Metro - 2 - May 13, 2004

May 13 – 26 Volume 1 ■ Issue 2

Delegates Turn Backs on Matheson “Don’t amend” campaign protests at state convention

Idaho Dad Fighting for Custody Has his day before the state’s supreme court

Cycling Grannies Approach SLC Rainbow Ride brings attention to equal marriage rights

Homeless Gay Youth in Salt Lake The truth behind the numbers Sports Flag football the next craze?

Arts and Entertainment Plan B Theatre Co. presents SLAM! Community Calendar What’s going on today?

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News WORLD AND NATIONAL

Drag Queens Terrorize Six States A gang of marauding drag queens has embarked on a crime spree spanning five southern states and Michigan, according to a May 7 report appearing in the online newspaper 365gay.com.

Police in Birmingham, Ala. are investigating allegations that as many as a dozen drag queens have been targeting area car dealerships, distracting sales personnel and then driving off with some of the most expensive vehicles on the lots — including Cadillacs, BMWs and a Lexus.

At least a dozen vehicles have been recovered, often near drag pageant venues, but nearly 20 more are still unaccounted for. According to the report, some dealerships were unaware any thefts had occurred until after the cars were recovered. One car salesman was so smitten with the beautiful “woman” talking to him, he couldn’t later believe that she was actually a man. — BB

KANSAS CITY, MO POLICE DEPT

Gay Real World Star Arrested in Porn Theater Dan Renzi, star of the MTV series The Real World: Miami, found out that celebrating Cinco de Mayo with too much tequila and ending up in a porn theater is a bad combination.

Kansas City, Mo. police arrested Renzi for indecent exposure, alleging he was masturbating in the theater.

According to Renzi, police had ticketed several men before one of them recognized

him as a Real World personality. Renzi and another patron were then handcuffed and taken to jail. Renzi faces a maximum sentence of $500 and six months in jail.

Renzi says he is not embarrassed by the situation, but is concerned that his mother, who lives in the area, will likely be humiliated by the news coverage of her son. “People can say what they want about me, but they better not mess with [her],” Renzi said. – MA

Former Utah Bishop Weds Partner, Faces Sanctions Bishop Otis Charles, formerly of the Utah Episcopalian Diocese, was stripped of his license after his April 24 marriage to his partner Felipe Sanchez Paris.

According to a May 10th Associated Press story, California Episcopal Bishop Rev. William Swing did not revoke Charles’ license because of the church’s stance on samesex unions — the church in California has blessed such unions for years.

Rather, he revoked Charles’ license to officiate at church ceremonies because, according to him, the couple’s ceremony defied church protocol and had become “an altogether more public event than I had wanted.”

In a statement issued May 3, Swing wrote, “I read about [Charles’] actions at 8 a.m.

April 29, and by 9 a.m. I had informed him that his relationship with the Diocese of California had been severed.”

Charles countered that he had informed Swing of his plans and had followed the Episcopal church’s rules governing the blessing of same-sex unions. “It was done with the Bishop’s knowledge and according to his protocols,” he said.

Charles served as Utah’s Episcopal Bishop for fifteen years. He came out as gay after retiring in 1993. — JV

Theron McGriff (right) and his partner in front of the Idaho Supreme Court building. A county judge ruled that McGriff could not have visitation rights for his children as long as he is living with his “homosexual male partner.”

Idaho Dad Gets Day in Court

by Nicholas Rupp In April 2002, a Bonneville County, Idaho judge told Idaho Falls resident Theron McGriff that he could only have visitation rights for his two daughters if he “does not reside in the same house as his homosexual male partner.” Judge Mark Riddoch granted full custody of the girls to McGriff’s ex-wife, Shawn Weingartner, though the couple’s original divorce decree indicated the two would share custody equally.

McGriff appealed Riddoch’s decision to the Idaho Supreme Court, and on May 3 McGriff and Weingartner’s respective attorneys each had 30 minutes to present their cases to the state’s highest court. A decision is expected in about six months.

The conflict between the two parents began when Weingartner filed a petition in December 2000 to modify their then three year-old divorce and custody agreement after McGriff’s partner moved in with McGriff the previous month. Weingartner’s petition asked the court to grant her full custody because “events have occurred with respect to [McGriff’s] intimate relationship with a person of the same sex.”

Over the next 16 months, McGriff met with counselors and a court-selected custody evaluator observed and analyzed his relationship with his daughters. McGriff’s partner had to undergo psychological evaluation as well, something McGriff points out that his ex-wife’s husband did not have to do.

According to McGriff, the evaluator’s final report determined that the court should make no changes to the original custody agreement. “[The evaluator] said I was the more nurturing parent and called me ‘Mr. Mom,’” McGriff said in a phone interview with Salt Lake Metro.

Regardless, Judge Riddoch determined that McGriff’s equal custody would be terminated and his visitation would hinge on his living arrangement with his partner. Despite what McGriff calls “overwhelming” testimony about his parenting skills from a variety of witnesses, he says, “Riddoch made up his mind before he came into court. He didn’t listen to the evidence or to the testimony. He didn’t say one good thing about me as a par-

ent. In his judgment he pointed out that he made his decision because I was insensitive to being gay in a conservative community and the affect it would have on the girls.”

Weingartner’s attorney argued the conflict was not about McGriff’s sexual orientation itself, but rather about McGriff’s unwillingness to cooperate with Weingartner in discussing his sexuality with the kids.

Idaho Supreme Court justices, however, seemed to disagree. The Associated Press reported that Justice Wayne Kidwell told the court, “The only thing I can find here are several allegations with regard to an intimate relationship with the same sex.” Chief Justice Linda Copple Trout mentioned that the girls, who are now 13 and 9, already know their father is gay.

“I’m in it for my kids, period, but this is the first case in Idaho to be appealed,” McGriff said. “I’ve gotten emails from people all over the country who are in this same boat and are waiting to see what happens.”

McGriff‘s partner of seven years, who has remained relatively anonymous in public, is emotionally and financially supportive of the battle. “It was devastating for both of us when we lost custody,” McGriff said. “He borrowed against his car loan, against his retirement, to help pay legal bills. His family is wonderful, too. They treat the girls like their own grandchildren.”

McGriff says his daughters just want to be with their dad. They are aware of the legal battle and the media attention around it, and they were included in the decisionmaking process. “They’re stressed about the outcome like the rest of us,” McGriff said, “but my older daughter said I didn’t have a choice — I had to appeal.”

McGriff and his partner didn’t expect the media attention at this level, so they initially just warned the girls about the financial ramifications of appealing. “I explained that our lifestyle would have to change because it would be very expensive to appeal. My younger daughter didn’t say anything but ran off. She came back a few minutes later with her piggy bank of $8 and told me to use that, too.”

Theron McGriff ’s website is IdahoDad.org.

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LOCAL AND REGIONAL

Publisher Michael Aaron Editor Brandon Burt

WILLIAM H. MUNK

Events Editor Greg Harrison

Gay and lesbian Democratic delegates turn their back on Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT) as he speaks before the Democratic state convention. Rep. Jackie Biskupski joins the protest (inset).

by Ryan Oliver Hansen The 3,000 attendees at last weekend’s Utah State Democratic Convention were likely left with a strong impression from Utah’s gay community — largely due to efforts of the Utah Stonewall Democrats.

The pivotal moment of the conference came Saturday when members of the Utah Stonewall Democrats stood up and turned their backs to Utah Congressman Jim Matheson during his convention address.

Matheson is in favor of amending the U.S. Constitution to forbid same-sex unions, during his convention address.

Another large-scale message came from the “don’t amend” campaign, created to stop the Utah Constitution from being amended to prohibit same-sex unions. Under the direction of Scott McCoy, the campaign’s manager, thousands of stickers touting “don’t amend” were distributed throughout the convention.

“I’d say at least 99 percent of the people at the conference were wearing ‘don’t amend’ stickers,” said Megan Risbon of Young Democrats of Utah.

The Democratic Party is, for the most part, gay friendly. Nationally, presidential candidate John Kerry opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment and supports civil unions.

Popular comedienne Margaret Cho has launched an anti-FMA campaign through the Democratic National Committee.

In Utah, Rep. Jackie Biskupski has been elected to three terms in the state legislature as a vocal gay legislator. Other Utah Democratic legislators, such as Sen. Patrice Arent and Rep. David Litvack have shown support for the gay community.

But not all Democrats are supportive of gay rights or of gay marriage. Matheson in particular has yet to win the hearts of his gay constituents. “I define marriage between a man and a woman. I support President Clinton’s Defense of Marriage Act. That’s where I stand on that issue,” said Matheson. “I’ve shown my understanding of the gay community in support for hate crimes legislation.”

Matheson addressed the Stonewall Caucus and said “I don’t know” more than once when it came to answering their questions.

Luci Malin of North Salt Lake attended the Stonewall Caucus and confronted Matheson with a concern. “I don’t get how a marriage between me and my partner would be a threat to you and your wife,” said Malin, who described Matheson’s

response as a non-verbal “shrug.”

When asked if he supports civil unions in lieu of gay marriage, Matheson replied “I don’t know what ‘civil unions’ means.

I am open to legal protections such as asset distribution and health coverage — those types of things.”

While Jim Matheson has yet to jump onto the gay-rights bandwagon, his brother, gubernatorial candidate Scott Matheson, seems interested in gaining a gay-friendly reputation. Adam G. Bass, a leader in the “Don’t Amend” campaign, reported, “Scott is really interested in our issues. He’s completely on our side on hate crime and non-discrimination issues. The gentlemen that I sat and spoke with last night was an ally to our community.”

Still, Scott Matheson has yet to come out fully against the state constitutional amendment. Although he appeased the Stonewall Caucus with statements like “It’s so important to bring inclusiveness back into state government,” mentioning “concerns” about the amendment, he did not reject it outright.

When asked to give a definitive yes or no answer on the topic, Scott Matheson replied,

MICHAEL AARON

Gay Caucus Turns Its Back on Matheson “I’ve said what I’m saying at this point.”

Paul Van Dam, candidate for the U.S. Senate, was more definitive when it came to addressing gay issues. “I’m not homophobic even though I was born here and I grew up here. I don’t support changing the state constitution. Your cause is my cause,” he told the Stonewall Caucus.

Chris Ferguson, an openly gay candidate, did not receive the party’s nomination for the House District 25 race. This, after a long effort of personally visiting delegates at their homes instead of making phone calls, hasn’t Chris Ferguson, openly discouraged Ferguson.

“I was received very gay House candidate well by the delegates at the convention,” said Ferguson. “They were supportive of me as a gay candidate. There were people of Utah’s dominant religion who had concerns, but they still supported me in what I was doing. I will absolutely be running again.”

Republicans Back Huntsman, Karras

by William Todd Park Republicans from across the state converged May 8 on the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy to nominate candidates for key offices and to elect delegates for the national convention. Delegates also decided on a number of resolutions written to refine the 2004 party platform.

Campaign signs, balloons, and streamers littered the entrance to the main assembly hall. Wandering the exhibition floor, enthusiastic supporters sporting buttons, signs and other trinkets set upon anyone not bearing their candidate’s trappings. Candidates spent the day shaking hands and garnering last minute support from the more than 3,500 delegates in attendance.

Jon Huntsman, Jr. and Nolan Karras emerged from a field of eight gubernatorial candidates. The two will face off at the primary election, slated for June 22. Scott Matheson, Jr., the Democratic nominee will meet the winner of that race in November.

Incumbent Governor Olene Walker went into the convention leading the polls, but was eliminated in the sixth round of instant run-off balloting. Signing legislation that

returned seized assets to law enforcement agencies attracted the ire of many Utahns, but her recent veto of the Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship revealed a vulnerability in the emotionally-charged education issue that the other seven gubernatorial candidates exploited. Her fate was sealed by her moderate views, which ended up being a liability as delegates chose more conservative candidates.

Tim Bridgewater and John Swallow will battle it out in the June primary to face incumbent Democrat Congressman Jim Matheson for the 2nd Congressional District, and Chris Cannon will defend his 3rd District seat against opponent Matt Throckmorton, a former state legislator.

Remarks by Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Chris Cannon were informal and encouraging, making perfunctory jokes at their counterparts across the political aisle. Their tone resembled a pep rally at times. Contrasting their easy style, Sen. Bob Bennett extolled the Republican spirit, painting the GOP as the party of “tolerance, confidence, and optimism,” while speaking out directly against the Democrats as having “only three things to offer: hatred, fear, and pessimism.”

Sports Editor David Nelson Contributing Writers Scott Abbott Brandie Balken Lee Beckstead Janice Eberhardt Jace Garfield Ryan Oliver Hansen Ann Hess Beau Jarvis Lynette Malmstrom Laurie Mecham LaDonna Moore Sally Neilson William T. Park Scott Perry Nicholas Rupp Mandy Q. Racer Ruby Ridge Jim Struve JoSelle Vanderhooft Photographers Lucy Juarez William H. Munk Jim Ollett Proofreader Nicholas Rupp Art Director Michael Aaron Graphic Designer Kris Kramer Marketing and Public Relations Director Chad Keller Sales Director and Office Manager Steven Peterson Sales Executives Jill Brooks Jeff McElhiney Bob Tubbs Distribution Chad Keller, Director Courtney Moser, Northern Utah Copyright © 2004 Salt Lake Metro.

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Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the publishers or staff.

Salt Lake Metro is published bi-weekly on alternating Thursdays by

Metro Publishing, Inc. 352 S. Denver Street, Suite 350 Salt Lake City, UT 84111 (801) 323-0727 Fax: (801) 323-9986 MAY 13, 2004

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LOCAL AND REGIONAL NEWS

Lesbian Grandmas Cycling Cross-Country Fourteen days and a mere 800 miles into their cross-country cycling trip, the bicycling lesbian grandmas, Carrie and Elisia Ross-Stone, Carrie and Elisia Ross-Stone will stop will arrive in in Salt Lake on their cross-country tour.

Salt Lake City, kicking off a weekend of events sponsored by the Salt Lake Metro.

This is the Ross-Stones’ second Rainbow Ride Across America. The ride is described by their website (RainbowLaw.com) as an “awareness campaign designed to educate and inform America about the injustice and harm caused to gay and lesbian families when they are denied equal protections under the law.”

The Ross-Stones’ first Rainbow Ride, from Florida to California in 2003, racked up 3,100 miles worth of visibility for gay and lesbian Americans. This year’s 3,800 mile trip will span the country from San Francisco to Rehoboth Beach, Del., and exists as a protest against the proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

The Ross-Stones will arrive Friday, May 14 at the Salt Lake City and County Building at 451 S. State Street. A 4:30 p.m. rally is planned and Mayor Rocky Anderson is expected to welcome the pair. The public may meet the Ross-Stones 9:00 p.m. Friday at the Paper Moon, 3737 S. State, at a fundraiser reception.

A panel discussion about equal civil marriage rights will take place at the An-

derson-Foothill branch of the city library, 1135 S. 2100 East., at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 15. Presenters will include the RossStones and Scott McCoy of Equality Utah.

A nondenominational sunrise sendoff and chuck-wagon breakfast 8:00 a.m. at the City Creek pavilion on east Bonneville Blvd. (at the upper end of B Street in the avenues) will mark the end of the Ross-Stones’ visit Sunday morning. Local cyclists will gather to escort the Ross-Stones out of the city.

For further information, call the Salt Lake Metro offices at (801) 323-0727. — MQR

Center: Search for New Director Is On The Executive Director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Center of Utah is among the most influential people in Utah’s gay and lesbian community, according to Tami Marquardt, the Center’s interim executive director.

The search for a replacement for Paula Wolfe, who left the Center last month, ensues.

“We’re seeking a strong leader who would be a good representative of the gay and lesbian community Interim Executive Director to the public,” said Tami Marquardt Marquardt, adding that the role of executive director includes establishing peace among diverse groups in Utah.

