Primary & secondary menu absent for anonymous when they are the only item in sidebar

All regions are wrapped in conditional statements, like this:

      <?php if ($left): // this is the conditional wrapper ?>
        <div id="sidebar-left" class="section sidebar region"><div class="sidebar-inner">
          <?php print $left; ?>
        </div></div> <!-- /sidebar-left -->
      <?php endif; ?>

This is so a region will ONLY appear if a BLOCK is active in that region. This is how all good themes are built, so regions collapse (don't appear) when they are not being used.

Theres two solutions here for you:

1. Use the Primary and Secondary links BLOCKS, rather than moving the code around in page.tpl.php (Recommended and easiest solution, this is the default way things should be done).

2. Remove the conditional wrapper from the left sidebar - however, the layout will break because the layout relies on BODY CLASSES being added which are only added when there are BLOCKS active in this or that region.

Sounds like a good docs page, I see where your confusion is coming from - just another small wtf moment from Drupal :)

Using: drupal 6.20; Genesis 6.x-2.4; the only non-core module enabled: admin-menu

I see this issue is closed, however, I am experiencing something quite similar.

I have primary links and secondary links. The secondary links use primary links as their source, and the node tree is properly populated. Since the base theme's nav id shows either if populated, I see the secondary links as per the theme's default.

Here's the rub. If I dont want the secondary menus in the nav id but in the sidebar left element, I must first remove that from the page.tpl.php (no big deal) BUT, if I then, using the Secondary Links block, move/assign it to the sidebar left region via the Blocks screen, nothing shows. I can force it to show by adding a different block element, which enables the conditional php check, I suppose.

It seems that adding the secondary links block, alone, fails to trigger the required logical condition? (Contra your suggestions, item #1)

My fix for now is the following modification to page.tpl.php:

<?php if ($left or $secondary_menu): ?>
	<div id="sidebar-left" class="section sidebar region">
	  <?php if ($left): print $left; endif; ?>
	  <?php if ($secondary_menu): ?>
	    <div id="sidebar-left-nav" class="clear-block">
	      <?php if ($secondary_menu): print $secondary_menu; endif; ?>
	    </div> <!-- /sidebar left nav -->
	  <?php endif; ?>
	</div> <!-- /sidebar-left -->
<?php endif; ?>

But I'd really rather use the process you've outlined, however.

I love the genesis theme; thanks for your excellent contribution!

Update: I rejiggered the primary and secondary menu configuration. Whereas, when I created this post, secondary menus were the second tier. Now, I've made them independent, i.e., their own source and the block works. I'm guessing that sourcing primary menu on secondary causes the issue?

"I'm guessing that sourcing primary menu on secondary causes the issue"

Yes I assume so, fyi I always use the Menu Block module these days and never use Drupals automagical primary/secondary linking feature, mainly because I only want to deal with blocks and not these hard coded variables in the templates.