Queer Gnosis

Freedom To Marry Our Pets

Another beautiful critique of gay politics from the mad mind of Lisa Duggan and the Bully Bloggers! 
Here are some samples from her posts. 

"...if we’re out there yammering about wanting the state to recognize “love,” a patently ridiculous and reactionary goal, then let’s be democratic about it.  Who and what do we love?  With whom do we have the deepest intimacy?  For some of my friends, I think it may be reality TV.  But for many of those who are dykes, it is definitely the companion species."

"You are right about all the benefits that come with marriage, that so many homos would like to have.  But gee, why should those benefits be tied to state legitimated monogamy?  Why aren’t the young ones on the barricades for universal, single payer national health care, rather than hoping to get private insurance through marriage?  Why not march for more open immigration policies rather than hope to bring just their legal spouse into the country?  Why not allow everyone to choose their next of kin for medical decision making and all that, regardless of the nature of the relationship?  And why enshrine the couple form at the top of the gay agenda, when we used to want to mix things up in the world of possible significant intimacies.  So yeah, why not get rid of the churchy sanctified idea of “marriage” all together?  FreedomToMarry.org argues that having the homos get married will lead to separation of church and state.  Say *what*?  If we want to separate church and state, let’s have non conjugal and/or polyamorous next of kin recognition for the hospitals and all (call it, um, Best Buds or Golden Girls status?), and universal social benefits not tied to sex or love or jobs!  Wouldn’t that be fun?  Why that would be almost just like……social justice!" -- Lisa Duggan

READ THE WHOLE POST HERE!

Ralph and Shannon

SHANNON AND RALPH CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY #9

Ralph and I are happy to announce that we are celebrating our 9^th anniversary this year. Our bond has stood the test of time and as well as new additions to our relationship. First Hera, a kitten on the verge of abandonment. Then Mr.Thomas Crackers, who lost his home in a divorce. Next a new human and her diva cat Cassidy.  And most recently Mr. Foucault (a dog!). Ralph, thankyou for proposing 9 years ago. Thank you for sticking with me! I love you.

What's Right with Utah

By Lisa Duggan

This article appeared in the July 13, 2009 edition of The Nation.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE HERE

June 24, 2009

DAVID DANIELS
Utah gays protest Proposition 8 in Salt Lake City's Temple Square.

Salt Lake City

Forget everything you think you know about Utah. Yes, it's the reddest state in the union and the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). For the past twenty-five years, Republicans have had a virtual lock on statewide offices. Utah hasn't voted for a Democrat for president since 1964, and last year the state chose John McCain over Barack Obama by almost a 2-to-1 margin.

But here in Salt Lake City, it's a different story. The city and surrounding counties are a lovely blue. The current and previous mayors--Ralph Becker and Rocky Anderson--are well-known progressive Democrats with excellent records on the environment, gay and civil rights, disability access and other municipal issues, and Salt Lake County, home to four of the five most populous cities in the state, went for Obama in 2008.

Then there's Salt Lake City's queer community, whose smart, creative and coalition-building strategies could provide a model for gay activists across the country.

That last claim requires a bit of explanation. Last fall I lived in Salt Lake City. As a leftist and New York City dyke, I had expected to find a conservative city and a quietly assimilationist gay community. Instead, I was repeatedly blown away by the progressive politics and outright queerness of the capital city, which is about 40 percent Mormon.

I was in Salt Lake City in November when the passage of California's Proposition 8 generated national outrage against the Mormon Church for its role in sending money and volunteers to help antigay forces take away the right of California's same-sex couples to marry. A few national LGBT figures, most notably gay pundit Dan Savage, called for a boycott of Utah to punish its majority Mormon population. In Salt Lake City, I joined a furious crowd, including many gay Mormons and ex-Mormons, at a November 7 protest at the LDS Temple. The scene was a jumble of mixed messages, with signs ranging from Love Makes a Family, to Separate Church and State, to Brigham Young Had 55 Wives, I Want 1! But no one I saw advocated a boycott. Most seemed to agree with KRCL-FM public radio station personality Troy Williams, referred to by some Utahns as their homegrown Harvey Milk, who challenged Savage on his hourlong program, calling for an influx of queer migrants to the state rather than a boycott. Perhaps a New Queer Pioneer movement, modeled on the sanctified Mormon pioneers of the nineteenth century, would do more to shrink the impact of LDS antigay bigotry than any boycott ever could.