Kent Frogley, vice president of the Center’s board of directors, says that the new executive director must have a strong sense of outreach into the gay and lesbian community and the ability to create programs that reflect the challenges facing members of that community.

“The new executive director will be looking to create new programs and maintain existing programs, such as our anti-smoking efforts and youth drop-in center, that help meet the needs of the community,” said Frogley.

Qualifications for the position include previous managerial or executive-level experience, strong oral and written communication skills, experience in diversity, proven record of effective fundraising and a willingness to travel.

The new director will fill the position just a few months before Utahns vote on an anti-gay marriage state constitutional amendment. However, Frogley says that politics is not their top priority.

“We want someone who will be a part of the conversations on state and national political issues, but they’ll be more focused on local community efforts,” Frogley said.

“Equality Utah is fulfilling the political roles — we look for ways to partner with them when it comes to political issues.”

Although the search is global, the new director needs to have an understanding of local issues facing gay people, according to Frogley. There are some local people he said could perform well for the Center.

“The prevalence of the Mormon Church is something [the new director will] need to understand and be aware of,” says Frogley.

The director position is expected to be filled in mid-to-late summer. Those interested in applying for the position can find online applications at glccu.com. — ROH

Center: Resources Limited for Homeless Gay Youth

by Amy Ruttinger-Jones A rumored statistic has been circulating that half of homeless youth are gay. Melinda “bob” Maureen, director of youth programs at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Utah, disputes the accuracy of the rumor. “The statistic is made up,” Maureen said. “There is no way to track that statistic accurately.”

However, reality may not be far from the rumor. According to a report issued by the

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Child Welfare League of America, “twentyfive to forty percent of youth who become homeless each year are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.”

Missy Larsen, homeless youth policy coordinator for the Center, says that this statistic holds true for Utah. “We fit the national average,” said Larsen. When gay and lesbian young people come out, they are often thrown out of the house by parents who don’t accept their sexuality — dooming them to a degrading life of drug abuse and prostitution.

Often, homeless gay kids turn for help to the Homeless Youth Resource Center, run by a nonprofit volunteer group. Volunteers at the HYRC have only eight hours to provide assistance before they are required by law to report homeless kids as runaways to local law-enforcement agencies.

This law severely limits the services available to help homeless youth. “If you only have eight hours to report a youth to the authorities, you have no way to build a rapport with them,” said Larsen. After a young person’s eight hours are up, he or she is not allowed back.

Many are forced to a life on the streets, and much of the time they end up on drugs.

“Most kids on the street do methamphetamines not because they want to do drugs, but to stay awake so they won’t be raped or

beaten,” said Larsen. “Youth use methamphetamines to keep warm in the winter and heroin in the summer to keep cool.”

Once kids end up on the street, they are often forced to prostitute themselves. “Homeless youth have sex for survival,” said Maureen.

Jeremy VanWagonen, a young gay man, came out to his parents when he was fifteen. When his parents insisted he leave home, he stayed in a number of houses “couch surfing” for six or seven months. He lied about his age because he did not want people to know how young he was.

In the first house VanWagonen stayed, there were always parties. “I drank to fit in,” he said. He had a difficult time paying rent, and his options were limited. “It’s really hard for a fifteen year-old to find a job,” said VanWagonen. “I was also pressured to have sex.”

Eventually, school authorities started calling his parents wondering why Jeremy wasn’t coming to school: “The school was talking to my mom and my mom was calling me saying, ‘If you don’t get back to school we are going to be in trouble.’”

VanWagonen didn’t want to go back to school because after coming out he had been receiving a lot of harassment from his peers. In order to solve his attendance problem, VanWagonen’s parents agreed to let him enroll in an alternative high school.

After that, VanWagonen went back to high

Leathermen Elect Officers Wasatch Leathermen’s Association (WLA) elected new officers, declared a new home, and announced the annual Blue Alley Fair at a general meeting May 2. The new leaders hope that through all this the organization can be revitalized and resume its “leadership role for Utah’s gay leather community.”

Officers elected include Tracy Tingey, president; Jay H., vice president; Jeff MacKay, secretary; Gary H., treasurer; and Darin O., historian.

Blue Alley Fair was started several years ago in the alley and parking areas around Club Blue. The bar was shut down last year by the Utah Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control for alleged violations during a private party. The fair has since moved to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center and will take place the weekend of September 18.

“Blue Alley Fair brings together vendors of leather and fetish goods, with informative presentations about leather and BDSM in a casual setting that encourages participation from and interaction with the inexperienced and expert,” said Tingey. “The Mr. Salt Lake Leather contest is held during Blue Alley Fair.

The winner goes on to represent Utah at the International Mr. Leather contest in Chicago.”

The group announced Club 161 as their new home bar, where new members are encouraged to join through “meet and greet” events on the first Sunday of each month at 10:00 p.m.

WLA is an affiliate of the Center, founded in 2001 for men interested in the leather lifestyle. According to its bylaws, it is “founded upon the principles of Brotherhood, Pride, Respect, and Service. It exists to facilitate the individual growth of its members; to foster a better understanding of the lifestyle; to teach safe, sane, and consensual sexuality; and to enhance the community through charitable events.” — MA school and to living with his parents. In spite of the difficulties he faced — dealing with his father’s homophobic views and with continued harassment from neighborhood peers — VanWagonen managed to graduate.

Unlike VanWagonen however, many kids are unable to break out of their desperate situations. The Child Welfare League reports that of America’s 500,000 gay homeless kids, 13 die every day on average.

“It is imperative that we examine how gay youth become homeless in the first place,” said Maureen. “The problem is institutionalized homophobia and the stigmatization of homosexuality.”

“These kids are our future,” added Larsen.

“These are the kids that are going to end up taking care of us in forty years. If we don’t do something to help them and to mentor them along, we are doing this country a grave disservice. The state needs to pay attention to the fact that we have homeless kids and people in our community have the ability to really be proactive. Instead of taking these kids in when we know they are a runaway, we need to give them the services they need to make it on their own.”

Larsen wants to change the shelter policies to at least 48 hours to report a runaway. Another idea she shared is to bring in social workers to work with the youth and the family, to educate the family on what is happening to the youth out on the streets and then to see if there is another place the youth can stay.

LUCY JUAREZ

The Salt Lake Hardware Building was decked out in lights, balloons, stars and banners for the first Queer Prom.

Queer Kids Dance the Night Away at Prom

by Jace Garfield Utah’s first ever Queer Prom was held May 1 in Salt Lake City. This event was sponsored by the Youth Activities Center, a program sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Utah.

Hundreds of students, queer and straight, attended the prom. Like most proms, it was a veritable fashion show. Hung lights, candles, flowers and a rainbow disco ball helped make an old warehouse seem like a ballroom.

A young couple in tuxedos kissing was oblivious to the balloons falling around them while sweethearts were laughing together at a table with friends in between dances.

Chaperones served up ample pink punch.

Some have questioned why it is necessary to have a gay prom, thinking it discriminatory and exclusive. However, heterosexual teens have never had to begin a legal battle just to participate in their prom like gay teens have.

Heather Johnston is one such person. A student at Murray High School, she had to involve the ACLU to win the right to walk in the promenade at her school prom with her same-sex date. Then, when she won the legal battle, her date’s parents decided their daughter could not attend. In the end, a straight female friend agreed to be Johnston’s date to the prom so that her legal efforts would not be wasted.

Heather and her date were received warmly at their prom. Students even applauded them as they walked down the promenade staircase together.

Other students who have brought same-sex dates to their proms have not fared as well.

They have had to endure harsh comments and ridicule — or worse — from their peers.

One couple at the Queer Prom had gone to a local high school junior prom earlier in the year. Their fellow classmates harassed them as they danced together.

At the Queer Prom, they expressed a great appreciation for the opportunity to dance with each other in a safe place “and not get stupid comments.”

Janet Christensen, a local schoolteacher, recognizes how difficult it can be for gay and lesbian kids to be accepted in their schools. “Queer Prom is a great opportunity to bring cultures together,” said Christensen. “We really need this.”

Christensen went on to express how wonderful it was that both gay and straight students could share this time together. Approximately half of the nearly 400 students in attendance were heterosexual couples who were there to support their gay friends and to have a good time.

“Queer Prom is the best night of the year.

I’d pick this over senior prom any day,” said one “straight-but-not-narrow” student.

Melinda “bob” Maureen, Youth Activities Center director, said that Queer Prom will continue “every year until every high school has a Gay-Straight Alliance and every kid can feel safe going to their own prom.”

Utah Students Suspended for Wearing “Queers Kick Ash” T-Shirts Two Hillcrest High School students were suspended May 6 for wearing T-shirts bearing the words “Queers Kick Ash.” David Breene, vice principal at Hillcrest, forced the students to choose between suspension and going home to change. According to the students, they chose suspension because they felt they had done nothing to violate school policy.

After examining the school’s dress code policy, American Civil Liberties Union lawyers sided with the students. The school’s dress code states that “items that bear advertising, promotions, and likenesses of alcohol, tobacco or drugs, or which are contrary to the educational mission, shall not be allowed.”

The T-shirt slogan promotes a youth antismoking program sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Utah. Since the T-shirts were not displaying a message endorsing the use of tobacco or using the term “queer” in a derogatory way, the students say they were within their rights to wear them. According to the students, Breene also threatened to shut down the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance club. Breene had not returned calls from Salt Lake Metro at press time.

Last year thousands of Utah students participated in the “Truth From Youth” anti-tobacco campaign. Other schoolsponsored activities reward students for not smoking. — JG MAY 13, 2004

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Opinion

Personal Sacrifice Many people and organizations are grappling with ways in which they can best serve the gay and lesbian movement during this latest battle for our rights. Some men and women are moving back from larger and more liberal cities to help pick up the banner in their hometowns. Groups are hiring additional staff, renting larger spaces and soliciting armies of volunteers in preparation for this summer’s fight. Students are brazenly defying dress codes with pro-gay T-shirts.

Carrie and Elisia Ross-Stone are two grandmothers who have found a unique and awe-inspiring way to make a difference: The women are forfeiting their spring and summer to bike across the country in an attempt to bring attention to the need for “equal civil marriage rights for samesex couples.” The lesbian couple are taking their anger at the national and local constitutional amendments out on the road to create something positive: awareness, education and personal change.

Such sacrifice is to be heartily commended. The grueling summer heat, the continental divide and seemingly endless deserts of Nevada and Utah and equally endless

plains of the Midwest are enough to keep most sane people from even contemplating such a trip.

But it’s the “unenlightened masses” — many people living in areas across the country without visible gay communties — who present the couple their most daunting challenge. On a “test run” from Florida to San Francisco earlier this year, the duo ran across people and situations that made them fear for their safety.

Carrie says the struggle for equal civil marriage rights is a grassroots effort. “It is instigated by ordinary, everyday lesbian and gay couples, like us, who want to participate in the American dream,” she stated. “We do not have a choice but to do something extraordinary to defeat the pending constitutional amendment [banning same-sex marriage]. Doing nothing is not an option,” she said.

We applaud the couple’s efforts, their bravery and their sheer tenacity. They are role models who demonstrate what can be done with a bit of imagination and a willingness to put personal lives aside for the betterment of the country.

From the Editor Moral Credibility

by Brandon Burt When the photos of American soldiers’ blatant abuse of Iraqi prisoners began making the rounds early this month, Muslim and gay rights leaders alike blasted the U.S. military’s use of gay sex as a mechanism of torture.

Some of the prisoners were made to simulate oral and anal intercourse with each other while American and British troops looked on, laughing. This was done to humiliate the prisoners, apparently because — to some members of the U.S. military — there’s nothing quite so demeaning as gay sex.

It may be possible to read too much into this aspect of the abuse scandal, however.

There were all kinds of stupid, cruel and horrifying things going on in the Abu Ghraib prison, and if one thing can be said it’s that the soldiers were not only fiendish for allowing those things to happen in the first place, but also idiots for allowing them to be captured on film.

Through their actions the soldiers have severely damaged any moral credibility the U.S. and Britain may have had regarding the Iraq invasion. We went into that country with the intent to remake it, to bring civilization and democracy to the region. While this presupposed a moral authority the rest of the world doubted we possessed, we’ve now removed all doubt.

Like many Americans, I opposed — and continue to oppose — the Iraq war. At its inception, it was all too obvious that President Bush was not only capitalizing on the nation’s post-9/11 fears for his own political purposes, but was either unable to foresee the catastrophic global effects the war could have, or just didn’t care about them.

Since then, he has never given us any reason to believe otherwise. At every turn, Bush has used the war to bring financial and political rewards to his cronies, while going out of his way to ignore the very real human cost the war has incurred. Dead American soldiers? They don’t exist, much less dead Iraqis. Rich Halliburton stockholders? Now, they exist.

What I never anticipated was the breathtakingly cynical way with which this administration would simply brush aside all criticism. Bush makes no pretense of justifying his actions, except in the most jingoistic ways — as if he’s decided that simpleminded messages are the ones that resonate most with the American people.

In the past, spirited public debate has been the mechanism through which this country has arrived at some approximation of the truth. We’ve got two political parties — they battle fiercely, hammering out a solution until whatever’s left at the end of the day must have something to do with reality.

This is no longer the case — those in the halls of power no longer bother to engage the opposition in any meaningful argument. They’ve discovered that a good portion of their constituency simply feels more comfortable when its leaders stay “on message” — parroting the same empty slogans again and again with no regard for reality or even plausibility.

If Bush is right — if it’s true that this country’s citizens are not interested in the possession of truth, but would rather have the kind of moral certitude that stems from the illusions of arrogance — then what’s to become of this country?

We’ll succumb to our role as the world’s policeman, further depleting our resources and so dividing our military might that we will, eventually, fail. It happens to every empire: The world is simply too big and complicated a place to rule with a single, iron fist.

The images coming out of Iraq show that the U.S. military is not, by sheer virtue of its American-ness, the morally infallible organization supporters of U.S. hegemony would have us believe. It is only as good as its commanding officers, chief among whom is a man who does not seem to be able to tell the difference between right and wrong.

We have not lost our way, however murky the guiding light of our leadership has become. The American people have encountered dark days in the past and have, eventually, redeemed ourselves by making the right decision.

May it be so again this November.

www.womyn4women.com 801.268.6487

A monthly magazine for lesbians and their friends in Utah and beyond!

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Please send payment by check or money order to: Womyn 4 Women P.O. Box 575708 Salt Lake City, UT 84157-5708 Pansy Power: “We’re tougher than we look!”

Letters Plant Snobbery Editor: I was recently handed a copy of your publication by a friend. First and foremost, let me say bravo! Your paper is a welcome addition to our community.

I skimmed quickly through the paper and read everything by Ryan Oliver Hansen.

He’s such a cute and quirky boy and his writing delights me. As I progressed further into your paper, I was very impressed by the caliber and thoughtful writing of your contributors and staff writers. Congratulations on pulling together an amazing team.

This alone speaks volumes for the future of your “rag.”

I was thrilled to see an A&E section — everything from actors to vino and all that comes between. (By the way, Beau Jarvis had me at hello!) Which brings me to my real motivation for writing this letter: Brandie Balken’s gardening column with the headline “Wait for It.” Although I am sure that Brandie had the best environmental intentions in discouraging water-thirsty plants, her tone in so doing, albeit sarcastic, smacks of plant snobbery!

I plant columbines and sempervivum, but also petunias, pansies, and most especially bluegrass. There is nothing in my garden that pleases my dogs or me more than our patch of lawn. The simple pleasure of rolling on her back on the lawn in a stinky pile of worms is one of the last and greatest joys of my 14 year-old dog’s life.

I’ll be the first to admit that my lawn is larger than it should be — and yes, it does drink more water than my flowerbeds — but gosh darn it, this is America! I may not be free to marry but I am free to garden, and I’ll keep on gardening my way regardless of the approval of others.

