gender-affirming” health care and the other about bathroom use. The bathroom bill also regulates how matters of sexuality can be discussed in public elementary schools.

The governor didn’t take a stand on the bills as the legislature debated and voted.

Her signing statement said, “We should especially protect our children from these radical, life-altering drugs and surgeries when they are at such a vulnerable state in life.”

Bless her heart, she was later

quoted as saying she believed, “very strongly that if the Good Lord made you a boy, you are a boy, and if he made you a girl, you are a girl.” She didn’t mention the “Good Book’s” condemnation of divorce, of which she’s had two.

The un-caged bird sings After being released from jail, in what may be one more bad career move, Jussie Smollett released a new song on Instagram titled “Thank You God.” Recall the former “Empire” star claimed he was the victim of a racist and homophobic assault in January 2019. Smollett was convicted of filing a false report and sentenced to 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation. He was released after six days behind bars as the ruling was appealed. Some of the lyrics to the song deny he was guilty, singing, “It’s like they’re hell-bent on not solving the crime / Taking out the elements of race and trans and homophobia that’s straight taking lives / But turn around and act like I’m the one that killed the strides.”

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Tennessee marriageequality end-run peters out A Tennessee bill aimed at offering an alternative marriage process only for male-female couples didn’t get much traction and was sent to “study.” The bill’s goal was to create a marriage license with language disassociating the license holders from the state’s usual marriage licensing process. Sponsors said this was needed because the standard license is now available to same-sex couples. “This bill was to say have your license, but do not deny our understanding of marriage or force ministers to choose between signing a document they disagree with or performing a marriage that has no legal effect,” David Fowler, director of the conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee and a former state senator.

Opponents said the confusing bill ignored the constitutional guarantee of religious freedoms and, “No minister has to perform a marriage they don’t endorse, whether for a same-sex couple, an interfaith couple, or anyone else.”

Porn actor arrested for January 6 demonstration A gay and straight adult film entertainer whose nom de cinema is Sergeant Miles, real name Steven Miles, has been arrested for alleged Sergeant Miles, Lucas Films involvement in

the riotous demonstration that occurred on January 6, 2021, at the U.S Capitol. The Florida man has been charged with “assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, civil disorder, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, and related offenses,” according to the Department of Justice. Most damning is that he was photographed wearing a MAGA hat. Miles isn’t the only LGBT person to have been arrested for the January 6 incident. Transgender woman and former militia member Jessica Watkins faces charges of sedition, and gay media personality Brandon Straka was sentenced to house arrest, probation, and a fine.

Kansas confrontation, Oklahoma and Arizona OK The legislatures in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arizona recently passed bills “protecting” women’s sports teams from “invasion” by transgender women. All three states deemed that athletic teams “designated for ‘females,’ ‘women,’ or ‘girls’ shall not be open to students of the male sex.” The laws affect public schools and colleges as well as private schools that compete against public schools.

The designation on a birth certificate is considered the “sex” marker for team membership. In a sexist lapse, no mention of keeping members of “female sex” from the “men’s teams” is made in the legislation. The Democratic governor of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the bill while Republicans Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed the bills.

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Gay Mo. legislator confronts GOP lawmakers over transgender sports amendment The Missouri House of Representatives passed legislation on April 13 that would allow school districts to vote on whether to ban transgender student-athletes from youth sports.

Initially, the bill was drafted to audit Missouri’s voter rolls and adjust election laws. Republican State Rep. Chuck Basye proposed an amendment to “save women’s sports” from transgender athletes.

“This isn’t about hate; this is about fairness,” Basye said.

His amendment was approved 89–40 after nearly three hours of heated debate.

In a video seen more than 1.4 million times on TikTok, gay Missouri state Rep. Ian Mackey, D-St. Louis County, called out Basye. He compared the anti-trans bill to his own experience as a queer child growing up in small-town Missouri, even bringing up Basye’s own gay brother.

“Your brother wanted to tell you he was gay, didn’t he?” Mackey asked him.

Basye said he did, and his brother thought

their family would hold it against him and not let his children be around him.

“Why would he think that?” Mackey asked.

“I don’t know,” replied Basye. “It never would have happened. I’ll tell you that.”

Mackey responded, “I would have been afraid to tell you too, because of stuff like this — because this is what you’re focused on. This is the legislation you want to put forward.

This is what consumes your time.”

“I was afraid of people like you, growing up,” Mackey continued. “I grew up in a school district that would

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vote tomorrow to put this into place.”

He continued that he grew up with “nice people” like Basye, who said nice things and “then went to the ballot and voted for crap like this.”

“Thank God I made it out … and I think every day about the kids who are still

there who haven’t made out, who haven’t escaped from this kind of bigotry,” he said.

“Gentlemen, I’m not afraid of you anymore,” Mackey said. “Because you’re gonna lose. You may win this today, but you’re going to lose.” Q

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Utah Legislature overrides veto of anti-transgender bill The Utah House and Senate overrode Gov. Spencer Cox’s veto of House Bill 11 — a bill that bans transgender students from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity.

HB 11 was hastily pushed through the Senate and heavily amended on the last night of Utah’s legislative session, with members of leadership in both houses voting against or not voting.

In a letter explaining his veto, Gov. Cox cited high suicide rates among transgender youth and added that there are only four transgender students playing high school sports in Utah, and only one playing girls sports.

“Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships.

Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day,” Gov. Cox wrote in the letter. “Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live. And all the research shows that even a little acceptance and connection can reduce suicidality significantly. For that reason, as much as any other, I have taken this action in the hope that we can continue to work together and find a better way.”

Gov. Cox was the second Republican governor to veto an anti-trans sports ban, following Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, who vetoed a similar bill in his state.

Human Rights Campaign State Legislative Director and Senior Counsel Cathryn Oakley released the following statement: “The Utah legislature shows no shame.

Despite opposition from their own governor, Utah legislators continue to attack transgender children. Further, the state is opening itself up to legal challenges, as have followed similar laws in other states. The Utah legislature should focus on the real issues impacting Utahns, not needlessly attack a handful of vulnerable children who pose no threat and just want to play sports with their friends.

We sincerely thank Gov. Cox for seeing the humanity of transgender youth and

speaking out against this discriminatory legislation. The Human Rights Campaign condemns this action by the Utah legislature and will continue to use every tool at our disposal to fight for the rights all transgender youth and their families.”

In February 2021, Gov. Cox said he would not sign a bill then making its way through the Utah Legislature that would have banned transgender girls from participating in girls K-12 sports.

Cox reflected on the hardships facing transgender youth saying, “These kids are ... they’re just trying to stay alive.”At the same time, legislators in states across the country have continued an unprecedented assault on transgender youth. A record number of anti-transgender bills were filed in 2021, largely focused on denying transgender youth the ability to receive gender-affirming care and participate in school athletics programs. Even more anti-transgender legislation is on track to be filed in 2022. There are more than 320 anti-LGBTQ+ bills under consideration in state legislatures across the country.

Of those, at least 130 directly target transgender people and approximately half of those (70+ bills) would ban trans youth from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity.

Caught in the crosshairs of anti-LGBTQ+ elected officials’ divisive political strategy are kids who are simply trying to navigate their adolescence. Transgender youth, like all youth, gain benefits from participating in school athletics: leadership opportunities, better physical and mental health outcomes, self-discipline, self-confidence, teamwork, and, of course, fun — and they shouldn’t be prevented from participating in school athletics because of who they are.

Even when anti-transgender legislation does not become law, politicians are culpable for the harm they cause to LGBTQ+ people’s wellbeing simply by being subjected to continual legislative attacks on their dignity and humanity.

As we saw earlier this month, there are real consequences to the discrimination perpetrated upon LGBTQ+ people, and particuarly transgender youth.

The latest PRRI data show that support

for LGBTQ+ rights is on the rise in Utah and nationwide: 83% of Utahns support nondiscrimination protections, and 60% of Utahns oppose refusal of service on religious grounds. Approximately eight in ten Americans (79%) favor laws that would protect LGBTQ+ people against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, and housing. This reflects an 11% increase in the proportion of Americans who support nondiscrimination protections since 2015 (71%).

ANTI-TRANSGENDER ATTACKS AS A POLITICAL TALKING POINT Legislators in a record 34 states introduced 147 anti-transgender bills in 2021, focusing on discriminatory anti-equality measures to drive a wedge between their constituents and score short-term political points. In 2021, legislators in twelve states enacted anti-LGBTQ+ bills despite failing to provide examples of what exactly they were legislating against.

Merely introducing anti-transgender bills and peddling anti-transgender rhetoric has already had a damaging impact, leading to LGBTQ+ youth resources being surreptitiously removed from a government website, 11-year old kids literally having trouble sleeping, and a school district banning graphic novels with a transgender character after a parent’s complaint. 2021 and 2020 were the deadliest and second deadliest years on record for trans & gender non-conforming people respectively, with the Human Rights Campaign tracking at least 50 violent deaths in 2021 alone. A new Trevor Project survey shows that a startling 85% of transgender or gender non-binary youth say their mental health has been negatively affected by these legislative attacks.

Anti-transgender content on social media is also a radicalizing issue all by itself. This is in large part because transgender young people are among the most marginalized, voiceless, and defenseless communities in America, and because right-wing arguments play on long-standing misogynistic, racist, and sexist tropes about gender roles. Q

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Second annual rally for LGBTQ students at Capitol Alli Martin, co-founder of Friends, Allies and Mentors of the LGBTQ+ Community, or FAM says Utah laws governing student-led clubs can make it daunting for those in the community to organize.

Few schools in Utah have gay-straight alliances, or GSAs and even fewer have strong groups that last year after year.

Some schools around Northern Utah have gay-straight alliances or other clubs Alli Martin, co-founder of meant Friends, Allies and Mentors to serve of the LGBTQ+ Community lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning students. They are scattered, though, and because they are typically student-driven, a club may pop up in a school one year and then fade away as the student moves on and interest and motivation wanes.

Last year, FAM held a rally at Utah’s Capitol Building, and “by popular demand,” the group is doing it again May 18 at 5 p.m.

“Our main message is one of support for LGBTQ students, staff and families,” Martin told The Ogden-Standard Examiner. “We want them to know that despite a lot of public attacks on their identities, they are not alone — we stand with them and for them and believe they matter in this world and in their schools.”

This year, the group is also looking to honor an LGBTQ+ affirming Utah educator.

They are seeking nominations for an educator who “goes above and beyond to ensure their LGBTQ+ students thrive.”

Nominations are open through May 1 at 11:59 p.m. at bit.ly/fameducator The group also holds social hours for LGBTQ+ educators and allies at the Utah Pride Center. Q More information on FAM and the rally can be found at fb.me/fam.slc/

Ogden brewery releases ‘Love Punch’ to benefit Project Rainbow

“Well today is a good day!” wrote Christian Scheller, sales rep at UTOG Brewing Company in Ogden, Utah.

“A few months ago, I went to the owner [Carson Foss] and had a conversation about doing a pride beer to benefit an organization very dear to me — Project Rainbow and today it is a physical, drinkable thing,” Scheller said. “I’d like to introduce y’all to Love Punch! A super delicious, tropical hefeweizen designed to support Project Rainbow and Utah’s queer communities.”

Scheller and his husband Nathan Wiberg (pictured above) helped brew and package the first batch every

step of the way, Scheller said.

Love Punch is “a fruit punch hefeweizen that proudly supports @projectrainbowutah and our queer community,” a post in the UTOG Facebook page says. “This brew is close to our hearts and we are so happy to be able to share it with you while giving back to our communities by donating a portion of all Love Punch sales from our brewpub and beer store. Each can has a QR code where you can directly donate to Project Rainbow as well.”

Foss started UTOG in downtown Ogden in 2019. Q

More info on UTOF Brewing Company can be found at utogbrewing.com. Their restaurant, brewpub, and store is at 2331 Grant Avenue, Ogden, Utah.

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Davis County will have its first Pride Davis County is about to have its first Pride Event April 23 from noon to 4 p.m. at Layton Commons Park, 465 N Wasatch Dr., in Layton, Utah “Keep in mind it will be much smaller than Salt Lake’s Pride,” jokes organizer Genevra Prothero. “Davis County is very conservative but we are going to show this county that the LGBTQIA+ Community is here and deserves space, love, and the freedom to come out and celebrate.”

“This is for our Youth,” Prothero continued. “We had a banning of Pride Flags in our schools. I am deeply hurt by this and knew that our LGBTQIA+ youth would be hurt beyond my own comprehension.”

