Metro, Volume 2, Issue 21

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

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

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

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

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

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JUDY G. ROLFE

WORLD AND NATIONAL

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

Human Rights Campaign Marks 25th Anniversary

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Dinner Event Honored Julian Bond, Cyndi Lauper, Wanda Alston Washington, D.C.—Celebrating “25 Years on the Road to Equality,” the Human Rights Campaign’s national dinner on Oct. 1 honored NAACP chairman Julian Bond, Grammy-winner Cyndi Lauper and civil rights leader Wanda Alston.

More than 2,500 attendees, including corporate executives and employees representing more than 90 companies, also enjoyed performances by Kimberly Locke, Sam Harris and the B-52’s.

“The Human Rights Campaign has been proud to be part of the enormous progress made on the road to equality over the last 25 years,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “While we have miles to go, the national dinner gave us an opportunity to look at the distance we’ve crossed. Twenty-five years ago, there were no companies that offered samesex domestic partner benefits. Today, there are more than 8,000. Twenty-five years ago, there were no states with laws that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Today, there are 16 that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Twenty-five years ago, the Human Rights Campaign endorsed only one candidate for Congress. Last year, we endorsed 201. We were proud to have the opportunity to celebrate those and so

many other benchmarks with some of our strongest allies in the fight for equality.”

Receiving the Human Rights Campaign National Civil Rights Award, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond has been on the cutting edge of social change, promoting civil rights and economic justice for all citizens for more than four decades.

A Grammy Award-winning musician, Cyndi Lauper has also become a national leader in the fight for equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals and was honored with this year’s HRC National Equality Award.

In addition, HRC posthumously presented the National Capital Area Leadership Award to civil and equal rights leader Wanda Alston, who served as director of the District of Columbia Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs.

Also taking the stage at the national dinner were top Billboard artist and American Idol star Kimberley Locke, legendary alternative pop band the B-52’s and accomplished singer Sam Harris.

“When others have shied away, our awardees have shown great commitment in their advocacy for equal rights,” added Solmonese. “It is our pleasure to say, ‘Thank you for never backing down.

Today, we are closer to equality because of your work.’”

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 3

wamu.com/pride

FDIC Insured

Schwarzenegger Vetoes California Same-Sex Marriage Bill

NATIONAL BRIEFS Court Nominee Harriet Miers Finds Unlikely Gay Support

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by Angela D’Amboise The latest Bush Supreme Court Justice nominee is finding friends—or at least sympathy—in some unexpected places.

Gay and lesbian advocates are providing some of the rare positive response to Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, who has found herself under a barrage of hostile fire from nearly the entire conservative establishment in Washington.

In a questionnaire by the Lesbian/Gay Political Coalition of Dallas, Miers gave conflicting and sometimes ambiguous answers.

Oddly, Miers filled out the questionnaire even though she was not seeking the group’s endorsement.

She stated she agreed that homosexuals should have the same civil rights as heterosexuals. Miers, at the time a prominent corporate lawyer, also stated that she supported increasing city funding for AIDS education and patient support, adding, “I do consider the AIDS illness as a serious total community problem.”

Asked whether she believed lesbians and gays should be denied city employment, Miers said, “I believe that employers should be able to pick the best qualified person

for any position to be filled considering all relevant factors.”

Joe Solmonese, president of the gay Human Rights Campaign, said Miers’ answers more than 15 years ago indicated “at the very least maybe she’s sort of open to the idea of fairness.”

He said the responses should be viewed in the context of Dallas in 1989, when many national Democratic politicians refused contributions from gay groups.

“If you go back to 1989, her answers around AIDS were forward thinking, and she said she believed gays and lesbians deserve the same civil rights, even though she was not for overturning sodomy laws,” Solmonese said. “Those answers were not all that out of line with people who were inclined to be fair at that time and who developed into fair-minded individuals over the years.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, which has withheld its endorsement of Miers, responded in a statement that he had “a concern that Miss Miers was helping to legitimize the drive of homosexual organizations for power and influence over our public policies.” He predicted that Miers would be closely questioned on the topic in her Senate hearings.

by Ross von Metzke Sacramento, Calif.—As was expected, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed California’s same-sex marriage bill late Thursday afternoon. The action came on a day in which he rejected 51 other bills as well.

In explaining his decision, Schwarzenegger wrote that he believed gay couples were entitled to “full protection under the law and should not be discriminated against,” but that he felt the bill would have reversed a 2000 ballot measure that declared only a marriage between a man and a woman is legal in California.

The same-sex marriage bill—which squeaked by in the State Senate and Assembly earlier this month with no Republican votes—was the first in the country that legalized gay marriage using the power of the legislature without a court order.

In recent weeks, Democratic San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno, the sponsor of the bill, attempted every conceivable means possible to persuade the Governor to change his mind. Earlier this week, Leno accused the Governor of “hiding behind the fig leaf” of the 2000 ballot measure, Proposition 22.

That measure was approved by 61 percent of voters, but recent polls have suggested that Californians are now almost evenly divided on the issue.

Leno said the veto “puts the governor on the wrong side of history. He cannot claim to support fair and equal legal protections for same-sex couples and veto the very bill that would have provided it to them.”

Opponents of gay marriage praised the veto, characterizing Leno’s bill as an attempt to do an end-around Proposition 22.

The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that the veto comes at a time when Schwarzenegger’s Republican base has become essential to any attempt at a bid for re-election. With his approval rating slipping to an all-time low of 33-percent, the former action star has announced that he will seek re-election next year.

Meanwhile, Connecticut will join Vermont as the only states to offer same-sex civil unions. Unfortunately for those planning their ceremonies, the launch comes on a day when only a handful of town clerks’ offices plan to be open, according to a report by MTV News.

“Saturday is going to be a landmark day in the civil rights movement in Connecticut,” said Democratic State Senator Andrew McDonald, one of only a few openly gay legislators in Connecticut’s General Assembly.

Connecticut’s law passed in April, making it the first state to recognize same-sex unions without court intervention. The civil unions will give same-sex couples the same legal protections as married couples, including spousal health-care benefits.

Laws allowing gay couples to marry in Vermont and Massachusetts were passed as the result of legal action. Despite the change, Connecticut will not recognize same-sex marriages because its law specifies marriage is between a man and a woman only.

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LOCAL AND REGIONAL

Salt Lake City’s Partner Benefits Saga Continues

by JoSelle Vanderhooft

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joselle@slmetro.com

Salt Lake City’s insurance administrator has taken the mayor’s executive order granting health insurance benefits to the same-sex partners of city employees to court.

In the lawsuit, filed before Third District Judge Stephen L. Roth on Sept. 27, representatives from the Public Employees Health Program said they wanted to determine whether the mayor’s executive order complied with Utah law.

“Our purpose is simply to find out what the law is and follow it. There are valid interpretations either way,” PEHP attorney Dan Andersen told the Salt Lake Tribune.

Opponents of the mayor’s Sept. 21 executive order, including Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper, have said Anderson’s proposal doesn’t fit with Utah law. They cite the state’s 2004 Marriage Recognition Policy—which defines marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman—as well as Amendment 3 which banned gay marriage. Utah’s voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 3 during last year’s election.

PEHP’s lawsuit has asked Judge Roth to determine whether or not Anderson’s order constituted a contract negotiation between the city and its employees or a law. If the judge determines it’s the first, says PEHP, the Marriage Recognition Policy would protect such an order. If it constitutes a law, the same policy and Amendment 3 would strike it down. The insurer also wants an answer to the key question of whether or not offering the benefits is the same thing as granting gay couples legal status equal to marriage. If the judge determines this to be so, the mayor’s executive order would be illegal.

In the meantime, Phoenix-based Alliance Defense Fund has filed suit to stop the executive order as well. The organization, which describes itself as a “religious liberty legal alliance” committed to protecting and defending “traditional family values, religious freedom, and the sanctity of human life” has said that the executive order “blatantly disregards state law.”

“The state’s Defense of Marriage Act and the Utah Constitution clearly prohibit Mayor Anderson from creating this type of order,” said ADF attorney Dale Schowengerdt. “He has flagrantly made clear his desire to create a special class for ‘domestic partners’ nonetheless.”

The suit, filed Sept. 28 by ADF-allied attorney Frank Mylar in the Third District Court of Salt Lake County is Norman v. Anderson.

Utah’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has also considered joining the fray to defend Anderson’s executive order, particularly in light of the ACLU’s involvement in a similar domestic partner benefits case in Michigan. In this Sept. 27 case, an Ingham County Circuit Judge ruled that

the state’s constitutional amendment only banned gay marriage and civil unions, not public employers offering benefits to the partners of gay employees.

According to executive director Dani Eyer, the organization is still deciding whether or not they should get involved.

“We’ve been involved in the process that’s in discussion with the various parties [to see] if our involvement would be helpful or not,” she said. “The ACLU case [in Michigan] was a different scenario. There we had to bring legal action because nobody like the city was doing what it was doing here. Because [Salt Lake City] is actually pushing for the domestic partner benefits there’s not necessarily a role for us to [get involved]” because the city is already fighting for it. “Sometimes when you jump in it just muddies the water when another party is ably defending the principles you’d like to defend.”

At the same time, three Salt Lake City Council members, Dave Buhler, Eric Jergensen and Jill Remington Love, are talking about offering their own benefits proposal.

Unlike the mayor’s order, they want to include family members of city employees, like parents and siblings. The three met with city attorneys Sept. 27 to discuss their ideas.

“If we could find a way to do it that PEHP is comfortable with then we would broaden it to include family members,” said Love. “I think we want individuals with long term interdependent relationships to be able to add that partner. That could be a sibling or it could be someone in a platonic relationship and it could be someone in a more intimate romantic relationship. We understand that families don’t all come in the same packages and we want to be fair and support family units whatever that unit may be.”

The council’s alternate proposal, however, has some gay rights leaders worried. They contend that council members may widen the proposal to include so many people that implementing it would be economically impossible.

“Our fear is that nothing will end up really happening,” said Jane Marquardt, Equality Utah chair. “I commend the council for what they’re trying to do…because everyone in our society needs more access to health insurance. My concern is that by not endorsing the mayor’s executive ordinance they’re really turning away from immediately offering benefits to the families of their LGBT employees.”

She added that she is concerned the council isn’t backing Anderson’s executive order because they’re trying to “shy away from making an active statement” that gay employees have family members to support just like their straight counterparts.

Love argues that her plan “in no way distracts from the domestic partner domestic order that the mayor passed.”

Evergreen Holds 15th Conference Pruden: Don’t seek ‘magic bullet’ to same-sex attraction

by Michael Aaron michael@slmetro.com

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

Mason: Sexuality Not a Choice

by Darren Tucker darren@slmetro.com

“I commend you for your unshakable faith in the face of unwanted feelings you did not choose to have.”

That’s how Elder James O. Mason of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints greeted members of the group Evergreen International in a speech written for their 15th annual conference.

“I commend you for never forgetting that God loves you and that you are his sons and daughters. I commend you for not forgetting your magnificent divine potential and for using your God-given moral agency in resisting temptation and evil,” the text reads.

At first glance the James O. Mason comments could be interpreted as a new acceptance of homosexuality by the LDS Church, but Mason explains in the text that this is the way the church has always felt.

He quotes a letter to the editor in the Deseret Morning News: “From what I have witnessed in conference the last few years, the brethren have rarely missed an opportunity to tell gay people exactly what the church thinks of them. I know that in some people’s distorted logic, this is ‘true’ kindness, but my gay friends don’t feel the warmth. It feels more like hatred to them.”

Mason counters these comments by explaining that he has attended every general conference held by the church for the last 20 years and has never detected anything but “kindness toward individuals with same-sex attraction.”

But he goes on to say that expressing homosexuality—gay sex and erotic thoughts about gay sex—is sinful and is subject to church discipline. He claims that although homosexuals did not choose to have feelings of attraction to the same sex, acting on those feelings is a grievous sin.

And he quotes Elder Dallin H. Oakes of the church’s governing “Quorum of the Twelve” as saying, “Our doctrines obviously condemn those who engage in socalled ‘gay bashing’—physical or verbal attacks on persons thought to be involved in homosexual or lesbian behavior.”

So is accepting homosexuality as “unwanted feelings you did not choose to have” a change for the LDS Church?

No, according to Mason. He does not claim to know what causes homosexuality

or whether it is congenital or acquired after birth. He does state emphatically that as far as being a choice, “My experience with persons struggling with same-gender attraction tells me that this is not so or very rarely so.”

Mason said in his speech that homosexuality is a disorder, and likens it to diabetes or other medical disorders. Can diabetes be cured? No. Can it be controlled? Yes. “Feelings of attraction toward someone of the same gender should be eliminated if possible or controlled. You did not choose to have these feelings but you can do something about them.

“Homosexual or lesbian erotic thoughts are consequences of uncontrolled feelings and they are wrong, just as heterosexual erotic thoughts are wrong. They must be stopped! Homosexual or lesbian behavior is a serious sin, as is heterosexual fornication or adultery. It must be stopped!”

Mason explains that through organizations like Evergreen International and with counseling and “proper repentance,” men and women with same-sex attraction can avoid sin and be worthy members of the LDS Church.

“The person resisting unwanted feelings is entitled to every blessing of church membership,” he said. “Repentance is needed for those dwelling on homosexual or improper heterosexual thoughts or participating in sinful behavior. When they are worthy, bishops may extend appropriate church callings to members with same-gender attraction.”

Mason concludes with his promise that people who “control” their feelings of same-sex attraction and are “faithful and keep baptism, priesthood and temple covenants” will have no blessing pertaining to exaltation withheld because of same gender attraction.

“In the day of resurrection you will have normal affections and be attracted to the opposite sex,” he writes.

Evergreen International was founded 16 years ago by a group of men trying to reconcile their religious beliefs with their homosexuality. The group offers conferences, literature, counseling and other methods for suppressing homosexual thoughts and actions. It is not an official organization of the LDS Church, but is affiliated with it. There is always one “General Authority Emeritus” on the board of Evergreen.

The quoted remarks are from a published copy of his remarks, though Mason spoke “extemporaneously” during the speech.

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 7

Evergreen International held its 15th annual conference Sept. 15–16 at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City.

The group, with ties to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, teaches that it is possible to diminish same-sex attraction and overcome homosexual behavior.

The group’s executive director, David Pruden, warned conference participants not to seek a “magic bullet” or quick cure—same-sex attraction (or, as the group refers to it, SSA) can be overcome through “gospel-oriented effort combined with the love and support of family, Evergreen, the Church, and the Atonement of the Savior.”

Most professional organizations, however, say that such claims are false and, in fact, can do great harm to those who attempt to quell their natural-born sexual orientation.

The group hosted several workshops for gay men, lesbians, spouses and parents.

Most had a spiritual theme, such as “Being a Daughter of God,” “Developing True Manhood—Christ as Our Role Model,” and “Relying on the Lord for Support.”

Other workshops dealt with “healthy relationships” and alternative therapies, including meditation and music.

Dr. Sterling Ellsworth was the keynote speaker during the first day of the conference and spoke about society’s focus on sex as a substitute for love. Ellsworth is the author of Latter-day Plague: Breaking the Chains of Pornography Addiction. He quoted former church president Spencer Kimball as saying that all sin is wrong, but that it comes from “deep and unmet needs.”

Ellsworth also introduced the concept of “three brains:” the lizard brain, the monkey brain and the “angel” brain representing the physical, societal and spiritual parts of our lives, respectively. He claimed that if the “angel” brain is nourished, the other two brains would wither and die—meaning that if one were to truly believe in God and God’s love, their physical desires and the need to be loved and praised by others would simply go away.

Michael Merchant, president and executive director of the Phoenix-based ANASAZI Foundation, spoke at the conference on “developing true manhood” and “a spiritual approach to overcoming addictions.” ANASAZI is a wilderness treatment program for adolescents with substance abuse and emotional and behavioral problems that promotes the concept of “spiritual walking.”

Larry Richman, chairman of Evergreen’s board of trustees, told conferencegoers that the organization has grown in the last 16 years from one group in 1989 to over 47 today, including 36 for men, two for women, one for spouses and eight for friends and family. The groups are spread from coast to coast and in over six countries.

The conference concluded with a “fireside” and an awards dinner.

In a speech hosted by Salt Lake Com-

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

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

LOCAL

Campaign 2 End AIDS to Make Stop in Salt Lake City

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Pair Up 2 End AIDS event to display 8,500 pairs of shoes leaving only the need to cut the number

by Stuart Merrill of people served. Those impacted most The Campaign 2 End AIDS will display will be the working poor who can’t afford 8,500 pairs of shoes in Salt Lake City or don’t qualify for health insurance.