By the way, Brandie Balken, I’m also free to keep reading your column — which, like it or not, I intend to do.

Again, well done on the premiere of your immensely stimulating and thoroughly enjoyable publication. Long live Salt Lake Metro!

Charlie Ward Salt Lake City

Great Vibes Flow at 161 Editor: After reading the Ruby Ridge’s column “True Blue” in the April 29 issue about the new Club 161, we would like to offer another point of view.

We are very pleased that the owners of Club 161 recognized the need for a bar where masculine men can socialize and enjoy each other’s company. We have felt welcomed by the owners of the club. Yes, they are straight, but they are really cool guys who are just as interested in their customers having a good time as the next businessman — gay or straight. (All businesses exist by making money. Are we to only spend money at gay-owned businesses?)

These guys have made an effort to get to know us and ask us for suggestions, many of which were implemented for their grand opening last week. The owners have made some great changes, many of the ideas their own. Club 161 was opened in time for LDS General Conference weekend, and

was simply not finished before this paper reviewed it.

The club’s grand opening was a celebration of men, a reunion of sorts for those who seek the company of other men without the intrusion of noisy dance crowds, costume parties, and massive “attitude.” Great vibes flowed throughout the bar.

It appeared as if everyone was having a great time and I didn’t see the standard exodus to “find the hot crowd” at other bars. (As we all know, barhopping can be a trait of gay bar customers.) The club has maintained its funky jukebox, which gives everyone the opportunity to play the tunes they want to hear. This is lacking with a D.J. who drives the mood, beat, and volume of the music.

Imagine actually being able to carry on a conversation without shouting.

The club has hired a gay bartender, an addition that has pleased many customers, although I personally enjoyed getting to know the straight bartenders. We want to be understood and accepted by the straight world, yet some would rather we live our lives in isolation, away from the mainstream. Could it be said that some gay people can’t be comfortable around straight people? Having lived in Aspen, Colorado during the summer months for over twenty years, I was always pleased to see gays and straights socialize side by side.

There were no gay bars. They were mixed and it was not a big deal.

Club 161 does serve a similar niche as Club Blue did, but it’s different. It’s a lowkey place where masculine guys (but not to the point of exclusivity) can go catch up with friends. If you are looking for a club with a masculine clientele, but little attitude, this place might be for you.

Greg Geilmann and Jim Otto Salt Lake City

Where’s the Eros?

Editor: Can we say “screwed?” Well, that’s what happened to the gay and lesbian community regarding the hiring of Blythe Nobleman and the budget firing of her as well. In reality, Mayor Rocky Anderson hired Blythe to appease and get the votes of the gay and lesbian community — that’s all! It was all for show to get their vote, which he did.

Now, according to the proposed new budget presented by Anderson which was published in The Salt Lake Tribune May 5, Blythe’s job isn’t necessary anymore. So tell me: If her job isn’t necessary now, why was it before the election?

Mark Swonson Salt Lake City

Letters to the Editor Salt Lake Metro welcomes letters from our readers.

Write us at: Salt Lake Metro 352 S. Denver Street Ste. 350 Salt Lake City, UT 84111 or email letters@slmetro.com.

Salt Lake Metro reserves the right to edit for clarity and brevity. Letters under 300 words are given preference. True, full name, address and phone number must be included for verification purposes.

MAY 13, 2004

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AberRant Meat the Candidates

by Laurie Mecham Okee doke, let me see if I have this right: We have a pre-emptive war in Iraq started by a president we really didn’t elect.

We have innocent American soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians being wounded and dying over there. We have illegally-detained POWs being abused and tortured by our very young soldiers in prison camps. Check.

Now, locally we have Rep. Rob Bishop still in the pocket of the NRA and we have Envirocare — let us stop and examine the name. Enviro, as in “environment,” as in nature and beauty and clean air and water and sunshine and butterflies; then care, as in “by saying this word maybe somebody will believe that we actually give a rat’s ass about the aforementioned enviro.” So, we have Envirocare playing clever word games in order to accept hotter and more lucrative stores of radioactive waste in rural Utah, where no one important drinks the groundwater and they’re probably inbred out there anyway, so who’s to say it’s our fault if there are birth defects. You don’t get those in our gated communities, so why

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don’t you get a real job with big money and then maybe you’d matter more?

We are closing schools in the east Jordan district, although schools on the west side of the district are overcrowded. Granite School District just voted to axe 19 teachers (see “overcrowded.”) A 2003 study by the Food Research and Action Center shows that Utah ranks third worst in the nation in providing a school breakfast to low-income children. The Utah Legislature’s response?

Bow once again to the Eagle Forum and shoot down the school breakfast bill. Hey, low income kids! Your school breakfast is toast! Bwah hah hah!

Locally and nationally we have our only “Democratic” Rep. Jim Matheson siding with hopelessly out-of-touch-with-reality Chris Cannon and against philosophicallyout-of-touch-with-reality-but–at-least-rational-on-this-issue Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett on Whether We Should Amend the Constitution by God to Make Our Disgust Toward Homos Official.

Yeah, I got yer church and state swingin’, pal.

The upcoming November election will find almost everyone who makes policy in Utah up for reelection, as in: • U.S. President and Vice President • Utah’s three congressional seats • One U.S. Senate seat

• Utah’s governor and lieutenant governor • All 75 state house seats • Fifteen of 29 state senate seats • and more!

There is a lot going on. There is a lot for us to think about and to discuss, and a ton of issues on which to educate others.

People are getting steamed. People are speaking out. People are writing letters to the editor.

And what is the hot issue that has at last gotten the most reluctant activists to finally dig the Doritos grit out from under their fingernails, find a piece of paper, plop down on their butts and articulate their worries, fears and passions in letters to all of Utah’s editors? Is it the war? The economy? Violence?

Crappy schools? Mike Leavitt grinning and whirling and protecting environmentallychallenged businesses?

Nope. It’s Utah’s shrine of family valuables, Our Lady of the Bargain Meal for those who don’t drink alcohol so let’s eat instead, Utah’s Holy of Holies: Chuck-A-Rama.

I mean, war is good or bad or whatever, and there will probably be consequences eventually because of the environment, yada yada, but some human drama went down at Chuck-A-Rama. This guy was either (a) an Atkins-fanatic crazed meateating machine, or (2) Mr. Everyman who should get all he can handle at a pay-oneprice-to-gorge buffet.

He had consumed 12 servings of roast beef, which is either (1) unfair to humanity and all the little children holding empty plates and pleading, “More roast beef, please sir!” and the poor restaurant who doesn’t ever want to run out of any menu item because of one boorish customer, or (second) nobody’s damn business because when I pay $6.99 for an endless buffet, by God, I’ll eat whatever the hell I want.

So, the restaurant manager cut him off and the patron was offended and it ended up with the police (!) escorting the man and his wife from the premises — as if being rounded up and driven off by cops ever feels like anything close to an “escort,” but anyway.

Personally, I think that good business etiquette would be that if an event occurs that is deemed a problem, the business should take measures to ensure that the problem will not happen again. It is silly for people to get all up in each other’s faces. But what is really silly and sad and frightening and waaay more important is that this is the issue that has elicited so much energy from

the public, so much media attention and airtime and newspaper space.

Before Chuck-A-Rama was ever the subject of anything more than the usual disparaging jokes, I was extraordinarily concerned about this upcoming election.

I have voter registration forms in my car, and I approach youngish groups of people sitting outside the coffee shop or café or whatever and I ask, “Hey, are you all registered to vote? I have forms right here.”

They either say, “Yes,” or they say, “What’s the point of voting in Utah?” I hand them a flier and tell them about how the Utah Constitution has never been amended but could be this year, and it will only require a majority vote, so if more of them vote than us, we’re skee-rewed. Not to mention the above-listed slate of candidates, a number of whom won their races by extremely narrow margins.

Maybe the way to focus the public’s attention is to build coalitions. Candidates need to add an all-you-can-eat-buffet plank to their platforms. Opposing candidates could campaign on the other point of view: “Utah.

Ready for Low-Carb Leadership.”

Nah, never mind. The people whose focus is on the Great Buffet Debate are the people whom I hope don’t vote. After all, you can send off a letter to the editor without ever having to put on a pair of pants, whereas going to the polls to cast a vote requires a bit more effort and hopefully, more thought.

So call me crazy. I am praying that all of you who read this column have some degree of outrage, some concern and some energy. I hope that you will write to your representatives and talk to the candidates and register your friends and progressive strangers to vote and that you will write informative, persuasive, beautiful letters to the editor.

But I hope that the effort that you put forth will be about any single thing, anything at all that matters to our children and our families and our grandmas and the bunnies and the rivers. I wish all lowcarb dieters every success in meeting their goals, and I wish Chuck-A-Rama well in feeding people and running a business and all, but people, please!

God help us with our waistlines and our restaurant bills and our families and our rights, but most of all, God help us sort out our priorities.

Laurie Mecham’s mom is a better cook than your mom.

Ruby Ridge Living Cocktails & Politics

by Ruby Ridge Well, muffins, I have to tell you all what a marvelous time I had at the Salt Lake Metro launch party a few weeks back.

The suites at the Hotel Monaco were just packed to the rafters with gay glitterati, well-wishers, and the obligatory open-bar party whores. It was like a petri dish with house music, darlings … I loved it!

It was really great (and rare) to see people I adore like Auntie De’, Ben Williams, and some of the real living treasures of our community out and about. After a while, though, the conversations around the room degenerated into the usual: who’s banged who, who’s banged the twins, who’s rented for the evening, and the sort of gossipy trivia that only has substance over a cocktail napkin, hors d’oeuvres, and several vodka appletinis.

Knowing my adult-onset attention deficit disorder was starting to kick in, I quietly exited for some “me” time and some fresh air — which was ironic really because I ran smack dab into the smoking lounge. (All right, it was a granite planter box on Main Street.) There I found the most fascinating bunch of social refugees I have met in a long while.

And what a rainbow coalition it was: people running the gamut from heterosexual women to gay men to drunken lesbians.

Over the next hour or so we discussed everything from publishing to politics, from religion to home improvement, and let me tell you it was the most affordable focus-group-slash-reality-check ever. Their consensus was that Salt Lake City has really needed a politically-motivated gay newspaper that can get accurate information out quickly and mobilize the troops, especially given the post Lawrence v. Texas backlash and the prospect of a hideous election season ahead.

While we hovered around the topic of local politics, several members of the group ventured or, should I say, “vented” their frustrations about trying to push gay and lesbian issues through the Republican political monopoly in Utah, which made me think about the person with the most thankless job in our community: Kevin Cromer, president of the Utah chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans.

Peaches, this may come as a surprise to you all, but I absolutely respect this man. It must be so emotionally draining being de-

spised by the ultra right-wing Republicans for being gay, and equally despised by the ultra left-wing gays and lesbians for being Republican. Still, without political pioneers and risk-takers like Kevin, our issues would be ignored or simply stuck in the Democratic minority, without enough traction or votes to get them out of committee.

Look at the hate crimes bills that have been sponsored for the last seven years in the state legislature. It wasn’t until a few moderate Republicans made a slight movement towards center that the bills had any chance in hell of even making it to the floor for debate.

Instead of just endorsing Democratic candidates out of habit, we need to be expanding our influence and building relationships with people from both sides of the aisle, especially those moderate Republicans who are at risk of attack from their own party’s right-wing militants.

The Log Cabin Republicans deserve our support and the support of technically “nonpartisan” groups like Equality Utah and the Human Rights Campaign. (I was around Equality Utah’s staff for months before I realized that “Fucking Republicans” wasn’t the full name of a political party. Who knew?).

So next time you see the Log Cabin Republicans around, give them a sincere “thank you” for doing the difficult work that few people in our community would have the patience, tenacity, or the balls to do.

Ruby Ridge is one of the more opinionated members of The Utah Cyber Sluts, a camp drag group that raises funds for local charitable causes. Her opinions are her own and fluctuate wildly due to the residual effects of reparative therapy and lactose intolerance.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons is accepting nonfiction entries for its 2004 Writing Awards contest.

Deadline for submissions is Aug. 1. For details, visit affirmation.org/writing_contest MAY 13, 2004

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Utah’s Gay Mayor Even Utah’s largest and most progressive metropolis would be hard-pressed to elect an openly gay mayor.

Why is it, then, that a small town of 400 could do it?

M

arty Harrington is an affable and quickwitted woman. She runs the Escalante Corner Mart and is eager to show off her artwork for newcomers to her town. A striking mural in blues and whites covers an unused rear entrance to the convenience store, in cool contrast to the store’s arid desert surroundings: “It only took me two hours to paint it,” she proudly declares.

by Brandon Burt

The town is Big Water, eight miles north of the Arizona border. It’s one of those blink-and-you-missit, speed-trap municipalities in southern Utah. Most Highway 89 travelers drive right past it on road trips to destinations such as Lake Powell, the Grand Canyon and Phoenix.

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Yet Big Water is home to some 400 people who, for one reason or another, would find life in the region’s larger towns — Kanab, Utah and Page, Ariz. — to be intolerable.

Q: How do you like living in Big Water?

Harrington: I love it.

Q: How long have you lived here?

Harrington: About 12 years.

Q: What’s the best thing about living out

here?

Harrington: Low crime. It’s small — every-

body knows everybody. We have a community dinner once a week. But less crime, I think, is the best thing.

Unlike the denizens of Big Water, gay people born into small towns tend to flock to larger cities — so-called “magnet communities” — with populations large enough to support viable dating and cultural scenes. Rural areas have a reputation for harboring homophobes and busybodies — in order for a gay man to survive in Big Water, surely he must lead a closeted existence, keeping a low profile lest ostracism or worse befall him.

Meet Willy Marshall, the openly gay mayor of Big Water.

In 2001, in a state where the term “openly gay elected official” is (almost) an oxymoron, Marshall came out to voters during his Libertarian campaign for Big Water’s highest office — and handily won the election.

“When I campaigned, I went to every single door in town,” said Marshall. “I spent $15 on my campaign for flyers.”

Marshall believes that coming out during the campaign may have contributed to his election.

“One of my supporters was the former town marshal. He went around to peoples’ houses, and during his conversation with them, he’d say, ‘Now, you know he’s gay, right?’ They all said, ‘Well, yeah — what’s that got to do with it?’”

It was this inoculation strategy that prevented Marshall’s opponents from capitalizing on the gay issue, he says.

“If he hadn’t brought it up, the people running against me could have said, ‘You don’t want a faggot for a mayor.’ It would have planted the seeds of doubt,” Marshall said.

Confronting voters directly with the issue gave them a chance to deal with it before the election, says Marshall. “It got it [the gay issue] out in the open. When you get them to take a stand like that, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

Since his election, Marshall has grabbed his share of headlines. One of his first actions as town mayor was repealing his own salary. “The mayor was getting $13,000 a year, which is more than most people in Big Water even make,” Marshall said. “It’s a very small town and I didn’t think that was right.”

Allowing the mayor’s office to collect tax dollars for its services was not the only city ordinance that raised Marshall’s Libertarian hackles. “After we cut municipal taxes by 50 percent, we decriminalized marijuana,” remembers Marshall.

It was this issue – marijuana decriminalization – that garnered the town national attention. Still, the reaction by Kane County officials was quick and harsh, and in the end the weed remained illegal, even within the town’s limits.

From the time Big Water incorporated as a municipality in 1983, it has had a way of generating media attention. The town’s first mayor was the outspoken polygamist Alex Joseph.

Joseph and his wives differentiated themselves from other Utah/Arizona border-town polygamists, most of whom shun outsiders. Joseph’s family actually seemed to thrive on media attention, willing as they were to present a different face of polygamy: one based more upon personal autonomy for the wives as well as the husband than upon the absolute (and often abusive) authority husbands wield over wives in fundamentalist communities like Colorado City.

