Amie Tullius
From the April issue of Catalyst Magazine
Dottie S. Dixon has had quite the buzz
around her lately. The Utah gay rights activist/radio personality is
gearing up for her upcoming one-woman play. "The Passion of Sister
Dottie S. Dixon" next month at the Rose Wagner Theater. The play is a
Latter-day retelling of the Joan of Arc story, but Joan, in this case,
is a Spanish Fork housewife turned gay-rights activist.
In her three years as radio host of KCRL's "What Not, What Have You,
and Such as That," Dixon has been an important bridge in Utah's complex
LDS/queer divide. "I'm a 10th-generation Latter-day Saint [and] am the
proud mother of a gay son," Dixon writes in her Facebook profile. "I'm
a good-will ambassador for all organizations that advocate for human
equality." She is outspoken, fiery, hilarious and not, well… real…,
at least in the traditional sense of the word.
Troy Williams and Charles Lynn Frost conceived of Dottie three years
ago as a breath of fresh air and humor in William's otherwise serious
(and now defunct) weekly radio show Now Queer This. "So much of gay
cinema, theater and literature has focused on the tragedy of being
gay," Williams says. "The purpose of Dottie is to celebrate our
diversity with humor and joy. Dottie sees being gay as a blessing. Even
though she is an active Mormon, the experience of having a gay son has
opened her heart to a new understanding." Williams wanted to create an
alternative discussion that is about courage, strength and change.
While Dottie was born out of a desire to bring levity to a difficult
discussion, the seriousness of the content transcends the message's
humorous medium.
Frost, the actor who channels and co-created Dottie, patterned her
after his own mother and the wise Mormon women he grew up under in
Spanish Fork. "We don't want her to be in the in- illuminati crowd," he
says, "she's clumsy and clunky, she's not educated, but she's wise."
She's full of Utah vernacular, and she charmingly misinterprets
history, theology and current events (which is a big part of what makes
her so funny). But Williams and Frost are never laughing at Dottie.
READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE IN THE CATALYST
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