Library Square on Saturday, Oct. 22 from Once these individuals lose the Ryan noon to 6:30 p.m. to symbolize the daily White funds, they will not again qualify global toll of AIDS. Organizers are calling for financial assistance until they are dithe event Pair Up 2 End AIDS. agnosed with full-blown AIDS, when they In Utah, over 4,000 people of every age, would qualify for Medicaid. race, gender, religion, and class have been In Utah, it costs approximately $12,000 infected with HIV. Over 1,000 have died. a year to treat a patient with HIV. Treating Free HIV testing will be available all day. a patient with full-blown AIDS runs into C2EA will hold a rally at 6:30 p.m. to the tens to hundreds of thousands of dolwelcome AIDS activists from San Franlars annually. Organizers argue that Utah cisco, Oakland, Reno, Boise and Portland legislators must choose between paying stopping in Salt Lake along their caravan $12,000 a year per patient now, or pay to Washington, D.C. Salt Lake County many times that cost within two to five Mayor Peter Coroon, Sen. Scott McCoy, years. and AIDS activist Stuart Toward the end of the PAIR UP 2 END AIDS Merrill will speak at the SHOE DROP-OFF LOCATIONS 2005 Utah Legislative Sesrally. Several Utah AIDS Salt Lake Metro, 352 S. Denver St. sion, through a last minute activists will also be joinSam Weller’s lobbying effort, activists ing the caravan. When the Cahoots were able to raise money caravan arrives in WashEquality Utah to continue offering HIV ington, C2EA will lead a GLBT Community Center Utah treatment in Utah to all in week of action, calling on Salt Lake Community College need for one more year. national leaders to do their The Free Speech Zone House Minority Leader part to help with the fight Utah State Democrats Rep. Ralph Becker, D-Salt to end AIDS. Utah AIDS Foundation Lake City, called the effort Organizers are asking the The Harm Reduction Project public to bring old shoes to Salt Lake Valley Health Department a “legislative miracle.”

Organizers will be any drop-off location bePeople with AIDS Coalition Utah requesting $500,000 in fore Oct. 21. They are also State Laboratory, 44 Medical Dr. ongoing funding from the asking for a $1 donation Utah State Legislature as a with each pair to pay for permanent part of the state’s budget.

Utahns joining the caravan.

Pair Up 2 End AIDS was originally sched- Nationally, there is a battle to reauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act led by Senauled for September. The C2EA caravans tors Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch. Also, were postponed due to Hurricane Katrina planned cuts in Medicaid will dramaticalas many were planning to either start in or ly impact the 55 percent of people living drive through the Katrina disaster area. with HIV/AIDS and 90% of HIV-positive Pair Up 2 End AIDS is designed to kick children that rely on it. off a local campaign to ask Utah legislaInternationally, C2EA is advocating for tors for ongoing funding to pay for HIV the U.S. Government to fully fund the treatment.

“Global Fund” to combat AIDS, tuberculoOrganizers say over 200 HIV-positive sis and malaria.

Utahns are in danger of losing funding The Campaign 2 End AIDS is a diverse for their HIV medication. Under the Bush new coalition of local, national and inadministration, the federal budget for ternational advocacy groups, health care HIV/AIDS treatment through the Ryan professionals and individuals living with, White CARE Act has been flat-funded for or helping those living with HIV/AIDS. six years. The number of people diagTheir goal is to revitalize the movement nosed as HIV-positive and the cost of HIV to end AIDS. In small towns and big cities medication, however, continue to rise. across America, they are mobilizing to During the first years of this flat-funding, ensure the best treatment and care for all the state began to cut services for HIVHIV-positive people. Together, they are positive Utahns, eliminating part or all demanding that elected leaders exert the of their mental health care, dental care, political will to stop the pandemic in the vision care, legal services, transportation, U.S. and abroad. and more.

The state is now faced with the reality that no more services are left to cut,

For more information see our web site: campaigntoendaids.org

University of Utah Researchers Reveal First Images of HIV Protein Researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine have produced the first high-resolution images of a protein that the AIDS virus must use to replicate and spread through the human body—a possible step toward new drugs against the disease.

The first structures of the VPS4 protein have shed light on its role as HIV-1 “buds” or escapes from cells, according to the U of U researchers, who published their findings in the Oct. 4 edition of EMBO Journal (EuroWesley I. Sundquist pean Molecular Biology Organization) and the Sept. 20 online edition of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“By understanding how the virus buds from a cell, we might be able to develop drugs to inhibit the virus from spreading,” said Wesley I. Sundquist, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry at the U of U School of Medicine and head of the research team.

“Although VPS4 itself may not be an ideal

of the EMBO Journal study, showed several years ago that the AIDS virus needs VPS4 to bud, but the protein’s precise role in vesicle formation and budding has been unclear.

Led by doctoral candidate Anna Scott, first author on the two studies, the U researchers produced images of two regions on VPS4the MIT Domain and the ATPase region.

The structure of these two regions suggests how VPS4 binds to another protein complex and then unfolds those proteins

drug target, because it is so important for the cell, the protein’s structure does tell us more about the budding process.”

To exit cells, HIV uses the same cellular machinery used to make tiny compartments inside cells, called vesicles, which help the cell to store, transport or digest cellular products. Vesicle formation is a complex process involving the assembly and disassembly of a large number of proteins.

When HIV leaves an infected cell, it uses those same proteins to form HIV-1 “budding.” COURTESY OF THE UNIV. OF UTAH DEPT. OF BIOCHEMISTRY viral particles that break through the cellular in a process that must take place before vesicle formation, according to Sundquist. membrane and spread the virus throughout The MIT (Microtubule Interacting and the body. VSP4 directs the disassembly of Transport) Domain forms a bundle of these proteins, and therefore is essential for three helixes that bind to the ESCRT-III virus replication.

(Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required “These proteins are like little machines for Transport) protein complex. The ESCRT and have to do complex things,” Sundquist (pronounced escort) complexes sort other said. “We are now learning what a lot of proteins as part of the process of vesicle them look like, although we still don’t unformation. These proteins must be assemderstand how many of them work.” bled and then disassembled for multiple Scientists already knew that VPS4 is rounds of vesicle formation to take place, needed to form vesicles. Sundquist and according to Sundquist.

Christopher P. Hill, Ph.D., professor of An ATPase is a protein complex that biochemistry and a corresponding author

converts chemical energy into mechanical energy. Although the region of ATPase on the VPS4 protein has not been studied before, the structure showed that this region is similar to ATPases known to unfold other proteins. The U researchers therefore suspect that the ATPase region of VPS4 unfolds the ESCRT complexes to recycle them. (In 1998, Markus Babst, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology at the U, was the first researcher to show that VPS4 APTase is necessary for vesicle formation.)

When VPS4 unfolds the ESCRT protein, the ATPase region forms a ring through which single strands of ESCRT protein are pulled before a vesicle is formed, the U researchers believe.

“It’s like taking a single strand from a plate of spaghetti and by sucking it through your pursed lips,” Sundquist said. He, Hill, and the other Utah researchers now are trying to confirm that VPS4 does actually work by unfolding the ESCRT complex.

Researchers still have many more questions than answers about what happens in the process of vesicle formation, according to Sundquist. For example, they do not understand whether disassembly of the protein complex is mechanistically required for vesicle formation or HIV budding.

“This is a pretty complex process and we don’t understand how most of it works,” he said.

Candidates Support Gay Rights, Benefits

by Michael Aaron michael@slmetro.com

Equality Utah Announces Candidate Endorsements Equality Utah has announced their Salt Lake City Council endorsements for the November General Election.

Endorsed Candidates are: District 1: Leslie Benns District 3: Janneke House District 5: Jill Remington Love District 7: Soren Simonsen Endorsements are based on the candidate’s response to interviews and to Equality Utah’s position statements. Past public acts and statements demonstrating support or lack of support for queer issues were also considered.

Equality Utah urges people to volunteer, contribute to and vote for these candidates on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 9

All Salt Lake City Council candidates that responded to four questions from Salt Lake Metro said they support benefits and rights for gay and lesbian people. Those who responded, and that made it through the Oct. 4 primary, are Leslie Benns, Janneke House, Eric Jergensen and Soren Simonsen.

Metro asked “Do you support granting gay and lesbian employees of Salt Lake City Corp. health benefits equal to those of married employees?” All four respondents said yes.

“Discrimination against individuals on grounds such as marital status or sexual orientation adversely affects the general welfare of the city and its employees,” said Simonsen.

Jergensen supports the council’s expanded health benefits proposal. “I believe that we should also provide benefits to a dependent parent or sibling of SLC employees—and, thus, be able to provide health care more universally to our employees and those in their homes who need it. That is why I’ve been one of the leaders in developing for approval by the Council a meaningful program that would allow all employees these benefits,” he said.

All four also support granting gay and lesbian people bereavement and dependent-care leave.

“Everyone deserves these important benefits,” said House.

Asked if they support an ordinance banning discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees in city hiring practices, all four were in support.

Currently, the city is covered by an executive order from mayor Rocky Anderson.

“Jill Remington Love and I worked for two years to develop and draft into ordinance the Human Rights Commission which demands that any discrimination on account of race, religion, age, education or

sexual orientation be banned in our city,” stated Jergensen.

“Once this ordinance is created, it needs to be enforced,” House added.

Metro then asked if the candidates would require companies that do business with Salt Lake City to have a nondiscrimination policy that included sexual orientation and gender identity. All four said yes, but Jergensen noted he would need to see how it could be approached legally.

“This is the direction progressive cities are taking,” noted House.

“I believe that the City should require similar equitable hiring practices from companies it contracts with. My company is a contractor who has provided services to Salt Lake City in the past, and we follow this practice, even though not currently required,” said Simonsen.

Candidate Gary Reihle, who did not make it past the primary election, was also in favor of the right and benefits we posed.

Center Holds Women’s Wellness Fair

by JoSelle Vanderhooft joselle@slmetro.com

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

LOCAL

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

Sons of Porno? Video Pulled.

Perhaps HaleStorm Entertainment should update the sonsofprovo.com website to be something a bit more risqué as well.

At least four of the 40,000 DVD copies of HaleStorm’s Sons of Provo were not the story of “squeaky clean” Mormon boy band Everclean, but Wolfe Video’s Adored: Diary of a Porn Star. After four complaints, HaleStorm executives called all retailers to pull the DVD from their shelves. Deseret Book refuses to put the movie back on the shelves until they have a 100 percent guarantee the snafu has been fixed.

Though not pornographic, Adored is a story of a French gay porn star who is reunited with his family after his father’s death. The film is unrated and contains no nudity, but does imply a gay sexual encounter and has sexual themes.

Sons of Provo, on the other hand, is a mockumentary about Will, Danny and Kirby (a scrapbook specialist) as they strive to become the next boy band sensation of the world. Well, of Utah, anyway. It is rated PG

for “mild language and thematic elements.”

HaleStorm executives blame a DVD duplication service for the error. Both HaleStorm and Wolfe Video used the same service, which both refuse to name, to mass-produce the disks. They theorize that the wrong master copy was placed into the machine during replication.

HaleStorm quickly put up a $100 reward for the return of any of the wrongly-pressed DVDs and an additional $100 donation to CP80, an anti-porn initiative.

Kathy Wolfe, founder and CEO of Wolfe Video, comes from a family with several Mormons, and says of the mix-up, “Of course our company has no responsibility or involvement in the mistake, but we are concerned that some families might have been upset by the sexual nature of the film.”

And, she added with a wink, “But, if any of the adults in the audience enjoyed what they saw, we encourage them to check out the entire DVD of Adored and some of the many fine films available from Wolfe.”—MA

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ OCTOBER 13, 2005

Anderson Named Top Straight Advocate In celebration of National Coming Out Day, Human Rights Campaign released their list of Top Ten Straight Advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality Oct. 11.

Included in the list are Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, actress Kristin Chenoweth, Rev. Al Sharpton, actress Felicity Huffman, talk show host Cristina Saralegui, Rev. Norm Kansfield, Peter Hams, IBM executive Ted Childs, hip-hop artist Kanye West, and Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero.

“Being out and open about our lives is not just for gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender people, but for everyone who cares about equality,” said HRC president Joe Solmonese. “These ten leaders for fairness represent millions of family members, people of faith, friends and co-workers

who are helping make America fairer and more equal.”

The list emphasizes this year’s Coming Out Project theme “Talk About It,” which encourages fair-minded people to talk openly and honestly about their lives and the inequalities queer Americans face under current law.

“Every single time we talk about it, we are one step closer to equality,” said Solmonese.

“Each word helps build bridges that change hearts and minds—and eventually our laws.”

“We need to tear down the barriers that separate us,” said Rev. Al Sharpton. “I am honored not only to be named on this list, but also to stand with my gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters to end hatred and intolerance wherever they live.”

Glaucoma, depression, diabetes and breast cancer; these were only a few of the health issues discussed at this year’s Alternative Women’s Wellness Fair, held Saturday October 8 at the Salt Lake Hardware Building.

Sponsored by the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Center of Utah and held biannually (the last one happened in 2003), the wellness fair exists to educate lesbians, bisexual women and transgender people— male to female as well as female to male— about health issues pertaining specifically to them, according to Jennifer Nuttall, the Center’s director of adult programs.

Nuttall said that the fair was initially conceived as a women’s counterpoint to the annual Gay Men’s Health Summit.

“The summit is happening here in October, so we felt that was at least covered by someone whereas lesbians, bisexual women and transgenders weren’t covered, so we went for a grant for that specific community,” she explained.

“The idea was that [for this population] there are some barriers to health care access,” added Nuttall. “So we thought of the idea of having a health fair to hook them up with resources and information in the community and let them know that everyone here tabling is going to have an interest in them as a community.”

Because of the fair’s focus on breast cancer, the Center received grant money from the Salt Lake’s chapter of the Susan G. Koleman Breast Cancer Foundation in 2003.

Representatives from the chapter were also present at this year’s event.

“We’re very proud to be here today,” said Glenda Seelos, chair of the education committee for the Koleman Foundation’s Salt Lake affiliate. “October is breast cancer awareness month and we are involved in a lot of the different activities going on this month.”

Her booth provided literature on lesbians and breast cancer and cards instructing men and women on performing monthly breast exams.

Breast health was a concern for many Fair attendees, including Felicitas “Lita” Montelongo, president of Latinas Lesbianas Unidas, a weekly support and social group for Latina lesbians. Montelongo said she encouraged her friends from the Latina lesbian community to attend so they could educate themselves about their health.

“Breast cancer has come into our community,” she said. “I just realized by reading some of the pamphlets that we have a higher risk in the lesbian community. It opened my eyes and I wanted to make them aware of the fact that we have a greater risk and we should check for cancer once a month.”

Nuttall also stressed the importance of transgender involvement in the health fair—and female to male transgenders in particular—because issues like breast cancer can effect them profoundly.

“That’s a community that’s very hard to reach in the healthcare perspective because they have transitioned to men but biologically they have a lot of the same health care needs as women because biologically they have female parts,” she explained.

“But if you don’t identify with those how much more difficult is it to go in and get a pap smear or a breast exam if you still have your breasts? It’s a very difficult population to reach but an important one.”

Luchas Stamp, a female-to-male transsexual and founder of the nascent transgender support group Transcendence, agreed. A security guard who took the day off work to set up a booth at the fair, Stamp dispensed articles on transgender health with such titles as “Lower Income Trans Health Concerns” and “What We (Don’t) Know about Estrogens”.

“There are breast cancer issues among FtMs and MtFs; there’s also a risk of fibromialgia among trans men,” he said. “Other major issues are if a trans man doesn’t get a hysterectomy within so much time after taking testosterone it causes a lot of problems internally. There are great risks and people don’t know that so I’m here to make people aware of the health issues that we have.”

But breast cancer and fibromialgia weren’t the only health issues the fair addressed. The more than thirty booths included representatives from GLBT-friendly doctors, counseling centers, chiroprac-

tors, herbologists and even tarot readers.

Representatives from the Utah Domestic Violence Council were also on hand to educate attendees about where to turn for help in escaping domestic violence.

Although attendance and the number of booths were down from 2003, Nuttall said this had more to do with the Center’s planning than a lack of community interest.

“I think that we didn’t have as much time this year to dedicate to marketing it as we did the first year,” she said, noting that other events had taken some time out of planning for this year’s fair. Still, she said she and her interns (several from the University of Utah’s College of Nursing) had worked over four months to bring the fair to the people who need it. “[We’ve had] really good feedback,” she said. “Everyone who participated the first year were really positive about it. All the women had a great experience and came away with a lot of good information, and the providers are happy because they can reach so many women.”

Still ‘Howl’ing After 50 Years

by David Nelson

Performance speaker Alex Caldiero pounded and syncopated his way through the angry, proud and often obscene words that were written and first performed 50 years and a day earlier by openly gay Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg.

Set in a mock 1950s coffeehouse at the Salt Lake City Public Main Library auditorium, Caldiero’s commemorative performance on Oct. 7 of “Howl” earned him audience applause—something that might Alex Caldiero also have earned him immediate arrest, jailing and likely conviction of violating anti-obscenity laws in 1955 assuming he’d even be able to find a published copy of the infamous poem.

Caldiero’s performance was a headline event of the Utah Humanities Council eighth annual “Great Salt Lake Book Festival.” Chosen to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the poem was originally Ginsberg’s somewhat autobiographical commentary about society and his experience a few years earlier in a New York psychiatric hospital. Much of the poem includes some blunt realities of gay America.