Joseph died in 1998 at the age of 62 after a long battle against liver cancer. Perhaps because of his own deep belief in personal freedom, during Joseph’s life he encouraged his wives — who, at the time of his death, numbered seven — to be as independent as possible and to pursue their own careers. Many of them ended up as successful journalists, real estate agents, even lawyers.

Boudicca Joseph is one of Alex Joseph’s widows. Boudicca is not the kind of polygamist who refuses to be photographed – she’s the kind of polygamist who refuses to be photographed until she’s had a chance to wash her hair. Attractive and articulate, she still resides in Big Water and runs the town’s only real estate business.

“Big Water is about freedom,” Boudicca said. “Alex was always about freedom and choice. He moved out here in the desert to get away from people because he didn’t want to oppress his neighbors with his lifestyle.”

It is that freedom that seems to be Alex Joseph’s enduring legacy — everywhere you go in Big Water, people talk about freedom, whether it’s freedom from crime, from high taxes, or from excessive government regulation.

very many,” said Boudicca. “Most people who live here have a live-and-let-live attitude. They mind their own business.”

“Anytime you’re living an alternative lifestyle, people may have a prejudice,” Boudicca said. “Then they get to know It was this emphasis on total freedom you and generally it will fall away because that first drew Marshall, a longtime Lib- they’ve realized you’re just a real person.” ertarian activist, to the town. “I came In fact, it seems that residents who to Big Water in 1986 when I was out on were able to tolerate having a polygaa recruiting mission to find candidates mist mayor may be more likely to be for the Libertarian party,” said Martolerant of a gay mayor. shall. “I had read about Alex Joseph in Still, Boudicca is wary of those who the paper, and I thought, ‘Wow — he would find too many similarities beshould be a Libertarian!’” tween polygamy and homosexuality. “I On his first trip to the town, Marshall don’t like them being lumped together,” met with Joseph’s wives, leaving with she said. them a copy of Robert Ringer’s RestorBoudicca seems to have successfully ing the American Dream. “I said, ‘Give embraced tolerance as a pure concept: him this book, and have him read it.

Even though her religious beliefs place If he likes it, we’d like him to join the strong value on a procreative lifestyle Libertarian Party and run for office on – i.e., marriage as a “breeding contract” our ticket.’”

Ringer’s book apparently had the – she seems very reluctant to impose intended effect. Joseph changed his those beliefs on others. political affiliation from Republican to “Quite frankly, I would be heartsick if Libertarian, bringing with him all four [my son] David were gay,” said Boudicmembers of the town council. Accordca. However, the fact that Marshall is gay ing to the archives of the Libertarian doesn’t bother her. “It’s not an issue for Party News, that was the year Big Water me. I’m not gay, so I don’t have to make became the nation’s first “Libertarian a choice about it. It has nothing to do Party town government.” with Willy’s performance as mayor.”

After that, Marshall became well “What I believe in is choice and acquainted with the Joseph family. freedom.

Nobody should have the “After that, we became friends and they right to tell just started somebody treating me else who like a member they should of the family,” Marshall said. marry or “I’ve been comwho they ing down here should form ever since on a contracts pretty regular with,” says basis. I bought Boudicca. property here “Everybody and I thought, should have ‘Someday I’m the same going to move protections to Big Water.’”

Boudicca Joseph, with her dog Rambeaux, believes people of Big Water under the “Being in law.” political office have a “live-and-let-live attitude” and that Marshall’s homosexuality does not affect his ability to be mayor.

has been a major life goal ever since I got off my [LDS] mission.” After his mission, Marshall felt drawn to Libertarian politics.

“Its basic principal is free agency,” he explained.

Marshall made several bids for public office on the Libertarian ticket before his move to Big Water in 2000. “Within a couple of months of moving here I was appointed to the planning commission, and a couple months after that, I was appointed to be on town council.”

It was during the midst of a town squabble over “disincorporation” – a proposal to revoke the town’s charter – that Marshall was elected as mayor.

Perhaps it was Alex Joseph’s legacy of constitutionalist freedom and personal autonomy which allowed an openly gay candidate to win public office in a town that is as rural as can be.

“This town has a few bigots, but not

The residents of Big Water seem to have figured one thing out: If you want freedom for yourself, you have to be willing to give others that same freedom.

Sure, some of them are probably homophobic – Marshall has been called a “faggot” by his political opponents – but the townspeople seem to value a “mind your own business” ethic more strongly than they dislike homosexuality.

Back in the Escalante Corner Mart, Marty Harrington sells bottled water for tourists and a few grocery items for locals.

Q: What do you think of the mayor?

Harrington (after a long pause): He’s

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Red,White & Bubbly Utah: a Pretty Great State (for Wine)

by Beau Jarvis I have this fantastic recurring dream: I’m shopping at the corner market. I buy some cheese, a baguette and pick out a nice bottle of wine. I skip home, smiling, anticipating my afternoon snack.

Then, I open my eyes, see that it’s 3:31 A.M., and realize I still live in Utah. Damn.

It’s incredibly easy to become frustrated by our state’s liquor laws. However, I am grateful for the expansive wine selection in the state wine store at 255 S. 300 East. No, every wine under the sun isn’t available, and they don’t sell baguettes. Nevertheless, the store offers wine lovers real diversity (and hey, I’m for any increased diversity in Utah).

The other day I took an unscientific “wine diversity” survey while shopping in the wine store. Of course there was a generous selection of wine from all the usual places like France, Germany, Italy and California.

However, I also found wine from locales that I normally associate with nude sunbathing, tequila and precision wristwatches rather than wine. There were several Greek wines, two Mexican wines and a lone bottle from Switzerland.

Quite frankly, I was astounded. I compared this “wine diversity quotient” to one of my favorite wine shops in New York City.

The last time I was in that big city shop, there were three Greek wines, zero Mexican wines and zwei Swiss wines. So our humble wine store stacks up quite nicely, thank you.

Wine drinkers across the state should all thank [insert Higher Power of choice] that somehow, some way, many great wines are locally available. Not only is the wine selection sizeable, but prices are quite reasonable.

This is impressive considering the state is actually a wine monopoly — how many monopolies can you name that offer fair prices?

Now, it wouldn’t do any of us any good to have a stellar wine selection if the wine store didn’t employ knowledgeable people. Fortunately, the state wine store has a great staff that will gladly guide you in your quest for wine diversity. In fact, I’m fairly certain that the wine store crew craves curious customer questions. As an added bonus, there is nary a scent of wine snobbery in the store.

So, in celebration of our state’s great, diverse wine selection, I propose we designate June to be “Utah Wine Diversity Month.” Get yourself down to the wine store and try wine from all over the planet. I suggest sampling one wine from a different country each week.

To prove that I’m serious about all of this, let me share my June wine itinerary with you along with anticipated food pairings.

Week one: I will rent The Sound of Music, make Schnitzel and try an Austrian Grüner Veltliner (nicknamed Groo-Vee by umlautchallenged wine drinkers everywhere).

This white wine is often described as “a dry Riesling with a lime twist.”

Week two: I’ll be drinking an inky blend

Come to Borders and treat your senses well.

With over 200,000 books, CDs & DVDs, and great beverages in the cafe, we have plenty for you to choose from & enjoy.

Or browse & shop at www.borders.com.* *Online prices may vary.

Four convenient Utah locations Salt Lake • Murray • Provo • Logan 14

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of Cabernet grapes from upstate New York’s wine wizard Dr. Konstantin Frank. A few sips of this wine plus a nice New York steak off the grill will put me in an upstate frame of mind. I’ll begin planning a tour of Niagara Falls aboard my all-time favorite boat, The Maid of the Mist.

Week three: I kickoff my “there is more to New Zealand than Hobbits” campaign by opening a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. The Kiwis’ signature wine is a very aromatic, racy white with intense gooseberry aroma (although I must admit, I’ve yet to sniff an actual gooseberry.) Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc is perfect with shellfish. I think oysters on the half shell will be in order.

Week four: I’m thinking of making a small economic contribution to Greece’s Olympic

Games efforts by purchasing a bottle of Santorini. This white wine from the beautiful Greek island of the same name possesses a split personality: It seems to be at once both racy and silky-smooth. I’m hopeful Santorini will be tasty enough to cover any mistakes I make on my first attempt at homemade Spanakopita.

Go ahead — pick a country, a color or a price range. Then put your trust in the capable hands of the folks at the state wine store. I’m confident they will help you find yummy wine from around the globe.

Welcome more wine diversity into your life. You’ll be glad you did. Cheers!

Beau Jarvis is a Sommelier, wine consultant and wine educator. He operates basicjuice.com – an independent wine review and info website.

Queeriscaping A Neatly Made Bed

by Brandie Balken “Nothing is more completely the child of art than a garden” — Sir Walter Scott Now is the time, my dear friends.

I know I was cautious — overly so it seems — but I’d rather have you wait two weeks than lose your investment to a freak freeze in early May. That said, go forth: design your beds, make your purchases, and plant your garden!

It is possible that you’ve been spending these uncharacteristically warm evenings with a pencil in one hand and a glass of wine in the other, diligently planning what will be the best garden you’ve ever planted. If not, here are a few things you may want to consider before you really get going: First, make a plan. I know this sounds silly, but honestly, more people than not make the mistake of planting, then planning, then transplanting and replanting. This is not the best way to have a well-designed space. I recommend making some sketches of the space you’d like to implement. (I assume all of you are planning on turning at least one section of your yard into xeriscape, right?)

These sketches should include notes about the basic dimensions of each plot, the direction it faces, and the average amount and quality of light it receives — i.e. 6 ft. diameter circle, northwest exposure, full sun from 12-4 p.m., dappled sun from 4 ’till dusk.

It is also helpful to probe your own psyche to determine the overall look you want.

Do you favor blue and white flowers? Do you dislike the look of Cacti? Do you want a natural-looking landscape, or one that is structured and contemporary?

Second, get thee to a nursery. When I say nursery, I do not mean Fred Meyer, Home Depot or Wal-Mart — I mean a local nursery where the employees and growers make a living wage, and are paid fairly because of their knowledge, experience and the highquality products they can offer you.

I find it’s best to browse the perennial tables — if it’s a really great nursery, they’ll already have the drought-tolerant plants marked for you — and write down information about the plants that catch your eye.

Take care to choose plants that are suited to your light exposure. Take specific note of height, spread and bloom time.

If you plan correctly, you can have a bed that’s layered with foliar texture and color, as well as something that’s always in bloom.

Take these notes home with you, and begin to draw the plants in on your bed sketch.

Make sure that the tallest plants are either in the middle or in the back, depending on the shape and placement of the bed.

Figure out roughly how many plants you’ll need to fill the space when they’re mature.

Try to mix plant varieties that bloom at different times, so there’s always floral color. My last basic tip on bed design is this: There’s strength in numbers. Clusters soothe the eye. You are much better off using fewer varieties in larger groups.

Third, return to the nursery to make your purchases. Pick up a few bags of mulch and a soaker hose for good measure. After planting, coil the soaker hose around your new babies. (Remember: even drought tolerant plants need to be watered until they’re established!) Cover the hose with mulch to cut down on evaporation, and congratulate yourself. You can now consider yourself a conservationist, a protector of one of our most precious natural resources: water.

Here’s the list I promised you. All of these are perennials that prefer 3–4 hours of sun per day. Most are flowering: Tall (36 inches or more)

Low (four to eight inches)

Sunset hyssop, Maiden grass, Mullein

Pinks, Greek yarrow, Elijah blue fescue

Tall/Medium (18 inches)

Very low (creeping)

May Night sage, Hardy ice plant (Delosperma Munstead lavender, Catmint cooperii), Sedum “Vera Jameson,” Hens and chicks Medium (12 inches) White evening primrose, Paperflower, Gaillardia “goblin” Brandie Balken is a horticulturist in Salt Lake City and can be seen at Cactus & Tropicals

Sane Advice Sticks and Stones

by Lynette Malmstrom, LCSW Let’s talk politics. This may seem like a strange topic for a mental health column, but the two are intrinsically related.

If you’ve lived in Utah very long, you might find yourself bracing every January when the State Legislature convenes. Whether the issue of the day is hate crimes, gay clubs in high schools or gay marriage, we can predict that issues affecting our community will be debated and shrapnel will fly. Our elected officials have compared us with pedophiles and perverts and have attempted to describe the complexity of our lives under the heading of sickness or sin. You may recall this summation

by Sen. Charles Stewart, R-Provo, during the gay club debates: “It [homosexuality] is a divisive issue for the whole society. It is drawing a line in the sand of what is civil and what is bestial — what is a human being and what is an animal.” He was right about one thing: Homosexuality is being used as a divisive issue.

How do you react when harsh judgments find their way into your awareness? They tend to make headlines, create topics for the editorial page and are recapped on the nightly news. The media has a field day.

You may feel incredulous (“Are they talking about us?”), outraged or injured, or you may find the whole exchange laughable (“They think they’re talking about us!”) There are those who internalize the hatred and retreat to a familiar place of shame. We may try to ignore it, turn off the TV and leave town.

But even if you’re sitting in a pub in Ireland, you’ll see flashes of news from the U.S. parading across television screens. A constitutional amendment is big news. We can’t escape it.

Many of us make every effort to stay out of the fray. You may hate the conflict.

You don’t want to be conspicuous or make waves. You try to be a responsible, likeable person. It might anger you that homosexuality gets so much attention when your objective is to not let it be an issue at all, but, bam! There it is: the topic of discussion at the water cooler once again.

If you could make this go away by being nice, you would be home free. Invisibility cannot protect you from emotional injury.

On the other hand, anger can be healing if it becomes a catalyst for action.

However misinformed, it seems the people who understand us the least work the hardest to define and limit us. We are impacted by them in different ways. There is no single correct response. Whatever the “gay agenda” is perceived to be, the reality is that we don’t all agree on one set of goals or a single approach.

We don’t all vote the same, worship the same, value the same things, or share a singular vision. What we do share is a common enemy: bigotry.

Is our silence saying it’s okay, or worse, that we agree? If the same venomous verbal attacks were aimed at any other minority group, wouldn’t you take a stand? Does fear keep you from taking a stand on your own behalf?

In her book, Setting Them Straight, Betty

Berzon wrote: “The illusion of powerlessness wins over the reality of unused power that too many gay and lesbian people live with.”

Instead of succumbing to the illusion of powerlessness, consider a different strategy.

Try taking action. If the pen is mightier than the sword, use it! If the Eagle Forum can push an agenda by bombarding legislators with letters and phone calls, can’t we?

You need not aspire to political activism or public visibility to say “Enough! Stop misrepresenting me.”

Other suggestions: Where do you spend your money and your time? Is there a committee, a campaign or a club that aligns with your values? Think power in numbers. We also need sanctuary; places and people who require no explanation or apology for the way we live our lives. Kindred spirits abound, even in Salt Lake City, Utah. Find them.

Sometimes we are most effective in small-

er arenas. Watch for simple opportunities to challenge or to inform, one conversation at a time. Buy a bumper sticker. Call your senator.

March in a parade. Choose the action that fits your situation. Remember, silence is the voice of complicity.

The presidential campaigns are just beginning to heat up. The candidates will talk about us — or at least pretend they’re talking about us. Brace yourself. The good news is that the quality of our lives, the nature of our commitments and our personal integrity aren’t up for a vote.

Our real strength is best reflected in the way we live.

Lee Beckstead, PhD; Lynette Malmstrom, LCSW; LaDonna Moore, LCSW; and Jim Struve, LCSW are all private practice psychotherapists in Salt Lake City. If you would like them to address your issues in a future column, e-mail SaneAdvice@slmetro.com.

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Marriage in a Nutshell The cycling grandmas (see Friday the 14th) will join local attorneys and representatives from Equality Utah in a panel discussion about marriage rights.