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE

OUTRAGE! The Kirby Dick Interview

by Troy Williams

(The following interview occurred June 14th at the Tower Theatre in conjunction with KRCL’s RadioActive and the Damn These Heels Film Festival. Podcast the entire interview HERE!) 

Kirby Dick is going into the closet.  Not his own mind you, but rather the closets of powerful conservative politicians who actively fight against the queer community. His new documentary Outrage explores the well known stories of Idaho Senator, Larry Craig, Kirby Dick also outs current Florida governor, Charlie Crist, California Congressman David Dreir, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith and former Republican National Committee chairman, Ken Mehlman. Outrage also looks back at former New York Mayor Ed Koch, who ignored the plight of AIDS, as well as the infamous Roy Cohn, a conservative lawyer and close ally of Senator McCarthy. 

Troy Williams: There are a lot of gay people in Washington D.C!

Kirby Dick: We out all of D.C! Everybody in D.C knows that perhaps 30 to 40% of all staffers on Capitol Hill are gay.  And interesting enough, when George W. Bush came into office, the gay escort business spiked up dramatically. 

TW:  You describe a “conspiracy of silence”, of which the mainstream corporate media shares culpability.  Why?

KD: There are a lot of reasons this issue doesn’t get covered.  First of all, some of these news outlets are concerned that any reporting on gay sexuality might offend some of their readership.  Some of these news outlets are owned by large corporate entities that do a lot of business on Capital Hill.  And they think, “what’s the upside of going after a powerful congressperson?”  I’ve found it’s not the reporters themselves.  They’ve been wanting to report on this for many years. This film is really built on the reporting of the gay press.  They’ve been trying to get this message out – to report on hypocrisy wherever it is. 

TW: I think is the heart of your film is really summed up by Al Pacino, playing Roy Cohn in Angels in America, “The homosexual has zero clout”.   In our culture, through religion and through politics we are conditioned to believe that some people are chosen to rule and others are not.  Some have privilege and some do not.  In our culture, if you are white, male and of certain economic standing, you have ultimate power and privilege. Until suddenly, through some quirk of whatever, you are marked as a menace.  As a gay man you must go into the closet to obtain power.

KD:  That’s a very astute observation.  People are brought up to be Republican before they know they are gay. When I interviewed everyone in my film I was astounded, because they all said they wanted to go into politics by the time they were in first grade.  They are being groomed by their families to take  over their father or grandfather’s seat in Congress.  And suddenly they find out they’re gay.  So they box it off.  They treat it like any other political problem and they choose to live their life in the closet.  I think there are two kinds of politicians.  Some like Charlie Crist, who I think is very comfortable with who he is sexually.  And then you have others perhaps like Larry Craig who thinks it’s wrong every time he does it. 

TW: These politicians are willing to viciously go on attack against people who are just like them. 

KD: It’s a political calculation too.  The closet is perhaps their greatest vulnerability and they’ll do anything to protect it. This is how the closet contorts the American political system.  You have people like Charlie Crist, I’m certain, who doesn’t want to offend anyone.  He’s the most bland politician ever.  But there are rumors out there, so he has to vote against the way he really wants to vote.  Again, that’s the importance of the media.  For along time people thought the media will give us a pass on this hypocrisy, so I’ll be able to pull off a career in the closet.  But now, with the discussion going on around this film, I think a lot of people are going to rethink that. 

TW:  What have been your reactions to the recent coverage of the Mark Foley and Larry Craig scandals?