There will be a poetry contest, speakers, tables set up with resources, swag, and “lots of hugs for those that want them.”

A Clearfield High School student came up with the

theme, “Seize the Day.” “This amazing teenager will be able to read her slam poetry at the event,” Prothero said.

There will be some singers and other people prior to a march.

“We will not have cars or floats, as we couldn’t get the police to agree to block off streets, but we do have a very large public sidewalk we can use. We plan on marching at 12:45 p.m. sharp for a fun stroll around the block,” Prothero said. “I am 100% focused on our youth but of course we welcome everyone.”

There will be opportunities for vendors.

To participate email ­daviscountypride@gmail.com Davis Pride received a $2,000 grant from Project Rainbow and is seeking out other donations to pay for the event. Committee leaders and volunteers are still needed.

More info is on the group’s FaceBook @DavisCountyPride and Twitter @UTDavisPride.

Local/Regional Pride events The following dates have been announced for this year’s Pride celebrations: DAVIS COUNTY PRIDE, Layton Commons Park UTAH PRIDE, Washington Square, Salt Lake City, utahpridecenter.org June 11 REXBURG PRIDE, Porter Park, Rexburg Idaho June 25 Idaho Falls Pride, Idaho Falls Greenbelt, Idaho, idahofallspride.com June 25–26 DENVER PRIDE, denverpride.org July 23 NORTHERN NEVADA PRIDE in Reno, Nev. Aug. 8 OGDEN PRIDE, Ogden Amphitheater Sept. 9–11 BOISE PRIDE, Cecil D. Andrus Park, Boise Idaho Oct. 7–8 LAS VEGAS PRIDE, LasVegasPride.org

Apr. 23 June 4–5

We will update this story as other dates are officially announced.

PHOTO: OGDEN PRIDE VIA FACEBOOK

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Q mmunity Annual LGBTQ community survey is live The 16th annual LGBTQ community survey is now open through May 31.

The survey is the largest annual survey of its kind, yielding up to 45,000 participants from 150 countries around the world. Participants offer insights into the LGBTQ community that companies and brands then use to understand and include the LGBTQ community as a viable market segment. For over a decade, this survey has provided free data to help non-profits, universities, media, organizations, and businesses better understand and serve the LGBTQ community. The report will be published on the CMI website for free download.

Everyone who completes the survey by May 31, 2022 may enter into a drawing to win one of 20 $50 gift e-card prizes or donate your prize to an LGBTQ charity of your choice. To participate in the survey, click here. On the optional last question, please remember to choose QSaltLake Magazine.

The survey is at QSurvey.us

Utah -LGBTQ+ Chamber hosts Queer Feast In partnership with local LGBTQ and ally-owned and operated restaurants, breweries, and providers of spirits, the Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce is presenting the 2022 Queer Food FEASTival — a springtime celebration of community resilience and abundance. The focus of the Feast will not only be the food, but also the

nourishment we provide each other through gathering and breaking bead together — a taste of Queer Salt Lake! This Friday evening event will feature culinary creations, craft cocktails, and entertainment.

Admission is $35 in advance, $40 at the door includes all food and one complimentary specialty cocktail. Discounted admission available for Chamber members, seniors, students & people with disabilities. This is a 21+ event.

May 6, 6–9 p.m. at Mountain West Cider, 425 N. 400 West.

UAF to present forum on blood donor restrictions The Utah AIDS Foundation will host a Public Health Champions Virtual Forum to discuss the FDA’s current blood donor restrictions targeting gay and bisexual men.

The group believes the current FDA ban preventing sexually active gay and bisexual men from donating blood is discriminatory and seen by many in the medical community as unnecessarily obstructive to the nation’s crucial blood supply. The Red Cross recently declared that the recent surge in Covid-19 cases had fueled the “worst blood shortage in more than a decade.”

“Restrictions on gay and bisexual men donating blood stem from the height of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s,” organizers wrote in a statement.

“As LGBTQ+ advocates, Utah AIDS Foundation stands with more than two dozen members of Congress in calling on the Food and Drug Administration to further ease donor restrictions. The institutionalized stigma of HIV

Qsaltlake.com |

and of gay and bisexual men is unwarranted and harmful.”

Forum panelists include Troy Willams, executive director of Equality Utah; Utah State Senator Derek Kitchen; and Matt Bryan, Associate Medical Director of LGBTQ+ Health at Intermountain Healthcare and Utah AIDS Foundation Trustee. Shireen Ghorbani, Utah AIDS Foundation Trustee, will moderate the forum.

The Red Cross recently declared that the recent surge in Covid-19 cases had fueled the “worst blood shortage in more than a decade.” Please join us for this relevant and serious discussion.

The event will take place virtually on Thursday, May 19. The suggested ticket price is $25 per household. Register at utahaids.org/events

Queer Spirit summer retreat Inspirit, a community organization founded by Jerry Buie and Bruce Frazier, is hosting a Queer Men’s retreat to “explore the magic of being Queer in this rapidly changing world” this June in Spring City, Utah.

“Sage, young, trans, gay, bi or any variation to the relationship of Queer is invited to explore the power and birthright of this sacred calling,” organizers wrote in a statement. “Ancient tribes and communities of indigenous societies see being Queer as a unique sacred gift. Throughout various cultures and traditions, Queer folks have been the gatekeepers, medicine folk, and shamans; unique conduits of Spirit and healing to tribe and community.”

They promise this retreat to be a “unique exploration of these sacred gifts.”

“The Eagle Bone Whistle is a unique tool that is carefully

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crafted by hollowing the bone until it’s absolutely clear. This whistle is used to call upon the spirits to hear our cry. In some sacred ceremonies, you will hear this whistle used to call the spirits and often powerful manifestations of this are evident. Using the metaphor of the hollow bone, we seek to clear the internal self from the challenges of living in a domesticated world that has marginalized our identities and seeks to keep hidden the gifts of being Queer,” the statement continued.

“To find the blessing of being Queer we are inviting participants to clear the debris that keeps you connected from the sacred sense of self.

By using mindfulness, ritual, and ceremony we energetically clear the path for the magic to flow. By partaking in inner cleansing and healing we access interpersonal potential and sacred gifts. This retreat is an invitation to do the deeper process of the retrieval of our authentic and queer selves, liberating ourselves from old stories/beliefs and stepping into a deeper process of radical self-acceptance and celebration.”

The retreat will be held June 23–26 in Spring City, Utah. Early Bird Registration is $695 through May 20, or $800 per person after. The fee includes tuition, supplies, food, room, and board for double occupancy.

To register, email: info@ Inspiritcommunity.com More info at i­nspiritcommunity.com

Equality Utah announces annual Allies Gala The annual fundraiser for Equality Utah, the Allies Gala, will return to the Eccles Theatre on Aug. 27.

More information will be made available at a later date at Allies2022.org. Q

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QUAC competes in Palm Springs Queer Utah Aquatic Club had five swimmers and five water polo players arrive in sunny Palm Springs to race and play polo in the 2022 International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics competition.

Over the four days, the team collectively raced in 20 swim events and played in five water polo games.

To create a full water polo team, QUAC partnered and played with Kyle Spicer, QUAC President the London Orcas, creating Team “Viva la QuOrca.”

They played in the bronze medal game, but ultimately lost a tight 8–5 game to powerhouse Toronto Triggerfish.

“It was an amazing weekend of swimming and polo, making queer and ally friends, and poolside sunshine,” QUAC President Kyle Spicer said. “I loved watching both our seasoned and newer members dive right in and push their athletic abilities.

We really came together as a team and cheered each

other on all weekend.”

This was Spicer’s first IGLA and he is looking forward to IGLA ’23 in London.

IGLA is the world’s foremost international organization solely devoted to developing and promoting gay and lesbian swimming, water polo, diving, and synchronized swimming.

IGLA’s mission is to promote participation in aquatic sports among lesbians and gay men and friends of our community and to ensure maintenance of the highest standards for aquatic competitions and international standards for all Gay Games and IGLA Championships.

QUAC offers swimmers and water polo players of all abilities a supportive and safe environment to improve their skills, get some exercise, meet people with similar interests, and if interested, the opportunity to compete.

Join them at practice and get involved with what they call “one of the largest and friendliest LGBTQ+ athletic groups in Utah.” Q More information on QUAC can be found at quacquac.org

QMMUNITY | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 17

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20 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | UTAH PRIDE PREVIEW

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SNEAK PREVIEW OF

UTAH PRIDE 2022

Utah

Pride Festival organizers had started to roll out the plans for the largest LGBTQ event of the state, as it returns this June with plans for 60,000+ attendees.

Pride Week will begin Sunday, May 29 and culminate with the two-day festival on Saturday June 4 and Sunday June 5 on Washington Square — the block of the Salt Lake City and County Building.

Organizers say they expanded the Festival area by 20 percent to accommodate more crowd and more vendors.

“Our co-CEOs, along with the board, have agreed it’s time to return to normal and put on the biggest Pride Festival and Parade Utah has ever seen,” leaders said in a statement. “We will, of course, be keeping an eye on COVID case numbers and taking recommendations from the Utah Department of Health as we move forward. But as of now, the plan is to host the event as we’ve done pre-pandemic with a few changes and additions this year.”

This includes more space with food trucks on 500 South and a Volunteer

Village on Library Square. They promise more drink stations, more entrance gates and more exhibitor booths.

Per capita, the Utah Pride Festival is the largest PRIDE celebration in the Western United States.

Pride Theme The PRIDE Week Steering Committee voted unanimously for this year’s theme among nearly 100 submissions from the community: I AM UTAH PRIDE. John Johnson, who has organized the logistics of 11 Utah Pride festivals was named Operations Director. He feels this theme will allow everyone to determine what PRIDE Week means to them.

“PRIDE means something different for all of us, and that’s the beauty of PRIDE. We want everyone to celebrate PRIDE Week with us and to be able to show their own PRIDE in a way that is authentic to their experience” Johnson said. “Our community is very diverse and we want to allow space for a variety of identities, orientations, faiths, races, ethnicities, and cultures. PRIDE Week is a time to appre-

ciate our differences, and for each of us to celebrate own space in this community.”

Organizers encourage people to share their own stories of pride and use the hashtag #iamutahpride on social media posts so they can be collected a large number that express pride in as many different ways as possible.

Tickets Tickets will go on sale May 1, with early bird discounts through May 31.

A one-day pass will be $10 for youth and $15 for adults. Multi-day passes will range from $25 to $250, and group bonus packs will be $40 to $300.

Pride Week Schedule SUNDAY, MAY 29 — Drag Queen Brunch, Retro Sun-Day Dance Party.

MONDAY, MAY 30 — 5K Family Run Run (free), Memorial Day Pride Picnic (free) TUESDAY, MAY 31 — LGBTQ+ Film Premier (free) WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 — Pride Month Flag Raising at City Hall (free), Pride

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Story Garden Exhibit Opening (free).

THURSDAY, JUNE 2 — Pride Interfaith Service (free).

FRIDAY, JUNE 3 — Youth Pride, Pride March (free), Rainbow Glow March (free), Rainbow Glow March Rooftop After Party.

SATURDAY, JUNE 4 — Utah Pride Festival Day 1 from 1–11 p.m.

SUNDAY, JUNE 5 — Utah Pride Parade (free), Utah Pride Festival Day 2 from 11 a.m.–7 p.m.

at 10 a.m. and applications to be part of the parade are live at utahpridecenter.org.

Fees to participate are dependent on a group’s annual budget and are categorized as follows: social groups, schools, governments and politicians, nonprofits (small, medium, large), and other organizations (small medium, large.)

Stages

Pride March

There will be four stages on the Festival grounds, and organizers are searching for 40 local, regional, and national entertainers.

The annual Pride March will happen Friday night, June 3, and leaders are calling it a “sunset version” followed by a Rainbow Glow March.

The Festival has made the area for food much larger this year, for a total of 30 vendors,

Pride Parade This year’s parade route will be the longest it has ever been — 13 blocks. It will head east along Second South from Second West to Fourth East, then turn south to Seventh South and back west towards the Festival grounds, ending at Second East.

The parade will kick off

UTAH PRIDE PREVIEW | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 21

Food Vendors

an increase of nearly fifty percent from the last in-person Pride. They are taking applications for vendors now.

