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?

Three Is Enough: Polygamist Families Want Right to Marry(s)

CitizenSugar — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:30:01 -0700

The third season of Big Love ended with a bang (or a gasp?) Sunday, so we'll have to follow real-life polygamists until next season. Good thing there's some who want to be seen and heard, saying things like Jesus had many wives. Maybe he did?

Anne Wilde, a polygamist widow, is leading the Principle Voices campaign to legalize, or at least decriminalize, plural marriage in Utah. She showed BBC her basement/publishing house filled with books she and her husband published, including their bestseller, Jesus Was Married, which shows Jesus was married and married and married.

She led dozens of polygamists to the square outside the Utah State Legislature building to lobby for plural marriage. While it's felony in Utah, and every other state, there are too many people (nearly 40,000 just in Utah) to prosecute it. In fact, Anne and self-identified polygamists talked congenially to Utah's attorney general that day. His stance? As long there are no child marriages or pedophilia accusations, he'll let them be.

One openly polygamist family, which couldn't be more like Big Love's Hendricksons and less like the stereotypical prairie-garbed families, let BBC into their home. To find out what their lives are like, read more.

Kody Brown, husband of three and father of 12, lives in a house divided into three apartments. While his teenage daughters have mixed feelings about entering plural marriage, he says his own is working out well. "Usually whoever knows what they want," he said, "can get it." Imagine that's so when there's three wives who give!

Check out a video of the family, sans the second and third wives, at home on BBC.

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Bad Times Keep Us Put: Migration to South and West Slows

CitizenSugar — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:00:23 -0800

The intuitive trend in America to move to where the land is open and the climate warm has hit a road bump. Thanks to the housing crisis, which makes the idea of taking on a new mortgage scary and risky, people are staying put.

The population slowdown specifically hit the western and southern states, which had seen huge growth and migration over the last decade. While this trend could mean less traffic and more space for those already living there, it could also lead to less political influence. Based on current projections, California might lose a seat in Congress for the first time ever following the 2010 Census.

Still, a population slow down in the South and West doesn't mean other regions are growing faster. In 2008, Utah was the fastest growing state, followed by Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina. And Michigan and Rhode Island actually lost population.

Have tough times made you shelve any plans for moving?

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Polygamous Community Releases Voter's Guide

LibertySugar — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:43:02 -0800

Hoping to move away from the fringe and regain political influence, Utah's polygamous community has released a voter's guide to help members decide how to vote tomorrow.

A coalition of polygamist groups - Communities in Harmony - asked federal, state, and local candidates about their positions on a wide range of topics that impact the once powerful demographic. Of the 150 candidates questioned, 60 responded and were rated on a scale of one to 10. Neither Obama nor McCain responded, but Libertarian candidate Bob Barr received a total score of 7.5.

Politicians who submitted their answers (to questions such as "Should polygamous people have the same right as other Utah citizens to hold public offices?" or "Should the government spend public safety funds disproportionately to target one group of people?") may see a modest bump in the polls. Out of 2.7 million people living in Utah, 37,000 are polygamists. If you were a politician, how would you answer the group's questions?

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States, Provinces to Cap and Trade Sans Federal Governments

LibertySugar — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:00:00 -0700

Seven western US states and four Canadian provinces have agreed to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 15 percent before 2020. Proud of the Western Climate Initiative, Republican California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asserted:

We’re sending a strong message to our federal governments that states and provinces are moving forward in the absence of federal action, and we’re setting the stage for national programs that are just as aggressive.

So how will Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec curb climate change? To find out, read more.

The states and provinces will set a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas beginning in 2012. The cap will get smaller every year. All sectors of the economies, from transportation to housing to electricity, will be expected to cut and pay for emissions. Industries, however, will receive allowances for their emissions. One allowance will cover every metric ton of emitted heat-trapping gas, and allowances can be traded on a secondary market.

Are you happy to see the states coming up with climate change alliances, or would it be better if there was a united national plan?

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UT Judge Rules Tribe a "Sham." Are Tribal Exceptions Good?

CitizenSugar — Tue, 06 May 2008 08:01:39 -0700

A federal judge in Utah just ordered a $63,000 civil judgment against four people claiming to be chiefs of an American Indian tribe in eastern Utah. The men conducted tribal meetings at a fast-food restaurant and claim hundreds of tribal members. They won't recognize federal or state laws, issue their own drivers' licenses and have filed numerous lawsuits against Utah authorities for ignoring their purported sovereignty.

The group/tribe calls itself the Wampanoag Nation, using the name of Mashpee Wampanoag Nation, a Massachusetts tribe who greeted the Pilgrims in 1620. Yesterday the judge ordered the men to stop pretending to be American Indians and pay Uintah County damages. He called their tribe a "complete sham." Officials with the federally recognized tribe declared that the Utah men were obvious impostors.

Given some of the benefits extended to Federally recognized tribes, it's understandable the men might want to claim ancestry. Are tribal exceptions like gaming, good for everyone? To see a little bit about it, read more.