1pm, Anderson-Foothill Salt Lake Library branch, 1135 S. 2100 East

Spruce the Pews The Gay Mormon Fathers Association – Gamofites – will be sprucing up the United Methodist Church of Christ in appreciation for allowing the group to meet there.

8am – Noon, 2631 East Murray/Holladay Road.

Karl: 801-550-1700

Sunday, May 16

METRO PICKS Thursday, May 13 Schmooze Fest. Business owners are invited to the monthly meet and greet of the Utah GLBT Business Guild.

6:30pm, Bambara, 2nd South and Main

Friday, May 14 Cycling Grannies.

Grandmothers Carrie and Elisia Ross-Stone have left San Francisco on bicycles, heading across the country to bring attention to the need for equal civil marriage rights for gay and lesbian people.

They arrive in Salt Lake where a rally and a welcome from Mayor Rocky Anderson will take place. Sponsored by Salt Lake Metro.

4:30pm, Salt Lake City and County Building 8pm fundraising reception and barbecue, Paper Moon* 3737 S State

Tragedy Tomorrow, Comedy Tonight.

Broadway’s greatest farce, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, comes to the Grand Theatre through May 29. Directed by Anne Stewart-Mark and featuring Richard Scott, Gene Pack & Dan Larrinaga.

7:30pm Mon – Sat, Saturday Matinees at 2pm Grand Theatre, Salt Lake Community College South Campus, 1575 S State. Tickets $8–18.50 at 957-3322

Saturday, May 15 Calling All Green Thumbs The annual Wasatch Gardens Plant Sale has been a Salt Lake tradition for decades. This is the place to get drought-tolerant landscape plants, heirloom vegetables and flowers, and herbs.

Drip irrigation and drought-tolerant garden design demonstrations. Admission is free.

8am–1pm, Garfield School, 1850 S. 1500 East

Send Off. A non-denominational service and chuckwagon breakfast is Salt Lake’s way of saying farewell to Carrie and Elisia as they continue their Rainbow Ride across the country.

8am, Amphitheatre above Memory Grove on East Bonneville Blvd, top of B Street in the Avenues.

Is Beer Kosher? Salt Lake City’s First Annual Jewish Film Festival will be held May 15-20 and will feature 14 Jewish features, short films and documentaries from around the world.

Various times, Brewvies, 677 S. 200 West

Monday, May 17 Watch the News.

Massachussetts is set to begin handing out marriage licenses to same-sex couples today, becoming the first state to do so.

Wednesday, May 19 Focus! INVENIO Lite is a roundtable discussion about keeping focus in your life. INVENIO is an opportunity to bring important health issues facing gay men, such as substance use, heart disease, spirituality, racism and aging.

6:30pm, Salt Lake Downtown Library downstairs, 210 E. 400 South. Tyler 487-2323.

Thursday, May 20 A Toast to Equality. Join the Human Rights Campaign of Utah in celebration of equal marriage rights in Massachussetts. Plan a dinner gathering with your friends, then join the community for dessert and champagne at Cactus and Tropicals.

8pm, 2735 S. 2000 East, $10 chasward801@aol.com

Friday, May 21 Get Your Navajo Tacos Here. The Living Traditions Festival returns to Washington Square May 21st through the 23rd with two performing arts stages, workshops, panel discussions, and traditional craft demonstrations. The first big festival of the year marks the beginning of summer.

Friday 5–10pm, Saturday 12–10, Sunday 12–7.

200 E. 40 South. Free

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Trick or Treat for Winos Join art aficionados in viewing fine art throughout the city at the Gallery Stroll, held each third Friday of the month. Be sure to stop by the Gallery at the Center to view the works of local gay and lesbian artists, also on display through June 26th. Wine and refreshments are served at many of the galleries.

6–9pm, various galleries including the Center, 361 N 300 West. Laura Durham 533.3582

Saturday, May 22 Rhubarbarians and Rhubarb Wine. qVinum, a fun and fabulous wine group, is heading to the Sanpitch Rhubarb Festival in Mount Pleasant to smell, eat and toss rhubarb and tour the local winery, Native Wines.

Some staying overnight, others heading back.

8am, qVinum.com

Rally Against Rage. Come protest the failure of the state legislature to pass an effective hate crimes bill protecting minorities from bias-motivated crimes.

1pm, State Capitol. joshno@wacad.org

SLAM! Plan-B Theatre Company will create, rehearse and perform five 10-minute plays in one 24-hour period. Five playwrights will draw a title out of a hat at 9pm on Friday, May 21, and have 12 hours to write a 10-minute play. At 10am on Saturday, May 22, five directors and fifteen actors will see the scripts for the first time. And at 8pm, for better or worse, the one-time-only show goes up!

8pm, Black Box Theatre, Rose Wagner, 138 W Broadway. Tickets $18 at 355-ARTS

Garden Party The People With AIDS Coalition of Utah presents a workshop/celebration to link people living with HIV to the benefits of container gardening. Learn how to grow your own while eating your way to better health.

Refreshments, plants and gardening supplies.

RSVP by May 18th to (801)484-2205 or director@pwacu.org

Damn, I Wish ‘She’ Were My Lover. Billboard Top 5 vocalist, multiinstrumentalist and activist Sophie B. Hawkins comes to croon at MoDiggity’s 8pm, MoDiggity’s, 3424 S. State St. Tickets available now at the front desk.

Sunday May 23 Food for Hope. Loring Leeds, a City of Hope patient who credits the organization’s doctors with saving his life through genetransfer therapy, is the keynote speaker at the ninth annual Food for Hope dinner.

Cash bar, dancing and a silent auction.

5–9pm, Panini, 299 S. Main Street. Tickets $50 at 531-6334.

Jessica Sharzer’s Speak Delves into the Pain of Self-Inflicted Silence

by Rebecca Vernon It’s been said that budding filmmaker Jessica Sharzer has a Midas touch for casting actors and actresses that are “right on target” for their roles.

But with the lead role of her first full-length movie, Speak, based on the teen Jessica Sharzer at the Queer Lounge at the 2004 Sundance novel by Laurie Film Festival in Park City.

Halse Anderson, Sharzer has outdone even herself.

Thirteen-year-old Kristin Stewart plays withdrawn high school freshman Melinda, who, from the first scene, seems weighed down by some inexplicable burden. It’s in her posture, her sluggish movements, her monosyllabic responses, her dead eyes.

She’s starting her first year of high school, true, but added to the regular teen angst of not fitting in and 90210 clique drama lies something much deeper.

As the movie continues, it’s revealed that Melinda was raped at a party over the summer. She called 911, and when the cops came, they broke up the party and Melinda was blamed. She became the instant outcast of the entire high school. Her grades plummet, one of her only friends deserts her because she’s “too depressed,” and other kids are constantly harassing her about “tattling to the cops.”

Melinda doesn’t tell anyone about the rape, and as the months go by, she finds solace in art and finds it more and more

difficult to speak up about it, until she practically stops talking altogether. The empty prattle of her schoolmates, the rhetorical, biased questions of the teachers, her parents’ rushed conversations, contrast sharply with Melinda’s eloquent silence, more substantial than words somehow, and much more substantial than the shallow problems of the people who surround her.

“Speak deals a lot with the way in which we use language,” said Sharzer at a Q&A after the screening of the movie in downtown Salt Lake May 8. “Melinda’s silence is self-imposed, but no one really noticed that she wasn’t speaking, and no one was really listening anyway.”

Sharzer took Stewart to dinner before shooting, and asked what she would have done if she were Melinda.

“I always try to put myself in that person’s shoes when I’m acting,” Stewart told her. “But if I were Melinda, I would have told my father and he would have beat the crap out of the guy who did it!”

“Well, fine then,” said Sharzer. “Pretend I’m your dad. Tell me what you’d say.”

Kristen opened her mouth to speak and couldn’t say a word.

“See? Now that’s the movie,” Sharzer had said. “And that was just a hypothetical situation!” she told the audience.

Sharzer had an opportunity to meet the author of the book while filming in Columbus, Ohio in fall 2003.

“Laurie kind of had a hands-off approach, which was actually a good thing,” laughed Sharzer. “But she was really moved when she spent three days on the set. She started crying when she met Kristen. She told me, ‘I’m so glad you’re the one direct-

ing this.’ Because the book means so much to so many people, it was good to get her stamp of approval,” said Sharzer.

Speak has garnered interest from Nickolodeon and Sharzer is working on procuring distribution. She agreed with a man in the audience, who commented that Speak would make a great educational tool for high school students, especially as a way to help create dialogue about issues facing young women. For example, when Melinda finally does tell her “ex-best friend” about the rape near the end of the school year, and more specifically, who raped her, her friend doesn’t believe her, and accuses her of lying.

“Rape is complicated,” says Sharzer. In fact, Sharzer deliberately created the character of the boy who raped Melinda as more sympathetic than his character in the book.

“We didn’t make him a typical frat jock, but a guy that on the surface, looks pretty nice. From his point of view, he wasn’t fully aware that he raped Melinda. He might have thought it was a night where they were both drunk and things got a little out of hand.”

Sharzer’s first film, The Wormhole, won numerous awards, including the Student Academy Award Gold Medal in narrative.

Sharzer will soon begin work on a film for HBO about bipolar disorder, First Love and Pretty Lies, a project dropped last year to concentrate on finishing Speak.

Proceeds from the screening went to Spy Hop, YWCA, Rape Recovery Center and the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

Plan B’s “Madcap, Crazy” Experiment What do you get when you round up five playwrights, five directors, and an assortment of actors and set designers for one day?

Plan B Theatre Company intends to find out May 22 when it presents SLAM, a series of five 10-minute plays written, rehearsed and produced within a single 24-hour period.

“SLAM is an experiment,” said Jerry Rapier, company artistic director, “It might blow up in our faces, but that’s part of the fun.”

Beginning at 9:00 p.m. the night before the performance, five playwrights — Tobin Atkinson, Jeffrey Gold, Julie Jensen, Aden Ross, and Eric Samuelsen — will draw titles out of a hat. They then have 12 hours to finish their plays before handing them over to directors Kirt Bateman, Kyle Lewis, Fran Pruyn, Larry West, and Robin Wilks-Dunn. The plays will finally be staged at the 225-seat Black Box Theater at the Rose Wagner Center for the Performing Arts.

According to Rapier, Plan B plans to make SLAM an annual event. “It will be a madcap, crazy kind of thing,” Rapier said. “We want the audience to come and see if it works.”

SLAM will be presented 8:00 p.m. May 22 at the Rose Wagner Center for the Performing Arts, 138 West 300 South, Salt Lake City.

Tickets for SLAM cost $18. Call 355-ARTS for details. — BB

Cinco de Mayo Celebration Sans-Cigarettes

by Mandy Q. Racer Salsa, cerveza and cigarettes. What’s the connection? The Cinco de Mayo celebration, held Saturday, May 8 at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Utah. The tobacco-free event was sponsored by Queers Kick Ash, a project that is committed to helping queer young people and their allies learn about the risks of tobacco use. The website (QueersKickAsh.org) also disseminates information about the choices made by tobacco companies to specifically target gay youth.

“Cinco de Mayo is inviting the community here to get our Hispanic gay, lesbian and bisexual community and the non-Hispanic community together,” said Emily Roberts, peer health educator for the anti-smoking organization. Roberts explained that the event was geared toward helping these groups learn about and avoid tobacco.

Queers Kick Ash needs to submit eight hundred surveys for its grant. The ninepage surveys were handed out with the promise of immediate incentives — Queers Kick Ash paraphernalia and free drinks at the Stonewall Coffee Center. Those willing to sign a pledge to either quit or to never start smoking were rewarded. The surveys will represent the “first actual grouping that the state department will have on gay youth,” Roberts said. She added, “It is estimated that gay people smoke more because of stress.”

“I’m having a good time,” Nalani Namauu said, “but I wish it was more publicized.” The small yellow fliers advertising the event had been handed out at local clubs and coffee shops, but attendance was lower than expected. Fewer than 100 people gathered in the Center’s parking lot, where they danced under a tent to Latin music and sampled the food. Salt Lake City restaurant El Habanero catered the event.

The strongest presence was that of the queer youth with white T-shirts emblazoned with the neon green Queers Kick Ash logo soliciting donations, handing out forms and surveys and guarding the fences.

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Community Calendar Sundays

Sports and Fitness Mondays 6pm Slug Rugby. Salt Lake Rugby Assoc. meets for practice and play. All women of all levels welcome. Sugarhouse Park, 2100 S. 1300 East. www.slugrugby.org 6:30pm Frontrunners/Frontwalkers. Walkers make a 3-mile loop, runners do a 4-mile run at Sugarhouse Park. Meet at the northeast corner of Sugarhouse Park in the Garden Ctr parking lot. Geoff, (801) 712-9558, alliance@aros.net, FrontRunnersUtah.org

Second Tuesdays 7pm-8:30pm Stonewall Shooting Sports meeting. Doug’s Shoot and Sports, 4926 S. Redwood Road. www.StonewallShootingSportsUtah.com

Wednesdays 6:30pm Frontrunners/Frontwalkers. A beautiful route through north Bonneville Drive and up City Creek Canyon. Group meets at 11th Avenue and B Street, near the guardrail. Geoff Partain, (801) 7129558, alliance@aros.net, FrontRunnersUtah.org

Thursdays 6pm Slug Rugby. Salt Lake Rugby Assoc. meets for practive and play. Women of all levels welcome. Sugarhouse Park, 2100 S. 1300 East. www.slugrugby.org

9am Frontrunnrs/Frontwalkers. Liberty Park/Avenues routes. Meet in front of Barbacoa Mexican Grill, 859 E 900 South. Geoff Partain, (801) 712-9558, alliance@aros.net, FrontRunnersUtah.org 11am-Noon Queer Utah Acquatics Club. Water polo. Fairmont Pool. 1044 E. Sugarhouse Drive. Men’s and women’s teams; beginners and advanced teams. douglaskf@aol.com, quacquac.org Noon Slug Rugby. Salt Lake Rugby Assoc. All women of all levels welcome.

Sugarhouse Park, 2100 S. 1300 East. www. slugrugby.org 2:30pm Soccer. Fairmont Park, 2300 S. 1100 East. Open play. Martin Grygar, (801) 231-9453, jesper2@hotmail.com 3pm Volleyball. Fairmont Park, 2300 S. 1100 East. Open play. Martin Grygar (801) 231-9453, jesper2@hotmail.com 3pm Basketball. Fairmont Park, 2300 S. 1100 East. Pick-up games. Martin Grygar, (801) 231-9453, jesper2@hotmail.com 11am-3pm Pride Softball League.

Hundreds of players of both genders.

A fun social gathering. Newcomers welcome. Jordan Park, 1000 S. 900 West. kaos168@hotmail.com

Third Sundays

7pm Goodtimes Bowling League. Bonwood Bowl, 2500 S. Main Street. Singles, beginners welcome. $10/night. Summer league starts May 13. Scott Millar, (801) 832-9745

11am Stonewall Shooting Sports shoot.

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Lee Kay Center for Hunter Education and Public Shooting Range. 6000 W 2100 S. www.StonewallShootingSportsUtah.com

Saturdays or Sundays 10am or Noon Motorcyclists. Gay Bikers of Utah meet most weekends to ride through different scenic areas. Beans & Brews Tuesdays 6pm to decide route.

5900 S. State. Jamie, (801) 598-0760, gaybikersofUT@yahoogroups.com

Tuesdays and Thursdays 7-8pm Queer Utah Acquatics Club.

Fairmont pool, 1044 E. Sugarhouse Dr. douglaskf@aol.com, quacquac.org

First and Third Saturdays 10am Lambda Hiking Club. Parking lot at 700 E. 200 South. Day hikes, overnight hikes during summer. Winter activities.