Volunteers A festival of this size takes a lot of volunteers. Those interested can go to bit.ly/pridevolunteer22 to sign up. Q More information on the Utah Pride Festival can be found at utahpridecenter.org

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MAX’S COMING OUT

Shaed

will be the Saturday night headliner band at this year’s Utah Pride Festival. They open for Coldplay earlier in the week at FedEx Field in Washington DC and hop on a plane for Salt Lake City.

The indie-pop trio, whose name is pronounced “shade,” is lead vocalist Chelsea Lee with her husband Spencer Ernst and his twin brother Max. The twins are multi-instrumentalists and vocalists.

Their song, Trampoline, hit number one in the U.S. Alt-Pop Billboard chart and reached 3x platinum and platinum awards in 2018. The official music video has over 68 million views on YouTube.

They recorded a music video for “2 in PHOTO BY JARED ZAGHA

a Million” with Steve Aoki and Sting in 2019 which has a million views.

The twin brothers grew up in Maryland and formed a rock band called Upslide while in middle school. They performed locally in the Washington, D.C., area for several years and attracted the attention of a New York-based management company, and secured a publishing deal with Cherry Lane Music. The brothers went on to form a pop duo called Trust Fall while in high school, which toured the country.

The brothers met Chelsea Lee in 2007 while they were performing at a club in Washington DC. Two years later, Lee signed as a solo artist with Atlantic Records.

Also in 2009, Max, at 19 years old, told his brother and Lee that he is gay.

At that time, Shaed didn’t yet exist.

He and his brother grew up with “really liberal” parents, but something about being raised in a “conservative” Catholic community meant that, for a long time, Max felt a mental block about opening up to the world about his sexuality.

“It was a very different time then,” Max told PinkNews. “I felt very pressured to kind of stay in the closet because of my career. It was really, really tough to come out.”

Max realized, though, that he could never be truly authentic in his songwriting until he came out.

“We were on a long drive after going to see a concert, and I’ll never forget that moment when I told him. It was so powerful for me and for Spencer too. I hid it pretty well, so he had no idea. He was actually pretty shocked.

I couldn’t even verbalize the words and I kind of had to make him guess what it was. His first guess was, ‘Max, did you kill someone? Did you murder someone?’ He’s like, ‘I’ve got your back. If you did, we’ll figure it out.’

“His second guess was if I was in love with Chelsea Lee (Shaed’s lead singer and now Spencer’s wife), and I was like, ‘No, I’m not in love with Chelsea.’ And then finally he was like, ‘Dude, are you gay?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah,’ and then it was just this incredible feeling for both of us just having that out in the air. It just kind of connected all the dots of why I had been going into my shell. He could sense that something had been eating away at me for a while there.”

Telling Chelsea was also “super powerful,” Max said. “She could just tell it was a tremendous weight that had been lifted when I told her. And a couple of weeks later, [Spencer and Chelsea] started dating, so it was kind of this pivotal moment in our relationship. It just really changed the dynamic between us three and it just brought out a whole other level of honesty and closeness between us.”

The group started Shaed shortly after and released a project around their song Colorful” is a powerful anthem about the joy of being queer. Q A full bio of the group will be in the Pride Guide in the next issue of QSaltLake.

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Utah Pride 2022 Headliner Sunday

DEV Singer,

songwriter, rapper, model, and radio host Dev returns for a second Utah Pride as headliner on Sunday.

Dev is known as a dancefloor mainstay, with her first hit, the minimalist, bass-heavy, club-thumper “Booty Bounce” in 2010. She then told the world, “I ain’t yo average bitch,” though many dismissed her as a ­pseudo-edgy, white girl rapper.

“Booty Bounce” racked up 19 million views on YouTube, many of them from the gay men’s community. Dev says she owes her early success to the LGBT scene in the San Francisco Bay Area. “It’s been pretty much amazing having that support since day one.

They still do (support me) and I appreciate it. Coming up in San Francisco and in the Bay, that whole community took to me before anybody, so I put a lot of my

heart into that community.”

Since 2018, Dev began releasing standalone singles with “Rock On It”, “Down For Me”, “Girls Don’t Lie,” and “Clean Break.” She collaborated on the song “Make Out” by Da Candy and Ferry released in September 2018.

Beginning in July 2020, Dev started releasing a single every three weeks starting with “Mango” on July 17, “Follow My Lead” on August, and “Bom Dia” on September 1.

Dev recently started kicking things up again as her daughter has gotten a bit older. She started her social media on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. She also is releasing TikTok video, with her new hit “The Dark” trending and becoming a template.

She is touring the indie rock circuit and promises new songs in 2022. Q

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quotes “If God made you a male, that’s not a mistake.

If God made you a female, that’s not a mistake.

Saying any different is insulting a perfect creator.

Read your word.”

— Kristen Hodges @KHodgess

“God made you a brunette, yet you are now a blonde. God gave you bad vision, yet you fixed it with glasses. God gave you crooked teeth, yet you straightened them with braces. Trans people change the outside to match the inside just like you do.

Sit down. Jesus said to.”

— Dana Goldberg @DGComedy

“I am sitting here next to my gay husband living my gay life reading a gay novel as research for my new gay book...and yet I am not and will never be as gay as whatever is haunting Tucker Carlson’s fantasies.”

—Writer Mark Harris on a trailer for Tucker Carlson’s “End of Men” special

“To transgender Americans of all ages, I want you to know that you are so brave. You belong. I have your back.”

—President Joe Biden

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guest editorial

Why the LDS Church should be more accepting of LGBTQ and transgender people.

BY JEFFREY NIELSEN

They come

to my office at the university, tears in their eyes, and tell me they can no longer stay in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They may be gay or transgender students or have friends and family in the LGBTQ+ community.

They tell me they can no longer, with honesty, be part of a church where the message seems to be God rejects them or their loved ones because of their very identity, that they are not worthy to be full participants in their religious faith because of who they are.

Then there are the fathers and mothers — parents who trust their religious leaders and also love their children. They are forced to choose between unconditional love for their gay or transgender child or unconditional obedience to the brethren. At least God provided Abraham with a ram.

It’s time to end the sacrifice of these innocent and vulnerable young people.

We need to stop fighting the culture wars.

Our young sons and daughters should not be pawns in political grandstanding or victims of a religious purity test.

In the church, it seems so unnecessary.

I cannot speculate on the nature of sex and gender either before or after this life. It is pretty clear, however, that in this life, sex and gender are less binary and more fluid than many might think.

Even if gender is a part of our eternal identity, the biology of this world is much more complicated. We must respect people as they are now, not as they might be in some future existence. And there are good people who experience their life in this world as transgender individuals and their sexuality as gay.

There seems to be little theological and no moral reasons to say what has sometimes been said from the pulpit of LDS General Conference. It appears that it might be prejudice that holds samesex couples to a different standard than straight couples and denies them the same opportunities to serve and work in

the church. A faithful gay couple should be respected and treated the same as a faithful straight couple. They shouldn’t be barred from full fellowship in the church based solely on being authentic to their gender or sexual orientation.

Being gay isn’t a choice but a part of one’s essential personhood in this world.

Same-sex marriage isn’t an attempt to destroy the family, but to be a family in this world. Being transgender is not to confuse gender, but to come to terms with one’s gender in this world. It is frustrating how often these facts must be restated. I realize that people can be uncomfortable with the truth, but they shouldn’t use their discomfort to condemn or discriminate against our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters.

Now, someone might say, you need to sustain the brethren, and I agree. I see them as persons of good will. But to sustain them does not mean to remain silent when we believe the brethren are mistaken. We have a moral responsibility to speak out when we believe our leaders adopt harmful policies. Wouldn’t it have been better if more church members had spoken out against the mistaken policy of denying Blacks the priesthood?

When our leaders speak, that’s the invitation for our thinking to begin.

Today, too many smart, talented, and good young men and women are walking away from their faith. The church is losing some of the best and brightest, not to sin or Satanic influence, but to their moral conscience. It would be unfortunate if, in the future, the church finds its bank accounts full but its meeting houses empty. I do not claim to speak for God, but I cannot help but believe God sees our transgender and gay brothers and sisters as beautiful and good just as they are. We should as well. Q Jeffrey Nielsen teaches applied ethics and coaches the university’s ethics bowl team. He has published in the ethics of leadership and disruptive models of caring for communities. His recent work is in the phenomenology of being human, focusing on cultivating a graceful presence in life using Stoic and Buddhist philosophers.

VIEWS | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 27

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from the publisher

The day the U.S. Supreme Court gave me a birthday present

BY MICHAEL AARON

My birthday isn’t until June, but I ran across this post today as I put out this issue and I know I’ll forget to put it in the June issue.

This was my post-reaction (meaning after I’d spent the day writing news stories and fielding press calls) as we found out the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage.

On the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. On my birthday. On June 27.

While it has been seven years, the emotions as I read this feel as fresh as the day it happened.

Reality

has hit me. OH MY HELL, in my lifetime the highest court of the land has said that same-sex couples have a ­CONSTITUTIONAL right to marry.

But it’s more than that.

It’s the fact that a majority of Americans, including a majority of Utahns, believe that same-sex couples SHOULD have that right. It’s

that a majority of Americans and a majority of UTAHNS believe that LGBT people should have protections in the workplace and in housing.

It’s that many of my friends of all ilks, including my brother and sister-in-law, have placed rainbow FB profile photos. It’s the fact that my mother placed a message on her wall celebrating the SCOTUS decision.

It’s the fact that the White House, Niagara Falls, Empire State Building and Cinderella’s Castle at Disney Land were awash in rainbow-colored lights last night. It’s the fact that the Salt Lake City Mayor was at a celebration last night. It’s that there are LGBT people as some of the most prominent characters in some of the most popular shows.

“Never in my lifetime,” I said. I was ready for the long haul and I, and we — my many friends and cohorts — kept going.

I remember a time when we had to argue with gay bar patrons that “rocking the boat” was, indeed, necessary.

I remember a time when we had to climb on tables and shut down a Utah Democratic convention to get our issues into the platform. I remember a time when we were told we were too loud and one-issue minded, while at the same time we were working on (and leading) police vs. racial minority issues and gender equality issues and disability/ accessibility issues and campaigns for Latino and Black candidates. I remember a time when a campus newspaper wouldn’t print a lesbian valentine and the editors came to school in plaid golf pants when we jokingly asked for people to wear jeans to support gay and lesbian rights. When we went to a gayowned but straight dance club and at midnight paired off in same-sex couples because of a rule against it. When we went to a Bountiful restaurant and filled the tables after they had thrown away the dishes and silverware of a gay couple who had gone there, wondering if they would toss every dish they had.

In all this, though, I remember that

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there were always allies from outside our community.

Their numbers grew over the decades, and helped us — in a huge way — get to this day.

Starting, for me, with Lorille Miller to Pete Suazo to Frank Pignanelli, to name a few.

I attribute this to me, my friends and fellow activists, my ever-growing list of ally friends, my family, to Will and Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Orange is the New Black. To the editorial boards of The Salt Lake Tribune, Ogden Standard-Examiner and Daily Utah Herald.

To the political cartoonists and columnists. To the same-sex couples and leaders across this country who dared sue for this right. To the guy at the bar in a small town who shut down an anti-gay conversation. To the

gay choirs and arts groups who showed a difference in this world. And to you, for taking the time to read this.

This is, indeed, a happy birthday. It is also a day to look back with pride on what has been accomplished. And to dust off and continue the work that still needs to be done.

I say this in the name of Ruth Bader-Ginsburg and Harvey Milk and David Sharpton and José Sarria and Coretta Scott King and Rosa Parks and Gilbert Baker and Cleve Jones and Troy Perry and Richard Alvin Ragnar McCall and Martin Hiraga and Allen Thornell and in the name of every mother, father, family and friend who supported them. Q

VIEWS | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 29

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Fighting like Stonewall — LGTBQ+ teen homelessness BYCHRISTOPHER KATIS

Maybe it’s

my experience growing up with so many immigrants in my life, but I’ve always been a big believer in the idea that each generation has a duty to help make life easier for the next one. The idea was amplified when I became a father. I honestly believe it’s how the LGBTQ+ community has advanced our rights so dramatically in the 50 or so years since the Stonewall Riots — an event we’ll be commemorating in a few weeks with parades and festivals.

Whereas I think those brave queens would be very happy with how far we’ve come, I also think they’d be very disappointed in us. We’re not always protecting nor helping queer youth.