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,” Ginsberg wrote. “[Those who] purgatoried their torsos night after night with dreams, with drugs, with waking nightmares, alcohol and cock and endless balls, incomparable blind — who let themselves be fucked in the ass by saintly motorcyclists, and screamed with joy, who blew and were blown by those human seraphim, the sailors, caresses of Atlantic and Caribbean love, who balled

in the morning in the evenings in rose gardens and the grass of public parks and cemeteries scattering their semen freely to whomever come who may, who hiccuped endlessly trying to giggle but wound up with a sob behind a partition in a Turkish Bath when the blond & naked angel came to pierce them with a sword, who lost their loveboys to the three old shrews of fate the one eyed shrew of the heterosexual dollar.”

In 1957, copies of the poem were seized in San Francisco by a U.S. Customs Service officer, and two of Ginsberg’s booksellers were arrested for publishing and selling the poem. Their aggressive defense succeeded ultimately and a landmark decision by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Clayton W. Horn vindicated Ginsberg and ensured his poem’s acclaim and continuous publication since.

“No two persons think alike; we were all made from the same mold but in different patterns,” Judge Horn, who served also as a Sunday-school Bible teacher, wrote in his 39page decision. “An author should be real in treating his subject and be allowed to express his thoughts and ideas in his own words.”

“The author of Howl has used those words because he believed that his portrayal required them as being in character,” Horn said. “I do not believe that Howl is without even ‘the slightest redeeming social importance.’”

The decision helped clear the way for other writers including Ginsberg’s beatnik friends openly gay William S. Burrows and bisexual Jack Kerouac to expand the limits of their counter-culture expressions and that of the American public. Combined with a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling which protected the publication of the so-called homophile magazine “ONE,” gay publications gained a more secure legal foundation on which to develop.

To learn more about the history of “Howl,” visit http://www.citylights.com/His/CLhowl.html.

Community Briefs Live To Ride, Ride With Pride

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

Equality Utah Seeks Volunteers Hundreds of volunteers are needed by Equality Utah to help with literature drops to support the group’s endorsed candidates.

Each election cycle, Equality Utah polls candidates on their views on gay and lesbian issues. The board then goes through the responses and the candidates’ voting records to determine who will receive an endorsement. Those endorsed can get cash contributions and/or support from volunteers.

Literature drops and door-to-door canvassing for candidates will occur on Oct. 15, 22, 29 and Nov. 5.

If interested, call Melissa Larsen at 355-3479 or email melissa@equalityutah.org

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 11

Judy Harris loved Harley Davidson motorcycles, her family (especially her boy Johnny) and life. In her honor, the first Pride Memorial Ride will be held to bring toether two of her loves.

Harris had a tragic accident while riding her Harley to Sturgis Aug. 9. Her son, Johnny Disco, has been a bartender at The Trapp for over 15 years. She was his mother and his best friend. She rode her Harley to the bar on several occasions and supported the community in many ways. She would donate clothes from the clothing line she represented and was willing to give her time and money to different gay causes.

She never once had a bad thought about her son being gay and supported him whole-heartedly.

Whether you ride a scooter or a 2000cc racing bike you are welcome to join the ride. A route through the Capitol Hill area, Liberty Park and various gay and straight bars will be involved with the event.

The entrance fee is $25 and will include lunch, a t-shirt and a hand of poker for prizes. Proceeds will go towards a head-

stone to mark her grave.

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

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

Office Mgr. Tony Hobday Intern Rusty Baum Distribution Jarrod Ames Richar Boria Brandon Hurst Russ Lane Courtney Moser

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352 S. Denver Street, Suite 350 Salt Lake City, UT 84111

(801) 323-9500 Fax: (801) 323-9986 President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer:

Michael Aaron Steven Peterson Steve Whittaker Larry Tanner

Consequences

by Michael Aaron michael@slmetro.com

At three o’clock in the morning last week, I was in my bed next to my partner. We both had our faces in our pillows and our hands over our head. We were being held at gunpoint.

Three men had muscled their way into our house when one of my roommates answered a knock at the door. At least one had on a ski mask and brandished a gun, commanding him and my other roommate to lie face down on the floor. They demanded to know where the nonexistent floor safe was.

I was woken from a deep sleep to loud voices and stomping on the floor above me. After a few minutes of this, I was pissed. Obviously, my roommate that enjoys bringing people home at all hours of the day and night had done just that again. And this time, they were making no pretense to be quiet.

I got out of bed, put something on and made my way upstairs. At the top of the stairs was a guy I didn’t know. I stared him in the eyes, annoyed, and intended to go past him. I was struck by how dark and deep and empty his eyes were.

“Back up!” he yelled. I stopped and realized that 1) he wasn’t talking to me—he was calling for backup, and 2) he had a gun in his hand and it was pointed at me.

I began to become conscious of the fact that I was being robbed at gunpoint. That I would later be asked—if I survived—what he looked like, how tall he was, what kind of gun he had in his hand.

I had already begun to forget all of those things. All I could think of was that someone was in my house—my castle, my safe space— and I was no longer the one in control.

The training I went through when I started the Anti-Violence Project started going through my head. It now boiled down to what is the most important goal: staying alive.

I stepped back down one stair and slowly turned around. He asked if there was anyone else. I thought of my partner lying asleep in the bed, but said, “No.” He followed me down the stairs and flipped on the lights. I hoped that my partner was still asleep and the gunman might miss seeing him on the bed. However, he was sitting up, having been awoken by the noise as well.

The gunman told us both to lie with our faces in the pillow and hands over our heads. We did. He asked where the money was, where the jewels were. I told him I had neither. Another of the three came down and they rifled through everything in the room. At one point they said they had only a little over a minute left.

There was no noise for a while. Eventually my dogs barked and I wasn’t sure if that indicated them leaving, more people coming, or if they were just barking at some unrelated dog or person in the street.

We waited.

I turned my head slowly, figuring I’d get yelled at if they were still there. No one said anything. I chanced turning the rest of the way to see if they were still there, pointing their guns at us. They weren’t.

I reached for my cell phone and dialed 911. I whispered my address once I heard an answer.

They said nothing. I said it again. They asked what was wrong. I said two words: “Robbery.

Guns,” and hung up. I stuffed the phone between the mattresses in case they came back down. A minute later the phone started to ring.

“Fuck!” I yanked the phone back out of the mattresses and hurriedly turned it off.

We waited. The dogs barked again. I hear footsteps upstairs. The first roommate calls down that the police were here.

The whole incident lasted probably only about ten minutes.

I went upstairs. It was cold. That must be why I was shaking so hard. I turned up the heat.

When the officer went down to look in our room, he asked if I did drugs.

“No,” I said.

He asked if anyone else in the house did.

“One of my roommates used too, but I don’t think he does any more.” It was a lie.

I had allowed this roommate to live in the house because he had fallen on bad times. At the time, he promised his drug use was a thing of the past.

Within weeks of him moving in I began to find paraphernalia. Simple, easy to dismiss kind of stuff: razor blades, cut up straws, small baggies, large cans of butane. I would also find him awake at strange hours on his hands and knees in a maniacal frenzy, scrubbing the bathroom floor or doing some other household chore. This would be followed by a few days that he looked like death warmed over.

He continued to maintain he wasn’t on drugs.

“This kind of thing is almost always about drugs,” the officer continued. “They knew or thought that ___ had drugs here.”

I then realized that I knew that from the moment I looked into the gunman’s soulless eyes.

The months of knowing that I was being lied to but telling myself it was his life; I wasn’t his mother now boiled down to this. It isn’t just his life. It’s mine and my partner’s and my other roommate’s, too. It’s my friends that were over earlier that evening and could very well have

crashed on my couch. We are all living with the consequences of someone else’s bad choices in life.

I have run several anti-meth ads in this newspaper. I had a number of people tell me that they were all wrong, that people could use meth responsibly. That what I should be advertising was the proper way to do it and resources they could go to if it got out of hand. Nearly all of these people who were saying this were meth users themselves.

The fact is, the ads I put in this paper are not targeted towards the meth user. They are targeted to those who don’t use, but may be thinking about it. Their goal is to deglorify meth and show it for what it is: a death sentence to life as you now know it.

But it turns out to be more than that. It turns out it is a death sentence to life as I knew it too.

Sleeping in the very bed we were held in is now a different story—one that takes pills. I now awake every time the dogs bark, every time I hear movement upstairs. I close my eyes and I am haunted by either a vision of my partner, face down in a pillow with his hands over his head or those eyes with no soul. I’ve woken up in the middle of the night after having a dream in which I am raping the guy who pointed the gun at me.

The next morning I began packing my roommate’s clothes. I dismantled his bed. I found so much drug paraphernalia that it made me sick. I told him that he could no longer live in the house. “I can’t live like this,” I told him.

“I can’t live with the consequences of your bad choices in life.”

I keep reading the local newspapers to see if there is any mention of what we went through.

Nothing. Apparently it has become such an overplayed song that it doesn’t warrant even a paragraph in the “For the Record” column.

And apparently it means very little to the Salt Lake City Police Department. The case was assigned to a detective who is out of town for two weeks.

Letters KSL Report Biased, Dangerous Editor, I was very disappointed and frustrated with a report I heard this morning on KSL Radio

by Randall Jeppesen. Mr. Jeppesen was reporting on a meeting about same-sex attraction and sexual re-orientation sponsored by an organization called Family Under Fire.

Not only did Mr. Jeppesen fail to present any opposing views of those he interviewed, he didn’t even mention that this is a highly-controversial issue. Both in his report and in the interviews, he presented as fact that it is, indeed, possible for a person to rid him/herself of same-sex attraction.

He also failed to report that most major medical, scientific and psychological associations strongly discourage sexual re-orientation programs. In fact, these organizations agree that such programs can actually cause damage to a person, rather than help them. These statements are paraphrased from the following organizations: American Academy of Pediatrics, American Counseling, American Association of School, American Federation of Teachers, American Psychological Association, American School Health Association, Interfaith Alliance Foundation, National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers, and National Education Association.

In my opinion, it is an extremely biased report that would fail to mention the viewpoint of such important organizations such as these.

Bias in the media occurs every day, and most of the time I can let it slip by because it rarely will affect someone’s life in any significant way. However, in a case like this, many people will hear this report and accept it as doctrine because it came from KSL. It is misreporting like this that leads many people to even more frustration and possibly worse. When they do not experience this “change” that a respected news organization has promoted to them, some may even commit suicide.

Mr. Jeppesen’s report was biased, unfair and dangerous. I hope he will be given the chance to make some sort of restitution by giving another report that will present the views of those organizations listed above.

Aaron Cloward Salt Lake City, Utah

Williams’ “Little Pet Agenda”

John Moss European Sales

Perhaps There Are Two Sides to a Story Mr. Williams: I was recently forwarded your column entitled “Homosexuals, the Holocaust and Utah” and was disappointed to see your unfair take on the Anne Frank Holocaust exhibit controversy of 1990. I believe both sides (although stating that there were only two sides oversimplifies things) of that particular situation had reason to be frustrated as well as uncomfortable (that is not to say both sides were right, but that is beside the point). Certainly you, as a fifth-grade schoolteacher, can understand the need to exercise sensitive discretion when determining how much information to pass along to your students regarding various historical events—when to draw the line. I think every educator would have a different line, but few, if any, draw their line with the intention of hurting the kids they are responsible for teaching. Without getting into a discussion of the relative importance of the sexual orientation of some of the Holocaust victims, my complaint with your column is more about the tone and personal nature of your accusations.

To make your point that sexual orientation did play a role in whether or not someone was persecuted and to what extent that persecution continued, is it really necessary to indirectly describe Mr. Moss as a bigot? Is it really important to sarcastically mention his death from a heart attack at age 48, as if to claim some moral vindication over someone that cannot defend himself from your re-hashed accusations? continued on next page

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 13

Editor, Since you printed Ben William’s article about supposed censorship with the Anne Frank exhibit in 1990, I hope you will be glad to print this response.

I am one of the sons of James Rex Moss, whom Williams refers to in his article.

Defamation of character is always annoying when it is misguided. But it is even more so when the person being defamed is deceased. At the time of the Anne Frank Holocaust exhibit, my father was serving as the Utah State Superintendent of Education. Those who knew him over the years in government, civic, church and business circles knew he was a man of principle, integrity, character and, as Rod Decker said so well at his viewing, that “Utah school

teachers have lost a leader. Utah school children have lost a friend.”

What kind of a person digs up something that happened 15 years ago as a means of trying to promote one’s own agenda? The kind of person who “snuggles in his cozy basement apartment” (two words, by the way, that a man should never use!) while my father was working with his heart and soul for the education of children in this state. At the end of his article, Mr. Williams smugly declares that my father died of a heart attack and that “Education is stressful.” It is indeed stressful, Mr. Williams, when you are doing all you can for the betterment of education in Utah and at the same time having to deal with people like yourself on the sidelines.

Throughout his life, my father did what he believed in and acted with character and integrity (though in your book, none of that matters because he didn’t push the gay agenda). Though he may have offended some, like yourself, at times, he did what he thought was right and had many friends on both sides of issues.

In the end, my father will continue to be remembered for his goodness, decency, integrity, character and all the good that he did in so many areas of his short 48 year life. You, on the other hand, will, more than likely, simply be remembered by a few gay friends as a man who tried to push his own little pet agenda. You may even get a few pink triangles on your coffin.

Letters Continued from page 13 He is my father and I was 17 when he died suddenly on December 14, 1990. And yes, stress had much to do with it. He was not a bigot. To the contrary, the fact that he “stressed” about that very event (something I remember very clearly) indicates that he recognized that both sides had an argument and deserved to at least be heard, but that both sides would not be equally pleased with a final position on the matter. In determining his position, it simply came down to which would have the greatest positive impact on the school kids and which would have less negative impact on the school kids. There is much truth about the Holocaust that would not be appropriate to showcase to elementary school-age kids, but that is not to say it is not true and never happened. It is simply the exercise of filtering some truth that may be difficult to explain to someone of that sensitive age while still trying to convey the relevance and impact of what occurred. Decent, well-meaning people can disagree over these issues.

To refer to him and the others who tended to agree with him on this issue as bigots devalues your own perspective and credibility as it shows your eagerness to oversimplify the viewpoints of the “other side” by attaching universally-repugnant labels—a safe argument tactic when preaching to those who value style over substance—especially when considering that your target is deceased—very weak.

Had my father not considered both sides of this issue and taken the time to discuss it with the respective groups, perhaps he would have experienced less stress and still been alive. If only he had attached less value to the opinions of the two sides of the argument and simply made a knee-jerk reaction based on his “gut instinct,” perhaps education would have been less stressful.

Please understand that as you continue to fight for your cause, not everyone who disagrees with you is a bigot. If only life and cultural issues were so simple!

Dismissing a person with a differing opinion than yours with manufactured shock, cheap sarcasm and smug labels places you all too neatly in the oversimplified, blissfully ignorant world of fifth-grade minds.

David Moss

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ OCTOBER 13, 2005

Why Are Gay Priests Surprised?

Editor, Gay priests, hearing they’re about to get axed by the Roman [Catholic] Church, said they “couldn’t believe that after centuries of either explicit or implicit welcoming of celibate gay clergy that the church would turn its back on them.”

Why are they surprised? The Roman Catholics are simply coming to grips with sexuality among priests. Since the time of Augustine they’ve encouraged the growth of psychotic anti-sexual hysteria and superstition. They’ve decided gay men can’t be priests and they’ll purge the seminaries. No doubt a witch-hunt will ensue in rectories everywhere and many will be ill-treated.

The Vatican adopted this policy because

it urgently needs a scapegoat to draw attention from the punishing scandals of priests raping children. This outrage illustrates that pedophiles, priests, Protestant Boy Scout leaders, Buddhist monks, and orphanage staff go “Where The Boys Are,” as the song says. The prisons are full of their enraged victims. (Child rape is fundamentally different from incidents involving flirtatious testosterone-driven frenzied adolescents.)

However, for the church it’s all about money. The Voice of the Faithful estimates the church will lose about $3 billion in the United States, and comparable figures are mounting for Ireland, Latin America and other regions. They want to go to court and say, “Mea Culpa, it wasn’t us. It was those nasty queers. Please don’t hurt us.”

Their problem is that all priests, straight and gay, may express their repressed sexuality by raping children. Consequently, the only sound solution is chemical castration before ordination and providing armed guards for altar boys and girls. That resolution flows from the bizarre lifestyle and dogma they choose, so they can’t object.

Why should they? Aren’t priests the ones who attack sexuality, who maliciously humiliate unmarried pregnant women, rebuke gay sex, and condemn uncounted thousands to death by opposing condoms? Aren’t they the ones who cause unwanted births and back alley abortions? Gay or straight, priests are backward parasites who promote reactionary politics, superstition, irrationality and bigotry. Turnabout is fair play. And who knows, if they knew they were going to get castrated, maybe the seminaries would empty, and wouldn’t that be nice?

Bill Perdue Las Vegas, Nevada

Heil Reagan Editor, I must take exception to Matthew Tsein’s idealized revisionist view of Ronald Reagan.