KD: They sensationalize but they don’t go deeper.  I conceived of the film before either of the Foley and Craig reports, so I was very interested to see how the media would cover these stories.  But I was very surprised that they didn’t go deeper. The issue of hypocrisy was very rarely approached with Larry Craig.  One of the reasons Mark Foley isn’t in the film is because, for the most part, he voted pro-gay.  He wasn’t a hypocrite. 

TW:  The thing that struck me as I was listening to the Larry Craig audio – is that this was a sting operation targeting gay people. And that is something that we don’t talk about.  

KD:  You are absolutely right.  He was flirting.  There is nothing illegal about flirting.  It shouldn’t have happened. 

TW:  Are there other politicians that you wanted to explore but didn’t have enough information?

KD:  We looked at a number of others, but we couldn’t get enough to be certain about having them in the film.  What we did encounter was a great deal of fear in talking to sources.  I would get on the phone with a source, talking about a certain representative, and they would want to talk, but when I would call them back, they wouldn’t want to do it.  They were very afraid of repercussions. 

TW:  Has there been resistance from people like Charlie Crist?  Have you had any official responses or challenges from people who you are featuring?

KD:  Ed Koch said he was “outraged by Outrage.”  I was very appreciative that he mentioned the name of my film twice in his response.

(Outrage is currently playing at the Tower Theatre in SLC.)

Military Service Is Not Equality

by Troy Williams

(I recognize that I have many friends for whom this polemic may be offensive.  But I welcome the debate and the ongoing conversation.)

It’s probably only a matter of time before President Barack Obama eliminates “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.  This is on the forefront of many a gay activist’s agenda.  Protesters are pushing Obama to “keep his promise” after gay linguist Daniel Choi was discharged for coming out on The Rachel Maddow Show.  But of all the promises Obama has made, striking DADT is far from the top of my list of important national priorities. Instead of investing all of our money and time pursuing our militaristic desires, I’d like to propose that all gay activists worldwide combine our efforts to push Obama to keep another one of his promises – namely to end the goddamn fucking war! 

I have listened to many queers tell me their rational for wanting full military equality.  I have dear friends engaged in this fight.  And if we were Sweden or Jamaica, I’d totally agree that gays should serve openly. But we’re not.  We are the U.S. fucking A.  Our business is to expand the empire and commandeer the resources of weaker nations for our own consumption.  I find it immensely difficult to muster patriotism when it comes to the imperial objectives of the U.S. government.  We have continually witnessed the abuses of American nationalism through war and conquest. I don’t want the freedom to invade foreign countries.  I don’t want the freedom to drop bombs on villages that kill innocent children and families.  I don’t want the freedom to roundup dark-skinned people in midnight raids.  I don’t want the freedom to waterboard and torture.  I don’t want the freedom to bully and intimidate the world at the end of a gun. 
 Not now, not ever.  The U.S. Military is a corrupt institution. It thrives on rabid sexism, racism and homophobia to enforce discipline.  The military strips down recruits by initiating them into a world of extreme machismo and authoritarian obedience.  Women and queers have traditionally been used as epithets to degrade the training soldier.  This is of course to make them better, more compliant machines.   Janice Karpinski was the commanding general over Abu Ghraib. When she was on KRCL’s RadioActive a couple years back, she threw out a sobering fact.   She told our listeners that if you are an enlisted female you have over a 50% chance of being sexually assaulted. Not by the insurgents mind you, but rather your fellow soldiers.  According to a March CBS report, in 2006 there were “2,974 cases of rape and sexual assault across the services”.  On top of that, The Pentagon acknowledged, “some 80 percent of rapes are never reported.”  I wonder what the stats will be for openly out and proud queers.   

There are branches of our military that depend on your ability to kill another human being.  The military dehumanizes the “enemy” with xenophobic epithets like “sand-nigger” and “hadji”.  It’s so much easier to kill someone after you strip them of their humanity.  This is something that we “queers” should understand all too well.  To covet membership in a sexist, racist organization that routinely denigrates and viciously marginalizes “enemies” should be anathema to every American faggot. 