According to a research brief by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, LGBTQ+ youth have a disproportionately higher rate of homelessness. HRC estimates that up to 40 percent of the unaccompanied homeless youth population is LGBTQ+. In fact, they’re more than twice as likely to experience homelessness as

their straight peers. Even more appalling, Black LGBTQ+ youth report the highest rates of homelessness — twice that of both gay white kids and straight Black kids, and an astonishing four times greater than straight white kids.

LGBTQ+ kids experiencing homelessness also face some horrific adversity compared to straight kids forced to live on the streets. Nearly two-thirds say they’ve been exposed to discrimination or stigma within their own families compared to just over one-third of straight kids. Queer homeless youth are more than twice as likely than their straight peers to have been forced to have sex (38 percent compared to 15 percent) and exchanged sex for basic needs three times as often as straight kids (27 percent versus 9 percent). More than 60 percent of these young people have been physically harmed by someone else, and perhaps most horrifying, a full 25 percent have admitted to harming themselves.

There are myriad reasons why young LGBTQ+ youth end up on the streets

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— leading the way is family rejection because of the kid’s sexual orientation or gender identity. I cannot fathom how deeply one’s hate must run to throw your own child out of your home because of whom they love. Other kids flee from physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.

Still, some age out of the foster care system (a problem for gay and straight kids alike) and have nowhere else to go.

And then there’s financial and emotional neglect they face growing up.

Youth.gov, a U.S. government website dedicated to helping create, maintain, and strengthen youth programs, suggests that homeless shelters may not be the best choice for queer youth. While staying in a shelter, these kids may face harassment, abuse, and stigmatization from other homeless people and staff alike. They may even be asked to leave the shelter because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Think about that. First, these kids were thrown out of their homes by their “loving” parents, and then they were thrown out of a “safety net” shelter by people supposedly working to help others.

The Chapin Hill brief argues that there are steps that can be taken to help alleviate the problem. They’re all geared toward institutional solutions — training providers, gathering better data, and locating services and housing options more equitably.

But I can’t help but think those lovely ladies from the Stonewall Inn wouldn’t sit back and wait for institutions to act on their own accord.

We need to demand more. We need to start fighting for a better life for these kids. It’s time we start fighting like it’s Stonewall all over again. Q You can learn more about LGBTQ+ youth homelessness and read the Chapin Hill brief at voicesofyouthcount.org

MAY, 2022 |

Issue 335 |

Qsaltlake.com

creep of the month

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

BY D’ANNE WITKOWSKI

I get a

lot of texts from Donald Trump these days.

OK, not from him, but from his campaign. I got one today that asked me to take a survey. Sure! I love surveys.

The first question was about Disney and whether or not they were too “woke” now because they aren’t openly hostile toward LGBTQ+ people. Because being openly hostile to LGBTQ+ people is very much in fashion for Republicans right now.

The reason right-wingers are so mad at Disney right now is because Disney dared to challenge, however tepidly and belatedly, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed into law.

“Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law,” reads a statement Disney posted on Twitter. “Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that.”

How brave of them.

The statement continues, ““We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.”

It’s good that Disney is publicly against HB 1557 now. It sucks that they didn’t fight it while it made its way through the legislature and onto the governor’s desk. And it really sucks that Disney had no problem giving big campaign contributions to the very Republicans who created this bill in the first place. Even as the GOP veered so far to the right they’ve alienated thinking people and have become the home of anti-democracy white supremacist Q Anon conspiracy theorist loons. And evangelical Christians. A lot of overlap there, though.

And now DeSantis is pissed.

“Disney has alienated a lot of people now,” DeSantis said at a recent press conference. “And so the political influence they’re used to wielding, I think has dissipated. And so the question is, why would you want to have special privileges in the law at all?”

Believe it or not, the “special privileges in the law” DeSantis is talking about aren’t about LGBTQ+ people, even though that’s how any laws to protect LGBTQ+ people anywhere have always been framed by people opposed to us.

No, these special privileges are about Disney as a company and how it operates in Florida.

The state has given the company a lot of perks and freedom to, like, practically rule itself. Which, I’ll admit, seems kind of weird and maybe should be looked at?

Like, the power we give to corporations and stuff in the U.S. is wild, especially when we say, “Gosh, we just don’t have the money to [insert anything that could actually help people who need help and make life easier for the average American]” while we let some of the biggest companies pay no taxes at all.

But to retaliate against the company by saying, “Nice situation you got here, Disney. Would be a shame if something happened to it,” because Disney doesn’t support a shameful and hateful law that the majority of the country doesn’t support. That’s pretty sick.

But DeSantis is a man of principle. And that principle is to be a hateful ignoramus.

VIEWS | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 31

“There’s policy disputes and that’s fine, but when you’re trying to impose a woke ideology on our state, we view that as a significant threat,” DeSantis told reporters. “This wokeness will destroy this country if we let it run unabated. So in Florida we take a very big stand against that.”

Oh, FFS. The man just signed a bill that attempts to erase the existence of LGBTQ+ people in his state, a state that

only six years ago was the site of the mass shooting of 49 people in a gay night club, and yet Disney is the one imposing an ideology by daring to object?

Among the things Republicans are threatening? Not extending Disney’s copyrights, meaning Mickey Mouse could become public domain. Meaning you could finally open that Mickey Mouse Etsy shop you’ve been dreaming of without getting a cease and desist letter.

Now Disney is “pausing all political donations in Florida as it reviews its approach to advocacy,” according to CNBC. All political donations. Meaning they’re not interested in helping Democrats assume power in Florida.

But who knows? Maybe Disney will finally see these radicalized Republicans for the villains they are. Q D’Anne Witkowski is a writer living with her wife and son.

She has been writing about LGBTQ+ politics for nearly two decades. Follow her on Twitter @MamaDWitkowski.

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MAY, 2022

What LGBTQ+ people need to know right now about the Russian invasion of Ukraine

BY ELLEN SHANNA KNOPPOW

Right

now in Ukraine, transgender people are forced to go without their prescribed hormones.

“Pharmacies are out of stock of pretty much everything,” said Lenny Emson, executive director of KyivPride, a non-governmental organization in Ukraine’s capital city.

Emson is bigender and uses she/he and him/his pronouns.

As I spoke with Emson via Zoom, for security reasons, Emson did not disclose his location.

“I’m in a safe place,” s_he said.

What do LGBTQ+ people in Ukraine fear most about the Russian invasion? First of all, we are in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, so we feel about [the] Russian invasion that it never should happen, and we will fight to the last drop of our blood. We will not ever live under Russian laws.

We will never obey Russia. We will never be occupied and live as Russians do, without human rights, without any rights, and standing on [our] knees, literally.

Conditions for LGBTQ+ people in Russia are much harsher than in Ukraine. Do you see that as a coming threat right now? I think it’s not right for us. It’s a big threat that they will really introduce some repressions towards LGBTQI people and human rights activists. That is our fear.

For now, as LGBTQI activists, we’re not thinking of “What are we going to do when Russia is going to occupy us?” Our line of thinking is different: What can we do to prevent this from happening? So our work is kind of divided into two directions.

One is to evacuate the most vulnerable population. We evacuate trans people, we have evacuated people with children from [the] LGBTQI commu-

nity. And those who can fight, those who can be in territorial defense or in the Army, they join…and they fight. I know, personally, trans people who are joining the military to fight against Russia, and queer people now who are joining territorial defense units to help. I just want the world to understand that LGBT people in Ukraine [are] joining the fight. We’re not running from Russia.

How can we help? There is a post on the KyivPride Facebook page with a list of organizations providing direct aid. I would be very grateful if you could spread it and you can spread the word.

These organizations right now, are concentrating their efforts in different parts of Ukraine. So KyivPride, we work nationally. We help all people all over Ukraine. We help people with money for food and relocation, and we have transportation means organized by different organizations. [See links to additional organizations below.]

What are the conditions like for LGBTQ+ people in Ukraine right now? For example, I understand transgender people are finding that hormones are impossible to come by. Pharmacies are out of stock of pretty much everything. We are working with our partners from abroad, and we are trying to get some medications from there and get them to Kyiv and to other cities where people need them. It’s kind of at the very beginning; this happened within a week.

What would you like LGBTQ+ people outside Ukraine to know about the LGBTQ+ community there? We would like you to know that we have like 30 years of fighting for LGBTQ rights behind our backs. We’re fighting for these rights and freedoms for [the] LGBTQI community, and we’re not

going to just let it go. Last year, in 2021, KyivPride gathered 7,000 people on the streets of Kyiv. We were marching together for LGBTQI rights, for human rights. So unlike Russia, we are really big and we really value our freedom. We are very different from Russia, and we are not going to obey Russian laws and Russian oppression towards human rights, [like] we see right now happening in Russia for the last many, many years.

Many of us here feel helpless.

What can individuals do? How can our government help? How can government help and how can individuals help, this is very much connected, because we would like individuals to go to the government and to ask people that have the power to use this power for good.

We need our sky closed.

“Close the sky,” is a narrative that has been around from the very beginning of the war. So “close the sky ” is literally to ban all [Russian forces] from flying above the Ukrainian territory.

That means that Russia would stop bombing. And this is what we need right now … because we need to live. In order to fight for human rights, we need to be alive. This is number one.

That’s why “close the sky” is a very broad LGBT demand to the American government. We need to be alive in order to be LGBT and be a community.

As well, we’re asking all individuals not only just to donate to us … but be on our side. When you go on social

media, and when you see posts in support of Russian propaganda, for example, posts denying that there is a war in Ukraine, posts denying that people are dying, posts supporting Putin or supporting Russia, please report.

Please complain. There must be no place for Russian propaganda on social media; there must be no place for Russian lies on the Internet. Please. You can do this. This could be your big input in the fight against Russia.

Any final thoughts? It’s hard to say anything because nobody has expected this. I know all the warnings from [the] American government … all these reports from the intelligence services … but who could believe this could happen in the 21st century — a ground war, really? Who could believe that this man would go and bomb Ukrainian cities? Who could believe? This is not real. When you look at all this footage from bombed cities, your brain does not want to recognize it as a reality, your brain tries to switch it off. It’s such a big stress to realize that this is happening in real-time, so that’s why… no words here. What can we say? Q KyivPride is a Ukrainian non-governmental organization that aims at contributing to full respect for human rights for LGBT+ people in Ukraine, at encouraging an appreciation for these rights by raising LGBT+ visibility and participation in social processes. In addition to its activities throughout the year, KyivPride organizes an annual event called the KyivPride-week.

KyivPride accepts donations via 24 Pay, Google Pay and credit card at kyivpride.org.

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Qsaltlake.com

positive thoughts Standing with HIVaffected Ukrainians

BY JIENNA FOSTER

Ukraine

has become the focal point of international attention as it pushes back on Russian military aggression while enduring the hardships that war inflicts on combatants and civilians.

In the images depicting the effects of military assaults, it is difficult to differentiate the people who are feeling the impact of an unprovoked war. Nonetheless, among them are Ukrainians living with HIV and people who are vulnerable to HIV acquisition based on social determinants of health.

José M. Zuniga, PhD, MPH, president and CEO of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care and the FastTrack Cities Institute, reflects upon the humanitarian crisis and efforts to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

What are your thoughts about the humanitarian crisis precipitated by the Russian Federation’s military assault on Ukraine?

Without wading too deep into an evolving geopolitical situation, suffice it to say that IAPAC and FTCI condemn violence perpetrated against any people, including when it is the result of military aggression. Such violence runs counter to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments, including the European Convention on Human Rights, of which the Russian Federation and Ukraine are both parties.

If we have learned anything from history, it is that civilians bear the brunt of suffering caused by military conflict, and sadly we are now witnessing through news reports a surge of attacks on civilian facilities, including hospitals, and an escalating civilian death toll.

What impact is the military campaign having on Ukrainians living with and affected by HIV? There are an estimated 250,000 people living with HIV in Ukraine. Thanks to the efforts of local, national, regional, and international partners, among them IAPAC and FTCI, the HIV response in Ukraine has grown ever more robust and contributed to improvements across the HIV care continuum. Prior to the start of the current hostilities in Ukraine, there was still much work to do to close HIV testing and treatment gaps, but there was clearly forward momentum to further accelerate the HIV response across the five Fast-Track Cities in Ukraine.

In Kyiv, which was the first city in Ukraine to join the Fast-Track Cities network, we saw a double-digit percentage point

increase in the number of people living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy — from 44 percent in 2015 to 81 percent in 2020.

