Queer Gnosis

Listen ta Dottie’s Dramatic Reading of “Bad Romance”!

Sister Dottie has done it again — delivered another brilliant dramatic reading of one of today’s most revered civil right’s leaders, Lady Gaga! Sister D has recently been revealed as one of the of the mysterious “Gang of Five” that has been meeting with the LDS Church leaders. They kept her identity secret so as to not allow her celebrity status to distract from the sacred (not secret) on-going talks.

We are just glad Sister D is back in action — and helping the Mormons and the Gays overcome their “Bad Romance”.

And if you are interested in hearing more of “The Best of Dottie” episodes as heard on KRCL — her new cd, THIS I KNOW is available as an inspiring Christmas gift to give to all of your Mormon family and friends indulging in their same-sex attractions!

Wow. Talk about life in Utah being full of surprises. I was not expecting the endorsement of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for Salt Lake City’s proposed nondiscrimination ordinance – but damn if it wasn’t cool. And it’s important to give thanks where thanks is due. So thank you Mormons for sharing the conviction that it is wrong to discriminate against your fellow Utahns based on sexual orientation and gender identity!

And thank you Mayor Becker and the City Council for this brave step. It will serve as a template for other municipalities, and possible statewide legislation.

I’d also like to recognize the incredible efforts of Equality Utah and The Pride Center. They have done phenomenal work over the past year – both publicly and privately.  This victory belongs to all of us working on the frontlines. It takes many voices to create change. The protests, The Common Grounds Initiative, the letters to the editor, the petitions, the kiss-ins, The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixon, Lance Black’s Oscar speech, Cleve Jones at Utah Pride, our gay legislators, PFLAG, LDS Apology, Affirmation, and all of the fantastic media coverage from the AP, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Deseret News, The Nation, Huffington Post and so many more – all of these factors put the Church under tremendous pressure.

And make no mistake – despite the words of Councilmember J.T. Martin, the Church most definitely “blinked”.

This is how activism works. Pressure is applied from all sides. The angry crowd marching around the temple is just as essential as the moderate, measured gay leader in private meetings with legislators and the Church. Some people are already calling this a “PR tactic” on the Church’s part. You bet it was! The Church is absolutely trying to side-step the onslaught of horrible press they have received. Others bemoan the fact that a religious institution should ever have power over our civil liberties. And they too are absolutely correct. The Church has perpetrated great abuses against the LGBT community that they need to be held accountable for. We need truth and reconciliation and the Church needs to come clean. Their bigotry has injured thousands, torn families and cost lives. Michael Otterman talks about the potential “violence” against marriage – well, they need to acknowledge the violence they have perpetrated against the gay community.

But, let’s put aside our angry eye for a second and see the possibilities that their endorsement provides future activism in Utah.

We are now in a position to approach the Utah Legislature and advocate for statewide protections WITH the endorsement of the state’s most powerful political juggernaut. I can’t overstate how significant this is. Other municipalities will feel emboldened and will step forward to create similar protections. New doors are opening that we all had thought were forever closed. We have new opportunities to engage in progressive politics. Amy Ray called it, “I feel a crack in the skin of the majority”.

And maybe real change is possible. Maybe Mormons are starting to awaken to their own queerness.

We in the LGBT Community recognize and remember the historical persecution experienced by members of the Mormon faith. We know the stories of fear and intolerance that drove members of the Church west. Prophets were mobbed and murdered, homes and property were burned and stolen, lives were uprooted and lost. Many members of the LGBT Community are intimate with these stories because so many of us were also born into the Mormon faith.

The Church’s history is our history.

The LGBT and Mormon communities have so much in common. We understand bigotry and resentment that comes from being a queer and peculiar people. We too have experienced the violence of intolerance. We both share a deep understanding of the pain that comes from being socially and politically ostracized.

There are still many hurt feelings that have ensued since the passage of Proposition 8. Rhetoric on both sides has escalated to the point where we have often lost sight of our shared humanity.

When we look around the world we see that the human family faces tremendous challenges. Poverty, war, climate change, racial and class divisions impact all of our lives. Imagine the positive work that we could do in our community if we worked together. I can now see a day when The Latter-day Saints work in friendship with the LGBT community to address the greatest challenges facing our state, our nation and our world.

We recognize that we have many differences and disagreements. We understand that in many areas we may never see eye to eye. But if you will permit me to go all Obama on your ass, our similarities are greater than our differences, our hopes are greater than our fears and that forgiveness and friendship can replace the anger and distrust that has thus far divided us.

I’m optimistic. Last night was a fantastic first step. So now let’s keep the pressure on. Let’s continue to march, write letters, write plays, make documentaries, lobby the Legislature, support Equality Utah and the Pride Center – continue to be angry, impatient, and intolerant of the status quo. Let’s keep working on the Federal level to ensure full civil equality exists for LGBT Americans in all 50 states.

I’m ready to roll!

TV » “Colbert Report” films sketch on Temple Square.
By Vince Horiuchi

The Salt Lake Tribune
Utah’s Temple Square kissing incident sparked news headlines around the world. Now, comedy writers are taking over, as the event inspired a comedy sketch aired Tuesday night on TV’s “Colbert Report.”

The July 9 arrest of Derek Jones and Matt Aune, who were detained by security guards after kissing on the Mormon Temple grounds, inspired the episode. The incident sparked national attention and led to “kiss-in” protests around the country.

In September, Utah gay actor Charles Lynn Frost and his partner — dressed as members of the Village People — were filmed passionately making out on the same grounds for a comedy sketch filmed for the Comedy Central show, which aired during Tuesday night’s episode.

“We ran to our car before we could get arrested,” Frost said about that day of shooting, which occurred in broad daylight in the middle of a work week. “But there was no sign of church security anywhere.”

Jones and Aune are interviewed in the sketch, as is BYU property law professor John Fee who explains why the church was within its legal rights when its security guards tussled with the pair. The professor emphasizes that Jones and Aune were trespassing on private property. Frost, dressed as a construction worker from the 1970s disco group, and his partner, dressed as the group’s cowboy, then walk onto the plaza and kiss, portraying what the sketch characterizes as the “Mormonization” of what happened on July 9.

“What’s funny is, here I am dressed as a construction worker and there was a whole group of real construction workers behind me,” said Frost, who was hired by Comedy Central for the sketch. “I’m sure people were looking out their windows watching. We saw temple workers, we saw construction workers all over.”

Sources involved with the filming said producers of the “Colbert” segment got permission from LDS officials to shoot on the temple grounds, but filmmakers didn’t say they were shooting a parody of the incident.

Church officials declined to comment Tuesday, or to confirm they approved the filming.

Later in the Comedy Central segment, Jones and Aune were interviewed in their apartment and asked how they would feel if Mormons burst into their apartment and kissed.

Just then, two more male actors dressed as Mormon missionaries burst into the living room and begin making out on the couch. “We just start going at it — mad, passionate kissing,” said Troy Williams, a KRCL radio producer who played one of the missionaries. “It should be very funny.”

Frost and Williams created the locally popular radio and stage character of Sister Dottie S. Dixon, a Mormon housewife with a gay son.

Not even H1N1 can keep a strong woman down, says Fran Pruyn, director of “The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixon — Second Helpings.” She’s referring to lead actor Charles Lynn Frost, who helped create the iconic character and was performing a successful reprisal last month, only to have been taken ill with pneumonia and complications from an infection with the H1N1 virus.