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7: Dress Rehearsals | When We All Get to Heaven

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News, Business, Society & Culture

41.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Scott and Bruce were the hottest couple in church. Scott, a hula dancer, seemed destined for Bruce, the hunky “lumbersexual,” and the church delighted when they got together. Their brief love affair sparkled before Bruce got sick and died. Their story is one of multiple “dress rehearsals”– when friends, family and lovers went through AIDS with their loved ones wondering who would be next and sometimes knowing it might be you.  You can see Scott perform in a 1992 InterPlay piece called “God, Sex and Power” here. He’s the one with the bandaids on his knees.  Singing Positive is a two-part documentary film about the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (SFGMC) and its experience with AIDS that spans 15 years. The first film, which featured Scott, was produced in 1992 and is hard to find online. The second film, produced in 2009, saw the filmmakers return to SFGMC to explore the impact of AIDS on the chorus over time. The 2009 film, with clips of Scott from the first film, is here. And you can watch some amazing SFGMC performances on their YouTube channel here.  Scott’s San Francisco hula school was Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu. They celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2025. Scott’s teacher and friend, Kumu Patrick Makuakāne is in the 2023 cohort of MacArthur Fellows. His recent work includes Māhū, a work by and with trans hula performers.   On the MCC in Hawai’i, see the Queer Histories of Hawai’i’s story here.  For images and links about this episode visit https://www.heavenpodcast.org/episode-7 .  When We All Get to Heaven is produced by Eureka Street Productions. It is co-created by Lynne Gerber, Siri Colom, and Ariana Nedelman. Our story editor is Sayre Quevedo. Our sound designer is David Herman. Our managing producer is Krissy Clark. Tim Dillinger is our consulting producer and Betsy Towner Levine is our fact-checker. We had additional story editing help from Sarah Ventre, Arwen Nicks, Allison Behringer, and Krissy Clark. For a complete list of credits, please visit https://www.heavenpodcast.org/credits. This project received generous support from individual donors, the Henry Luce Foundation (www.hluce.org), the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, and California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities (www.CalHum.org). Eureka Street Productions has 501c3 status through our fiscal sponsor FJC: A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds. The music for this episode is from the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco’s archive. It was performed by MCC-SF’s musicians and members with Bob Crocker and Jack Hoggatt-St.John as music directors. Additional music is by Domestic BGM.  “Spirit of the Living God” is by Daniel Iverson. “In the Garden,” also known as “I Come to the Garden Alone” is by C. Austin Miles. It’s the favorite hymn of many a Christain mother, aunt, and grandmother. The soloist is Juliette Galuteria, Scott Galuteria and Brickwood Galuteria’s mother  “God Prepare Me to Be a Sanctuary” is by Randy Scruggs and John Thompson.   Special thanks to the friends and experts who helped us think through this episode.  Frank DeLuca William Salit and Stan Stone Dr. Rachel Gross Dr. Christopher Cantwell Great thanks, as always, to the members and clergy of the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco who made this project possible.   Some links to good groups: The Hawai’i Health and Harm Reduction Center – reducing the harm and fighting the stigma of HIV in Hawai’i.  International EMS and Firefighter Pride Alliance – courage over adversity.  Get more Outward with Slate Plus! Join for weekly bonus episodes of Outward and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Outward show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/outwardplus for access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm Christina Cotarucci, and this is Outward. Today, we bring you episode seven of when we all

0:08.1

get to heaven from Eureka Street Productions. At MCC, San Francisco, they had a name for what it meant to love

0:15.8

while living beside death, knowing you might be next. They called it a dress rehearsal. Partners and friends

0:22.9

cared for one another through sickness and death, rehearsing again and again for what they feared

0:28.5

would be their own final act. This episode tells the story of Bruce and Scott, a beloved

0:34.5

couple in the church who lived and died in this sacred web of care.

0:38.9

When we all get to heaven, dress rehearsals after the break.

0:49.0

Hi.

0:51.8

That's Scott Gallateria.

0:54.4

Oh, boy.

0:56.8

He's about to eulogize his lover, Bruce Bunger.

1:01.6

A lot of people were at Bruce's memorial in 1990.

1:05.4

Scott's mother, his best friend, people from Bruce's job,

1:09.9

and many people from the Metropolitan Community

1:13.3

Church of San Francisco, the people who had seen them through their whole relationship,

1:19.2

all two years of it.

1:21.7

Bruce's parents, Imogene and Howard Bunger, were also there.

1:25.4

Well, I'd like to start out with this little story.

1:30.3

When Imogene and Howard showed up on Thursday, they came over to the house, and before we went out to dinner,

1:37.3

well, actually it was after dinner, that Imogene, who is a student aide in our data,

1:45.0

she was out of class for about a week because she was sick,

1:49.0

and then they got the word that Bruce had passed away.

...

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