And of course what about our returning soldiers? Divorce rates for Iraq war veterans have been spiking.  What good is finally getting a gay marriage if it’s going to hell once you get back from your third tour of duty?  What about the psychological and emotional impacts of invasion and occupation?  How do you live with yourself when you have killed in the name of the flag?  Are you prepared to fight the unending medical bureaucracy just to get basic health care when you come home fucked up?  Are you ready for a government to tell you that you don’t have the symptoms you say you do?  Or that exposure to some ungodly chemical agent isn’t why you are cramping, bleeding and dying?  

Before we get all fired up over the unfairness of not being allowed to drop a cruise missile on an Afghani wedding party, let’s stop and take pause at what are devotion to militarism has cost our nation.  We have invested in a trillion dollar war and now experience economic recession.  Our citizens return maimed, and are too often unable to access services.   Torture, secret prisons, extraordinary rendition and a disregard for our best principles have compromised our national soul.

I know we want to believe Obama will turn things around. But when I see his commitment to military tribunals and his refusal to hold torturers accountable for their actions, I become suspicious.  I’m not interested in a kinder, gentler empire.  I’m interested in the US being an upstanding global citizen.

Americans get off on violence.  For god’s sake, our national anthem is a war song with the “rockets red glare” followed by all those “bombs bursting in air”.  I get it.  War kicks ass.  And a group of angry queers bullied in high school probably could do all kinds of damage with a knife and a grenade.  My recommendation: if you want to be a mercenary for hire, then go join Xe, (the Security Organization Formerly Known as Blackwater).  There you can shoot and maim to sustain our empire – for profit!  The pay is unmatched and you can literally make a killing. 

And finally, the last thing we need is a flurry of out gay veterans leaving the service and bringing a military worldview into the gay political movement.  Spare us please.  If we think assimilation, male privilege and compliance to heterosexual norms is bad now, imagine what it could be with a bunch of regimented, sexist automaton fags.  The only gay soldiers I want to see are in porn.   This is the best practical place for them.  Slap that Kevlar and show me your salute! Other than that, the gay community should not be foot soldiers for imperial demagogues.   We’ve got more important work to do people.  Don’t ask, don’t kill. 

Day of Decision 2009

by Troy Williams

It was no surprise that the California Supreme Court upheld Prop 8.  And what better excuse to hold a rally at the Capital and a march to the Temple?  I was invited by Michael Mueller from Utahans for Marriage Equality to speak at the end of the rally.  I don't really remember what I said -- but mostly I just wanted to convey the sentiment that queers are not victims -- Prop 8 is not a defeat -- and that we should no longer allow right wing organizations like the LDS Church to intimidate us.  I also wanted to remind folks that our world is in crisis -- climate change threatens all life on earth -- our economic crisis is leaving many Americans in poverty -- and our health-care crisis is allowing Americans to die because they are denied treatment by corrupt for-profit insurance companies.

These are serious challenges facing our world -- none of which will be resolved if gay marriage is made legal.  So we've got to get out and make positive change happen in the world.  I believe LGBT equality is a major component of the social shift that is needed in our society -- but gay marriage is only one component of a larger social justice struggle.  Keeping that in proper context is essential as we  move forward. 

Richard Kim of The Nation wrote an excellent overview of the Prop 8 decision -- and wisely suggests that we give pause before dumping millions of more dollars into a campaign to repeal the amendment.  "Not one of those 18,000 married couples got any new rights or benefits that California's DP did not already provide; they only acquired the term marriage itself. Of course, as a state, California cannot grant any of the federally provided rights and benefits of marriage, but as a matter of state law, the two categories are substantively equal." That said, I believe we queers have got to keep pushing, keep shouting and keep our dissent at the heart of public debate.  We can nolonger allow right wing bullies to dicate out lives. We need to stand up and be bolder than ever. And yes, LGBT Americans should enjoy EVERY freedom provided to other citizens of this country.  We should settle for nothing less. 

So the invitation to every person who reads this blog -- when you wake up in the morning, please ask yourself, "what can I do today to make the world a more just, more peaceful and more sustainable place to live?"  Then get dressed, get out the door and make an impact! 