On the HIV prevention front, we had seen progress in scaling up pre-exposure prophylaxis. Additionally, efforts to address the psychosocial and harm reduction needs of people who inject drugs were in a state of continuous improvement, serving as a model to replicate beyond Ukraine’s borders.

And, notably, the HIV community, working in partnership with political and public health leaders, was demonstrating the power of multi-stakeholder collaboration to address HIV and intersectional stigma in a way that contributed to bolstering respect for all people living with and affected by HIV, including LGBTQ+ people, people who inject drugs, and others vulnerable by virtue of their social status. This remarkable progress achieved in Ukraine over several years is now jeopardized by unavoidable HIV and other health service disruptions and the displacement of millions of people both within Ukraine and to bordering countries.

I am also deeply concerned about the mental health and socioeconomic crises that all Ukrainians will endure for the foreseeable future. Finally, it is worth noting that the COVID-19 pandemic is not over and adds one more layer of complexity to the health needs of Ukrainians in general, including those affected by HIV. What has been learned to date from the public health response in Ukraine and about the importance of networks of affected communities in disaster situations? Projecting public health needs is key. For example, prior to the escalation of military hostilities, the Ukrainian public health system provided a month’s supply of antiretroviral therapy to the estimated 156,000 people living with HIV. Additionally, health facilities and people who inject drugs were provided a onemonth supply of opioid substitution therapy. Supply chains are now disrupted, and we are hearing about stockouts in heavily bombarded regions, but at a minimum, neither ART nor OST was immediately disrupted.

Moreover, we have witnessed how formal and informal networks of people affected

by HIV — in Ukraine and surrounding countries — have mobilized to support each other through these difficult times. We, IAPAC and FTCI, are in contact with these networks as we aim to offer our assistance to community groups, clinicians, and public health clinics. What we have learned over the past few weeks also reinforces what we observed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: there is an important role that

city governments must play in equal partnership with national governments when faced with natural or human-made disasters.

The current situation has additionally revealed some inherent weaknesses in the health system, not exclusive to Ukraine, that require public health preparedness at the city level on par with the pandemic preparedness planning that many Fast-Track Cities are now engaged in based on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bottom line, though, as with the response to the colliding COVID-19 and HIV epidemics around the world, an important takeaway from the first few weeks of this military conflict is the powerful nature of community engagement. Community is once again on the front lines, filling in the gaps, and worthy of our support today, tomorrow, and into the future, as an integral part of the global public health architecture.

What can individuals do to stand in solidarity with and assist Ukrainians living with and affected by HIV? I encourage individuals to advocate a peaceful resolution to the current military conflict in Ukraine.

Contact your elected officials. Make your voices heard through social media. #WeStandWithUkraine should be going mega-viral daily. Global solidarity is crucial.

I can tell you from personal interactions with Ukrainian friends and colleagues that these expressions of solidarity from everyday people mean to them as much as those coming from political leaders.

But actions can speak louder than words.

If individuals have the means, there are vehicles through which to donate to humanitarian relief efforts, including a Fast-Track Cities Solidarity Fund aimed at assisting Ukrainian people living with and affected

by HIV and those institutions on the ground that are willing and capable to weave a safety net for those made vulnerable by war.

What is your hope for the future of Ukraine and its communities affected by HIV? My hope for Ukraine is that it will maintain its rightful place among the nation-states of the world, in peaceful co-existence with its regional neighbors. I pray for a speedy end to the military aggression that is affecting the entirety of Ukrainian society, but also its bordering countries, including those providing sanctuary to millions of refugees. As a veteran of a foreign war, and to quote someone else’s words, “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can.” Q Jienna Foster is senior director of communications at IAPAC. This article was originally published at IAPAC. org. This column is a project of TheBody, Plus, Positively Aware, POZ, Q Syndicate, and QSaltLake Magazine

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PERFUME GENIUS ON HITTING THE ROAD, THE BAND’S ‘UTOPIAN’ TOUR AND HIS UNIQUE APPROACH TO CREATING MUSIC

BY CHRIS AZZOPARDI

Alone in

the desert, three men, wearing nothing but thongs, move in cat-cow stretches on a blanket for nearly two minutes. Tour cities are read in a faint tone that, as the vintage video progresses, grows weirder and more chilling, the rhythm of the voice on beat with their bobbing bodies.

“Tour is only weeks away,” Mike Hadreas, 40, better known by his stage name Perfume Genius, writes in the caption under the video on his Instagram page. If that clip seems completely random, that’s because it is. It’s how Hadreas prefers to operate creatively, he tells me from his home in Los Angeles during a recent interview on Zoom. It is, perhaps, why the singer-songwriter has managed to evolve at a fairly rapid pace artistically, never settling for what is expected of him (though, he admits, he doesn’t mind answering to the pressure

PHOTO: CAMILLE VIVIER

of his audience’s tastes) but mostly for what he expects from himself. Hadreas’ wandering artistic mind has yielded works as sonically disparate as “Put Your Back N 2 It,” his intimately produced 2012 sophomore album, a powerfully subdued work, and more recently, 2020’s “Set My Heart on Fire Immediately,” which, like his 2017 album “No Shape,” doesn’t just stroll but glides and struts.

His new album, officially announced a couple of weeks after we chatted, is called “Ugly Season,” music written as the accompaniment to Perfume Genius and choreographer Kate Wallich’s immersive dance piece, “The Sun Still Burns Here.”

Hadreas’ long-time musical and romantic partner Alan Wyffels had a hand in creating the music, which Pitchfork describes as “the sound of dancefloor euphoria.”

As for the tour, “things are gonna happen,” Hadreas says. He’s referring to his emotions, which he expects to be in full swing on this tour, given it’s his first major trek since before the pandemic.

I’ve been reflecting on what music has meant to me the last couple of years, and “Set My Heart On Fire Immediately,” which came out just months into the pandemic, felt like such a gift during a really hard time. At that time, I listened to a lot of the music I listened to as a kid because nostalgic media of any kind was so comforting — even the nostalgic media that I consumed during some of my worst years as a gay teen. I listened to the Alice Boman record that came out around the beginning. Her music is so understated. I don’t want to be dismissive of it because it’s really beautiful and powerful, but it’s understated. And it’s not trying to do anything to you. It just… it’s existing, and it’s really beautiful. I think maybe me and her grew up listening to the same music and being inspired by the same music. I hear a lot of ‘50s ballads in the things that she makes.

What you’re talking about reminded me of listening to Cat Power, and when I was listening to Cat Power when

MAY, 2022 |

Issue 335 |

Qsaltlake.com

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NEWS | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 35

36 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | Q&A

I was 15 or 16, I was in a dark place.

Like, very dark. [Laughs.] But I kind of like remembering it because I’ve had a million different incarnations of myself since then. And when I was depressed and a teenager, it felt so permanent. It felt [like] forever. It felt like the worst thing that’s ever happened to anyone. I don’t feel like that anymore. Maybe I feel a little closer to that the last couple years than I have since then, but it’s comforting to think back on those times and listen to the music that brought me comfort then and let me sort of indulge.

What does that feel like when people tell you that it’s your music that brings them that same kind of comfort? I mean, that’s why I make it. I’m trying to make the kind of music that I had a relationship to in that way. But I also am soundtracking them getting through things. I’m not doing anything, really.

You know what I mean? [Laughs.]

I’m just sort of a companion while they do all the things that they’re doing. So sometimes that can get twisted in your head and sometimes that feels sort of like…

Like there’s pressure to make music for a particular kind of person instead of for yourself? I don’t mind that. I like that pressure. I like having that as a rule. Just trying to make things that start as things that are helpful to me, but then I think, “How can I frame this, or how can I make this so that other people get how it’s making me feel, or what it’s bringing me through?”

I love the eerie, sexy teaser trailer for this that you posted on Instagram recently. It reminded me how much I love the way you connect to queer culture to develop your own artistic persona. So what was it about that clip of those thonged men that fell in line with what you want to do with this tour? I mean, I don’t know.

[Laughs.] I just was doing what I like. I was just playing around, was watching YouTube videos with the sound off, and then I saw that video and was like, “If I slowed this down or I put some intense music over it, it would turn PHOTO: CAMILLE VIVIER

Qsaltlake.com |

it into something more unsettling.”

So then I started looking for that field recording and found all kinds of weird sounds and stuff like that, and then it just starts building onto it.

Sometimes that’s my favorite way to make things — when I’m not thinking about what I’m doing. [Laughs.]

Has that always been your approach?

And is that your approach to making music? It’s this weird combo of being really hyper-analytical and really hyper-research-y. I’m very research-y when I’m writing lyrics or when I’m making things. I just gather a bunch of footage and images and read lots of Wikipedia pages; there’ll be some lyric that’s very simple, just like three words that are very normal, but I researched some weird ancient rite [to get there]. Which is pretentious, but it’s fun. Then the other side of it is just kind of trying to empty your brain, emptying everything to see what shows up. Those combinations of those two things is how I make everything.

Do you think that you’ll write at all while you’re on the road? No, I’ve never really done that. Maybe if I play guitar then I could; I bet people are very glad that I don’t do that. But I can tell I’m gearing up to write. I just can feel that I’m ready to make something. I was feeling kind of a void there for a while and I don’t feel that anymore.

Looking ahead to your show, I’ve been thinking about how, because of the pandemic, I’ve really missed concerts but, even more so, I’ve missed sharing a space and moving bodies with a bunch of queers. Oh yeah. We’ve done some shows, some smaller tours the last few months, and it feels completely different to me. I don’t know if it’s something in the air, or if it’s just my relationship to everything has changed, or maybe I feel a lot more vulnerable and maybe more present than I used to. So everything feels more emotional. Even just… not the shows, but just the touring with the band and everything, it just feels like summer camp. It feels very utopian. [Laughs.]

And then the shows: I’ve been doing rehearsals for them and I’m having to hold back during rehearsals because I’m going fully — destroying the set and everything like that. But we’re building it. I shouldn’t be destroying it. [Laughs.]

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I don’t want to, like, wreck my voice by going so hard in rehearsals. But I guess I really need it. The portal’s still very open.

What do you think is putting you in that emotional place? Honestly, I just really need it right now. I haven’t really figured out a way, fully, to get what writing and making music and performing and all that stuff does for me.

I haven’t figured out a way to do that otherwise. I mean, I’m not sure that there’s any [other] way. The thing that is very key to me is that it’s feeling. It’s a really physical feeling to me. And I have it when I’m writing. It’s just like a charge all around me, and it’s physical.

I miss it, not just as an idea, but my body misses it and I miss the feeling.

And when I did the dance performance that I did with choreographer Kate Wallich’s dance company, I was having that feeling a lot in a really sustained way. And so I can do it. If I make a habit of it, I can turn on music and conjure something up in my body that feels very… not the same, but something. [Laughs.]

For some reason, the last couple years, I haven’t been writing. I haven’t been doing any self-care, really. It should be really heavy on my mind. But I don’t know. But I guess self-care, I’ve done enough ‘cause I’m, like, here.

Do you like being on the road? I do, especially lately. Maybe it’s just because every record we play, [we] kind of up it a little bit. I’m touring with a lighting person, which I’ve never done before, and so it makes the show feel a lot more cinematic, and I feel like it can stay in the dream longer.

The hard thing about touring is that it’s hard. [Laughs.] You’re tired and hungry, and you have to eat at the gas station. I figured out a way to do it. It feels a bit more sustainable now, and so I don’t feel like I have to push myself so hard to get into the space. And shows used to very much feel like I was going on stage, and there’s lights on me, and I just have to start slamming my head against the wall until a bunch of feelings come. You know? But now, I walk out and a light will bloom and I’m like, “OK, bitch.” Q Chris Azzopardi is the Editorial Director of Pride Source Media Group and Q Syndicate. He 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

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voiced Chief of Tale in “Raya and the Dragon,” giving her the distinction of being the first openly trans actor to lend their voice to a Disney film. Last year, she also starred in “Together Together,” a moving comedy about a single man (Ed Helms) and his surrogate, played by Harrison, that premiered at Sundance.

But “The Lost City” could really take her career to the next level given it’s a major studio film with major star power, which can only bring more attention to Harrison’s signature brand of comedy.

Harrison’s wry deadpanning was first introduced on primetime TV, when, in 2017 on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” the actor-comedian made wisecracks about then-President Donald Trump’s ban on trans people in the military. Harrison, who was born in Ohio and whose father is from Detroit, starred in a recurring role on Hulu’s “Shrill” in 2020, along with smaller roles in “Bob’s Burgers,” “Broad City” and “Search Party.”