Having survived as a gay man through two of his administrations—governor of the state of California and president of United States—I am here to tell you that “Let the Bloodbath Begin Here” Reagan was a complete bastard. When he finally dropped dead, long after his brain had, I celebrated!

This “great conservative” was personally responsible for dismantling California’s progressive education system, attacking the free speech and anti-war movement, the chain-sawing of the old growth redwood forest (“seen one tree you’ve seen them all”) and catering to the radical anti-gay right forces led by Anita Bryant. He was anti-ERA and pro-military industrial complex. Reagan never met a millionaire he didn’t like. As for him understanding that gays deserve fairness, it was under his watch that the AIDS epidemic spiraled out of control while he watched his former acting colleagues dropping dead from the disease. It took him four years just to get the word AIDS out of his mouth. The Log Cabin crowd constantly uses this Brigg Initiative statement to justify Grandpa Ronnie’s views on gays. Bullshit.

Ronald Reagan, George Wallace, and Chicago Mayor Daley were all borderline fascist! Heil Reagan.

Ben Williams Salt Lake City

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

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How come the only functional icon of the 2002 Winter Games is in the middle of a freaking shopping mall?

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Folk

Kittens, I’m starting to think my priest was right. Maybe I really am a complete whore. After boycotting the Gateway mall since its construction, I fell off the wagon this morning and in a moment of weakness had brunch at the Dodo. I feel so dirty and ashamed. But on the other hand, I am pleasantly full and the peanut butter cheesecake was fabulous, so what are ya gonna do? I had hoped that maybe time would have healed my animosity toward the Gateway, but as I fought back barfing on the window of the Build-a-Bear Workshop, I thought, “Hmmm … apparently not.”

Do you remember when the Dodo used to be on 900 East where Trio is, right next to Planned Parenthood? God, I loved that place. The restaurant that is, not Planned Parenthood. Although, come to think of it, Planned Parenthood did have those really comfortable seats with the footrests and the crinkly paper that was so nouvelle, so unexpected and so hip.

You know, if they had a patio and their waitresses weren’t so slow, they could really pack that place! It’s something to think about.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, I remember …

The Dodo moved up to where Zachary’s Garden used to be, so I happily schlepped up there for my favorite food fix. It was so worth it, Petals, because they had a smoked turkey sandwich and soup combo that was just a little slice of comfort food heaven.

Apart from the neighbors being complete bastards about restaurant customers parking on the street, it was a great loca-

Mon

Electronica

ruby@slmetro.com

5:30

Polynesian

by Ruby Ridge,

tion. Then, just to personally piss me off, some evil minion from the Boyer Company seduced the Dodo folks to the dark side and leased them a storefront in the Gateway. Considering all the political crap and manipulation Boyer pulled in building the Disney-esque hellhole, my conscience wouldn’t let me near the place, let alone keep food down.

In my mind I have an elaborate yet totally unfounded conspiracy theory that Boyer probably gave the Dodo a discount on the lease because they needed the credibility of at least one local business in their blandscape. After strip mining the retail off Main Street and undermining the downtown malls, Boyer filled the Gateway with soulless national chain stores with all the authentic flavor and local ambience of an airport concourse (and not even a hub at that). Now how they suckered the Salt Lake Tribune over there I will never know, but I bet it involves incriminating photos of Dean Singleton handcuffed in a fire-engine red teddy, with a muscular pool boy named Juan-Carlos and a bucket of extra-crispy chicken. I just know it!

Oh, and one other thing while I think about it: That damn Olympic fountain gets more free air time on local television than the United Way. How come the only functional icon of the 2002 Winter Games is in the middle of a freaking shopping mall?

Do the folks in Massachusetts running Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign know about this pathetic legacy? Because enquiring and conspiratorial minds want to know!

Talk about a reality GAP. Ciao, Darlings!

Electronica

Mall Talk

KRCL 90.9 FM PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE

Variety

Ruby Ridge Living

Eric Rofes is a long-time activist on gay men’s health issues and a professor of education at Humboldt State University in California. He is the author of nine books, including Dry Bones Breathe: Gay Men Creating Post-AIDS Identities and Cultures (Haworth, 1998), where he first proposed creating a long-term plan for eliminating HIV from the gay male population. He can be reached at gmhs3@aol.com.

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Studio 801.359.9191 RadioActive 801.303.6050 KRCL 90.9 fm serves the community through diverse, independent, and progressive public affairs and music programming Listen along the Wasatch Front at 90.9 FM or anywhere in the world as www.krcl.or

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 15

by Eric Rofes The time is right for a gay male leader—in New York, in San Francisco, or any place in the nation—to summon up the courage, stand tall, and boldly speak the truth that gay men as a class supposedly need to hear: any queer man who has unprotected sex these days is responsible for fueling epidemics of syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV; all HIV+ men who penetrate tricks without disclosing their HIV status are doing something unethical, even evil; this generation of queer men is literally fucking itself to an early death and should look to no one for sympathy or support—not older gays, not lesbians, not liberal straights, and certainly not government-funded social services.

Why are the voices of gay male leadership silent? How come no one’s emerged to boldly speak truth to power? What forces have colluded to silence visionary leaders who would sacrifice popularity and political correctness for the benefit of preserving the health and saving the lives of thousands and thousands of queer men?

These are the questions being asked by people who believe that pointing the finger at these transgressors of safe-sex norms and identifying them as irresponsible and unethical vectors of disease, is a useful public health strategy. They look at rising rates of STD’s and upswings in rates of new HIV infections, and say: why have no voices been raised? Where is the type of leadership that successfully motivated men in numbers with no historical precedent, to use condoms in the 1980s? What’s become of that daring queer leadership that catalyzed ACT-UP chapters and brought the nation’s medical establishment and health bureaucracies to their knees? Where is a gay male leadership that knows the difference between morality and immorality, social responsibility and self-centered irresponsibility, right and wrong?

The truth is, whoever steps forward to play this role will receive his share of rewards—from journalists, the public health establishment, and that portion of the gay community that hungers for a visionary hero unafraid to condemn bad behavior within our ranks. He’ll be praised for his bravery at taking on the condemnation of those outlaw queers who are alternately considered misguided, self-loathing, and hell-bent on continuously recycling through decimation for the sake of a nostalgic notion of sexual freedom.”

And what results can we expect from this hero’s courageous efforts? If he spoke out on the editorial pages of the New York Times and at press conferences at the National Institutes of Health, would he successfully catalyze a shift in the sexual practices of gay men throughout the nation? If the leaders of every gay health clinic

and every AIDS organization in America collectively took out full-page ads in the gay press proclaiming “Gay Men Are Fueling Sexually Transmitted Epidemics Today.

Practice Safe Sex Every Time!” do we expect to see a dramatic shift in sexual norms and a decline in cases of syphilis? If someone organized Elton John, George Michael, Erasure, Scissor Sisters, and the Pet Shop Boys to produce a “We Are the World” type of song, titled “We Always Play Safe!” would we see a halt to new HIV transmissions?

Despite the escalating civil war inside gay men’s communities about sex, health, and HIV, all of us who share a commitment to the health and wellness of gay men are likely to share certain general beliefs. We are concerned about increasing rates of syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV among gay and bisexual men. We want to see fewer sexually transmitted infections, less HIV,

African

Where Do We Go From Here?

absent such a discussion, we would continue to cycle willy-nilly through periods of upswings and downturns of sexually transmitted disease trends and ultimately do little to improve community health and wellness. Condemned by some as needless fear-mongering and others as promoting the “social engineering of gay men’s sex,” this conversation was quickly stifled.

Today, it’s time to initiate this conversation, however frightening and problematic. The leadership we truly need on gay men’s health would bring together the best researchers, most visionary thinkers, and most compassionate advocates and tackle this profound challenge.

Variety

Guest Editorial

and increased health and mortality rates among queer men of all colors, generations, and locations. We believe it is wrong for people who know they have HIV or any sexually transmitted disease to expose others to infection.

We are also united behind one stark reality: none of us truly knows what to do.

None of us can explain with any confidence how to swiftly and dramatically turn around these ominous trends—not those who advocate for a return to forecasts of disaster and crisis rhetoric, not those who argue for information campaigns and free condom distribution, not those who endorse the public damning of barebackers and the shunning of newly infected people.

Almost a decade ago, some of us argued from diverse political perspectives, that it was time to open up a public conversation about ways to influence the trajectory of gay men’s sexual health over a large expanse of time. Some of us believed that,

This Week In Lambda History

by Ben Williams, ben@slmetro.com

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ OCTOBER 13, 2005

1 OCTOBER 1969 Gay Liberation Front organizes in Salt Lake City.

1973 Metropolitan Community Church of Salt Lake City hires a pastor, Rev. Michael England, creating a split in the congregation. The Grace Christian Church is formed with Pastor LaVerl K. Harris.

1976 Ray Henke and Bill Woodbury incorporate the Gay Service Coalition with the state of Utah. Their motto is: “We are interested in the gay scene, first, last and always.” The Coalition operated the Gay Help Line.

1976 The Open Door publishes its first issue as a forum for the Gay Service Coalition.

1979 MCC Pastor Robert M. Waldrop becomes the editor and publisher of The Open Door.

1985 Patty Reagan, Ph.D., associate professor of health education at the University of Utah, creates the Salt Lake AIDS Foundation as a non-profit health resource information organization devoted to promoting prevention of AIDS. 1985 Duane Dawson, Richard Starley, and Lynn Koshimi form AIDS Project Utah to provide services to people with AIDS. Dawson is the first director.

1985 David Nelson runs for a Salt Lake City Council seat as an openly gay man, but loses in the October primary, receiving 320 votes.

1990 The Bridge publishes its first issue. Alice Hart is the publisher and Becky Moorman is the editor.

1990 An anti-discrimination clause to the University of Utah’s student bill of rights, spearheaded by the Lesbian and Gay Student Union, Rocky (Connell) O’Donavan and Debra Burrington of the Women’s Studies program, is adopted.

1990 The Horizon House opens as a facility for people with AIDS. 1994 The Sixth Annual Living With AIDS Conference, with the theme “Beyond the Virus” is held in Salt Lake City. Torie Osborn, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, is keynote speaker.

1995 An article titled “Same-Gender Attraction,” written

by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Apostle Dallin Oakes, states that the concept of being “homosexual” or “lesbian” is incompatible with LDS Theology.

1995 Charlene Orchard and Debra Burrington found the Utah Human Rights Coalition to assist the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

1997 After operating six and a half years, the Utah Stonewall Center closed its doors at 770 S. 300 West.

2 OCTOBER 1976 At an LDS semi-annual conference, Apostle Boyd K. Packer encourages young men to physically assault missionary companions who show a sexual interest in them. “I repeat, very plainly, physical mischief with another man is forbidden. It is forbidden by the Lord. There are some men who entice young men to join them in these immoral acts. If you are ever approached to participate in anything like that, it is time to vigorously resist. While I was in a mission on one occasion, a missionary said he had something to confess. I was very worried because he just could not get himself to tell me what he had done. After patient encouragement he finally blurted out, “I hit my companion.” “Oh, is that all,” I said in great relief. “But I floored him,” he said. After learning a little more, my response was, “Well, thanks. Somebody had to do it, and it wouldn’t be well for a General Authority to solve the problem that way. I am not recommending that course to you, but I am not omitting it. You must protect yourself.”

1992 LDS Apostle Dr. Russell Nelson speaks about the increase of HIV and AIDS, saying, “An epidemic has been forecast—a plague fueled by a vocal few who exhibit greater concern for civil rights than for public health—a plague abetted by the immoral.”

3 OCTOBER 1987 The Association of Mormon Counselors and Psychotherapists hold a two day conference at the University of Utah. Carol Lynn Pearson, author of Goodbye I Love You, and David Sharpton, a 26 yearold LDS native of Dallas, speak at the conference.

1988 Utah Valley Men’s Group was informed that the standards office of Brigham Young University would no longer allow students to attend any gay organization.

1994 Gay artist and activist Richard (Ragnar) McCall dies of AIDS at 35.

1999 Kathy Worthington’s group, Utahns for Fairness, holds a protest at LDS General Conference over the church’s financing of anti-gay marriage initiatives in various states.

4 OCTOBER 1952 LDS Apostle J. Reuben Clark speaks in Relief Society General Conference on homosexuality. He is the first General Authority to publicly use the word “homosexual,” “masturbation” and “bestiality” in a public discourse.

1981 Ethyl (Randy Smith) and Friends for Gay Rights picket Temple Square during the LDS Conference after receiving permission to parade through downtown Salt Lake City.

1982 Michael Aaron and Iris Gonzales are elected coPresidents of Lesbian and Gay Student Union at the

What is the gayest thing you’ve ever done?

Email Laurie at laurie@slmetro.com dammit!

University of Utah.

1986 Chuck Whyte presents the fifth annual Unity Show, which became a catalyst for organizing a forum for gay and lesbian leaders and activists that later was known as Gay and Lesbian Community Council of Utah.

1987 Members of the Wasatch Leathermen are attacked in front of the In-Between, a gay bar at 579 W. 200 South.

1998 LDS leader Gordon B. Hinckley states “People inquire on those who consider themselves so-called gays and lesbians. My response is that we love them as sons and daughters of God. But we cannot stand silent if they indulge in immoral activity, if they try to uphold and defend and live in a so-called same-sex marriage situation.”

5 OCTOBER 1980 Wess Jolley is elected president of Lesbian and Gay Student Union at University of Utah. He served for two terms.

1983 Nikki Boyer opens the lesbian bar, Reflections, at 315 W. 400 South.

6 OCTOBER 1946 LDS Church leader Joseph F. Smith’s resignation letter is read in the church’s semi-annual conference. He claimed “an extended illness,” as reason for leaving his hereditary post. His cousin, LDS President George Albert Smith, learned that Joseph F. Smith had been in a sexual relationship with a 21 year-old LDS sailor and allowed the resignation.

1985 The Royal Court of the Golden Spike’s Emperor Scott Stites organizes the first AIDS Awareness Week.

7 OCTOBER 1985 Graham Bell is elected president of Lesbian and Gay Student Union and Richard Rodriguez is elected Vice President.

1986 Elizabeth Van Der Burgh and John Lorenzini of AIDS Project Utah begin training sessions for the Utah Department of Social Services.

1988 The National Affirmation Conference is held in West Hollywood, California. Russ Lane, founder of Wasatch Affirmation, hosts the event as national director.

1990 Photographer Cheri Piefke’s weeklong photo gallery of people with AIDS is shown at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

8 OCTOBER 1986 Russ Lane, director and founder of Wasatch Affirmation, visits the office of Hartman Rector of the LDS First Quorum of the Seventy to complain about his anti-gay remarks.

1989 Robert I. McQueen, former editor of the Advocate, dies of AIDS at home in Los Angeles. Born in Price, Utah, he graduated from the University of Utah in 1967.

9 OCTOBER 1958 A Salt Lake City newspaper prints an article of a rookie police officer who spotted two men committing a felony in a Pioneer Park restroom.

1982 The Salt Lake Men’s Choir is founded in the home of Ron Richardson.

1983 Women Aware hold an organizational meeting to create a Food Co-op at 20 Rue Jacob, located at 232 E. 800 South 1987 Four members of the Utah delegation of the March on Washington Committee meet with Rep. Wayne Owens in Washington, D.C. 10 OCTOBER 1993 Horizon House Project’s Utah Quilt, an AIDSawareness progra, is displayed at the State Capitol.

1994 Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt holds an unpublicized 75-minute meeting with a dozen gay high school students, arranged by Jim Dabakis.

1998 Sen. Pete Suazo, D-Salt Lake, is keynote speaker at the 10th Annual Living With AIDS Conference.

11 OCTOBER 1979 On their way to the March on Washington, Rev. Troy Perry, founder of MCC, and Robin Tyler, a lesbian comedienne, speak to a group 35 gay Utah activists who met the Great American Freedom Train in Ogden at 6:00 a.m. A Utah flag, donated by Joe Redburn, is given to Rev. Perry to take to Washington.

1985 Affirmation’s national conference, held in San Diego, addresses conflict over the formation of the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ. The new church is barred from soliciting converts at Affirmation meetings.

1987 The second March on Washington draws over half a million people. About 30 Utah gay and lesbian activists attend to protest the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding sodomy laws of the United States.

1988 AIDS activist David Sharpton is invited to speak at the Interfaith Conference on AIDS in Salt Lake City.

1991 The fourth National Coming Out Day is observed at the Utah Stonewall Center and by Queer Nation marching at the Federal Building in downtown Salt Lake City.

1995 Candace Gingrich, sister of U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaks at the Utah Stonewall Center.

1998 The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Utah opens at its current location. The new executive director is Monique Predovich. The center housed a coffee shop called Stonewall Coffee.

1999 Utah’s National Coming Out Day is held at Sugar House Park. Kathy Worthington speaks against the LDS Church’s support of California’s Defense of Marriage Initiative. A candlelight vigil and march is held at the State Capitol to mark the first anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s murder. Ben Williams speaks at the vigil about many other murdered Utah gay men and lesbians.