Bring sturdy shoes, sun protection, food and water. Randy, (801) 532-8447, GayHike.org

Alcoholics Anonymous Tuesdays 8pm Alcoholics Anonymous. St. Paul’s Church, 261 S. 900 East

Wednesdays 8pm Alcoholics Anonymous. Washington Terrace, 4601 S. 300 West, Ogden

Fridays 7:30-9pm Alcoholics Anonymous. Español.

Gallery Room at the Center, 355 N. 300 West 8pm Alcoholics Anonymous. St. Paul’s Church, 261 S. 900 East

Saturdays 6pm Alcoholics Anonymous. St. Mary’s Church, 50 W. 200 North, Provo

Sundays 3pm Alcoholics Anonymous. Jubilee Center, 309 E. 100 South, rear door

Northern Utah Mondays Pride Alliance of USU. Meets while school is in session. TSC 335. Courtney Moser, (435) 753-3135, cmoser4@comcast.net, www.usu.edu/pride

Men’s Groups Second and Fourth Tuesdays 7:30-9pm Gay and bisexual men support group. 18 years and older. Friendship, conversation. Gallery Room at the Center, 355 N. 300 West. gmsgglccu@yahoo.com

Political First Tuesdays 7:30pm Log Cabin Republicans. Salt Lake County Building, 2001 S. State Street, room N4010. www.LRCUtah.org

7:30-9pm Parents and Friends of Lesbian and Gays. Group meeting. Black Box Theater at the Center, 355 N. 300 West

Fourth Tuesdays 7pm Human Rights Campaign meet-up.

Organize against the Federal Marriage Amendment. Multiple locations. hrc.org

First Wednesdays 5:30-7pm Utah Stonewall Democrats.

Executive committee meeting to discuss strategy. Black Box Theater, 355 N. 300 West. njmikeutah@yahoo.com, www.

UtahStonewallDemocrats.org

First Sundays 10am-1:30pm Human Rights Campaign steering committee meeting. Gallery Room at the Center, 361 N. 300 West.

HRCSaltLakeUT@aol.com

Eleventh Day of Every Month 3-4pm Homeless Youth Task Force. Group meets monthly to address the needs of homeless youth. Gallery Room at the Center, 361 N. 300 West

Arts First and Third Wednesdays 7-9pm DiverseCity Writing Series. Free writing workshop for all ages and writing levels. The Center, 361 N. 300 West Sara Gunderson (801) 957-4992

Third Fridays 6-9pm Gallery Stroll. Several dozen of Salt Lake’s finest galleries remain open until 9 p.m. for viewing. Laura Durham (801) 533-3582

Social Second Mondays 7-8:30 Integrity potluck. Open to all; a fun social gathering. St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 4615 S. 3200 West IntegrityUtah.org

Second Tuesdays

Second Tuesday

3-4:30pm Public Safety Liaison Committee.

Police are available for discussion regarding the safety of the gay and lesbian community.

Gallery Room at the Center, 361 N. 300 West

Wednesdays

7:30-9pm Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Group meeting. Black Box Theater at the Center, 355 N. 300 West Noon Men’s sack lunch. A purely social group of local men meet to eat and chat.

Gallery Room at the Center. 361 N. 300 West

Wednesdays 6:45pm Food, Flicks and Fags. Meet in the pool hall of Brewvies to pick the flick of the night. Admission $2. Men and women 21 and older. 677 S. 200 West 7:30pm Lavender Tribe. A spirituality group that explores everything from auras to Zen meditation. Dave, (801) 521-3857, www. lavendertribe.org 7pm* Affirmation/Reconciliation Movie Night. A combined activity for those from an LDS background. Sugarhouse 10 Theaters, 2227 S. Highland Drive. (801) 296-4797 *time depends on movie schedule

Thursdays 7:30pm Line Dancing. Utah Gay Rodeo Association offers free lessons. Paper Moon, 3737 S. State Street.

Fridays 7-11:30pm Off the Wall Improv. Stand up comedy featuring up-and-coming comics from across the nation. Black Box Theater at the Center, 355 N. 300 West Jake Arky, (801) 824-1359

Second or Third Weekends 7pm Spicy Dinner Group. Casual suppers held at various locations in the Salt Lake City area. Bring your signature dish whether it is Gumbo Florentine or chicken vindaloo.

Logan, (801) 654-2849

Various Weekends Couples Social. Salt Lake Couples is a social group for long-term, committed couples.

Strengthening relationships, social networking, fun. Jesse, (801) 231-7776, groups. yahoo.com/groups/slcouples

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2pm Queers in Action. Want to hold a “Queers for Peace” sign at a rally, plan Utah’s Queer prom, or start your own group? Join us.

Third Sundays 7pm Family movie night at Doug and Kim’s. Movie, popcorn and socializing.

Doug or Kim, (435) 668-9702

Special Interest First Tuesdays 7-9:30pm Bi-Poly Group. Bisexual and Polyamorous group meeting. Black Box Theater at the Center, 355 N. 300 West

Wednesdays 6pm BDSM Discussion Group. Utah Power Exchange’s weekly coffee klatch. Stonewall Coffee Co., 361 N. 300 West. www.

UtahPowerExchange.org

Last Thursdays 7pm Utah Bear Alliance. General meeting for bears, cubs and admirers. Black Box Theater at the Center, 355 N. 300 West. Noal Robinson, (801) 949-3989

Third Saturdays 10am Western Transsexual Network. Meet and discuss issues relating to gender change. Gallery Room at the Center, 361 N. 300 West 7pm Engendered Species – Crossdressers and Transgender people. They meet most weekends for dining and discussion and always the third Saturday for an open house. The Center, 361 N. 300 West, (801) 320-0551

First Sundays 11am Utah Bear Alliance brunch.

Social/service organization for Bears, Cubs and their admirers. Call for locations. Noal Robinson, (801) 949-3989

Sundays 4pm Latin Divas. Latin drag organization plans for shows, activities and fund raisers.

Black Box Theater at the Center, 361 N. 300 West. Juan Lopez (801) 577-5927

Testing Mondays 5-7pm HIV Antibody Testing. Drop In. Free first Mondays. Utah AIDS Foundation 1408 S. 1100 East. Tyler 801-487-2323 Second and Fourth Wednesdays Free HIV/STD testing and counseling. Gallery Room at the Center, 361 N. 300 West

Women Lesbian support group. Call to get info. University of Utah Women’s Resource Center.

581-8030, www.sa.utah.edu/women

Third Saturdays 6:30pm sWerve Monthly. Gathering for lesbian and bisexual women to meet in a safe, social environment. SwerveUtah.com.

4pm Gayme Time. PlayStation2, XBOX games. Use ours or bring yours. Board games and cards also available.

First Saturdays Generation Gap. An opportunity to share coming out stories and other queer stories between generations.

Stonewall Coffee Co., 355 N. 300 West. “bob,” (801) 539-8800, ext. 14

Third Sundays 2pm Collage of Utah. Support group for children of gay or lesbian parents. Youth Activity Center at the Center, 355 N. 300 West Erica Summers, (801) 583-5300

Young Adult Ages 18-30 Mondays 7:30pm University of Utah Lesbian/Gay Student Union. Union Building, Room 411.

(801) 587-7973, www.utah.edu/lgsu 7pm Pride Alliance of USU. Meets when school is in session. TSC 335. (435) 7974297, www.usu.edu/pride

Tuesdays 8pm Weber State University Delta Lambda Sappho Union. Junction Room, Student Union. Katharine MacKay, (801) 626-6782, Julie_Drach@hotmail.com

Wednesdays 5pm Southern Utah University Pride Club.

All welcome to participate. Blue Kat, 90 W. Hoover Street, Cedar City laundra@suu.edu, suu.edu/ksuu 7pm Salt Lake Community College GLBT Student Union. South City Campus, Room W111G. Gordon Storrs, (801) 957-4562, Gordon.storrs@slcc.edu.

Saturdays Various times Gay LDS Young Adults, An organization that welcomes everyone but has a focus on young adults with an LDS background. glya@hotmail.com, glyautah@yahoo.com, www.glya.com

Religious Sundays 4pm Affirmation. Gay and lesbian Latter-day Saints. SLC, Ogden and Provo meeting sites. Rick Bickmore, (801) 860-6497, www.affirmation.org 9am First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake. 569 S. 1300 East. (801) 5828687 9am Holladay United Church of Christ.

All are welcome in our diverse community of faith. 2631 E. Murray-Holladay Road (801) 277-2631 9am Glory to God Community Church.

375 Harrison Blvd., Ogden (801) 394-0204

Sundays

9:30am Provo Community Church. 175 N. University Ave., (801) 375-9115

2pm Northern Utah Women Recreational Opportunities Club. Social organization for women in the Ogden area. groups.yahoo. com/group/OgdenOutdoorWomen

11am Integrity. Episcopal ministry.

(801) 566-1311

11am-3pm Pride Softball League.Come join – we will fit you onto a team. Jordan Park, 1000 S. 900 West. Kaos168@hotmail.com

Varying Saturdays 11am Utah Singles for single lesbian women. The Center, 361 N. 300 West. groups.yahoo.com/group/lesbian_singles

Youth Ages 13-19 Unless noted otherwise, activites for youth are held at: Youth Activity Center at the Center, 355 N. 300 West. “bob,” (801) 539-8800, ext. 14

First Wednesdays 7pm Young Women’s Support Group. Open discussion, activities.

Second & Fourth Wednesdays 7pm Queer Slam. Open workshop for all young people into poetry slams and gettin’ the word out!

Wednesdays

Third Wednesdays

7pm Dinner and a Homo. An evening of fun and flicks with the community. Bijou Theater at Bluff and Sunset, St. George. Aimie, (435) 635-0624, sugltcc@yahoo.com

Thursdays

5pm Southern Utah University Pride Club. All are welcome to participate. The Blue Kat, 90 W. Hoover Street, Cedar City. laundra@suu. edu, www.suu.edu/orgs/pride ■

Saturdays

11am Latte Day Saints. Sunday morning coffee, bread and conversation. Xetava Gardens in Kayenta. 815 Coyote Gulch Court, Ivans Aimie, (435) 635-0624, sugltcc@yahoo.com

7pm Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays. Claudia, (435) 673-3356

Third Tuesdays

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Sundays

7pm In Tune. For young singers, songwriters and musicians.

7pm Young Men’s Group. Ages 13-19. Open discussion and activities determined by participants and facilitator.

Fridays 7:30pm Movie night.

11am Glory to God Community Church. 375 Harrison Blvd., Ogden (801) 394-0204 11am Metropolitan Community Church of SLC. 823 S. 600 East.

(801) 595-0052 Noon Restoration Church of Jesus Christ. 2900 S. State Street. (801) 359-1151 7pm Reconciliation. For those wishing to hold to some of the tenets of the LDS church. Regular lessons taken from approved church manuals. Russ (801) 259-3800, (801) 296-4797

Quarterly Family Fellowship. A diverse collection of Mormon families engaged in the cause of strengthening families with homosexual members. SLC, Ogden and Provo. Gary or Millie, (801) 374-1447, wattsfam@aol.com, www.LDSFamilyFellowship.org This month’s calendar brought to by

To get your organization’s activities mentioned in this section, please email calendar@slmetro.com

Movie Guide GODSEND Eight years ago, Paul (Greg Kinnear) and Jessie Duncan (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) were grieving over the loss of their son, Adam (Cameron Bright), and agreed to Dr. Richard Wells’ (Robert De Niro) proposal to clone the child. Now, as the new Adam ages and his behavior grows increasingly violent and erratic, the couple realizes that the cloning procedure at the Godsend Institute might have been the gateway to hell. This sci-fi thriller boasts an A-list cast and a slick, handsome production, but the ridiculous, cliche-ridden script offers few scares as it mixes and matches elements from better movies.

GRADE: C KINSEY SCALE: 1 Kinnear and Romijn-Stamos have played queer characters. De Niro played a homophobe who learns a lesson in Flawless.

HELLBOY Discovered as an infant by Allied soldiers during a WWII raid on a Nazi paranormal operation, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) grows up to be a red-skinned, cat-loving, Baby Ruth-chomping FBI operative, complete with horns and tail.

When Professor Broom (John Hurt), his adoptive father, is murdered, Hellboy travels to Russia in search of the killer and comes face to face with his origins and his apparently apocalyptic destiny. The story is silly and the villains are cliched, but Guillermo Del Toro directs this atmospheric, comic-book-inspired adventure yarn with great verve, nicely balancing impressive special effects with near nonstop action and welcome bursts of humor.

GRADE: B+ KINSEY SCALE: 1 Perlman appeared in the gaythemed comedy Happy, Texas, while Hurt has essayed a number of memorable queer characters, including Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant. Co-star Selma Blair made her screen debut in In & Out.

KILL BILL: VOL. 2 The Bride (Uma Thurman) returns in this final chapter (perhaps – director Quentin Tarantino’s already talking about a third volume) of the blood-drenched revenge fantasy about a wronged woman on a rampage. But the second part doesn’t pack the maniacal wallop of the first.

In place of the earlier film’s frenzied blood orgy come the answers to the questions Vol. 1 dangled in front of the audience but shrugged off in its quest to have the highest body count in film history. Backstory involving The Bride’s kung-fu training and a couple of unexpected plot twists keep things interesting, as does Tarantino’s constant need to display his love for and ability to stylishly rip off the movies that influenced him.

Just be prepared for long waits between savage sword fights.

GRADE: B KINSEY SCALE: 1 Thurman starred in Gus Van Sant’s Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.

LAWS OF ATTRACTION Audrey Miller (Julianne Moore) is a top Manhattan divorce attorney. In Movieland, that means she’s wound too tightly, wears her hair up most of the time, never dates men, and really needs some dude to come along and “loosen her up.” Enter Daniel Rafferty (Pierce Brosnan).

He’s a divorce lawyer, too, but the scruffy, disorganized, and virile kind.

The two find themselves on opposing sides in the courtroom, but because they fall into bed early on in the film – she was begging for it, dontcha know – they spend most of that court time fighting about their relationship. And that’s about it. This is the kind of unfunny comedy that paints heterosexual relationships with the broadest possible battleof-the-very-traditional-sexes brush and substitutes wacky physical comedy for witty repartee. Its badly miscast stars – and unlucky audiences – deserve better.

GRADE: D KINSEY SCALE: 1 Moore is a veteran of gay director Todd Haynes’ films Far From Heaven and Safe. Co-star Parker Posey, as a fashion designer who seeks a divorce from her cheating, rock-star husband, has been in numerous films with gay themes.

And for the record, she’s the only actor in this film whose scenes are not cringe-inducing.

MAN ON FIRE John Creasy (Denzel Washington) is a burned-out, alcoholic counterterrorism veteran who takes a job as bodyguard for a 9-year-old girl (Dakota Fanning) in kidnap-plagued Mexico. But this strange film can’t decide whether it wants to be the story of a downcast man redeemed by contact with a child who loves him, or a standard-issue Hollywood revenge flick with extra helpings of graphic violence. As soon as the audience wraps its collective mind around Washington’s moody performance and Fanning’s poised-beyond-her-years personality (and impending kidnapping), the tone abruptly changes and bodies start getting mowed down.

The unlikely pairing of a veteran Oscar winner and a whip-smart little girl makes the first half of the movie completely watchable; yet a Walking Tall/Punisher-style vigilante bloodbath makes the second half a big, yawning anticlimax.

GRADE: C+ KINSEY SCALE: 1 Washington is now somewhat notorious for his career advice – which went something like this: never kiss another man onscreen – to a young Will Smith, just as that actor was preparing to play gay in Six Degrees of Separation. Washington went on to star in Philadelphia. Supporting cast member Mickey Rourke played a drag queen in the little-seen indie film Animal Factory, and co-star Radha Mitchell played a lesbian in High Art.