During a recent Zoom interview with the actor, Harrison joked about what the movie might have been about when its working title was “The Lost City of D,” chimed in on her own interest in reading romance novels (and reading, period), and discussed how she feels about the “overcorrection” of queer people on TV.

Patti Harrison on being trans in Hollywood, her social media woes and Bowen Yang

BY CHRIS AZZOPARDI

There

still aren’t enough trans actors in Hollywood, but at least there’s Patti Harrison. Harrison is currently starring in the big blockbuster rom-com caper “The Lost City,” alongside Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, as the social media manager

of Bullock’s character, Loretta Sage, a romance-adventure novelist. In the movie, Harrison’s Allison thinks that to help Loretta appeal to a younger demo, it’s just a matter of hashtagging Shawn Mendes’ name at the end of every tweet.

As for Harrison, her name rose to even greater prominence in 2021 when she

When you got the script for this movie, originally titled “The Lost City of D,” what exactly did you think the D stood for? To be honest, I thought it stood for dick. Or dong. Maybe dildo. Probably less likely [it would be] dildo. Well, I guess it would be dildos, ’cause then it would be “The Lost City of the D.” So I think “Lost City of Dildos,” if it’s pluralized, is better.

I appreciate that the movie, even now that it’s called simply “The Lost City,” did still lean into the D, as there’s a couple dick jokes in it. Well, there’s a lot of cut scenes with a ton of dildos.

And those are all with just you, or you and Channing? Well, there was one with me [that] got cut from the movie, but my character was a master in combat with, like, tonfas. But then there weren’t tonfas available, so she wields

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dildos. And it’s really a lot of work. I took about four months of martial arts classes to learn how to use tonfas correctly and they cut it. Because of dildos.

That’s a shame. Our society is just not ready for something as brave as that. Doesn’t that suck?

That movie will exist 20 years from now when we’ve made even more progress than we already have. And Elle Fanning’s granddaughter is doing flips and throwing dildos, and they’re, like, going through people’s heads.

I love that Elle Fanning is your go-to.

Oh yeah. She’s always in my mind.

I don’t know how we’re going to be serious now, but I do want to ask if you read any romance novels, queer or not, when you were growing up? Not at all. I never read a lot, and I never really read outside of what was required of me for school. I

don’t think I really... I’m learning. I used to feel really guilty about not reading books, specifically. I think there’s a culture around shaming people who don’t read books. I just don’t absorb information that way. A lot of the stories that I absorb are visual. So I love movies, video games and TV. Maybe that makes me stupid, but I watched a lot of romantic movies and TV shows. But as far as novels go, I think I remember reading “Tess of the d’Urbervilles” in school. I think that is, like, a rapey book. It opens with a sexual assault. That’s probably the only book that comes to mind, actually.

And who would be your cover model for it? Well, I did get asked this question earlier today, but I think it’s probably for a publication that wouldn’t use [my answer] and wouldn’t care what I said.

Because my answer when asked what the title of my romance novel would be [was], “Oh, Is There Poop?” And I don’t think I would be on the cover of it, right? It would be my mom and my fourth grade teacher, who’s my mentor.

And they’re just kind of doing a thumbs up through a foggy window. They’re standing outside of a window. And then you see the crest of someone’s butt.

And then no more books for you after that.

You just stopped reading. What if the only book I’ve ever read was “Tess of the d’Urbervilles”? That’s the one book. I should be studied by science if that were the case.

That’s beautiful, actually. There would be more explained in the book. I promise.

What if there was a romance novel based on your life? What might it be called?

While you were making this movie, playing a social media manager, did it hit you how ironic it is that in real life you might not cut it as a social media manager since you were banned from Twitter? I definitely

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40 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | Q&A

think there’s some irony there. I, every day, am waiting for my Instagram account to be deleted against my will. Probably for the best. But now Instagram’s terms and conditions have changed and they, like, auto go through and will flag photos.

Maybe once a week, I get a new photo flagged. And it’s always a post from, like, 2013. And it’ll be a photo of me being like, “I love this bitch,” and it’ll be me and my friend. And then it’ll be flagged for bullying and harassment, ’cause I called my friend a bitch. And I was like, “Well, that’s my whole Instagram page, me being like, ‘Love this stupid, ugly fucking slut.’”

I guess if that’s bullying and harassment, then I’m not fated for Instagram anymore.

I think social media has had a big part in my career success, which has been great. I also think social media has evolved. So the version of it we have now is mainly a shopping platform. So I don’t think social media is intrinsically bad, but I think we’ve made it bad ’cause it’s corporatized. But I don’t remember exactly why Adam [Nee, who co-directed and co-wrote the screenplay], Aaron [Nee, Adam’s brother, who co-directed) or Sandy [Bullock] said they specifically wanted me for the part other than they saw me and thought I was funny. In other things I’ve been cast in, it’s usually ’cause of stupid videos or something I made on Instagram.

Or maybe it was “Together Together,” which was one of my favorite movies of last year. How major did it feel to be part of a film where you, a trans actress, is playing a surrogate? There was a lot of conversation around that and how I’m not even sure that that’s ever happened before in a movie. It all felt pretty groundbreakingly important casting-wise. Yeah. I mean, I think I definitely thought about what that meant and the optics of it. I had so many conversations with [writer-director] Nikole [Beckwith] about if it was stunt casting or whatever. But it really did feel like something I just never thought I was going to get to do, and I tried not to overload it in playing the role, like bring too much of that into it.

I think what was really nice is that Nikole was so present in making sure I felt

Qsaltlake.com |

prepared and knew what was going on in each scene, like where my character was in her pregnancy. I think it helped me get out of my head and not think about the politics of what it means. You know, my whole thing when we were filming was, “Oh my gosh. Are people going to be staring at my Adam’s apple? Is this something that I’m going to deal with?

A level of TERF scrutiny or something that would be really emotionally painful to endure?” But, ultimately, it’s been an incredible gift in my life. The only thing that I’ll ever earnestly talk about is that movie because it just felt so special.

As a queer person, I try not to overthink the optics. But oftentimes, it’s hard for me not to, just because I’m always looking for us to be represented and be visible. Yeah.

Speaking of social media, I feel like there is an overcorrection or overemphasis with development and TV, like stumbling over themselves to be inclusive in a way that I think can sometimes be minimizing to the creator or the artist or writer, whoever’s trying to make a project, if that person is marginalized in any way.

And if that marginalization is queer, then in an ideal world, that person could just make whatever they want. I think what’s stressful about it is that people who aren’t queer, who aren’t marginalized, and who are in these gatekeeping positions, are trying to figure out a way to capitalize on queerness or the more mainstream interest in it and it can feel very minimizing when the only

Issue 335 |

MAY, 2022

stories they want to tell or they want to see from you as a queer person is stuff about being queer. It’s like, my sense of humor as a comedian has really been not about that, but it has kind of pivoted into that. I’m approached about being trans so much that it’s made me a little resentful. I’m like, “Oh, I see comedians who are peripheral to me who aren’t queer, and they can make a TV show about whatever they want.” But when I take a meeting, it’s like, they don’t want to hear my idea about, you know, Elle Fanning with dildos. They want to hear about a biopic about me coming out to my mom and her struggling with it.

On that note, it’s nice to see you and Bowen Yang in “The Lost City,” where you can both just be funny. Yeah. Bowen shot the last week I was there pretty much, and it was the perfect little ending to the trip. We had, like, golf carts where we were staying. It was so much fun. I wish he would have been there the whole time. It made me want to work with him on something.

On the poop book or the dildo movie? Yeah.

Where we have unsimulated sex. A lot of penetration, me and Bowen. Really close friends just, like, really screwing for art. That’s representation. Q Chris Azzopardi is the Editorial Director of Pride Source Media Group and Q Syndicate. He 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.

MAY, 2022 |

Issue 335 |

Q&A | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 41

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42 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | COMICS

LGBTQ+ Firsts on SNL ACROSS

42 Duck hunter’s boots 44 Deviate 45 First queer musical guest 48 Sodom suffix 49 “Queen of Soul” Franklin 50 Lack of get-up-andgo 54 ___ tai (rum cocktail) 55 First out queer host 58 Breakfast staple 60 Dana of _MacGyver_ 61 Errol Flynn’s “The Sun ___ Rises” 62 Nightlife district of London 63 Danes of “Romeo + Juliet” 64 Body passageway 65 Part of MIT (abbr.)

66 Rubbers on rims 67 What a computer may spit out

1 Circumcise clumsily, e.g.

5 Family group 9 Opposite of heads 14 Earthenware jar 15 First-rate 16 Shrek and others 17 “Brothers & Sisters” producer Ken 18 Tara portrayer Collette 19 Woody secretion 20 First out lesbian to join the cast 23 ”Xanadu” band, for short 24 Home, to Dave Pallone 25 Lure into wrongdoing 29 Along the back DOWN 31 Hrs. in P-town 1 Made a romantic 32 Charlottesville sch. connection 33 Hand, when 2 Irving Berlin song. measuring a stallion 3 Projection a under 34 First queer host the hood 38 Kahlo’s cash 40 Peter Rabbit’s sisters 4 Lucci in “All My Children” 41 Phallic swimmers PUZZLE SOLUTIONS ON PAGE 37

Qsaltlake.com |

5 “Boo!” from the stands, e.g.

6 They aren’t everything 7 Lennox of the Eurythmics 8 “No” to a “lesbisch” 9 City of Glad Day Bookshop 10 One who often screws actors 11 Apr. 15 letters 12 Bloomers worn around the neck 13 Taxpayer’s ID 21 CEO’s degree 22 Chicken hawk pads 26 Twelve-inch stick 27 St. Teresa’s town 28 Family flower?

30 “Oh, shut up!”

31 Bette Davis feature of song 35 Head output 36 Sad ending for love 37 Rita, in a Beatles 45 English king who was song a queen 39 Younger daughter of 46 Home of Bloody Michelle Mary’s mom 43 Tongue that’s a little 47 Sounds from a different stallion 44 Banana stalk

48 Accustoms 50 Words of empathy 51 ___-Whirl (amusement park ride) 52 Atlas blow-up

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MAY, 2022

53 Place where a Greek would speak 56 Weight loss product 57 Home st. of Maupin 59 Karen Walker, perhaps

MAY, 2022 |

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PUZZLES | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 43

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44 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | QMMUNITY

Qmmunity Groups BUSINESS

LGBTQ-Affirmative Psycho-therapists Guild of Utah  lgbtqtherapists.com * jim@lgbtqtherapists.com Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce  utahlgbtqchamber.com * info@utahgaychamber.com LGBT & Allied Lawyers of Utah  lgbtutahlawyers.com * lgbtutahlawyers@gmail.com Utah Independent Business Coalition  utahindependentbusiness.org 801-879-4928 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-7233 YWCA of Salt Lake  ywca.org/saltlakecity 322 E 300 S 801-537-8600 HEALTH & HIV

Peer Support for Mental Illness — PSMI Thurs 7pm, Utah Pride Ctr Planned Parenthood  bit.ly/ppauslchiv 654 S 900 E 801-322-5571 Salt Lake County Health Dept HIV/STD Clinic 660 S 200 E, 4th Floor Walk-ins M–F 10a–4p Appts 385-468-4242

umen.org

Utah AIDS Foundation  utahaids.org * mail@utahaids.org 1408 S 1100 E 801-487-2323 Weber-Morgan Health Mon., Weds 1-4:30p 477 23rd St, Ogden Appt 801-399-7250 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 LEGAL

Rainbow Law Free Clinic 2nd Thurs 6:30–7:30pm UofU Law School, 383 S University St 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 Stonewall Democrats  utahstonewalldemocrats.org  fb.me/ utahstonewalldems RELIGIOUS

First Baptist Church  firstbaptist-slc.org * office@firstbaptistslc.org 11a Sundays 777 S 1300 E 801-582-4921

Qsaltlake.com |

Sacred Light of Christ  slcchurch.org 823 S 600 E 801-595-0052 11a Sundays SOCIAL

1 to 5 Club (bisexual)  fb.me/1to5ClubUtah  1to5club@

utahpridecenter.org 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 Flaming Man  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 Weds 6pm Raw Bean Coffee, 611 W Temple Utah Male Naturists  umen.org

