TresSugar

Utah Paper Won't Print Same-Sex Wedding Announcement

TresSugar — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Tyler Barrick and Spencer Jones were legally married in San Francisco on June 17, 2008. The couple is headed to Jones's hometown in southern Utah next week for a family party, so they thought it would be fitting to print a wedding announcement in hometown paper The Spectrum. Unfortunately, the paper didn't think the news of their marriage was fit to print.

Initially the paper agreed, but asked that the announcement be printed without a photo, since showing a husband and husband might make readers uncomfortable. The couple asked the publisher to reconsider their photo, but ultimately, the newspaper rejected the request altogether, saying that it only publishes announcements for marriages legal under Utah law.

Jones, who was raised Mormon, has commented on the personal importance of the announcement:

"I've thought a lot about the gay and lesbian kids who are surely all over the place in southern Utah. . . . When I was a kid . . . I would have loved to have seen a picture of two guys having their life together celebrated in the paper."

Attempting to print a marriage announcement in anti-gay-marriage territory seems like a creative way to call attention to the cause. Do you think it was a good idea?

Oh Snap! I'm Looking For a More Exotic Career

TresSugar — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:00:00 -0700

A job-seeker stops by the Centerfolds booth during an adult entertainment industry job fair yesterday in San Francisco. Hundreds of people showed up to find out about strip clubs jobs ranging from bartender and cashiers to exotic dancers and waitresses.

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Celebrating Gay Pride: TrèsSugar Roundup

TresSugar — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:00:00 -0700

June is LGBT Pride Month. Here in San Francisco, we're at the epicenter of it all right now as it's SF Pride weekend. In honor of the events and parades held around the world this month in order to "educate the world, commemorate our heritage, celebrate our culture, and liberate our people," here are my favorite stories we've covered with similar intentions here on TrèsSugar.

We're proud that our site has featured these important topics from the beginning of our short history and we look forward to keeping the discussion going.

Internet Keeps Homeless Population Connected

TresSugar — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:00:00 -0700

"You don't need a TV. You don't need a radio. You don't even need a newspaper. But you need the Internet."

A 37-year-old homeless man in San Francisco says he stays connected through Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and the forum he runs on Yahoo. Shelter attendants report that more and more overnight visitors are showing up with laptops and New York City is putting computers in shelters it operates. Perhaps keeping homeless people wired to the Internet will help them escape from the margins of society.

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Oh Snap! Barack Obama Outsources His Presidential Visits

TresSugar — Fri, 22 May 2009 09:00:17 -0700

A wax figure of President Obama took a vintage streetcar to the Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco yesterday. Right before that, the wax president crossed the San Francisco Bay in style on his way to the wax museum aboard the USS Potomac, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidential yacht.

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Picture It: Death of a Postman

CitizenSugar — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:30:39 -0700

Mailboxes wait in limbo, or outside a San Francisco mail sort center, until their fate is determined. The US Postal Service showed up on the floor of Congress Wednesday, mailbags open for bailout change. Cutting service and charging for secure(r) email seem increasingly likely since May's ¢2 stamp hike (from ¢42 to ¢44) won't be enough to stop USPS from going bankrupt by the year's end.

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Picture It: Saint Obama Sells For $12.95 in San Francisco

CitizenSugar — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:00:41 -0800

A Catholic priest calls for the hot-selling candle to be removed from a novelty shop called Just For Fun. It features the president's halo-rimmed head on the body of Saint Martin de Porres, the Peruvian-born friar who is considered the first black saint in the Americas.

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Fear Factor: Arrested Johns Scared Away From Sex in Class

CitizenSugar — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 08:00:22 -0800

John school is a newish solution to an age-old problem: Prostitution and the men who buy it.

What does it take to get in? Solicit a prostitute on the streets of Los Angeles and get caught once (v. important, for two-timers go to jail). Once there men are yelled at for eight hours and shown, vividly, what can go wrong in the money-for-sex exchange. They see photos of men beaten up by pimps and closeups of bodies inflamed with STDs. And that's just the morning! In the afternoon, they listen to recovering sex addicts and former prostitutes tell their stories, getting a glimpse of the abuse that circulates through prostitution rings. Tuition is $600.

What's in it for graduates? A second chance in exchange for a promise (sealed with a jail threat) to change their ways. Misdemeanor solicitation charges loom overhead for one year, but are dropped for those who make it through with no arrests.

The no-nonsense, exhaustive class is meant to be impersonal, terrifying, and not at all therapeutic. And that's exactly why so many sociologists are surprised it works. Yet if a similar program in San Francisco, which cut recidivist rates by 30 percent, is any indication, it does. To find out why, read more.

Most johns are dabblers not deviants."These guys fall into one of three basic categories," a researcher who studied the San Francisco program said. "Sad sacks who are looking for a girlfriend-like experience; those who don't want to deal with the emotional component of a relationship and just want the sex; and thrill seekers. Only a very small number are actual sociopaths."

Well! There you go. Most aren't crazy. But that doesn't address (not that the justice systems cares) the underlying loneliness that sends lost men looking in the first place.

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Briefing Book! SF Mayor Newsom Twitters Pregnancy News

LibertySugar — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:30:04 -0800

Congressman Suggests Home For Gitmo Prisoners: Alcatraz

CitizenSugar — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 03:00:30 -0800

Figuring out where to place prisoners now being held at Guantanamo Bay could be a legal nightmare when Gitmo closes; but the political obstacles could be even more tricky. Thanks to the high profile nature of the prisoners, as well as their characterizations (exaggerated or not) as the most dangerous people in the world, it will be hard to convince cities or towns to keep the prisoners within their limits.

One Republican, Florida Congressman Bill Young, came up with a creative location - Alcatraz! Unfortunately, the island in the San Francisco Bay, which was once an infamous US prison, is now a money-making tourist destination.

When it comes to actual functioning maximum security prisons on US soil, Democratic Pennsylvania Representative John Murtha pointed out last week that “there are thousands of dangerous prisoners being held securely behind bars in supermax prisons across the United States." In fact, Murtha said he would be willing to accept the suspected terrorists in his district. The invitation has some local officials excited about the job and revenue potential, since a maximum security prison would have to be built first.

Would you protest if Guantanamo Bay prisoners came to a prison near you?

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