MEAN GIRLS Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan), home-schooled in Africa her entire life, moves to America and quickly finds herself at what can only be described as Lord of the Flies High School, where the caste system is vicious. Simultaneously falling in with the “art weirdos” (read: queer kids) and the “Plastics” (rich, beautiful girls), she’s put up to the prank of infiltrating the latter to exact revenge on them for their years-long torment of kids lower on the social totem pole. The snag: in doing so, she finds herself craving their attention, acceptance, and access to cute boys.

Saturday Night Live writer Tina Fey’s script is a dead-on attack of the uniquely horrible world of adolescent females, and it only suffers when forced to make nice in the third act.

So while not the classic teen-angst comedy that was Heathers – where the revenge took on unapologetically

murderous dimensions – it’s still a hilarious glimpse of high school hell.

GRADE: B KINSEY SCALE: 4 Co-star Daniel Franzese plays the type of rebellious, chubby, high school gay boy you wish you had had the nerve to be, and co-star Lizzy Caplan is his comrade in popular-kid terrorism – a maybelesbian-maybe-not girl named Janis Ian. These two steal every scene they’re in, and if there were such a thing as artistic justice in Hollywood, they’d get their own queer Ghost World-esque sequel.

NEW YORK MINUTE Academically inclined Jane Ryan (Ashley Olsen) and her rebellious, Metallica T-shirt-wearing sister, Roxy (Mary-Kate Olsen), look alike, but they’re polar opposites. And when the constantly feuding pair go to New York City for a day, the sparks fly and the slapstick begins in this simple-minded kiddie movie. The two get tangled up with Chinese organized crime (including a very un-Chinese Andy Richter using an offensive accent), a truant officer (Eugene Levy), a rich businessman (SNL’s Darrell Hammond), a senator (Andrea Martin), and, most importantly, a pair of cute boys who help out when things get too sticky. This is a labored, “wacky” film that exists primarily to establish the individuality of the Olsen Twins and, failing that, to douse their blouses with Slurpees and mud. In other words, little girls will aspire to become the nearly 18-year-old stars, their mothers will overlook the sexy subtext, and more than a few dads might find themselves volunteering for movie chaperone duty.

GRADE: C- KINSEY SCALE: 1 There’s a scene in a beauty salon in which a clearly gay male hairstylist helps give the girls a hip-hop-style makeover and also transforms the senator’s pet pooch into a doggie drag queen, a blatant riff on Legally Blonde 2’s gay dog, Bruiser.

up to find herself morphed into a highly successful Manhattan magazine editor, but with the emotions of her teenage self and no memory of the last 17 years.

This romantic comedy adds a fresh twist to a well-worn plot by adding a backstory that covers those missing years, as Jenna realizes that her accomplishments and popularity came at a terrible price. The comely Garner displays a charming flair for sometimes boisterously physical humor that is well-matched by Mark Ruffalo as an old friend who never quite got over an adolescent crush.

GRADE: B+ KINSEY SCALE: 1 Andy Serkis plays Jenna’s gay boss. Ruffalo appeared in 54, and co-star Joe Grifasi had a recurring role on the queer sitcom Some of My Best Friends.

VAN HELSING When Dr. Gabriel Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) arrives in Transylvania to vanquish the vampire Dracula (Richard Roxburgh), he finds himself in a country teeming with monsters that include Frankenstein’s creature (Shuler Hensley) and a werewolf (Will Kemp). Though he likes to work alone, Van Helsing makes an exception for the headstrong Anna Valerious (Kate Beckinsale), the woman he’s vowed to protect and who insists on teaming with him to vanquish the festering evil.

Jackman’s charm, coupled with some excellent special effects and a wonderfully atmospheric prologue that evokes the spirit of ’30s-era horror classics, promise a bang-up frightfest. But the movie quickly deteriorates into a monster mishmash, thanks to banal dialogue, overly frantic and pointless action scenes, and an inane story.

GRADE: C- KINSEY SCALE: 2 There are homoerotic overtones to interactions between Van Helsing and Dracula and between Anna and Dracula’s brides. Jackman is currently playing gay singer-songwriter Peter Allen on Broadway in The Boy from Oz. Beckinsale and co-stars Kevin J. O’Connor, Robbie Coltrane, and Samuel West have appeared in queer-themed films.

YOUNG ADAM When Glasgow bargemen Les (Peter Mullan) and Joe (Ewan McGregor) spot a body floating in the River Clyde, Joe keeps to himself the fact that the corpse is no stranger. But that is not Joe’s only secret, as he embarks on a fevered, reckless affair with Les’ watchful wife, Ella (Tilda Swinton).

Based on a Scottish cult classic novel, this torrid, NC-17-rated drama boasts richly drawn characters, and it paints such an evocative portrait of the hardscrabble canal life of the 1950s that you can practically feel and smell the coal dust coating McGregor’s skin.

McGregor and Swinton are terrifically sexy as a couple that has little use for each other except in those moments when they turn up the erotic heat.

GRADE: B+ KINSEY SCALE: 1 (Swinton has appeared in numerous queer films; she made her reputation starring in the radical cinema of Derek Jarman and as Orlando’s gender-bending hero. As he did in Velvet Goldmine and The Pillow Book – two films in which he played queer characters – McGregor once again completely bares one of cinema’s hottest bodies.)

Kinsey Rating Guide 0–6: 0 = no gay content 6 = absolutely gay

THE PUNISHER When an FBI sting results in the death of the son of mob boss Howard Saint (John Travolta), he orders G-man Frank Castle (Thomas Jane) and his entire family killed. Surviving the assault, Castle – armed with an arsenal of guns, bombs, and even land mines – declares war on Saint’s organization. The plot of this Marvel-comicinspired movie is a mishmash of elements stolen from other vigilante films, and Jane’s vapid hero fails to generate any empathy. Worst of all is the film’s nasty tone, as director Jonathan Hensleigh revels in each act of ever-escalating brutality.

The real punishment is the one delivered to viewers who have to sit through two-plus hours of sadism disguised as entertainment.

GRADE: F KINSEY SCALE: 2 As he did 17 years ago in No Way Out, Will Patton plays a loyal and cruel closet case. Castle’s nextdoor neighbors appear to be a gay couple. Jane, as well as co-stars Roy Scheider, Laura Harring, and Rebecca Romijin-Stamos, have all played queer characters.

13 GOING ON 30 Disappointed when the cool kids desert her 13th birthday party, Jenna Rink (Christa Allen) makes a wish to be “30, flirty, and thriving.” In the morning, Jenna (now played by Jennifer Garner) wakes

MAY 13, 2004

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Chicago organizers (ChicagoGamesInc. org) of the 2006 Gay Games VII (GayGames.org) unveiled its event logo on April 30.

For the first time ever, a Gay Games logo incorporates sports figures into its design, breaking with a tradition of torches, cityscapes and symbols. The logo was created by Chicago queer artist David Lee Csicsko.

UGRA, PWACU Partner The Utah Gay Rodeo Association (ugra.net) became an affiliate program of the People With AIDS Coalition of Utah (pwacu.org) on May 1. UGRA leaders have been longtime supporters of PWACU, and promote the country-western lifestyle through charitable amateur rodeo and related activities in order to preserve the diverse heritage of the American West.

Summer Bowling Patti Parker slugs a line drive at the Pride Softball League game played at Jordan Park on Sunday, May 9. The league plays weekly at the park with male and female players in organized teams. Spectators are lively and tend to bring picnic lunch. Games run from 11am to 3pm at 1000 S. 900 West.

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MAY 13, 2004

Salt Lake Goodtimes Bowling League leaders started its annual summer league on May 13 at Bonwood Bowl in South Salt Lake, Utah. The league plays on Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. for 14 weeks and ends in midAugust. Singles and beginners are welcome.

Fees are $10 a night.

Lambda Hiking to Tackle Ferguson Canyon Climb Lambda Hiking Club (GayHike. org) members plan to climb Ferguson Canyon near Draper, Utah on May 15.

The canyon climbs steeply to the southeast from the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon.

The trail follows the stream, and then climbs to a ridge, Hounds Tooth where members will have lunch. Round-trip distance: three miles. Elevation gain: 1,600-feet. Hiking time: approximately three hours.

France to Host International Sports Event Paris will host the Federation Sportive Gaie et Lesbienne (fsgl.org) Tournoi International de Paris 2004 May 28-31. The international multi-sport event will have 35 sports including martial arts seminars, as well as cultural and social events. France will also host the informational and general meetings of the International Gay Figure Skating Union (igfsu.org) on May 29 in Villard-de-Lans. Meeting leaders will present new developments about Gay Games VII Chicago 2006, World OutGames I RendezVous Montreal 2006 (Montreal2006.org), and Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association (glaf.org).

MICHAEL AARON

Sports

Gay Games Logo Unveiled

Fun Stuff Crossword Puzzle

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The San Francisco Shockwaves play the Los Angeles Motion in the gay flag-football Surf-and-Turf Bowl in San Diego.

Flag Football the Next Craze?

By the constant chanting on May 1 of “A-T-L, A-T-L” by the Atlanta Thunder players at Bourbon Street despite their fourth-place finish, the first gay flag-football Surf-and-Turf Bowl was a big success. Perhaps the Thunder was confused by the heat and chanting for rain, or they were looking ahead to the Gay Super Bowl that will likely be played in their hometown next fall by two San Diego teams.

When all the festivities ended, it was still San Diego’s Bourbon Street Hurricanes who took the tournament and beat the San Francisco Shockwaves 52-14 in the final game played at City College under a blistering sun.

“The competition was fierce, and regardless of the heat, each team that came were well organized and had a lot of ambition,” bowl co-director John Hernandez said. “It will only get better, honey!”

Hernandez and bowl co-director Ivan Solis are already planning next year’s second-annual tournament and are currently picking up interest from other teams around North America.

Seven teams from as far as Atlanta, gathered to compete for the trophy awarded to

the best overall flag-football team. Playing with an open wound on his forehead and covered only by his usual waist wrap, Peter Manzoni, who has been struggling all season, played with a consistent flair at quarterback, while Trevor Keuckner continued his usual finesse at catching and running the ball for innumerable scores.

The league is made up of seven teams from across the country and is competitive, but “we have a lot of fun,” said Gregg Powers, commissioner of the Atlanta Thunder and a commissioner on the national league.

“It’s all about camaraderie, building friendships and mutual respect. We’re a tight knit group,” he said.

Flag football appears to be taking off among gays. Last year, the Thunder had 13 players, and this year the size of the team doubled to 26. Plans are underway to establish a full league in Atlanta, with organizers hoping to field three teams at next year’s championships, according to Powers.

There are currently no plans in Salt Lake City, but who knows... maybe it will be the next stereotype to fall.

ACROSS 1 Soccer is played on 6 Thunder ____ 10 Come together 14 Fable writer 15 Mesa Verde former inhabitants 16 Bunsen burner 17 Football player build 18 Make this to gamble on a game (2 words) 19 Not us but ____ 20 Louvre 21 Employ 22 Faux silver 24 Pride league plate 26 These mothers prefer Jif 27 Marriage sites 30 Christmas 31 Jaws 32 Flows 33 Jackie Biskupski is this (abbr.)

36 Senile 37 Rest in peace 38 Mouthguards protect these 40 Tyrannosaurus 41 A good crowd makes lots of this 43 Boredom 44 Adam and ___ can be seen here biweekly

45 Flower ovary 46 Infant’s sock 49 German city 50 Sunday afternoons at Fairmont 51 Derby 52 On a good night, 2 can end up here (2 words) 56 Among 57 Musical composition 59 Range 60 Consumer 61 The ___ to merge 62 Stop 63 Dole out 64 Meets 65 Brims DOWN 1 Talks incessantly 2 Gyrate 03 At sea 04 Jordan Park Sundays 05 Secret agent 06 Run after 07 Ear part 08 Baboon 09 Ball deliverer 10 Best newspaper in town 11 Principles 12 Opposing team can be called this 13 Subdue

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Find the words below in the grid. When you are done, the unused letters will spell out a hidden message. Pick them out from left to right, top line to bottom line. Words can go across, down and in three diagonals.

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More Summer Sports

HIKING HOOP JOCK JORDAN LAMBDA LEAGUE PARK

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BALL BASE BASKETBALL FAIRMONT FIELD FOOTBALL GOLF

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50 Quac members did this last Sunday 51 Hung like a baseball bat 53 Winners often do this 54 Comfort 55 Tints 58 Before (prefix) 59 Golf – hole in one MICHAEL AARON

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Solutions to WordSearch and the Crossword Puzzle can be found in the Comics.

Venture Out

Paper Moon* thepapermoon.com

Equestrian

Gaming

Utah Gay Rodeo Association Utah Cyber Sluts Bingo!

Radio City Lounge ugra.net groups.msn.com/utahcybers Looking to join a group of gay or utah.citysearch.com/ Fans Outdoors lesbian sports enthusiasts? Salt profile/10384552 MoDiggity’s Sports Pub* Lambda Hiking Club Lake Metro brings you this list of Trapp* and Trapp Door* modiggitys.com gayhike.org community resources. thetrapp.com Try-Angles*clubtry-angles.com Sports Sunday at Trapp* and Northern Utah Women ROC Aquatics groups.yahoo.com/group/ Trapp Door* Vortex* 801-363-2623 Queer Utah Aquatic Club ogdenoutdoorwomen thetrapp.com quacquac.org

Check out

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Bowling

Athletics City of Hope Run and Walk for Hope cityofhope.org Frontrunners/Frontwalkers Utah frontrunnersutah.org Gay and Lesbian Coed Indoor Soccer League 801-299-0909

Gay and Lesbian Soccer jesper2@hotmail.com

Utah AIDS Foundation Walk For Life www.utahaids.org Utah Pride 5K Run-WalkRoll www.utahpride.org

Billiards and Darts Axis* clubaxis.com Brass Rail* utah.citysearch. com/profile/10407360

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Taco Wheels Moab Mountainbiking alysonadventures.com/bike/ gay/moab.htm

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glccu.com/programs.html Homophobia In Sports Project homophobiainsports. Volleyball com Gay and Lesbian Volleyball Outsports outsports.com 801-328-8891 x339 Rendez-Vous Montréal 2006 To get your group added Gay Sport and Cultural to this list, sned details to Festival montreal2006.org sports@slmetro.com Women’s Sports Foundation

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Comics

A COUPLE OF GUYS Dave Brousseau

ADAM & ANDY James Asal

BITTER GIRL Joan Hilty

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HIDDEN MESSAGE: SOFTBALL: NOT JUST FOR LESBIANS ANY MORE

Crossword Puzzle G A B S

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MAY 13, 2004

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StarGayzer

by Madam Lichtenstein Start your engines, compadres. Mars speeds into emotional Cancer and life rockets upward and outward. We can succeed at anything and everything — at least we believe that we can. Repeat the mantra and lock and load, comrade. Do I hear a sizzle and a pop?

ARIES (Mar 21 to Apr 20) Apparently, there are a few things x that you would like to get off your chest. Now that Mars moves into Cancer you cannot contain yourself any longer. Proud rams make any excuse to get the family together and will mend or bend a few fences in the process. You will have your say no matter what the outcome. Spruce up your surroundings to get ready for the hordes.

TAURUS (Apr 21 to May 21) Gay bulls are full of themselves when

c Mars enters Cancer. You think that you are quite the intellectual and manage to mouth off your opinions at every opportunity. A

mighty wind blows, a dust storm ensues. What you may find once the air has cleared is that it didn’t matter whether you were right or wrong. What really matters is that you said it loud, proud and queer.

GEMINI (May 22 to Jun 21) Keep a watchful eye on your bottom v line, pink twin. Mars dips into Cancer and your need exceeds your capacity. There are so many alluring goodies that catch your eye that you are tempted to spend fast, fecklessly and furiously. But before you whip out the wallet be sure that the object of your desire can deliver on its purported promise. Will you wind up with trash?