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Utah Pride Center  utahpridecenter.org  info@utahpridecenter.org 1380 S Main St 801-539-8800 Venture OUT Utah  bit.ly/GetOutsideUtah 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, All Saints Episcopal Church, 1710 Foothill Dr Tues. 8p Live & Let Live, Mt Tabor Lutheran, 175 S 700 E Wed. 7p Sober Today, 1159 30th St , Ogden Wed. 7:30p, Sober AF, Zoom mtg ID 748 896 1508, Password SLQ2020 Fri. 7p Stonewall Group, Mt Tabor Lutheran, 175 S 700 E Crystal Meth Anon  crystalmeth.org Sun. 2:30pm Clean, Sober & Proud LGBTQIA+Straight Alano Club, 5056 Commerce Dr, Murray

Genderbands  genderbands.org

fb.me/genderbands LifeRing Secular Recovery 801-608-8146  liferingutah.org Sun. 10am Univ. Neuropsychiatric Institute, 501 Chipeta Way #1566 Sat. 11am, How was your week? First Baptist Church, 777 S 1300 E LGBTQ-Affirmative Psycho-therapists Guild of Utah  lgbtqtherapists.com * robin@lgbtqtherapists.com Men’s Support Group Tues, 6pm  utahpridecenter.org/ mental-health/mens-sg/  Therapy@ utahpridecenter.org Parent & Caregiver Support Group Mon 6:45pm  utahpridecenter.org/ youth--programs/ Survivors of Suicide Attempt  utahpridecenter.org/ mental-health/sosa/ Trans & Nonbinary Adult Support Thurs, 6pm  utahpridecenter.org/ programs/lgbtq-adults/  tnbsupport@ utahpridecenter.org TransAction Sun, 1:30pm  utahpridecenter. org/adult-programs/ transaction/ Sundays 2–3:30pm Women’s Support Group Wed 6pm  utahpridecenter. org/mental-health/ womens-sg/  womensupport@ utahpridecenter.org

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Youth Support Group ages 10-14, 14-20  utahpridecenter.

org/youth-programs/ YOUTH/COLLEGE

Encircle LGBTQ Family and Youth Resource Ctr  encircletogether.org

fb.me/encircletogether 91 W 200 S, Provo, 190 S 100 E, St. George 331 S 600 E, SLC Gay-Straight Alliance Network  gsanetwork.org

The OUT Foundation  theout.foundation  fb.me/theOUTfoundation

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, M-F, 8a-5p 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 Westminster Diversity Center Bassis 105, M-F 8a-5p  estminstercollege.

edu/diversity Youth Activity Night ages 10-14, 14-20  utahpridecenter.org/

youth-programs/

MAY, 2022 |

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BOOK REVIEW | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 45

Qsaltlake.com

the bookworm sez REVIEW BY TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

Conversations with People Who Hate Me: 12 Things I Learned From Talking to Internet Strangers

BY DYLAN MARRON, C.2022, ATRIA, $27, 272 PAGES

Sometimes, it just makes you feel gruff.

Seriously, the internet should be the G.O.A.T. invention.

It should be a place to connect with friends and share laughs, a safe place to go when you want to be yourself.

It should be a place to tell your story, free of danger and full of truth. Nobody should butt heads online, or be victim of a bullygoat. Instead, as in “Conversations with People Who

q scopes MAY

BY SAM KELLEY-MILLS

ARIES March 20–April 19

There is regret in matters of the heart so it is time for new romantic encounters. Don’t be afraid to revisit an old fling but make sure they’re worth the effort. Nothing worthwhile is painful for long, including love. It’s been a difficult time for everyone, but good times are on the horizon! Celebrate.

TAURUS Apr 20–May 20

Never fear things that can’t hurt you. Workplace conflict might weigh heavy on your spirits, so consider looking for a change. A problem may emerge by trying to sweep a problem under the rug. Don’t worry about hurting a coworker’s feelings because they don’t have anything to bruise.

GEMINI May 21–June 20

Don’t let a distraction prevent you from accomplishing a goal. Duties are plentiful, payoffs are lacking. Examine incentives of accomplishing individual tasks, especially with friendship matters.

Hate Me” by Dylan Marron, we gotta deal with the trolls.

The fact that Marron had a “HATE FOLDER” in his email should speak volumes.

As a gay man and a writer-performer, he expected a certain amount of negativity online; that’s the nature of the internet. But as a creative employee of Seriously.

TV, the emailed hate, death threats, and homophobia just got to be too much.

Before his job at Seriously.TV, he’d acted, reported, waited tables, and cultivated a “prompt” that served him well.

“What am I going to do about it?” is what he asked himself every time he was faced with something that bothered him and this time, the answer was a series of conversations with haters who’d commented.

He began to mine the HATE FOLDER for people to talk with.

The first was a guy Marron calls “Josh,” a decent guy who was a lot like Marron.

Their conversation, done remotely, was a hit with fans and it gained Marron a lot of “points.” In a small way, it gained him a friend, since he and Josh came to an understanding. Marron was happy with that, and with subsequent “Conversations…”

But after he quit his job at Seriously.TV to go it alone, he found himself at an impasse.

The old way of doing his conversations needed to expand to include a wider angle and different guests.

Marron imagined himself bringing together hater and target on bigger subjects.

He’d learn more about people — and in the process, he’d learn more about himself.

The lesson was underscored a few Sundays ago: something huge happens, something loud, and everybody’s got an opinion. “Conversations with People Who Hate Me” helps show that we can talk civilly about issues without insults.

But will haters — the people

Most burdens are manufactured by others. Put yourself first and release the pressures bothering you.

victories to brighten the mood. It’s a good time to get into the social scene.

CANCER June 21–July 22

Take time out and do adventurous things. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. With the ongoing drama regarding a family member, finding pleasure is often vital to avoid going insane. Put crazy on hold, hold on tight, then enjoy the ride. You need to have a good time. The fun season is now!

LEO July 23–August 22

Don’t fear taking a more aggressive approach. You are not used to sugarcoating opinions.

Some friends taking advantage of you so tell them how you feel.

The future looks bright in terms of your career. Don’t let anything prevent opportunities from coming to fruition. Full steam ahead!

VIRGO August 23–Sep. 2

Where things end up with a friend is up to you. Try staying calm when things get intense. Being passive is hard but is most advantageous. Financial matters are going better than planned so celebrate the

LIBRA Sept 23–October 22

Reach for something out of bounds. Romantic times are in store so enjoy time with a lover or partner. Forget about distractions. You may find there’s more advantage to intimacy than you once realized. Don’t hold back when things heat up, but take care of yourself and your friends as well.

SCORPIO Oct. 23–Nov. 21

A hopeless cause is a lesson in what to avoid. Move on and try something better. Spend time doing an enjoyable hobby outside. While interests are varied, your attention should be aimed toward an immediate interest. Expect surprises from a family member. Things are looking bright.

SAGITTARIUS

Nov. 22–December 20.

A key development is in the works and predicting the outcome would be totally pointless. Focus on what is in front of you. Take care of personal needs and get finances in shape. While the desire to be in control is admirable, it is limited. Know the limits while shooting for the stars.

who presumably need this book — be willing to read it?

Surprisingly, on one side of this book, author Dylan Marron shows that that’s entirely possible: once he approached his interviewees, many people who hid behind the ‘net rued their actions and words. Granted, the haters he hosted were highly, carefully curated, but Marron’s approach shows hope.

The other side of the book is the one that teaches tolerance and a sort of Zen approach when you’re the target of a troll. Haters gonna hate, as they say … but with enormous grace and thoughtfulness, Marron offers better ways to perceive it.

Readers looking for another way to invite open dialogue, and those who are aghast at spewing commenters on social media will love this book. If you want to do better, “Conversations with People Who Hate Me” could help make happy bridges. Q

CAPRICORN Dec 21–Jan 19

It’s taking a long time to get what you want. A long sough goal will only be achieved by letting go of the norms. Don’t fret because what has been gained is better than what was missed. Perfection is what you’re aiming for but sloppy seconds can be almost as satisfying, maybe better!

AQUARIUS Jan. 20–Feb. 18

Accept good fortune with caution, but feel good about taking what you need. The path to happiness is a sad one so find a creative outlet during this time.

Invest in the future with a sense that things can always be better.

But don’t be afraid to have some fun along the way. Find a good balance.

PISCES Feb 19–Mar 19

Whatever has you feeling uneasy spawns from the need to let go of the past. The resolution of a past problem will lead to being a better person. Don’t go looking for problems unless it has to do with helping another. Providing a helping hand is a good way to create good karma. Hold tight. Q

46 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | FOOD & DRINK

Qsaltlake.com |

Issue 335 |

Kinsey Sicks coming to the Salt Lake Temple — the Masonic one Take four

extremely talented male singer/actors — a conceited counter-tenor, a booming bass-baritone-second tenor, a lyric baritone, and a show tunes tenor — paint their faces with gorgeous make-up, don them in dresses, and top them with wigs and you have the makings of America’s favorite Dragapella — The Kinsey Sicks.

Celebrating their 30th year, the comedic a cappella quartet will bring their original and parody tunes to Salt Lake at the Masonic Temple on South Temple. Audiences love their bawdy humor, sharp-tongued wit, over-the-top drag, and smart dialogue.

Started in 1993 when five professionals — lawyers and professional activists — went to a Bette Midler concert dressed as the Andrews Sisters. They were approached that night by a woman who asked them to perform at her upcoming 50th birthday party, to which they said, “we don’t sing.” They then figured out all of them had previous musical experience.

From their first public concert on the street corner of San Francisco’s Castro and Market to performing arts centers, music venues, and comedy festivals around the world, an Off-Broadway play, a film, a documentary, and an extended run in Vegas, they have gathered a devoted following.

And their schtick has staying power.

“Only one a cappella group has remained steadfastly lewd, crude, and rapturously reviewed,” wrote the Huffington Post. “Legendary for their succulence, sarcasm, and style, the Kinsey Sicks can easily shock and awe unsuspecting audiences … Rollicking … [They] never fail to bring down the house.”

During a show they called “Oy Vey in a Manger,” a reviewer gushed: “The Kinsey Sicks don’t suck.”

Alright, he continued with: “(as acapella singers and drag divas). They are faaabulous. Think of the best of “Ballet Trockadero,” or “The Cockettes,” or “Tranny Shack” or any other of the most celebrated and gaymous (gay famous) performing troupes you can recall. None have produced better work than this “dragapella” ensemble.

Oh but wait, it gets better.

“And the material? Their arrangement and performance of Schubert’s “Ave Maria” could not be improved upon by members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. But I doubt that the Mormons would have adapted the lyrics as ‘I Ate Maria,’” wrote Theatrestorm reviewer Charles Kruger.

Kinsey Sicks is coming to Salt Lake to raise funds for Flourish Bakery — a community committed to changing lives one pie at a time.

“Across the United States, the collater-

MAY, 2022

al consequences of drug addiction and incarceration followed by relapse and returning to jail have damaged the lives and livelihoods of individuals, families, and entire communities,” event chair Ed Turner said. “In 2017, a diverse group of faith leaders, culinary and substance use rehabilitation experts, and community members in Salt Lake City, Utah, came together and developed an innovative solution to these complex social problems; a paid internship program that fosters hope, healing, and accountability while simultaneously teaching the art and skills of professional baking to those recovering from substance use disorders with a history of incarceration. The first group of interns began the program in 2018. Flourish is the only ‘Second Chance’ long-term recovery, workforce reentry program in Utah.”

Of the show, Turner said, “The Kinsey Sicks are so much more than a cabaret act. The Masonic Temple is much more than a theatre. And Flourish is much more than a bakery” The show is Friday, May 13 at 7 p.m. at the Salt Lake Masonic Temple, 650 E S Temple St. Limited parking and entrance in the rear. Doors open at 6:15 p.m.

Tickets are $35 if purchased before the show and $50 at the door. Purchase tickets at flourishslc.org/pages/events Q

MAY, 2022 |

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FOOD & DRINK | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 47

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48 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | ARTS

Qsaltlake.com |

Issue 335 |

MAY, 2022

UMFA exhibition: Art and Missing Indigenous and LGBTQ People How can art reconnect you with those you miss? A new exhibition by David Rios Ferreia featuring work and writing by artist Denae Shanidiin at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts looks at community art-making, imagined time travel and spirituality as a vehicle for thinking about love, loss and memory.

The exhibition is on view through Dec. 4.