12 OCTOBER 1978 Joe Redburn raises $1,300 at a fundraiser at his bar, the Sun Tavern, to support the anti-Brigg’s movement in California. Then-director of Utah’s American Civil Liberties Union, Shirley Pedler, addresses the standing-room-only crowd.

1987 Lesbian and Gay Student Union at Salt Lake Community College is established. Their first major speaker is author Carol Lynn Pearson.

13 OCTOBER 1988 A candlelight vigil is held on the Utah State Capitol steps for AIDS Awareness Week 1993 A debate over gay rights is held between Morton Downey Jr. and Dave Pollone, a former National League umpire who came out of the closet.

14 OCTOBER 1913 Mike Lasko, a local transient, files a complaint against John Oscor for having sex with him. Oscor is sent to prison for sodomy.

1957 Salt Lake City Judge Marcellus K. Snow complains that certain places in the city are widely known as “Mecca’s for sexually maladjusted persons.”

1983 Salt lake City singer Jean Jankowski performs at lesbian coffee shop 20 Rue Jacob.

1993 Kathryn Kendell, legal counsel for the ALCU, leads a discussion on gay rights at the Utah Stonewall Center.

1993 More than 700 panels of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt are placed on display at the Salt Palace.

1995 Gay and Lesbian Utah Democrats receive assurances from Salt Lake City mayoral candidate Rich McKeown that he would protect gays and lesbians from any kind of discrimination in city employment.

McKeown did not win the election.

15 OCTOBER 1982 Mac Hunt, Wirt Gilliam and F. Meinhart open the gay dance club Backstreet at 108 South 500 West.

1984 The administrative assistant to Salt Lake City Mayor Palmer DePaulis agrees to work with David Nelson as the city’s first gay liaison. Nelson’s first work dealt with reporting the increase of anti-gay and lesbian violence in the city.

1991 The Gay and Lesbian Student Association of Salt Lake Community College is organized to replace the defunct LGSU. 1995 Kelli Peterson and others form the Gay Straight Alliance Club at East High School. Teacher Camille Lee is faculty sponsor.

1998 Utah AIDS Foundation’s Men of Distinction Forum is held at the Salt Lake City Main Library. “Out of Your Antique Closet” featured historians Dr. Michael Quinn and Ben Williams.

Ben Williams is the founder and president of the Utah Stonewall Historical Society.

AberRant People are drawn to other people, and don’t we meet in the most unexpected ways? I met an ex-girlfriend at the vigil we both attended for a mutual friend during her excommunication Court O’ Love from

by Laurie Mecham, the Mormon Church, down to the Stake laurie@slmetro.com House in Orem. You know, I think if the So this straight guy I Brethern had any idea what that excomknow used to be a heavy munication trial would have led to, they drinker. A HEAVY drinker, might a’ re-thunk the whole deal. Not long come party time, the weekend, sports on after that, I met two women as I was coming TV, Tuesdays, whatever. Here is the story of out of some gay film at the Tower. One of how he met his New Best Friend. They were them I had met about fifteen years before in the same bar one night—New Best Friend at—get this—a Feminist Mormon Women’s was with his Girlfriend, and Straight Guy was Retreat. I am SO not making this up. Fifteen there alone. Thoroughly soused, Straight Guy years later, she recognized me leaving the randomly approaches a booth and sits down theater and ran up to me excitedly and said, with the straight couple who have never seen “I remember you and I like you and this is him before. He sits next to the Girlfriend, my partner and we want to be friends and actually, and he’s leaning into her and gushhang out!” Hey, I’m a pushover with a lot of ing some enthusiastic drunken bullshit at self-esteem issues, so I was all over it. We beboth of them and throwing his arm around came great friends. They are two of the best her and slipping his hands people I’ve ever known. inside her clothes a little Sometimes you bit. Girlfriend is apparmeet people when you ently a clever type, and accidentally run into They invited us to she excuses herself to go someone you don’t like, to the ladies’ room. At stay with them, to or at least don’t want to this point, Straight Guy see. This can ultimately come over and use scooches over to New Best prove awkward if the Friend, leans into him, their computer. They new person that you do throws an arm around like is friends with the even offered to watch him and starts sliding his person you don’t want to hands into his clothes and our dogs. And there see, but it can work out, gushing excitedly about was no mention of especially if your new how they should hang out person really doesn’t like Amway! and be friends. I’m not the contact person that sure what happens for much either. I’m not bethe next little bit, but the ing mean, I’m just telling evening ends with New the facts. It also happens Best Friend and Girlfriend to be sort of the way I met my wife, and driving away from the bar with Straight Guy what a wonderful lucky thing that was. staggering up the street after them, bellowing As you may have surmised, we have out his love for them and his deep desire to now arrived in Portland. While we are not be friends. And this is where the story should exactly putting down roots, we are shooting end, right? out tentative little tendrils. We met a great Noooo, this is where the story gets weird. couple who moved here just a few months Because the next morning, Straight Guy before we did. It was an arranged meeting (and I realize that I should probably have through a wonderful gentleman at my fornamed him Drunk Guy, but it’s too late mer workplace who told me to look up his now) has managed to get himself to work, daughter and her partner in Portland. We where he makes coffee for other people made email contact and set up the obligawho have been up way too late, drinktory dinner. They were just great. They are ing way too much. The next customer very smart—doctor types, you know—and in line approaches and greets him, “Hey so funny and warm and friendly. Natuman! How are you this morning?” Straight rally, we assumed they would hate us and Guy looks at him, doesn’t know him, says tastefully allow the meeting to become he’s fine and “What can I get you?” The a distant memory, gathering dust under customer says, “Don’t you remember me? well-justified excuses. That has not been We met last night?” THAT’S RIGHT, people. the case, though. They have kept in touch, The customer is actually New Best Friend, proactively, on purpose! They cheered us on and in spite of the weird shit that went as we were selling the house. They invited down the night before, he has decided that us to stay with them, to come over and use it would be a good idea to seek out Straight their computer. They even offered to watch Drunk Guy, who felt up both him and his our dogs. And there was no mention of Amgirlfriend and professed undying love and a way! They like us! They really like us! burning desire for friendship while chasing M’wife is sort of worried that it won’t their car blindly up the street. What would last, though. We had dinner the other night make someone do this? Straight Drunk and had some beers and some wine, and Guy must have been very funny, or New what had been a lovely evening ended with Best Friend must have been very lonely. me chasing their SUV down the street, And even though Straight Drunk Guy had screaming, “WE LOVE YOU, MAN!!! CALL absolutely no memory of the night, in fact US TOMORROW!” did not even hear the details until weeks or Laurie Mecham is feeling really let down months had passed, they did hang out and because you were SUPPOSED to write and they did become good friends. Isn’t that answer this: “What is the gayest thing you’ve just a happy ending to an odd story? Oh, and Straight Drunk Guy realized that black- ever done?” Thanks to J, CM and the pagan guy. The rest of you, hop to it! Email me at outs were kind of a bad sign, so he quit the laurie@slmetro.com dammit! drinking thing altogether.

Meet Market

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 17

The Creation of a Gay Men’s Health Movement

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ OCTOBER 13, 2005

This is an excerpt from an article in the current issue of “White Crane, Our Bodies, Ourselves” entitled “Gay Bodies, Gay Selves: Understanding the Gay Men’s Health Movement” and is available on line at whitecranejournal.com.

by Eric Rofes In 1998, when the annual National Lesbian and Gay Health Conference, which drew together people working on LGBT health issues nationwide, ceased to exist—its host organization went bankrupt—discussions took place about finding a new organization to host the event. At the time, lesbian activists wanted to organize on their own for a few years and several key leaders encouraged gay men to begin “to get their act together beyond HIV/AIDS.” This motivated me to work with a small group of other activists—all under the age of 30—sharing similar values and visions, to issue a call to the first national gay men’s health summit.

Coming as much out of frustration with HIV prevention work as from the current sex panic sweeping over gay communities nationwide, our team of good-hearted organizers volunteered to do what needed to be done to create a space where people concerned about the health and wellness of gay male communities could come together and explore the issues outside of the paradigm of disease and self-destructiveness that had overtaken other venues. After eight years of intensive gay men’s health organizing efforts occurring outside the purview of any national gay organization, we have finally succeeded in creating an alternative to the disease model of working on gay men’s health issues, an alternative that, while far from dominant, is being embraced by more and more organizers and more and more rank and file gay men who sense that there is something very wrong with how journalists and medical experts continue to talk about gay men’s communities.

The model we put forward at the first three gay men’s health summits (2000, 2001, 2003) included at least three beliefs that contrast dramatically with the beliefs of the disease model. First, we believe that gay men, at root, (i.e. radically) are individually and collectively healthy, reasonable, life-affirming, and successful in creating fulfilling and meaningful lives. Second, we take an asset-based approach to gay men’s communities rather than a deficit-based approach; we look at and build on inherent community strengths, resources, skills, and values that demonstrate gay men’s commitment to survive and thrive even under formidable circumstances. Third, we share in a commitment to approaching gay men as savvy, reasonable people with a baseline commitment to self-care, community-care, and disease prevention. Ultimately, we believe that gay men who appear unreasonable and destructive to themselves and others do exist, but we believe the current paradigms misrepresent all gay men for this small group. At the same time, we refuse to separate ourselves and our movement from these men and create programs only for “goodies” and avoid the “baddies,” or write them off as inhuman or inhumane.

We organized our small group of national summits with the intent of dispersing these

ideas and values widely throughout the nation in a manner that was decentralized, unstructured, ultimately beyond our control. Inspired

by Alberto Melucci’s work on contemporary social movements and Michel Maffesoli’s work on neo-tribalism, we believed that, in today’s world, paradigm shifts can result from new, creative organizing techniques. We rolled up our sleeves, got down to work, and now, several years later, see a changing landscape to which we have contributed.

I know I share the joy and satisfaction of many organizers who’ve marveled at the growing influence our nascent gay men’s health movement has had and the many projects and events that seem at least partially inspired by our work. Communities have held over 30 local and regional gay men’s health summits throughout the nation, including not only events in urban centers such as New York, San Francisco, and Seattle, but summits in Wilmington, Delaware; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Hartford, Connecticut. Summits have been held focused on African-American and Latino gay men, rural Southern men and young gay men.

In the United States, the origins of the term “gay men’s health” are rooted in the gay liberation movement and at least one organization utilizing the term in its title remains from that period (Berkeley’s Gay Men’s Health Collective). However, during the 1980s, after New Yorkers named their first AIDS organization “Gay Men’s Health Crisis,” the term seems to have become a euphemism for AIDS. As activist Chris Bartlett has pointed out, HIV so overwhelmed the community that “gay men’s health” became synonymous with “HIV/AIDS.” We find ourselves at an unusual moment now, where the term “gay men’s health” has acquired a certain cachet and is being increasingly taken up by a diverse range of projects and used in several different ways.

Not all of these projects attempt to tackle the range of health challenges facing gay men. Few of the projects attempt to shift to a wellness model and away from the disease model of gay men’s cultures and communities. Also surprising to many of us is the way the term has been embraced in other countries, especially Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand, and, recently, France; we have been surprised by the large numbers of international participants at the first three national gay men’s health summits.

When we began agitating for a national “gay men’s health” summit in 1998, we seized on the term in an attempt to strategically move its meaning beyond HIV/AIDS. Our intent was twofold: (1) we hoped to promote a holistic view of health that incorporated not only medical and mental health, but emotional, political, spiritual, and community health concepts as well; (2) when we did focus on health threats to gay men, we wanted HIV/AIDS simply to be included as one of the many ailments facing gay men, alongside cancer, heart disease, street and domestic violence, syphilis, obesity, and addiction.

Eric Rofes was the convener of the first three national Gay Men’s Health Summits and serves on the Advisory Board for White Crane Institute. He is a long-time activist and community organizer and has published over a dozen books, most recently A Radical Rethinking of Sexuality and Schooling: Status Quo or Status Queer (Rowman & Littlefield). He is a professor of education at Humboldt State University and is completing a book on organizing a gay men’s health movement and working on a play about men who test positive today. He is based in San Francisco and can be reached at eerofes@aol.com.

GAY MEN’S HEALTH Does Viagra Contribute to the Spread of HIV? Drug companies and government agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, are scheduled to meet in Maryland to discuss how the erectile dysfunction drugs Cialis, Levitra, and Viagra might be contributing to the transmission of HIV and other diseases, reports the Boston Globe.

In cities across the nation, reports of new cases of sexually transmitted diseases between men are on the rise. One reason, some health officials say, is the misuse of Viagra.

Dr. Jeffrey D. Klausner of the San Francisco Department of Public Health said that city was poised to eliminate syphilis in 2000. Now, there are thousands of new cases. He said gay men seeking treatment for sexually transmitted diseases report an average of 18 partners in the prior two months.

His research also links erectile dysfunction drugs with risky sexual behavior and an increase in sexually transmitted diseases in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York.

Klausner said drug companies should curb free samples and limit refills of erectile dysfunction drugs, which are used by more than 20 million American men.

Klausner, who filed a citizen petition with the FDA to address problems caused by misuse of erectile dysfunction drugs, wants federal drug regulators to step up efforts to thwart their illegal distribution, perhaps calling them controlled substances. ‘’The FDA, actually, can do a lot,” he said. ‘’They can require the manufacturers to do more education at the population level.

They can require the manufacturers to edu-

cate the doctors and the prescribers. They can encourage the manufacturers to modify their advertising and marketing efforts.”

Pfizer Inc., manufacturer of Viagra, has promoted educational outreach, including a ‘’safe sex” message that is more tailored to the general population than to gay men who have high-risk sex. ‘’We strongly support efforts to prevent the spread of STDs and HIV through education of safe-sex practices, including the use of condoms,” said Michal Fishman, a Pfizer spokeswoman.

Ken Mayer, medical research director at Boston’s Fenway Community Health, said an educational push targeted at gay men who use drugs to enhance sex could also help dispel the growing perception by some that HIV is a manageable, not fatal, infection.

According to the results of a recent oneyear study, 18 percent of Boston men seeking treatment for a new sexually transmitted disease said they used Viagra during the preceding month. Nearly 8 percent had used crystal meth, and 10 percent had used Ecstasy, a drug that makes users feel euphoric.

But Mayer said he is uncertain whether drug companies would embrace his idea of advertising the health risks for men who use erectile dysfunction drugs in combination with other substances. ‘’I think there is a real reticence on the part of these companies to do this kind of advertising, because they don’t want their drugs to be perceived as ‘gay’ drugs. But in reality, I think this data says they are,” Mayer said.

Study: HPV vaccine ‘100 percent’ effective The study was funded by Merck, which is also involved in clinical trials testing the vaccine in gay men in several centers around the country. It is potentially open to men who have had anal sex and are between 16-27 years of age. If you are interested in learning more about it click on the link: HPV Vaccine Trials.

Goldstone said the study is also welcome news for gay women. “Lesbians also get cervical cancer and the vaccine could protect all women no matter what sexual orientation.”

The final-stage study of Gardasil included 10,559 sexually active women ages 16 to 26 in the United States and 12 other countries who were not infected with HPV 16 or 18. Half got three vaccine doses over six months; half got dummy shots.

Among those still virus-free after the six months, none who received the vaccine developed cervical cancer or precancerous lesions over an average two years of follow-up, compared with 21 who got dummy shots.

“To have 100 percent efficacy is something that you have very rarely,” Dr. Eliav Barr, Merck’s head of clinical development for Gardasil, told The Associated Press.

“We’re breaking out the champagne.”

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 19

The first major study of an experimental vaccine to prevent cervical cancer found it was 100 percent effective—at least in the short term—at blocking the disease and lesions likely to turn cancerous, reports the Associated Press.

Gardasil, a genetically engineered vaccine, blocks infection with two of the 100plus types of human papilloma virus, HPV 16 and 18. The two sexually transmitted viruses together cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers, though other types of HPV also can cause cervical cancer and painful genital warts.

HPV is not just a disease of women, however. About 20 million Americans have some form of HPV, and that number includes many men, who can develop genital warts from HPV. There has been a recent rise in anal cancer rates in gay men who have had anal sex.

“The vaccine has the potential to protect men from HPV in the same way that it is protecting women,” says Dr. Stephen Goldstone, Medical Director of GayHealth. com. “The vaccine now has been expanded to cover the high-risk HPV types 16 and 18 which are associated with anal and cervical cancer as well as low-risk types 6 and 11 associated with genital warts.”

GayHealth.com

The first health and wellness site dedicated to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender men and women.

GAY MEN’S HEALTH Are You Suffering From Perfection-itis?

The messages are everywhere—especially in the gay community: Six-pack abs, picturesque pecs and picture perfect couples on the beach. In fact, it seems like every queen out there is downright perfect. But are you playing the perfection game? Take our quiz and find out.

1. YOUR NEW BOYFRIEND WANTS TO ATTEND A GAY PRIDE CIRCUIT PARTY. YOU: A. Double your workout regimen and cardio; you have to look better than everyone else.