Benefits extended to members of tribes recognized by the US include: communication on a "government-to-government" basis with leaders of the tribes, medical and dental care, grants and programs for education, housing programs, aid in developing tribal governments and courts, resource management, and other services depending on need and interest.

One of the most visible tribal exceptions could be as close as your nearest casino: Indian Gaming.

Those in favor of Indian Gaming consider the thriving construction of casinos as a means of realizing the goal of full Tribal sovereignty, while opponents warn tribal leaders about the cultural costs of these operations. The two sides wonder whether or not casinos and culture can, in fact, co-exist peacefully - and still more wonder whether encouraging the growth of the gambling industry is good for the country or fair at the bottom line.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), passed by Congress in 1988, provides a source of income for tribes. Though Tribes have the power to tax their members, with unemployment high and taxable income low, tribes turned to gaming as a source of revenue. The IGRA was a Congressional attempt to strike a balance between the rights of tribes to engage in activities mostly free from state jurisdiction as well as the interests of states in regulating gaming activities within their boundaries.

In 2006 revenue from gaming was about $25.5 billion. Gambling on tribal lands employs about 327,000 people, and according to recent reports, led to about $80.7 billion added the U.S. economy and $11.7 billion generated in taxes. 228 tribes use gambling revenues to fund tribal governments and support social services, about 34 percent of tribes distribute direct payments to tribal members. Considered sovereign governments, tribes do not pay corporate income taxes on tribal revenue or property tax on reservation land. Those who live and work on reservations do not pay state income or property taxes, purchases made on Indian lands are tax-free.

Is this plan best for all involved? Does gaming provide a tempting pay-out that keeps tribal leaders wealthy and keeps tribal members dependent? What does a reliance on gaming do to tribal culture? To the surrounding culture? Are we gambling a rich cultural history on a pull of the slots? And what about that tax situation. . .?

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Do You Identify as Bisexual?

TresSugar — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:30:00 -0700

Woody Allen once joked that being bisexual doubled your chances of getting a date on Saturday night.

Part of the problem bisexuals have is that lots of people (even in the queer community) don't take bisexuality all that seriously. It's a phase, some say; just choose already, command others. What does it mean to choose a sexual identity that is fluid and nonfixed, something that contradicts the idea of identity itself?

According to researcher Lisa Diamond, an associate professor of psychology and gender studies at the University of Utah who followed
79 nonheterosexual women for a decade, a woman's desire for both sexes endures throughout the years. "These findings are therefore more consistent with the model of bisexuality as a stable identity," she argues, "than a transitional stage." (Granted, Diamond had a small pool of research subjects, and they were disproportionately white and middle class.)

There's no question that we're living in a time when young women feel less of a stigma in desiring women or having sex with them, but for some it is just a phase of faux-mosexuality. Do you identify as bisexual? (Notice you don't get a "not sure" option!)

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Briefing Book! SF Mayor Newsom Twitters Pregnancy News

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

Who Will Be the Next President? Watch the Results With Us!

CitizenSugar — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:21:46 -0800

Election Night is finally here! We've followed the 2008 Presidential campaign trail from primaries, conventions, debates to every hilarious and unexpected moment in between. East Coast polls have started to close, and we'll be here updating you on the electoral votes as they come in using predictions from pollster and major networks. Join us as we wait for the next American president!

Senator Barack Obama

338

Senator John McCain

156

You can check out all the major headlines of the night right here, and I'll be filling in the results for each state as they come in. To see results, read more.

State	Electoral Votes	State	Electoral Votes
Alabama	9	Montana	3
Alaska	3	Nebraska	5
Arizona	10	Nevada	5
Arkansas	6	New Hampshire	4
California	55	New Jersey	15
Colorado	9	New Mexico	5
Connecticut	7	New York	31
Delaware	3	North Carolina	15
D.C.	3	North Dakota	3
Florida	27	Ohio	20
Georgia	15	Oklahoma	7
Hawaii	4	Oregon	7
Idaho	4	Pennsylvania	21
Illinois	21	Rhode Island	4
Indiana	11	South Carolina	8
Iowa	7	South Dakota	3
Kansas	6	Tennessee	11
Kentucky	8	Texas	34
Louisiana	9	Utah	5
Maine	4	Vermont	3
Maryland	10	Virginia	13
Massachusetts	12	Washington	11
Michigan	17	West Virginia	5
Minnesota	10	Wisconsin	10
Mississippi	6	Wyoming	3
Missouri	11

Headline of the Day

GiggleSugar — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:00:00 -0700

High School Nude-ical - Hardcore Screw-Up

Parents and their kids in a South Jordan, UT, theater got an eye-full when an R-rated movie called Sex Drive came on instead of High School Musical 3. It appears that managers at the theater made a last-minute decision to move HSM3 to a bigger theater but forgot to switch the movies. Ruh roh. (I guess that's one way to bypass the hard and fast rule - no pun intended - of boycotting sex-themed flicks in Utah.) Click here to read more.

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