Reading/Writing GMT timestamps to a database

I wish to read/write to a time stamp in a database. The time in the database must be GMT, but I'm working in a timezone other than GMT.
I have a calendar object which contains my time in GMT. When I convert this to a TimeStamp using getTime().getTime() on the calendar object it adjusts it to my current time zone. This is because all date objects assume the default time zone. I do not wish to change the default time zone. Similar problems then occur when reading the date back.
Does anyone know any way round this?