B. Stick to your current routine and don’t think twice about it.

C. You’re no fan of the gym and you’re not going to start now.

2. YOU’RE OVERWHELMED AT WORK AND A DEADLINE IS LOOMING. YOU: A. Grab some coffee and work late into the night; no one else can do the work correctly.

B. Head to happy hour; your boss needs to set a more realistic deadline.

C. Delegate some responsibility to a trusted colleague and make your dinner reservation.

3. YOU’RE AT A DANCE CLUB AND EVERYONE ELSE HAS THEIR SHIRTS OFF. YOU: A. Keep it on; you look great in your new tank top.

B. Refuse to take yours off; your abs still need some work.

C. You’re too busy cruising the cute blonde to even notice.

4. YOU’RE THROWING A DINNER PARTY FOR SOME CLOSE FRIENDS AND BURN THE MAIN COURSE. YOU: A. Sulk through the rest of the night; you’ve ruined the party.

B. Serve it as is; no one will probably notice.

C. Apologize, make a Martha Stewart joke and order some take out.

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5. YOU’RE HEADING TO THE OPERA WHEN YOU NOTICE A SPOT ON YOUR BRAND NEW SHIRT. YOU: A. Keep your jacket on and don’t worry about it.

B. Insist on heading back home to change; you can take your seat at intermission.

C. Say to yourself, “It’s dark during the performance anyway, who cares!”

6. YOUR BOYFRIEND LEAVES A WET TOWEL ON THE BATHROOM FLOOR. YOU: A. Have a meltdown; doesn’t he know wet towels belong in the hamper?

B. Pick it up and remind him later that you like things neat.

C. Leave it there; he can pick it up himself when he gets home.

7. TWO OF YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS HAVE A BIG ARGUMENT. YOU: A. Cautiously offer your support but don’t take sides.

B. Avoid the whole subject; it’s none of your business.

C. Immediately offer your opinion; you know what’s best for them.

SCORING (add up your points for each answer): 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

A=5 A=5 A=1 A=5 A=3 A=5 A=3

B=3 B=1 B=5 B=1 B=5 B=3 B=1

C=1 C=3 C=3 C=3 C=1 C=1 C=5

IF YOU SCORED 7-15—Waaaaay Laid Back: Your lack of perfectionism sticks out like last season’s Prada sandals. In fact, you’re so relaxed, you might be falling asleep at the wheel of life. Glen Heiss, a psychologist in private practice in New York City, says your habitually laid back attitude—if you fall short it’s not likely to bother you at all—could also be your downfall. “You could assert yourself a little bit more or be more expressive with your opinions,” says Heiss, “to help balance out your easy-going, non-rigid approach to life.”

16-22—Sense and Sensibility: Your nonrigid but sensible behavior knows no bounds, and this mentality has made you plenty of friends—you know it’s unreasonable to expect everything and everyone around you to be 100 percent correct at all times. But proceed with caution, says Heiss. “Always finding the middle road is a great way to try and be, but it could become suffocating too and create it’s own brand of pressure.”

If having your act together becomes a need rather than a natural occurrence, it’s time to take a step back, says Heiss: “Remember that even the healthiest, most balanced person is going have an off-day or areas that challenge them and push their buttons.”

23 TO 35—Perfection-itis Alert! Control issues, anyone? You’ve set yourself extremely high standards, and probably even believe you can be perfect—at least now and then. In addition to feeling the relentless pressure, you’re likely to dog your friends with such rigid expectations and end up feeling depressed and bummed out in the process. In other words, your quest for perfection is taking all the fun of life, says Heiss. “Trying to do things properly is admirable, but demanding perfection can also lead to feelings of guilt and lack of esteem,” he says. “When you’re setting an unattainable ideal of always looking right and being right, it doesn’t account for the unpredictable, which we all have to deal with in life.”

The three articles appearing in the Gay Men’s Health section are reprintd with generous permission of GayHealth.com, the first online resource exclusievly for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender men and women staffed by professionals within our own community.

National Gay Men’s Health Summit Schedule *SUBJECT TO CHANGE

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 19 8AM Institutional Racism and Homophobia: Eliminating Barriers to Queer Health Men’s Health Leadership Institute Exercise and Pathway to Native Spirituality 5PM Opening Plenary 7PM Opening Reception

THURSDAY, OCT. 20

K. RIES

Innovative Strategies to Increase Social Capital, O. MACIAS Life on the Other Side of the Pond, J. VARNEY HIV/AIDS Commemorations, D. MERIS Time for a Quickie: Rapid Testing in Rural Areas, D. HERRERA Voguing, Runway: Creating New and Innovative Prev. for the House Ballroom Community, R. LOVE 11AM Keynote Session: From Moral Panics to Prevention Politics: Making the Rounds with Tina 1:30PM Building Community: Using Informatics to Create GMH Resource Dir. D WRIGHT

M. MUTCHLER

You Call Me a Slut Like It’s a Bad Thing, L. ALESSIO Opening the Power Within, B. LITTLE Community Disc. Groups in MT, F. GARY 3PM Where the Boys Are: The Nexus Collective Club Outreach and Vaccination Project, R. LOFTUS Healing Embodiments: Sexological Bodywork and Beyond, T.G. PHILLIPS You Don’t Have to Be Clean and Sober, M. SEIVER Beyond Monogamy: Your Own LTR, J. R. DREYER Negotiating Fruit, J. ELBRECHT HIV/AIDS and Black Men: Recruiting New Leaders Domestic Violence in Same Gender Relationships, G.J. LIMBERAKIS NYC HIV Super Virus: Hype or Harsh Reality?

G. BLICK

What is an Asset-Based Approach to Gay Men’s Health? E. ROFES Leather or Not, Here We Come: A Conversation Across Community Boundaries, T. LEWIS Hooking Up: Roundtable Discussion for Youth and Young Men, A. CLOWARD

FRIDAY, OCT. 21 7AM Yoga for Men, J. COTTRELL 8AM Continental Breakfast Jin Shin Jyutsu 9AM Creating and Advocating for a Pro-Gay Research Agenda GBT Community and Their Primary Providers, G. YOUNGMAN

Ask the Gay Doc, J. FREUND

Estatic Erotic Embodiment for Sexual Health, T.G. PHILLIPS

Dealing with Difficult Family Members, A. CLOWARD Booty Butter, Nectar of the Gods, J. PICKETT Nudes Do It Better: Challenging Public Sex Laws, C. VELAZQUEZ

Your Comfort Zone: Confidence as a Gay Transman, M. KAILEY Den Mothers and Smores: Young Men’s Retreats in Rural Areas, D. HERRERA 11AM Keynote Session: This Land is Your Land: Reclaiming America: Current Trends, Panics, and Social Intolerance 1:30PM Living Outside the Cities: Gay Men in Rural Areas, J. BARNUM Welcome to Tina’s Café, M. SIEVER Roll Up Those Sleeves Boys, H. LEVIN What it This Thing We Call a Gay Men’s Health Movement? E. ROFES Something Funny Going On Here, J. CALUMN Circuit: Where All Gay Men Interconnect, K. LAWSON

Community-Based Publishing, P. HEBERT Social Marketing Health Messages, L. PAPPAS Does Size Matter? Gay Men & Obesity, C. VELAZQUEZ Health Insurance is a Gay Right, J. MOSER Recharging Your Batteries, J. FREUND 3PM Creating Healthy Community and Relationships for Gay Transmen and Non-transmen, D. GOULD Performing on Bended Knee, J. JOHNSON Effective Sexual Health Strategies for HIV+, J. MCCONNELL

What Works and Doesn’t Work in Open Relationships? E. ROFES Mental Health Issues Surround Gay Male Abuse Survivors, J. MEEHAN Targeting Tina: What Can Prevention Do? E. SEELBACH Young Men in Action, A. CLOWARD Forgiveness of Self and Others, L. BECKSTEAD Bears and Health: Untangling the Fur and the Stehescope, R.K. KADOUR

Queer in the Suburbs, S. LANDERS Adopting Effective Behavioral Interventions, S. PEGUES

SATURDAY, OCT. 22 8AM Continental Breakfast Nude Yoga Share 9AM Why Do Some of Us Need to be High to Party?

J. MALPAS

Seattle Manifesto, E. SEELBACH Outside the Box: Talking Honestly About Unprotected Sex, A. ZIMBARDO The Beat My Heart Skipped: Heart Attack and Heart Disease, H. LEVINE Gay Cultural Identity and Health: Do Bears Diet? J. VARNEY Healing Our Two Spirit History, J. COCKE Integrating Our Shadow, B. BONGIOVANNI Optimal Health and Healing for the 21st Century, J. KAISER The Seminal Truth, Act III, C. SMITH 11AM Keynote Session: Finding Men of Color in the Movement’s Rainbow: Is There Room at the Inn? 1:30PM I Never Stereotype, N. BONAM Health Screening for GBT Men, G. YOUNGMAN Is Hep. C an STD for Gay Men? R. LOFTUS Listening to Crystal Without Prejudice, J. MALPAS Beyond the Hype About Barebacking, S. SMITH Magnet Clinic and the Terrible Twos, S. GIBSON Gay Spiritual Discovery, Part II, A. CLOWARD Pawn Takes the Queen: Estate Planning, D. FADEL Advocating For Your Health: Survivors Workshop I, J. STRUVE Iowa’s LGBT Healthcare Initiative, J. FRUEND Making Choices for Yourself: Rapid Testing, T. FISHER 3PM It’s Not About the Clothes: Leather and BDSM, D. PHILLIPS

Considering Pleasure as a Context for Meth Use Among MSM, M. BIGLER Best of Times, Worst of Times, S. FALLON

Reading and Writing Mr. Right’s Profile: Finding an LTR on the Net ASAP! L. ALESSIO Who Are Those Crazy Nuns? Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, S. GLO Getting Real with HIV Prevention: Personal Experiences, C. SMITH Gay Spiritual Discovery, Part II, A. CLOWARD Do You Trick? Outreach to Male Sex Workers, S. CROWE

Gay Men’s Sexual Cultures, E. ROFES Health Implications Sexual Abuse: Caregivers II, J. STRUVE Healing Men: Opening Hearts, Building Community, B. BLACKBURN

SUNDAY, OCT. 23 8AM Continental Breakfast 8:30AM Creating National Network of LGBT Clinics, R. LOFTUS

History of Utah’s Response to the HIV Epidemic, B. WILLIAMS Turning Frustration Into Power: Current Strategies in Community Org. J. DAVIDS THRUVE: Moving Community Towards Action, N. BONAM

Fresh Blood: What Art about AIDS Teaches Us, R K. KADOUR

TRUE Confessions Online: Sex, Eroticism and Intimacy, L. KOOYMAN Integrating Our Shadow, B. BONGIOVANNI 10AM Use of Dreams in Psychological and Spiritual Growth, J. SHAVERS Living Financially Free: Investing, Real Estate, Asset Management, D. BALLARD I Must, I Must, Increase My Bust: Gay Ages 25-35, E. BERONILLA Dynamics of Hooking Up on the Internet, J.R. DREYER

Cost of Leadership or Where’s My Man, S. PEGUES Sexual Currency, Social Currency: Comm. Sex Orient. J MACKAY Queers on Wheels: Offsite Testing, A SUSSMAN 11AM Closing Plenary

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 21

7AM Nude Yoga Share Jin Shin Jyutsu 8AM Continental Breakfast Are Gay Men Built for Monogamy? S. FALLON Creating Health and Safety Guidelines Clubs, Fairs and Events, E. ROFES Healthy, Fantastic Sex if I Stop Using Tina? J. AMICO Knowledge as Power: How to Prevent Burnout,

Challenges Facing Sexual Minority Youth and HIV: Roundtable Discussion, I. MCDONALD Beyond Government Funding, L T. HOROWITZ Power of Community, G. CASSIN DEBI Does Us, S. PEGUES Pornography and Stereotypes, K. WESTOVER Sex Toys Show and Tell, A. CLOWARD Using Crystal Meth: How to Protect and Value,

THE GAY AGENDA

by Eric Tierney, eric@slmero.com

13THURSDAY THE BLACK CROWES are a badass band.

Their lead singer, after all, is married to Kate Hudson (of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days fame) and she’s a firecracker. Here’s your chance to see them raise some hell right here in the City by the Pestilent Sea™—you better hope Kate is home with the kids, though, or things are liable to get waaaay out of hand.

6:30pm, Saltair, 12408 W. Salt Air Drive, Magna. Tickets $33–35 at 467-TIXX or smithstix.com

14FRIDAY People on the other side of the Zion Curtain who think Utah is inhabited only by blonde ice-cream eating prudes straight out of an Old Navy ad would be shocked to learn about the Urgyen Samten Ling Gonpa Tibetan Buddhist Temple and the Red Lotus School of Movement. Both have been proudly and honorably serving the Salt Lake community for more than a decade, and both will celebrate their one-year anniversary in their new home at the Fifth LDS Meetinghouse this week with the LOTUS FESTIVAL. The event features martial arts demonstrations, traditional Tibetan arts and crafts, as well as Tibetan food and chai … but best of all, the festival begins with public teachings by Lama Dawa of Kathmandu, a venerated and respected Tibetan Buddhist teacher. Broaden your world for a day. The Trapp Door will still be there next week.

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ OCTOBER 13, 2005

5–9pm, 740 S. 300 West. Admission is free.

328-4629 or urygensametenling.org.

15SATURDAY Had Shakespeare known grand opera, he probably would have written ROMEO AND JULIET as a libretto instead of a play. The scale, pathos and passion of his story are ideal opera fodder, and Charles Gounod’s deeply romantic score will, if you have any emotional capacity whatsoever, destroy you. That, coupled with a nice preopera dinner and a post-opera cocktail somewhere swanky, is the kind of night out where memories are made. Think of that next time you need a nifty date idea.

7:30pm tonight, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 2pm Sunday. Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South. Tickets $10–70 at 355-2787 or arttix.org

There’s a lot more to Latin American dance than the cha cha, people. At the LATIN AMERICAN DANCE SPECTACULAR tonight, you’ll experience the movement styles of the pre-Colombian in the Mayan tradition, folk dance from Bolivia, and the Jarabe from Mexico’s heartland, all complete with passionate music and spectacular costumes. The Lambada, I warn you in advance, will likely not make an appearance.

7pm, Jeanne Wagner Theatre, 138 W. Broadway. Tickets $10 at 355-2787 or arttix.org

Let’s go and hunt us some bear! The Utah Bear Alliance is holding a special fundraiser to send MR. UTAH CUB JAKE MORRIS to the International Bear Rendezvous in San Francisco this Saturday.

Morris will represent Utah and compete for the title of Mr. International Cub. The evening will sport a raffle, blue collar wear contest and bear wear contest withe the backdrop music of DJ Rukkus of former Club 161. I didn’t know bears had dimples.

9pm, Club Try-Angles, a private club for members, 251 W. 900 South

16SUNDAY Did you know that forty years ago it was illegal to serve an alcoholic drink to a known homosexual in the city of San Francisco? Maybe we can’t get married (yet), but by God we’re making progress, people, and that’s largely because people like you show up to events like this: the GAY LESBIAN BISEXUAL TRANSGENDERED COMMUNITY CENTER OF UTAH’S TOWN HALL MEETING. Be a part of things. They don’t just start dropping civil rights in your mailbox with the pizza coupons, kids.

1pm, The Center, 361 N 300 West. Admission is free. 539-8800 or glbtccu.org

“Lyrical” is certainly amongst the words that come to mind when Robert Frost is mentioned. The poet’s words are music of their own kind and his gift for describing physical beauty is unmatched, which is why the SALT LAKE MEN’S CHOIR has chosen to make their fall concert an evening of Frost poems set by Randall Thompson. FROST IN AUTUMN will also feature the Utah State University Women’s Choir. “The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.” I’ve got chills already.

7pm, Jeanne Wagner Theatre, 138 W. Broadway. Tickets $10–15 at 355-2787 or arttix.org

JAKE MORRIS See Saturday, Oct. 15

get some ideas on ways to break your leg this ski season.

6:30pm and 9:30pm, Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple. Tickets $17.50 at 355-2787 or arttix.org

22SATURDAY Every day—each and every single day — 8,500 people worldwide die of AIDS. That’s 354 people every hour. That’s five people every minute. Hearing these numbers is one thing, but seeing it for oneself is quite another, so the Utah AIDS Foundation has set up a kind of visual aid for us. Today they will display 8,500 pairs of empty shoes, each pair representing a life lost that day to the plague. The event, called PAIR UP 2 END AIDS, also features a rally to commemorate a caravan of AIDS activists who will be passing through Salt Lake today on their way to Washington, D.C. (Editorial aside: 60 people have died in Asia from the Avian flu, and our President is ready to federalize the national guard to prevent an outbreak in this country. We would do well to display 8,500 empty pairs of shoes in front of the White House.)

Shoe display: 12–6:30pm, Rally 6:30–7pm, Library Square, 210 E. 400 South. Information at 487-2323 or utahaids.org.

24MONDAY 18TUESDAY RANDY TRAVIS is coming. He’s the tall country singer that women are inexplicably attracted to? The country singer who actually sings country music and not just bad rock with steel guitars and a twang? He sang “Forever and Ever, Amen”? No? Damn that Kenny Chesney!