I'll see you in the streets. 

(all photos by David Newkirk)

THANK YOU SALT LAKE CITY!

By Troy Williams

On behalf of myself, Charles Lynn Frost and Pygmalion Theatre Company, we want to thank all of you for making The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixon a smash success.  We enjoyed a wild run with sold out shows, added performances and fantastic media coverage.  We were overwhelmed by the amazing response. 

It’s exciting to see a project emerge from nascent concept into a fully manifested reality.  Three years ago I approached Charles and asked him to create a character for my radio series on KRCL.  I knew Charles was a phenomenal actor and I was anxious for the opportunity to collaborate with a performer of his caliber.  I sat down at his kitchen table as he pulled out a series of notes.  “Her name will be Sister Dottie S. Dixon and she will host a show called, What Not, What Have You and Such as That”.  We were off and running. 

It took awhile for me to grasp Dottie’s syntax and “heavy regional dialect”.  Charles had to teach me “Spaneesh.” Not your typical south of the US border Spanish, but “Spaneesh” from Spanish Fork.  It was tricky but Charles was patient.  And after awhile I caught on “ril good!” 

Charles and I approached the character from two different perspectives.  He was channeling his mother, who raised him in Spanish Fork – as well as her many friends who comprised the sisters from his ward.   I was always channeling those courageous women in Mormon history who were excommunicated for challenging authority – Sonja Johnson (who supported the Equal Rights Amendment), Fawn Broadie (who wrote No Man Knows My History) and Lavina Fielding Anderson (who documented cases of ecclesiastical abuse). 

Charles grounded Dottie’s basic humanity and gave her a soul, while I constantly threw her into outrageously uncompromising situations.   After two years of Dottie on the radio, we decided to take her to the stage.  One of the elements that Charles and I deeply agreed upon was the need for the gay community to shift our narrative.  It is time we collectively change our story. 

Think about it.  When you survey gay cinema, theatre and literature, it is almost always associated with violence and death.  AIDS, gay-bashing, suicide and parental rejection comprise what has become a gay victim meta-narrative.  The world hates gay people and look how we suffer! This is the story that we tell over and over.  And I’m really done with it. 

When Charles and I sat down to write The Passion we were very clear that we were going to celebrate how awesome it is to be gay.  We were determined to invert the classic narrative of parents rejecting their queer kid.  What if Dottie, as a Mormon mother, championed her gay son, even at the risk of her own membership?  That was the driving force.  From the very beginning I was determined that Dottie was a latter-day Joan of Arc.  She was a visionary who would come into conflict with her Church leaders.  Her actions would culminate in her trial and ultimately she would be “burned at the stake center.”  Yet no matter the trials we put her through, Dottie would always remain true to her Mormon core. 

When you create a work of art, you never really know which parts will be well received and which might fall flat.  There were many surprises along the way.  Perhaps due to a glowing review in The Deseret News, The Passion drew in a large number of active Mormons.  Every night I would look out across the audience to see seats plum-full of “Dotties” – brave Mormon moms unafraid to laugh at our cultural idiosyncrasies.  And perhaps due in part to Dottie’s following on KRCL, there were many nights when our straight audience far outnumbered the queers.  

One BYU professor in attendance told us that, like Dottie, he was asked by his employers not to talk about his gay child.  Another LDS mother took me by the hand and with tears in her eyes told me how she was a Dottie and she had invited her 18 year old son to see the show in the hopes that he would finally come out to her.  I heard back later that night, he did. 

There are many Mormons, who in the shadow of Proposition 8, are standing up for their gay family members.  They are loving and embracing them just as they are. Things are changing for the better. 

 

For far too long, the Mormon leadership (and the Born Again Christians and the Republican Party, et al) have tried to control the gay narrative. They have marginalized our lives, disparaged our love and actively worked to eliminate our rights.  That day is over.  Our identity will no longer be defined by others.  We will no longer internalize their fear and enmity.  We are crafting our own stories and rewriting a new ending. 

And it feels damn good, doesn’t it? 

