Submitted by E. Ross on Wednesday, 24 December 2008 – 8:53 PMNo Comment
What does a lesbian Jewish Russian-emigre songwriter do when she comes out to her mother? She writes a song about it.
Irina Rivkin, a singer/songwriter from California, and her sister Dr. Inna Rivkin, of Fairbanks, performed Irina’s coming out song “Ya Eyo Lublu” at her Nov. 8 concert in UAF’s Schaible Auditorium.
The concert was sponsored by the UAF Women’s Center and the Office of Multicultural Affairs & Diversity.
A week later, Irina sang her bilingual love song for the anti-Prop 8 rally outside Fairbanks City Hall on Nov. 15, part of the nation-wide protest after California’s Prop 8 narrowly passed and same-sex marriage was rescinded.
“In a time of hope for change to come,” wrote Irina two days after the election, “I’m taking a plane from CA to Fairbanks tonight” to perform and join the protest.
Irina returns to Alaska every summer, to visit her family and perform her music. She plans to visit again in 2009.
The very real consequences of DADT repeal; seeking survivor benefits for same-sex partner of Alaska shooting victim; waiting on SCOTUS decision about whether it will hear Prop 8 case; and other recent LGBTQ news selected by Sara Boesser in Juneau, Alaska.
In this month’s “Ask Lambda Legal” column, Lambda Legal answers a question about the federal government’s longstanding ban against donations of blood from men who have sex with men (MSM).
Alaska Pride Conference 2012 kicks off on October 5 with a First Friday showing at Tref.Punkt Studio of Love is Love, a photographic exhibit of LGBT couples from across the state.
United for marriage: Light the way to justice. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this Tuesday and Wednesday, March 26–27, in two cases about freedom to marry. Please join us on Tuesday, March 26, at the federal courthouse in Anchorage (7th & C) in a circle united for equality.
Pariah, a critically acclaimed film about a 17-year-old African-American woman embracing her lesbian identity, will screen at UAA on Friday, November 2, and will be followed by a discussion on acceptance in honor of Mya Dale. The event is free and open to the public.