Ya’ll don’t know country. I think Renee had the right idea.

7:30pm, Kingsbury Hall, 1395 E. Presidents Circle. Tickets $34.50–49.50 at 581-7100 or kingsburyhall.org

20THURSDAY Ghosts and goblins and bears and twinks, oh my! Join the staff and readers of Salt Lake Metro at ROCKY POINT HAUNTED HOUSE tonight and get a sweet $4 off an adult ticket. Club Exit will host an after party just 2 blocks south. Rocky Point has won awards nationwide for being the cream of the crop in haunted houses. Come and go Bump in the night!

21FRIDAY

By God, Warren Miller has got something figured out. For FIFTY YEARS he’s been showing us pictures of people on skis—fifty years of essentially the same movie, over and over and over again. But damned if each one isn’t better, more entertaining, more stupefying and more intense than the last. His latest is WARREN MILLER’S HIGHER GROUND—see it and

7pm, In the Venue, 219 S. 600 West. Tickets $18 and $20 at 467-TIXX or smithstix.com

25TUESDAY MAUREEN MCGOVERN has a hell of a singing voice. She’s been nominated for a Drama Desk, has starred in about a thousand Broadway shows and has been a treasured entertainer for more than thirty years. That said, I think it’s fun to point out that her pop hits are the love themes from The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno and Superman: the Movie. She’s the real thing, though, which is why it’s strange that tonight she opens in Salt Lake in the straight-from-Broadway-whichmeans-it-flopped musical adaptation of LITTLE WOMEN. I’m not judging, mind you, but if Bernie Peters cruises through town in Jekyll and Hyde anytime soon, I’m throwing in the towel.

7:30pm tonight through Thursday, 8pm Friday and Saturday, 6pm Sunday. Matinees 2pm Saturday and 1pm Sunday, Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South. Tickets $35 to $57.50 at 355-2787 or arttix.org.

27THURSDAY Let’s get GABbin’. November is Transgender Month and a local group of FtM and MtF people are putting together an organization to make it happen.

Called the GENDER ADVOCACY BOARD, the group will support people making the transition—in life as well as in body.

6:30pm, The Center, 352 N. 300 West.

Lowest Common Denominator

by Eric Tierney eric@slmetro.com

Let us all praise the Fox Broadcasting Company. The glorious network of Cops. The inspired network of When Animals Attack. The deluded network of The Swan, perhaps the most odious and repulsive program ever broadcast over our airwaves. And now, in its consistent mission to raise the bar of quality television, the network brings us The War at Home.

I was idly flipping channels the other night and happened to come across The War at Home, a “family” sitcom so patently offensive and outmoded that only Fox could have produced it. The advertising proudly declaims it to be in the tradition of that cultural gem Married...with Children.

Oh, would that it were so.

The family in War suspects that their teenage son is gay. As it turns out, he’s not, but his homophobic, openly racist father, played by Michael Rappaport, (who was always a bad actor, but never quite this bad, and who constantly speaks as if he has a mouthful of saliva that he refuses to swallow) doesn’t know that. The jokes that ensue about homosexuality, transgender people and gay culture are meant to be in the tell-it-like-it-is blue-collar vein of All in the Family. But while All in the Family was brilliant, insightful and ultimately redemptive, The War at Home is vile, inept, and irresponsible.

The show is meant to reflect a typical Middle American family with all its typical Middle American attitudes and sensibilities. And chances are it does just that. But at what cost?

As I watched the show, I remembered what life was like for me in middle school before I came out and before my family moved to Salt Lake. I grew up in the kind of typical Middle American, small town family represented in the show. Back then, the only portrayals of gay people on television were Damon Wayan’s “Men on Film” sketches on In Living Color, which were the gay equivalent of blackface. In Southwest Montana, there was nowhere I could look to find a positive representation of gay life.

There was nothing in the media, other than AIDS stories, to confirm for me that in fact that there even were any gay men.

A dozen years later, we’d like to think we’ve come a long way. We’d like to think

that gay kids these days have it much easier. But as I watched The War at Home, I couldn’t help but imagine a sixteen-year old boy in a small town, coming to terms with himself and utterly at a loss as to what to do about it. Maybe he deals with what I did in junior high—maybe he’s chased with bricks, beaten, screamed at, publicly humiliated. Maybe he doesn’t know whether or not to tell his parents.

Maybe he sits down to watch television with his family, a family he notices is very similar to the one on the screen. When he sees that even the idea of a child being gay is enough to send a father into spasms of revulsion, when the topic of homosexuality is something that is met openly with scorn and derision, when he sees that being gay is cause for panic, is he likely to come out to his parents? Is he likely to ask for their help?

Estimates vary, but an oft-quoted statistic from the CDC says that a third of gay youth will attempt suicide. Gay teens attempt suicide at four times the rate of their straight peers. While hard numbers are unavailable (death certificates do not specify sexual orientation) it is commonly agreed on that thousands of gay kids in this country kill themselves every year.

My sister knew two of them. Last year, her senior year of high school in that typical Middle American town, two (two! In a class of two hundred kids!) of her classmates killed themselves because of the treatment they received at school—one of them because he had the courage to come out amidst the worst kind of ignorance and hate, and the other because his fellow students thought he was gay, even though he actually wasn’t.

The attitudes reflected in The War at Home killed these kids. If I hadn’t left Montana, they would likely have killed me as well—they came close on a number of occasions. But Fox, because they know their audience and because the Lowest Common Denominator is guaranteed to laugh and buy potato chips, thinks it’s funny. Fox is going to bring it into the living rooms of these families—the living rooms of these kids and their fathers.

So let us all praise the Fox network, which knows and understands the power it holds in American households and who uses it wisely and responsibly. And while The War at Home remains on the air—which will probably not be for long, given that, aside from everything else, the show isn’t very funny—let us pray that the lonely and terrified boy or girl for whom the show could prove outright dangerous isn’t watching.

Late-breaking news, national news and articles in this paper are available at:

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 23

Rocky Point doors open at 7:30pm. Club Exit, a private club for members, opens at 9pm. 3400 S. State Street. $4 off coupon on page 29 of this issue.

You know that one postal service song?

The one that was on the Garden State trailer? Remember how they used a different version in the actual movie, and it’s all slow and quiet and pretty? That’s the cover version by IRON AND WINE, and maybe you’ll hear it tonight at their show.

EarPiece

LOVE'S MYSTERY: RELATIONSHIP AS A SPIRITUAL PATH A Workshop with Dawn Menken, Ph.D., author of

Speak Out!: Talking About Love, Sex, and Eternity October 15 & 16, 2005 in Salt Lake City

Comic Alan Walker to Lighten Up Things at National Gay Men’s Health Summit

Together we’ll explore ways to grow from our relationships— whether with lovers, family, friends, community, or the divine.

by Joel Shoemaker joel@slmetro.com

After a weekend of examining the most pressing issues facing the health and safety of gay men—everything from sex addiction to crystal meth—what better way to close it all with some snide satire and comedic insight?

As part of a group of comics performing on the closing day of the National Gay Men’s Health Summit, local gay comic Alan Walker will be serving up his own witty insights into addiction, recovery, dating and gay men. Over the past two years Walker has been honing his routine at Mixed Company (a gay/straight improv group), Panini restaurant’s speed-dating and, most recently, at Wise Guys Comedy Club in West Valley—where he took second place in an amateur competition.

For more information, contact: Martha Hales at 532-3567 or radical_healing@xmission.com

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Mail to: Metro Publishing, 352 S Denver St, Ste 350, Salt Lake City UT 84111

METRO: Is this your biggest show yet? Are you nervous?

WALKER: It’s my longest, most professional show. Actually, I’m so excited to perform in front of a gay crowd. A lot of people ask me, “Is your stand-up gay?” Stand-up is intrinsically part of who you are and your life experiences, so part of my routine is gay because I’m gay and then part is just being a dork and thoughts on everyday life. But there’s so much material with being gay that I think I would be nervous if it was a straight crowd that doesn’t get gay.com or clubbing or those things. Here there’s so much material I haven’t been able to use before.

METRO: Tell me about the “O.G.T.” WALKER: That’s my best line! Well, this is a true story. I was on a coffee date with this guy and he just flies off the handle about Broadway musicals. And I’m not a musical kinda guy, nothing wrong with them, just not into it. So I tell him, “I’m sorry I’m not into them.” And he says, “I’m sorry, that’s my O.G.T.” He says it like everyone would know what that is, like it’s a common term. So I said, “What is that?”

He said, “Oh, that’s my Obviously Gay Trait.

What’s yours?” I was like, what is that? Like, everyone has some index card they carry around with their trait written on it? So I just honestly responded back, “I guess my OGT is I suck cock.” In looking back I should have said, “I suck cock well.”

METRO: Have you ever bombed?

WALKER: Oh yeah, oh yeah. One time, I was testing out this material. I’m fascinated with self-help groups, 12-step programs, the people who go to them, I love it all. So I was testing out this character “Erica” who never saw the message of the groups, but was just wrapped up in all the activities. One time I’m doing the stand-up for this speed-dating crowd, and I asked them if anyone has any problems.

Everyone was utterly silent. No one in that crowd wanted to say they had any problems minutes before they started meeting a bunch of strangers. It was like crickets and tumbleweeds. Maybe I should have planted someone in the audience to yell, “I have herpes!” These are the things I’ve learned.

METRO: Your lessons for fledgling comics.

WALKER: Right.

METRO: Some comics seem to have a darker side to their comedy. Do you?

WALKER: I eat my feelings. I do. No, really I think there’s definitely a dark side. For me I’ve gotten though some of that, I’m not in that space now, but I’ve definitely gone through those dark times. So now, my comedy pulls from those experiences. Because if you can’t find humor in those terrible circumstances … well, you either cry or you laugh. Those are your choices. So I try to laugh. Usually at someone else’s expense.

METRO: Where do you think you’ll take your comedy? You have a good day job, so where will this go.

WALKER: If I had my druthers, I’d be a talk show host. You just meet interesting people and banter back and forth. But I don’t know, right now I’m just taking it as it comes.

There’s a lot of local opportunity. I think a lot of people think you have to leave Salt Lake to make it, but there’s a lot right here that I would love to do.

Alan Walker will be performing in Queer Comedy 101 to benefit the University of Utah LGBT Resource Center and the Utah AIDS Foundation Friday, Oct. 21, 7:30pm at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. Broadway, Tickets are available through ArtTix, 355ARTS, for $25.

Utah Opera’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’

by Eric Tierney eric@slmetro.com

“Never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

The last words of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet have resonated through five centuries, bringing the story of two young lovers and their tragic end to countless generations all around the world.

In the five hundred years since the play was first performed, it has spawned countless interpretations and adaptations, from a score of films to two major ballets to television shows. Its timeless themes of love and death have made it probably the most oft-quoted and oftimitated love story of all time.

Which is why it makes for such fantastic opera.

Utah Opera opens its 2005-2006 season

with Charles Gounod’s setting of the story, opening October 15 at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Salt Lake City. The company will perform the work in French with an English translation projected onto a screen above the stage.

The plot is faithfully preserved from Shakespeare’s original text: Romeo, a member of the Montague clan, falls in live with Juliet, a Capulet. Their two families are engaged in a bloody feud, and the couple is obliged to carry on their courtship and eventual marriage in secret. As the feud rages on and a series of catastrophic events ensue, the two “star cross’d lovers” meet a tragic end.

Composer Charles Gounod is probably best known for his setting of the Faust legend, but his lush, passionately wrought score for Romeo et Juliette is his most expressive and emotional. Since its premiere at Paris’ Theatre Lyrique in April 1867, the opera has become a staple in the repertoire of opera companies all over the world.

Gounod was a contemporary of Puccini and Verdi, and his music shares the same Romantic idioms, including a heavy emphasis on melody, grand orchestrations and complex ensemble writing.

Anton Coppola, a regular Utah Opera collaborator since he conducted La Traviata almost twenty years ago, is conducting this production. He’s also conducted for such prestigious companies at the San Francisco and New York City Operas, as well as a number of Broadway musicals.

Romeo and Juliet also features several Utah Opera debuts: Jonathan Boyd will sing the role of Romeo and Malinda Haslett will bow as Juliet.

Boyd’s previous work includes roles everywhere from Brussels to Portland, where he sang Sam in Street Scene. Haslett’s diverse credits include Pamina in The Magic Flute, Norina in Don Pasquale, and Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance. The young tenor and soprano lend a kind of vitality and youthful energy to their roles not often associated with grand opera.

“A

Stage direction is by Nicolette Molnar, a former staff director of the English National Opera who has been making quite a name for herself in the opera world. She has become well known for a startling aesthetic sensibility and unique style.

Some Utah Opera regulars are returning, as well. Gregory Pearson, (UO’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) will sing the Duke, and James Miller (last season’s Aida) will portray Romeo’s faithful friend Benvolio.

Romeo and Juliet was an audience favorite when the Utah Opera presented its first staging in 1998. The beauty of Gounod’s score coupled with the passion of Shakespeare’s story make for an unforgettable evening of opera. In the end, Romeo and Juliet as opera seems fitting, since the opera tradition and Shakespeare’s work have much in common: they are both designed as feasts for the ears. For its 2005-2006 season opener, Utah Opera, is seems, has prepared audiences a rare banquet.

SCREWY LITTLE JEWEL OF A PLAY

”

k c o B

By Adam

Q: How in the world did you come up with the idea of a gay shark for “Swimming in the Shallows?”

Adam Bock is a wild and wonderful new voice in American theatre and in his improbable and freshly comic world anything is possible.

Adam Bock: After writing a skit about two drag queens being attacked by a shark, I thought, “what if somone fell in love with a shark?”

SEPT20OCT16 Age 30 and Under Tickets $18 For Tickets call 363-SLAC or 355-ARTS

SLAC

The Salt Lake Acting Company 1 6 8 We s t 5 0 0 N o r t h w w w. s a l t l a k e a c t i n g c o m p a n y. o r g

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 25

If you support quality gay and lesbian news, Advertise in Salt Lake Metro.

An offbeat romantic comedy about 4 friends (and a shark) addicted to love, smoking, and unnecessary stuff.

Red,White Bubbly Killer B’s

by Beau Jarvis, beau@slmetro.com

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ OCTOBER 13, 2005

Brrr. This morning I took the pooch out to pee and noticed frost on the ground. It seems winter is trying to infringe on autumn, my favorite time of year. Why do I adore fall? For some primitive reason, when the weather cools and leaves begin to yellow, I crave roasted foods. With apologies to my vegetarian friends, I heartily crave slow-roasted meat. In addition to roasted culinary delights, autumn unleashes my passion for brooding, gnarly red wine. As I happily strut around in my favorite fall sweater, I scoff at the silly little reds in my wine cabinet. I want red wine with structure and attitude. Thankfully, northwestern Italians share my passion for red wine in autumn. This region of Italy is called the Piedmont and its bold red wines are killer (in the colloquial sense). And it just so happens that they all begin with the letter B: Barbera, Barbaresco, and Barolo.

Italy’s Piedmont is famous for truffles, vermouth, grissini (skinny breadsticks) and extravagant multiple-course meals eaten at a leisurely pace. The Piedmont’s wines are an integral part of food and family. Hours are spent eating, conversing, and imbibing. We hectic Americans may have some difficulty connecting with the biggest of Italy’s B’s, Barolo. Barolo is known as the “king of wine” and the “wine of kings.” Not only is it considered to be one of the world’s biggest wines, but it is also widely regarded as one of the best. Like the Piedmont’s slow food ethos, Barolo is a slow wine. It requires patience, which is something most American diners are not known for. Traditionally, many Barolo producers aged their wine for ten, or even twenty, years before releasing it for sale. Nebbiolo, the grape used to make Barolo, demands this sort of ageing.

Nebbiolo is a harsh, tannic grape that only mellows after a long while in a Barolo bottle.

A glass of Barolo can be an otherworldly experience—scents of tar, violet, rose, truffle and strawberry are followed by a very fullbodied dry wine with bracing tannins. This wine is at its best when paired with a hearty, flavorful meal. Try it with rack of lamb,

beef stew, or pasta with meat sauce. The downtown wine shop offers a surprisingly robust Barolo selection. Keep in mind that Barolo isn’t cheap, and it won’t hurt to let the wine evolve for ten or more years from the vintage date. Introduce yourself to Barolo with Damilano Barolo “Liste” 2000 ($65). If you want to have a go at becoming Piedmontese, save your pennies and try Giacosa Barolo “Falleto” 1998 ($134). Just remember to go slow: decant the wine, allow it to open up, and sip at a snail’s pace.

Barbaresco can be considered Barolo’s more graceful sibling. Like Barolo, Barbaresco is made from the gnarly Nebbiolo grape. However, the Barbaresco vineyards are a bit “up the road” from Barolo’s vines.

These grapes mature earlier and produce wine that tends to be lighter and fruitier.