As Dottie says, “Heavenly Father sent a gay baby into our lives as a blessing.”  We want every queer person in the world to believe that.  We want every parent of a gay child to know what a beautiful gift they have been given.  We are not sinners, we are not defective, and we are most definitely not burdened by an affliction.  “The Mormons have great lessons to learn from their gay children” says the Giant Box Elder Bug wearing the Jacqueline Smith sweater set from KMarts, “Why do you think they have so many!?”  Indeed. 

The world is changing.  The story is shifting.  You are part of that.  All of us.  Every time you come out, every time you raise your voice and defend the “marginalized and miniaturized people of the earth”, every moment that personal authenticity informs your next choice.  This is the work that Dottie invites us to engage, “to heal a world that is ailing from too much suffering.” 

May that be the passion that consumes our lives. I’m grateful for Sister D for sharing with us new possibilities and new stories. Inthenameofjesuschrist – AMEN! 

The City Weekly LOVES The Passion!

'Copters & Casseroles

Sister Dottie S. Dixon provides more real emotional heft than Miss Saigon.

By Scott Renshaw

The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixon
Sister Dottie S. Dixon (Charles Lynn Frost) originated in three-minute segments on local radio, so I was fearing that The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixon would be the theatrical equivalent of those ghastly Saturday Night Live sketches padded out to feature-length movies. I never expected Sister Dottie to become so … real.

The character as conceived is already intriguing and complicated: a faithful Mormon wife and mother from Spanish Fork who is also an activist on behalf of her openly gay son Donnie. The play—by Sister Dottie’s co-creators Frost and Troy Williams—serves as kind of an “origin” story, flashing back to pivotal events including Donnie’s coming-out, a consciousness-expanding trip to the Burning Man festival and confrontations with church authorities over her civil disobedience.

READ THE WHOLE REVIEW HERE!

Dottie on KUER's Radio West

Dottie and I hit the big times yesterday!  We had a lovely hour with Doug Fabrizio talking about gay art, activism and The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixon.  Thanks to Doug and Elaine Clark for making everything happen.  I had to laugh a bit because I found myself using my reverent NPR radio voice, which is in contrast to my big RadioActive voice. The trick to all of this is finding the right voice for the right audience.  Doug has a gift for getting at the heart of an issue.  And I hope the conversation was helpful for people who are trying to find their own voice amidst the ongoing battle for queer liberation. 

Have a listen by clicking HERE!

The Deseret News LOVES the Passion!

'Sister Dixon' heartwarming, poignant

By Erica Hansen

Deseret News

Published: Friday, May 8, 2009 3:49 p.m. MDT

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"THE PASSION OF SISTER DOTTIE S. DIXON," Pygmalion Theatre Company, Rose Wagner Center, through May 17 (801-355-2787); running time: 2 hours 10 minutes (one intermission)

In a country embroiled in a political debate over same-sex marriage, Proposition 8, Miss California and Marie Osmond, it might be easy to forget the people at the heart of this polarizing issue.

Enter Sister Dottie S. Dixon (Charles Lynn Frost).

The Pygmalion Theatre Company show — "The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixon" — has been so popular the company added three performances to the close-to-sold-out run.

Sister Dixon is not here to preach, and she's certainly not here to judge. She is here to share the story of her personal journey and spread a message of love and inclusion — "bridging the gap between gays and Mormons, one creative casserole at a time."

Dixon was created when KRCL's Troy Williams asked Frost to create funny characters for his radio show.

Frost, who is best known for originating the role of Alex McCormick in Plan-B Theatre Company's "Facing East," chose a character based on his mother — a good Mormon woman living in Spanish Fork, Utah.

Frost comes onstage in a puffed-up wig, capris and various sweater-sets and tells the tale of her family history — her 37-year marriage to Don Dixon; the birth of her son, Donnie; the moment Donnie told her he is gay; and her struggle to understand and rectify the gap between a church she loves and the son she loves.

With Dottie's best friend, Sister Dartsey FoxMoreland (Kent Frogley) at the piano, and a series of stairs as the set (Brad Henrie, design), Sister Dixon entertains for close to 90 minutes.

