title: Convert date string (EST) to Java Date (UTC)
body: <p>I need some advice on this java method.  The intent of this method is to take a string that represents a date - this string was created from a date in the EST time zone - and convert it to a java Date object in the UTC time zone.</p>
  
  <pre><code>private Date buildValidationDate(String dateString) throws ParseException {
      System.out.println("dateString " + dateString);
  
      SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MM/dd/yyy hh:mm a");
      dateFormat.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"));  
      dateFormat.setLenient(true);
      Date dt = dateFormat.parse(dateString);
  
      System.out.println("dt " + dt);
  
      return dt;
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>the problem I'm seeing is the value of dt seems to be off.  For instance, if dateString is '10/16/2012 12:06 PM' - I'm expecting the value of dt (in UTC) to be something like 'Tuesday, October 16, 2012 4:06 PM'.  Instead the value of dt is 'Tue Oct 16 07:06:00 CDT 2012'.  This does not seem to be the correct UTC time.</p>
  
  <p>I appreciate any advice, I'm sorry if this seems to be an easy question I have a lot of trouble with Java dates.  I'm not sure if I'm coding something incorrectly or if there is something wrong with my methodology.  Thanks</p>