Ferreira is a visual artist, independent curator and museum professional. He is interested in how the past informs the present and their existence on the same plane.

Issues around power, colonial history, deculturalization practices and missing or murdered Indigenous and LGBTQ people are at the root of his

work. Borrowing images from historical etchings, old political cartoons, coloring books and films, Ferreira reprocesses this imagery through layering, tracing and collage, to create new forms, new bodies and new futures. In this unique moment in time, with old sociopolitical wounds resurfacing, and new ones opening, Ferreira asks us to question ourselves and the systems of power that we inhabit.

“When I was first asked to be part of this exhibition, I didn’t know a thing about Utah. My first inital question was, ‘Will I be safe?’” Ferreira said in an interview. “As a queer person of color from a large, diverse city like New York, that was my initial question.”

“That initial feeling helped direct where I could go with this [project],” he said.

Denae Shanidiin, Diné and Korean artist, is born to the Diné (Navajo) Nation. She is Honágháahnii, One-WalksAround Clan, born to the Korean race on her Father’s side.

Kinłichíi’nii, the Red House People, is her Maternal Grandfather’s Clan, and the Bilagáana, White People, is her Paternal Grandfather’s Clan.

Shanidiin’s projects reveal the importance of Indigenous spirituality and sovereignty.

Her work brings awareness to many contemporary First Nation’s issues including Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. Merging science fiction with cultural and spiritual traditions, “Transcending Time and Space” asks visitors to contemplate those they might’ve lost, those they miss across distances and those they have yet to meet.

The exhibition presents a collection of Ferreira’s abstracted drawings, collages and photographs that function as imagined gateways and portals through which we may

connect with those we cannot reach on this plane. These gateways use imagery from history, pop culture, photographs and text to tell stories about the people we miss.

Ferreira was moved to create the work in this exhibition around the ever-growing tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous people — something he explores in collaboration with Utah-based artist Denae Shanidiin and Restoring Ancestral Winds, a Tribal coalition responding to the violence perpetrated on Indigenous communities within the Great Basin and strengthening the traditional values of Indigenous relations.

“Exploring colonial history’s impact on our daily lives through a personal and emotional lens was central in making this body of work,” says Ferreira. “I hope visitors will find their own entry into the artworks and in so doing discover different ways to think about love, loss and memory.” Q More information can be found at umfa. utah.edu/transcending-time-and-space

MAY, 2022 |

Issue 335 |

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50 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | HOLLYWOOD

deep inside hollywood

Qsaltlake.com |

Issue 335 |

MAY, 2022

BY ROMEO SAN VICENTE

Queer teen romance ‘Crush’ hitting Hulu with Rowan Blanchard and Auli’I Cravalho It’s spring, which means people are feeling the evolutionary drive to get a little romance going. And Hulu is about to drop the teen rom-com “Crush” later this month, starring queer actresses Rowan Blanchard (“Girl Meets World”) and Auli’I Cravalho (“Moana”), in case you’re too lazy to get off the couch and find a little love yourself. Blanchard plays high school art student Paige, who has a crush on track star Gabriella (Isabella Ferreira). Paige joins the track team to woo her intended love interest, but winds up falling for Gabriella’s sister AJ (Cravalho) along the way. From a queer creative team including director Sammi Cohen and writers Casey Rackham and Kirsten King, the story hits the teen rom-com story notes you expect while being unapologetically about girls finding their way to lesbian love, and there still aren’t enough of those to go around. Added bonus: Megan Mullally giving her much-needed energy.

The real deal is streaming on April 29.

Jerrod Carmichael goes Victorian in ‘Poor Things’ He just went publicly gay in the new HBO standup special “Rothaniel,” and now Jerrod Carmichael will be seen in the latest film from Yorgos Lanthimos. The filmmaker, best known for “The Favourite,” and “The Lobster,” is the most well-known director from what is sometimes called the “Greek Weird Wave,” and the new film, “Poor Things,” adapted from Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel of the same name, looks like it will hew to that same unsettling vibe. It’s the story of a drowned Victorian-era woman named Belle (Emma Stone), whose scientist father (Willem Dafoe) decides to revive her with a brain transplant.

Carmichael will play Harry Astley, one of Belle’s suitors, alongside a supporting cast that includes Mark Ruffalo, Margaret Qualley, Christopher Abbott, Kathryn Hunter and Ramy Youssef. While we’re waiting for Carmichael’s own directorial debut, “On the Count of Three,” to find its way from its Sundance 2021 origins into theaters, we’ll be digging into this Frankenstein-ian tale sometime later in 2022.

Marvel series ‘Ironheart’ set to introduce transgender character The Marvel Cinematic Universe has another superhero tie-in narrative coming to the Disney+ streaming network, and it’s called “Ironheart.” It’s based on a Marvel Comics character who debuted in 2016, a teenage genius inventor named Riri who creates an advanced power suit that leaves Iron Man’s in the dust. Tony Stark learns of it and seeks her out to collaborate and set her on the path to superhero status.

Dominique Thorne (“Judas and the Black Messiah”) is set to star as Riri, but little else has been known about the project and details have been kept under wraps until now. Marvel announced that the series will also include a transgender character, unnamed so far, and that the show is looking to cast, according to the POC Culture site, a “Black, Latina, or Afro-Latina transgender woman who is around 18-22 years old…” and that the “character will be smart, confident, and with a mystical bent and unique sense of humor.” We’re thrilled by this development, because now that the MCU has fully infiltrated all of our waking and sleeping lives, and lagged behind those real lives in terms of queer representation, we’re happy to see steps in the right direction for queer actors. And if you fit the bill, call your agent and get that audition.

Kristen Stewart committing ‘Crimes’ for Cronenberg You won’t have to wait much longer to see more Kristen Stewart on the big screen. She’s already wrapped the latest David Cronenberg project, “Crimes of the Future.” The 79-year-old Canadian auteur hasn’t directed a movie since 2014’s “Map to the Stars” and hasn’t directed one like his legendarily disturbing sci-fi films — see “Scanners,” “The Brood,” or the wildly divisive “Crash” — in even longer. “Crimes of the Future,” shot in Greece in 2021 and wrapped and primed for film festival bows this year for a possible year-end theatrical release, should restore that balance.

Set in a future where human beings can quickly evolve new organs, it’s the story of an artist who turns organ removal into theater. In addition to Stewart, Viggo Mortensen stars as Saul Tenser, the artist, alongside Scott Speedman and French

Kristen Stewart

actress Lea Seydoux (“No Time to Die”).

Cronenberg has already gone on record as calling the film potentially shocking, so brace yourself, arthouse fans.

‘Interview With the Vampire’ gets a series do-over Buffy, we live in a post-vampire world.

After “Twilight,” “True Blood” and “Only Lovers Left Alive,” it feels sometimes like the sitcom “What We Do In The Shadows” could be the most accurate accounting of what the pansexual undead really have to put up with. But we recall our first love, the 1994 film “Interview With the Vampire,” which was fraught with tension over whether a man wanting to bite another man’s neck would make him look gay. Well, the cast is set for AMC’s series reboot of the iconic Anne Rice novel. Australian actor Sam Reid (“The Newsreader”), Jacob Anderson (“Game of Thrones”), Bailey Bass (the upcoming “Avatar 2”) and American theater institution Eric Bogosian (“Uncut Gems”) will retell the tale as old as time. Creator, executive producer and show-runner Rolin Jones is taking the lead with Mark Johnson, Christopher Rice and the late Anne Rice executive producing, as well. Exciting news for those of us who can’t get enough of bloodthirsty night creatures, the show drops on AMC sometime later this year.

Romeo San Vicente has sprung into spring.

MAY, 2022 |

Issue 335 |

NEWS | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | 51

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52 | QSALTLAKE MAGAZINE | FINAL WORD

Qsaltlake.com |

Issue 335 |

MAY, 2022

the perils of petunia pap smear

A tale of lamb chops

BY PETUNIA PAP SMEAR

The road

to an Easter basket is fraught with danger and excitement.

It’s Easter week and there are endless scenes with cute little children hunting for Easter eggs and chasing baby sheep in a grassy meadow with flowers blooming all over the place, trying to sell laundry detergent. In our culture, sheep are given a pure and delightsome image and are made out to be idyllic, innocent, godly creatures. By the authority of my holy beehive hair and the sisterhood of the flashing breasticles, I’m here to bear my testimony to you, that nothing can be further from the truth. Sheep are not innocent! Sheep are not godly! Sheep are the most sinister, foul, obnoxious, disgusting creatures placed on this planet!

And the stench… ooohhhhh the stench!

When I was a young impressionable princess in training, many many facelifts ago, during the Cretaceous Period, growing up on the family farm in Idaho, (yes, I am an Ida-Homo) we had five thousand sheep. One of my chores was to help herd the disgusting recalcitrant sheep about two miles from the summer grazing pasture across some railroad tracks to a feedlot corral adjacent to our house. All the while I would sing softly to myself, “Pioneer drag queens sang as they walked and walked and walked…”

On one occasion as the “sweaters on the hoof” were crossing the train tracks, I noticed in the distance that a freight train was quickly approaching. I quickly tried to herd the “future gyros” off the tracks. Unfortunately, the approaching train was traveling very quickly, and it became readily apparent that I would not be able to get them all across before the train reached us.

As the train arrived, half of the herd was on the east side of the tracks and the other half was on the west side of the tracks. When the locomotive passed by, the engineer, probably trying to be

helpful, blew the loud horn as the train reached us. The sheep were frightened by the noise and movement of the train speeding between them. A couple of the sheep, in the fear and panic at the noise and confusion, could see between the passing train cars the other sheep on the far side of the tracks. They jumped right into the speeding train, trying to join the others on the far side of the track, to their untimely demise. Now let me tell you, there is one unbending and eternal truth about “mindless mutton monsters.”

SHEEP FOLLOW EACH OTHER! Despite my best efforts in attempting to shoo them to safety by waving my sequin-covered cape at them, in their panic and alarm, a large part of the herd began to follow the leaders, also jumping into the moving train, knocking me down and trampling me in the process. At this point, all I could do was curl up in the fetal position and try and cover my head with my arms and cape to attempt to protect me from their hooves. Here’s an F.Y.I. — sheep hooves are surprisingly sharp, especially when they use your body as a leaping-off point. And another F.Y.I. — in all the panic, ALL OF THE SHEEP SHIT! Blood and guts and sheep shit began to rain down upon me as lamb chops and woolen fleece began flying everywhere.

The noise of the passing train, my yelling, and the sheep screaming in fear and pain, the downpour of blood and guts was all just like in a movie. It was such a spectacle of bloody devastation and carnage that it could easily have given the opening scene in “Saving Private Ryan” a run for its money. There were body parts and guts hanging from the fences, and the weeds were drenched in blood.

The vomitous stench of sheep shit, blood, and guts was overpowering.

Despite my refined princess training, I hurled, and my lunch made an encore appearance (in a most delicate and refined way I’m sure). I believe that at least 150 sheep returned to the great

pasture in the sky that fateful day.

After the train had passed by, my father and grandfather, having witnessed the carnage from the far side of the field, sped in the pickup truck to the scene, crossing the fields, unsafely over ditches and burrow pits as quickly as possible, becoming airborne a couple of times and nearly breaking an axel in the process.

They found me lying in a puddle of blood, vomit, guts, and shit. After they determined that I was alive, and mostly in one piece, we gathered up the remaining living wooly wonders and, covered in blood and shit, herded them the rest of the way home. I’m pretty sure I looked like I was from The Walking Dead.

My grandfather, being a very practical man, called the radio station and asked them to announce that the residents of the county should bring knives, saws, and hatchets and come salvage some free meat. The scene resembled Blitzkrieg survivors searching for victims after a bombing raid. That was the last time we herded the sheep across the tracks. After that, we loaded them onto large sheep hauling trucks to make future journeys.

Like always, these events leave us with several eternal questions: 1. In memoriam or possibly revenge, should I only wear woolen dresses?

2. Is the wearing of sheep’s blood where I got my love of red lipstick?

3. Would it be proper to share this story every time someone talks about the lost sheep in church?

4. Should I have incorporated tasers into my breasticles to be able to stun the sheep?

5. Would it be acceptable to use the breasticle tasers on possible reluctant and evasive boyfriends?

6. What kind of perfume best covers sheep shit?

These and other important questions to be answered in future chapters of: The Perils of Petunia Pap-Smear Q

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