Beginning with her family "treeneology," she then teaches a lesson on how to speak Spanish — of the Fork variety — "Ferude," "Frignernt" and "ta, da, sa" in place of "to, do and so." The crowd, made up of many of Dixon's fan base, laughed appreciatively at all the local-isms, especially at a clip of Dixon on Doug Fabrizio's show.

The pacing moves along pretty well, but it does slow down a bit when Dixon finds herself at the annual Burning Man Festival in Nevada, where she ends up hallucinating (aided nicely by Pilar I's lighting) about a giant boxelder bug telling her about her new mission.

What works best and is most endearing about this play is that it is personal. Even though the evening is filled with comedy — and lots of it (thought never mean-spirited) — what is most appealing about "The Passion" is watching this very likeable, warm and loving woman's very real struggle.

And Frost's delivery couldn't be better.

Sensitivity rating: Veiled references to drug use; smoking; mild swearing; and sex discussion on Dottie's wedding night.

E-mail: ehansen@desnews.com

NPR Story Corps: Troy Williams and Matthew Landis

On May 1st, the mobile NPR Story Corps was in Salt Lake City.  I  received a call from Karen McCreary from the ACLU of Utah asking me if I'd like to bring a friend and have a sit down chat.   I called up my buddy  Mathew Landis to discuss growing up queer in Utah, activism, current events and whatever else came to mind.  The result is a back and forth conversation about both of our lives. 

While Matthew was out and proud tearing up the streets of Salt Lake City in Queer Nation Utah, I was closeted and shamed, volunteering for Gayle Ruzicka's Eagle Forum!  Our stories are dynamically different -- but we are both today queer potentialists who have big hopes and desires for our community.  We see the myriad possibilities that an unapolagetic queer worldview can offer the planet. 

This is our story.  Part of it anyway.  As much as we could fit each of our 39 years into 39 minutes. 

STREAM THE CONVERSATION HERE

Dottie on the Huffington Post!

Mike Bonifer

Mike Bonifer is the author of Gamechangers -- Improvisation for Business in the Networked World

Posted May 5, 2009 | 02:52 PM (EST)

Sister Dottie vs. The Mormon Church

From May 1-17, Dottie Dixon, a game-changer of the highest order, takes the stage nightly at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center in Salt Lake City in her one-woman show, The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixon, which chronicles her experiences as the activist Mormon mother of a gay son.

Sister Dottie, who lives with her husband of 38 years, Don, on what she describes as "a lovely little cul de sac" in Spanish Fork, Utah, about ten miles south of "the BYU," approaches the Mormon church's anti-gay positions from the unassailable mountaintop of a mother who loves her child. And she comes at it from the inside, as a tenth-generation Mormon whose great-great grandfather, Heber Orson Maxwell O'Donovan, migrated to Utah, across the plains as a Mormon pioneer in 1847 with none other than Brigham Young himself, the second prophet, seer, and revelator of the Mormon Church.

Her show, a comedy with what she describes as "moments of poignancy," addresses the controversy of Sister Dottie's stubborn refusal to accept the Mormon church's anti-gay positions. "I can't choose between my church and my child," she said last week when I spoke to her on the phone between rehearsals for her show. "My church wants me to choose. I don't do that."

READ THE REMAINING ARTICLE HERE

Gay Times: I AM A GAY TERRORIST

by Troy Williams

The April issue of the UK based Gay Times wrote a fun article about my work.  It's mostly awesome and very flattering.  The author/editors did take some liberties with our interview however.  For the record, "totemic" is not part of my regular vocabulary, and I never said anything about sticking bombs up the ass of gay America! Though on second thought, it does provide an amusing mental image.  Wow, no matter how hard I try,  I just can't get away from the militant persona Gayle Ruzicka has created for me!  I also wish they would have given a photo credit to David Newkirk for his awesome shot.  Otherwise, Sally wrote a lovely piece and I'm glad the message of Queer Utah is getting out around the world.