The advantage to Barbaresco is that it’s often more approachable at a young age In addition to classic Nebbiolo scents of tar and roses, Barbaresco can offer up aromas of cherry, spice and licorice. A sip of Barbaresco reveals its lighter weight and more relaxed tannins. Still, this is a wine that is at its best with a little bit of age (510 years) and a complimentary meal. Try Prunotto Barbaresco 2001 ($43) with roast beef or aged cheese.

The final Piedmont B is Barbera. Barbera is the name of the grape used to produce Barbera d’Asti and Barbera d’Alba. Both wines are named after their respective hometowns (Asti and Alba). Barbera is almost the exact opposite of Nebbiolo. It produces light, crisp wine with low tannin content. Most Barbera-based wines are intended to be drunk young. When sniffing a glass of Barbera, I’m often reminded of tart red cherries, dried herbs and the occasional red currant. This wine’s acidity is immediately noticeable after a single sip. It’s mouthwatering and incredibly food flexible. So if you’re autumn is rather rushed, I suggest trying one or both of these Barbera-based vinos: Boroli “Bricco dei Fagiani” Barbera d’Alba 2001 ($30) or Michele Chiarlo “Le Orme” Barbera d’Asti 2003 ($14). Either wine will be great with roast chicken, roast veggies, or a humble baked potato. Cheers.

Beau Jarvis is a sommelier and wine educator.

He operates basicjuice.com, a wine review and info website. He also runs basicjuice.blogs.com

Sage’s Café 473 E. 300 South, Salt Lake City, (801) 322-3790 Weds.–Thurs. 11:30am–2:30pm; 5 to 9:30pm Friday 11:30am to 2:30pm; 5pm to 10pm Saturday 9am to 10pm Sunday 9am to 9pm My friend was worried that she wouldn’t be full by the end of the meal. “Maybe I should eat something before we go,” she thought out loud. She proceeded to raid her cupboard for some Red Vines and pretzel sticks. I felt compelled to interject when she pulled out a Balance Bar. “Stop it,” I said. “You’re going to ruin your appetite.”

She looked into my eyes and implored, “But it’s vegetarian. Rabbit food. Sprouts and shit like that, right?” Suddenly, it wasn’t so cool for her to have a restaurantreviewing friend anymore. I mean, what sort of friend would drag you to a place that doesn’t stock a pint of dairy, a stick of butter, or any animal product at all for that matter? Considering that it was Sage’s Café, I thought I was being a very good friend. This is supposed to be a break from processed-food drudgery.

Let’s be honest. Who has never felt like they’ve needed to “cleanse” themselves of their junk food/fast food regimen? There are always the half-assed promises to eat better next week. But work, social life, or some sort of 21st century crisis kicks in and by God, KFC was the only thing you could fashion for dinner. For folks like us, Sage’s is a necessary pit stop through mindless eating.

My friend calmed down by the time the carrot butter crostini arrived. The color of the silky puree was vibrant orange. Alive.

The sliced multigrain baguette from Vosen’s provided a nice nutty contrast to the sweet flavor. “Wow,” she began, “this is good!”

Fresh is the best adjective to describe the cuisine at Sage’s. The kitchen, headed by owner Ian Brandt, emphasizes local, organic, and seasonal food. There are no heat lamps, no fryers, nothing you’d find at a fast food or mass-dining joint.

It doesn’t take much to realize how much folks love Sage’s. And it isn’t exclusively those who smell of patchouli either. On another visit during brunch, my dining buddy and I shared the dining room with a group of Hispanic ladies bitching about their male family members, a lone tourist (toting

a Veg Out dining guide to SLC), a yuppie-looking couple and a politically-active looking duo donning nothing but black.

In this window-enclosed space, there was communal enjoyment of the Mountain (literally a mountain of hash browns, grilled veg, scrambled tofu, guacamole and a vegetarian sausage patty), basil pesto crepes and Ian’s (and my) favorite breakfast. The latter arrives with plenty of steamed veg, a nut burger patty, hash browns and a really flavorful tahini (sesame paste) sauce. It’s carbo-loaded pleasure.

Sizes are far from Spartan. Once our entrees arrived, my friend’s eyes got as large as the plate before her. And though I’ve heard gripes from others that the concept translates into bland food—I admit, scrambled tofu isn’t the most palate-popping thing out there—it’s the quality of the ingredients and the creativity behind the food that makes it a crowd-pleaser.

Ask any ardent vegan/vegetarian. It takes a lot of effort and planning to eat completely to Sage’s mantra at home. Not for want of trying, of course. But hey, it’s a supermarket world out there. To craft fresh basil-macadamia pesto and freshly made semolina noodles isn’t a 30-minute meal to make at home. Nor is trying to make enough patties to last through a workweek of nut burgers. And though I pride myself on some sort of skill in the kitchen, don’t even ask me to re-create Sage’s philly cheeze steak. I don’t even know where to get vegetarian chicken or how to begin to make a vegetarian cheese sauce.

And that’s the beauty of this place. You can honestly get something to eat that you probably would never be able to fashion at home. You’ve gotta give Brandt and his team props for this commitment. Most things are prepared à la minute, which means most of it hasn’t been hanging out under a fluorescent red heat lamp. And you can bet there was a lot of planning behind ordering the seasonal, organic and local products for the menu. This place has got a conscience.

I asked my friend if she needed another Red Vine to last her through the evening.

“No!” she exclaimed. She almost seemed offended at the thought. “I am very satisfied, thank you.” Moral of the story, my junk-food mavericks and mavens, no matter what your proficiency with soy butter and vegetarian “meat” patties, you’ll get it. You’ll leave content. And extremely well-fed.

Di ing Guide Dining de

Salt Lake Pizza & Pasta

Bangkok Thai

Gringo’s West Valley

1400 Foothill Dr. / 582-8424 HOURS: MO-TH 11:30-2, 5-9:30PM F 11:30AM-2PM, 5-10PM SA NOON-10PM, SU 5-9PM CUISINE: THAI PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V

2785 W 3500 S / 969-8811 HOURS: M-SA 10:30AM-9PM SU 10:30AM-8PM CUISINE: MEXICAN PRICE: ¢ CARDS: MC V Good Mexican food...fast. Fresh salsa bar, food made to order.

CUISINE: PRICE:

Rated “Best Thai” 1992–2005 by local and national press.

Michelangelo Ristorante 2156 S, HIGHLAND DR./ 466-0961

Café Med

michelangeloristorante.com

420 E. 3300 S. / 493-0100 HOURS: SU-TH 11AM-9PM F-SA 11AM-10PM CUISINE: MEDITERRANEAN PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V

TU-SA 11:30AM-1:30PM 5:45-9PM CUISINE: ITALIAN PRICE: $$ CARDS: AE D MC V

Persian, Greek, Italian, Turkish and Vegetarian in a warm, relaxing atmosphere.

HOURS:

1063 E. 2100 S. / 484-1804

saltlakepizzaandpasta.com HOURS:

M-SA 11AM-11PM SU 11AM-10PM ITALIAN $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V

Voted as Utah’s Best Pizza two years in a row! Great beer selection. Sugarhouse.

The Original 1751 S 1100 EAST / 483-2971 HOURS: M-SA 11AM–7PM CUISINE: SANDWICHES PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D DC MC V

Now scoopin’ Spotted Dog Creamery Ice Cream.

TC–TRAVELERS CHECKS, AE–AMERICAN EXPRESS, D–DISCOVER, DC–DINER’S CLUB, MC–MASTERCARD, V–VISA ¢=0-$10, $=$11-$20, $$=$2130, $$$=31-40.

Restaurant Owners: Get Your Ad in the Dining Guide.

Call 323-9500.

Begun by childhood friends Paulo Celeste and Marco Gabrielli of Tuscany.

Nick-N-Willy’s Pizza

Coffee Garden

4538 S, HIGHLAND DR./ 273-8282

898 S 900 E / 355-3425 HOURS: SU-TH 6AM-11PM F-SA 6AM-12AM CUISINE: COFFEEHOUSE PRICE: ¢ CARDS: AE D MC V

nicknwillyspizza.com HOURS: CUISINE: PRICE:

SU-TH 11AM-10PM F-SA 11AM-12PM PIZZA $ CARDS: AE D MC V

Dine in or take-out. Call

SLC’s buzzing java shop with a ahead and we’ll have it ready. diverse crowd.

Albertsons Shopping Ctr.

Fiddler’s Elbow

Orbit Cafe

1063 E. 2100 S. / 463-9393

540 W. 200 S. / 322-3808 orbitslc.com HOURS: SU-TH 11AM-10PM F-SA 11AM-3AM CUISINE: AMERICAN ECLECTIC PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V

fiddlerselbowslc.com M-TH 11AM-11PM F-SA 11AM-12AM SU 9AM-10PM CUISINE: AMERICAN PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V HOURS:

Open late nights on Fridays 32 beers, including Utah’s best and Saturdays with DJs and a special menu. selection of microbrews.

BANGKOK THAI 1400 FOOTHILL DRIVE •SLC 582-8424

Utah’s Best Seafood -Citysearch 2005

Purchase one Entree from our Extensive Seafood Menu and Get One FREE Pad Thai (Our most popular dish) Not Valid with any other offer Limit One offer per party - Dine in only Prices Rolled Back 10-20% on Our Vegetarian Menu Meatless Mondays™ Lunch $5.99 Dinner $7.99 For All Vegetarian Entrees

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 27

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Night Planner

POKER RUN starting at the Trapp* and continuing around the valley, 11:00 am, $5.00, hosted by Scott Stites and John Apel LIVE FOR LIFE at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, cocktails at 6pm, show begins at 7pm, $5.00, hosted

by Peter Christie, Syren Vaughn and Charles Black

THURSDAY, OCT. 13

THURSDAY, OCT 27

BAD BOYS CLUB, Club Exit*, Sexiest bad boys contest with Kayla and Nova IT’S GREEK TO ME at Paper Moon*, dinner and a movie as a benefit for the RCGSE AIDS Awareness Week

TODD’S ROAST at Trapp Door*, 6pm. AIDS benefit, $10 includes dinner

FRIDAY, OCT. 14 GUEST DJ JANA HOLT at Trapp Door* THE MONARCH’S AIDS SHOW at the Trapp Door*, 9pm, $5.00, hosted by Marshall and Sheneka

THURSDAY, OCT. 20 METRO DAY AT ROCKY POINT Haunted House. Use the $4 off coupon and join the boys and girls.

SPECIAL FASHION SHOW at Club Exit*, Obscura Clothing Co. and DJ Naomi

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21 QUEER COMEDY 101 at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. Broadway. $15–25. Benefits the UofU LGBT Rsource Center and the Utah AIDS Foundation

Get your events listed!

Email clubevents@ MagazineM.com

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 29

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SALT LAKE METRO ■ OCTOBER 13, 2005

Classifieds REMODELED SUGARHOUSE Duplex: APPLE ONE Employ2 bedrooms, hardwood ment Services is seek& tile floors, dishwasher, ing qualified call cenwasher/Dryer hookups. ter experienced in sales. Pets negotiable. 1147 E. Can earn $12+/hr plus Blaine. $700/Month. Call commission. Apply toRod at 755-7536. Availday. Employers, let us able Nov 1st. fill your staffing needs.

ROOMMATES Call Steven Whittaker at WANTED 463-4828 for an appt.

SUGARHOUSE. 400 sq COMMERCIAL ft room w/private enPROPERTIES trance, bath, Hspd-IntTV-Cable. All utils inPERFECT ALTERNATIVE Office Building! Af- cluded. New paint & tile floors. Pets fordable Space Availnego. $425/month. able!(100 to 1200 sq. ft.) 801-466-5285, ask amawarren@postinbox. com or call 209-7634. for Belinda. 1800 S West Temple Ste. 216 MISC.

HELP WANTED

FOR RENT FREE RENT. Pay no rent, deposit or utilities in Phoenix, AZ if you watch the house when I’m away and help part time with some easy household tasks. Chance to earn extra money working extra hours.

Plus, if you are eager to learn, I’ll help you start a new life as a well-paid computer professional. Friendly, congenial, trustworthy, single male seeking similar person compatible with my LDS values; no smoking, drinking, drugs. Will help you relocate. Email azhomedog@yahoo.com or call 602-348-1379.

ARE YOU HIV+?

Pride Counseling has restarted a Therapy/Support Group for men who are HIV infected and seeking support from others in similar situations. For information please call Jerry Buie LCSW at 801-595-0666 TIRED OF THE BAR LIFE? Pride Counseling is offering a Gay Men’s Therapy/Support Group.

Gay men often find that their options to socialize limited to clubs and bars. Most insurance companies billed, sliding fee scale. For information please call Jerry Buie LCSW at 801-5950666.

RESOURCE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS believe and aspire to 7 principles, the first of which is “the inherent worth and dignity of every person”. This Autumn, our church is offering a class called The Welcoming Congregation which is designed specifically to reach out to GLBT people who often have been hurt by organized religion.

We hope to provide a different experience. This workshop series is an introspective and interactive educational journey into the issues surrounding the lives of individuals of all sexual orientation in our congregation and among our friends. It begins October 4th and continues for 8 consecutive Tuesday evenings at the First Unitarian Church, 569 S. 1300 E. Please contact Richard Teerlink to register and obtain more information.

Comics A COUPLE OF GUYS by Dave Brousseau

BITTER GIRL by Joan Hilty

ADAM AND ANDY by James Asal

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 31

Service Guide ATTORNEYS MARLIN G. CRIDDLE, P.C. Serving Utah’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender communities. Estate Planning, Probate, Criminal Law, Bankruptcy, Corporations/Business. 4742299. marlincriddle.com

AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES MEINEKE CAR Care Center. 2190 W 3500 S WVC 973-0860 EOE. Best service, Best price.

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RESOURCES

GAY MENS HEALTH SUMMIT. Gay men’s health is more than just HIV. visit us at utahgaymenshealth.com CODE PINK. A womeninitiated peace and social justice movement by positive social change via creative protest and non-violent direct action. www.codepinkalert.com SAME-GENDER MARRIAGE is a Feminist Issue: NOW’s mission is to promote equality for ALL women. NOW has fought for gay and lesbian rights, and we won’t stop until we achieve equality for all. Join us utahnow.org AFFIRMATION: GAY and Lesbian Mormons. members.aol.com/wasatchweb/: Sunday meetings 534-8693 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 swerveutah. com (join email list!)

OCTOBER 13, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 32

DO YOU Work at CONVERGYS? Would you to meet with some EMPLOYMENT like of your GLBT co-workAPPLE ONE Employment ers? Join the GLBT Conis seeking qualified peo- vergys Yahoo Group! Go ple in many skills. Apply to: http://groups.yahoo. and begin your qualifica- com/group/cvg-glbt/ and tion today. Employers, let sign up. If you have any us fill your staffing needs. questions,you may email Call Steven Whittaker at the group owner at: cvg801-463-4828. glbt-owner@ yahoogroups.com ESTATE CAMP PINECLIFF WeekPLANNING end, Annual retreat for JANE MARQUARDT & people with HIV/AIDS and DOUG FADEL Attorneys their care providers c/o at Law, providing comDick Dotson, Coordinaprehensive estate planning services, custom de- tor P. O. Box 608, Magna, Utah 84044-0608 or call signed to your unique (801) 518-8733 family situation. Trusts, ARE YOU a single lesbiwills, partnership agreean? Wondering how to ments, estate admin. meet other single lesbi294-7777 ans for friendship and soJEWELERS cial events? If so, you CUSTOM DESIGN Jewel- are invited to sign up for the Lesbian Singles Sory. Relaxed atmosphere. cial Group at groups.yaAll types of stone settings. Commitment rings, hoo.com/group/lesbian_ singles/ wedding rings, earrings, pendants. Repairs welUTAH GAY Rodeo Assocome. Charley Hafen ciation ugra.net PO Box Jewelers. 1411 S. 900 E. 511255 SLC, UT 84151521-7711 1255 A social & Rodeo Sport Organization MASSAGE WANT A HOT sumUNBELIEVABLE MASmer body? Queer Utah SAGE Athletic Male TherAquatic Club (QUAC) inapists, 440-5851 Contact vites swimmers and wa641-4009 ter polo players of ANY BEST THERAPISTS, best skill level, including beprice, best place, best ginners, to join the team. hours, call 486-5500 Visit QuacQuac.org for Pride Massage 1800 S. more info.

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GAY WINE group. qVinum.com is a fabulous group of wine lovers who hold winetastings at members’ homes, travel to wineries and hold special fund raisers for the community. qVinum.com ENGENDERED SPECIES 801.320.0551. A social/ support group resources for transgender people. www.engenderedspecies.com AMERICAN CIVIL Liberties Union. Fighting for individual freedoms since 1958. www.acluutah.org BI MEN of Utah groups. yahoo.com/group/BiGay-Men-Utah. Social and support group for bi/ gay men of Utah.

GAY RM’S–SOCIAL group for return missionaries of the LDS Church. Regular parties and group activities more info at gayRMs. com UTAH MALE Naturists meets through the summer for naked lunches, clothing optional outings and overnight camping trips in a sex-free environment. groups.yahoo.com/ group/ utahmalenaurists ROYAL COURT of the Golden Spike Empire. rcgse.org Membership meetings held twice monthly. Help support your community!