Will you care?

CANCER (Jun 22 to Jul 23) Mars edges into your own sign and

b prods you into taking a more active role in implementing your long dormant plans. There are no more “what ifs” and “oh wells,” queer crab. Those stale excuses will no longer do. There is a short window of opportunity so get going. You sparkle and shine around others and can start a few social fires. Is it hot in here or is it you?

Nice ash.

LEO (Jul 24 to Aug 23) There is a great deal of secretive activity ngoing on behind the scenes. Much of it has to do with unresolved issues that you preferred to push under the rug. Keep an ear to the ground, proud lion. One of two scenarios appears to be in the cards: Either your hidden enemies are finally vanquished by Mars in Cancer or they rise up for one last attempted coup. Prepare the guillotine, DeFarge.

(Aug 24 to Sep 23) What is it about Mars in Cancer that mVIRGO accelerates all queer virgins into overdrive? Your social swirl whips up into a lather and your dance card fills to overflowing.

Friends come to you from all corners, from every nook and cranny, from under every rock — or so it seems. Can you dance at two parties with only one tush? Lather up, cousin. You will certainly try.

LIBRA (Sep 24 to Oct 23) Gay Libras find themselves imbued

X

with ambition and zest when Mars enters Cancer. This is the time to put your best professional foot forward and see how well you can impress those in charge. Confidence and calculated risks make the difference between sitting among the upper class and sulking in steerage. Have a great idea? Float it and see who gets carried away.

CMars tickles Cancer. Proud Scorps feel confined by the usual

SCORPIO (Oct 24 to Nov 22) Itchy feet must be scratched while

and staid. They must break out and escape, damn the cost. Choose some unusual destinations now and see if there are some interesting distractions afoot. If money is tight, expand your international reach with a combination of food, wine and exotic company — virtual or otherwise.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 to Dec 22) Your sexual appetite is piqued V while Mars pokes Cancer. The most uninspired gay archer now gets an urge to merge. You have great stamina and are primed for a marathon rather than a short sprint. But try to be a bit discriminating. There is the off chance that the short term jolly can evolve into something much more serious. Or are you just into getting your jollies? Ho ho ho.

CAPRICORN (Dec 23 to Jan 20) There is something going on B in your relationships when Mars enters Cancer. Do you feel more of an emotional connection or are you finding that the ties now bind? Pink Caps wander into a crossroad of their own making and feel that changes need to be made immediately. There may be something that you say that brings understanding to a new level. Will that be higher or lower?

AQUARIUS (Jan 21 to Feb 19) Are you taking vitamins? Are you

N

exercising? It may seem that way even to lazy bones. Slothful Aqueerians feel robust and primed for action when Mars advances into Cancer. Use this burst of energy to get a number of long-standing tasks out of the way and prepare for new ones. At least if you are going to be a rat on a treadmill you might as well use it as aerobic fitness.

PISCES (Feb 20 to Mar 20) Your bosom swells with pride, and M good thing too! Find numerous ways to have fun and let your emotions run wild while Mars sits in Cancer. Guppies are giddy and fun loving and now your giddiness and sense of fun knows no bounds (unless, of course, you are into it!) There is the chance that you will overdo, but do you really care? Recuperate next month.

Cruise TheStarryEye.com for prescient horoscopes and insightful articles.

Madam Lichtenstein is the author of the highly acclaimed “HerScopes: a Guide to Astrology for Lesbians” from Simon & Schuster. This book would have won the Pulitzer had the voting not been rigged.

Roommates U OF U AREA home to share. Looking for laid-back, responsible third in this 100 yr. old home. Huge Bedroom w/ walk-in closet. $375.00/mo. includes all utilities. Call (801)359-4967

For Sale or Trade GET THAT HOURGLASS SHAPE YOU CRAVE! Custom Corsets:women/men, brides/grooms, drags/doms. Top quality waist compression for fashion & fun. saltlaketightlacer.com 801-596-2210

For Rent ONE BEDROOM, one bath. Just remodeled. 3001 S 200 East. $500/mo. 801278-9642, 801-359-0586, ask for Connie.

Real Estate GAY NEIGHBORHOOD. 1936 Tudor, 4 Bd, 2 bath in the West Capitol Hill neighborhood, 242 W. Reed Ave (740 North) $149,900. John P Poulos 801641-8998 poujoh@wfrmls.com MAINTENANCE FREE, 1992 Multi. 3 Bd., 2 bath, 2 car garage. Vaults and a .17 acre park-like yard to die for. Room to grow. $167,500. 1782 W. Alps Way. Dawn Colbert, Signature Group 979-3558.

SUGARHOUSE Old charm. Hardwood floors, Ingelnook, tapered pilasters, solarium off formal dining. Original gumwood never painted over. 4 bd, 2 bth, mother-in-law. $189,900. Dawn Colbert, Signature Group 979-3558.

SUGAR HOUSE STARTER – 3BR/2BA w/ fenced yd + 1 C gar behind Singing Cricket cafe. $124,900, see at urbanutah.com. Babs De Lay, Broker cell: 201-UTAH URBAN CONDOS at the Dakota lofts-1 BR $124,900 or 2 level live/work space $269,900. See tours at urbanutah.com.

Babs De Lay, Broker cell: 201-UTAH DOWNTOWN TWIN HOME – model unit $138,650. 3BR/2BA, only one left. 586 No. 800W. See tour at urbanutah.com.

Babs De Lay, Broker, cell: 201-UTAH URBAN FARM! (almost!) Downtown mansion on .29 AC w huge garage + shop. 4 BR/4BA $234,900 See tour at urbanutah.com Babs De Lay, Broker, cell: 201-UTAH WESTMINSTER AREA 2BR condo w/ fireplace/patio and covered parking or Carriage Lane 2Br in Holladay. Both under $94,900! See tour at urbanutah. com Babs De Lay, Broker, cell: 201-UTAH

Commercial Real Estate CAMBRIDGE VILLAGE, new office condos. Starting at $125,000 10020 S. Redwood Rd. Custom Built or lease to own. Dawn Colbert, Signature Group 979-3558.

Pets FEELING CATTY? Want something furry snuggled up to you ar night?

Newborn kittens ready to adopt end of May. Free to good home. Gwen (801)261-5442.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: slmetro.com/subscribe

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Wanted WANTED–Used T-Mobile or VoiceStream phone. Will be used by a chronically ill eleven year old boy for emergency use.

Call James at 801-808-9898.

Visit slmetro.com for $1 personals and $5 Service Directory classifieds.

UPRIGHT PIANO. Free if you will pick it up and take it away. Not in the best condition – heavy water damage from being outside, but under a tarp.

Playable. Call Michael at 856-5655 or email maaron@yahoo.com.

SERVICE DIRECTORY Accounting ACCOUNTING & MORE, Inc. Toni Johnson, Bookkeeping, Tax Preparation. 801-412-0600. 1800 S 900 E #4, SLC. a.a.more@earthlink.net

Apparel GET THAT HOURGLASS shape you crave! Custom Corsets for women & men, brides & grooms, drags & doms.

Top quality waist compression for fashion & fun. saltlaketightlacer.com 801-596-2210

Attorneys MARLIN G. CRIDDLE, P.C. Serving Utah’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities. Estate Planning, Probate, Criminal Law, Bankruptcy, Corporations/ Business. 474-2299. marlincriddle.com

Audio Video DAN FAHNDRICH PRODUCTIONS. Creation in multi-media. Choreography of still or video images with music onto DVD. 801487-2593. dan.fahndrich@earthlink.net

Bars

Massage Therapists

CLUB 161: WHERE THE MEN ARE 161 So. Pueblo St. (1440 West) Open Tue.Sun. 7pm-2am. SEE AD INSIDE. Look for drink specials thru the week open party on Fri. & Sat. 801-363-8161

Community Groups HEADS UP! We are a fun group of friends looking for others to join us to help us review movies and restaurants.

Seeking all lifestyles with no experience. Call 801-879-5564 if interested.

Estate Planning Services JANE MARQUARDT & Doug Fadel Attorneys at Law, providing comprehensive estate planning services, custom designed to your unique family situation, including trusts, wills, partnership agreements and estate administration.

801-294-7777

Handymen ADVANTAGE CLEANING Systems – Cleaning, Painting, Carpet cleaning and installation, landscaping, hauling.

You name it, we’ll do it, (If it’s legal) 502-6071.

BEST THERAPISTS, Best Price, Best Place, Best Hours. Call for appointment 486-5500. Pride Massage. 1800 South West Temple, Suite A224.

GREAT MASSAGE. Stimulate your senses, or feel deep peace with a relaxing full body massage. Call Therron for an appointment 801-879-3583 for $5 off mention this ad. LMT#5608006

Real Estate Agents NOT YOUR FATHER’S Realtor®. Brad Dundas, Stonebrook Real Estate Inc. 550-0330 or bradley@xmission.com. www.saltlakesgayrealtor.com DWIGHT LINDSAY, Realty Brokers Excel, 801-205-3166 cell.

YourRealtor@DwightLindsay.com www.DwightLindsay.com

Travel 10 NIGHT MEXICAN Riviera Cruise with air from SLC, $1,119 pp. dbl. occ. Nov 26, 2004. Ocean view cabin.

Includes all taxxes. Call Rod at (888) 280-6673 or visit www.rodscustomtravel.com

PERSONALS Missed Connections

Men for Men

SOCCER DUDE You: No shirt, long gray shorts. Me: 2002 Olympic shirt, levis.

We flirted, I was shy. You handle the ball well. I have some at home.

CUTE STUD for luv. GWM 38 yrs old seeks GWM 35-55 for long-term relationship.

NS, ND a must. Check out my profile at outinsaltlakecity.com - UtahGrungeBoy.

REPLY TO BOX 9, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

REPLY TO BOX 1, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

SALT LAKE MEN’S Choir concert. You sang in the front row. I was in the front row of the audience, I’ll be at the summer concert wearing a pink corsage.

CAFE TRANG – You in the convert. BMW, me in my Jeep. You took your laundry to the cleaners. We were all eyes. Wish I could have waited for you to come out.

REPLY TO BOX 4, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

SUBWAY 4TH SOUTH - I was walking through the parking lot and you were in the passenger seat of a car that nearly hit me. Wished she had so I could get mouth-to-mouth from you.

REPLY TO BOX 6, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

IT’S GETTING LONELY here under this bridge. Need some hot hunks to play “strip Monopoly” or other such nonsense with. I promise you won’t get stuck in the mud. Let’s Play!

REPLY TO BOX 2, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

MODERN AESTHETIC 28 SWM Gay. Downtown seeks partner for conversation, arts performances, etc. Love travel, cooking, fine dining.

REPLY TO BOX 5, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

$1 PERSONALS extended through May. Go to slmetro.com/classifieds and get yours today!

GRYFF - Hot fun intellectual artistic spritualist/pagan Bi 32WM 175# 6’ seeks openness honesty fun-loving individuals to expand friendship base, and possibly more. Must be free-spirited and NO jealousy REPLY TO BOX 7, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

Women for Women WF, 38, busy and a little shy,looking for friend or more, esp other classy smart professional women. Wild side likes to romp and shop during stolen afternoons but can behave, too.

REPLY TO BOX 3, PERSONALS@SLMETRO.COM

NEW IN TOWN, or interested in meeting new friends? Come to sWerve monthlies, 3rd Saturday of each month, GLBT Center. Info 539-8800 ext. 25 or www.swerveutah.com (join email list!)

SELLER FINANCING, 4771 S State Street. 2700 sq. ft. building Remodeled.

Off street parking lot. Udot count over 40,000 cars per day. $474,000. Dawn Colbert, Signature Group 979-3558.

9.93 PRIVATE, wooded, serene acres in Summitt CountyViews and quiet.

Utilities available. Minutes from Park City. $275,000. Can build res. or duplex only.

Dawn Colbert, Signature Group 979-3558.

Home Furnishings CANDLESCAPE.COM your online CANDLE Store! Order online and mention slmetro for an additional discount.

We carry a wide variety of Glass Candles and supplies. A Gay Owned Company.

MAY 13, 2004

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SALT LAKE METRO

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WA S H I N GTO N S Q UA R E J U N E 13 , 2 0 0 4 GR AND M ARSHALL RECEPTION F R I D A Y, J U N E 11 info: elit vack @ glccu.com 8 01. 5 3 9. 8 8 0 0 x12

Pride 2004 Grand Marshall Bruce W. Bastian Bruce W. Bastian, respected Utah philanthropist and cofounder of WordPerfect will be featured as the Grand Marshall during the 2004 Pride celebration scheduled for June 11-13.

Bruce Wayne Bastian was born in Twin Falls, Idaho, on March 23, 1948.

He was the fifth of six children in a conservative, Mormon family, and lived in Twin Falls until moving to Provo, Utah in 1966 to attend Brigham Young University.

He received a BA in Music Education and a MA in Computer Science from BYU. After leaving BYU in 1978, Mr. Bastian and his faculty advisor, Alan Ashton, started a small software company offering word processing software on mini computers. In 1983, soon after the IBM Personal Computer was announced, Mr. Ashton and Mr. Bastian rewrote their word processing product to run in the PC world. That product was named WordPerfect.

Until the mid 90's, Mr. Bastian served as Chairman of WordPerfect Corporation and also directly led all international operations of the company. WordPerfect became the best-selling wordprocessor in several regions of the world as well as the USA. Since the merger of WordPerfect and NOVELL Corporation in 1994, Bastian has spent an increasing amount of time devoted to charitable causes and philanthropy. Bastian’s foresight and generosity have provided more personal and financial support to local Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender community organizations than any other single individual. He is also a major donor for several national GLBT organizations.

Bastian learned of the need for equality from his father who taught him to be free from prejudice and give back to those less fortunate. Bastian recalls

stories of how his father gave food from the family-owned grocery store to those who needed it, and how his father and older sister took food to black musicians who were not allowed to enter the allwhite restaurants in Idaho before the Civil Rights era of the 60's.

His foundation, the B.W. Bastian Foundation has adopted a policy of only supporting organizations that wholeheartedly embrace the principle of equality. Bastian funding places a strong commitment on programs and organizations that benefit, encourage, and preserve the rights of individuals, and promote equality for the GLBT community.

Bastian loves music and the arts because he believes they inspire people to be their true selves and open their lives from inside. Locally, Bastian supports many performing arts organizations including those at the University of Utah, Ballet West, and the Utah Symphony and Opera. His funding also includes environmental

organizations, wildlife funds, and homeless shelters. Political committees and candidates nationwide have been recipients of his funding. AIDS research and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender groups have greatly benefitted from Bastian dollars.

Bastian assumes a national political voice as he works on the Board of Directors of the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, DC. His lobbying efforts and co-chairmanship of the initiative to defeat the Federal Marriage Amendment demonstrate his dedication to educating the masses regarding gay civil rights issues. Bruce is currently traveling extensively in this capacity, speaking, fund-raising, and educating as he works for equal protection and equal rights under the law for GLBT Americans and their families everywhere.

Bastian is quoted as saying, “I do not believe any human being can be truly happy without being true to him or herself. That is often not easy to do in our society, especially if it goes against the grain of what is considered the social norm.”

Though he is sometimes seen as shy and poignantly private, Bastian accepted the invitation to serve as the 2004 Grand Marshall as a testament to this strongly held belief that by telling his story, he hopes to model the importance of coming out and living an authentic life. “It is time for everyone who believes in equality to step forward and be heard. If we are silent, the forces of bigotry will take our freedoms from us,” Bastian said.

Bastian puts much of his energy into politics and promoting equality. Bruce has four sons, of whom he is very proud and protective, and he resides at his primary residence in Orem where he lives with his schnauzers, Lucas and Max.