KTVA talks with ICOAA, Anchorage’s “rural” Pride events, a White House website on LGBT issues, a DADT discharge, antigay pastor Lou Engle visits Wasilla, and more in this edition of Bent News.

Alaska

Gay Soldiers, Family and Friends Celebrate Memorial Day (KTVA Channel 11 News, 5/31/11). KTVA visited ICOAA’s Memorial Day picnic last Monday at Kincaid Park and talked about DADT. Here’s the video:

Pride

Why you should attend a rural gay pride event this year (LGBTQNation, 5/29/11). Anchorage isn’t exactly “rural,” but they tell people to come to our Pride events, so we’ll forgive the error.

Gay Pride Flag Whips Up Controversy in Virginia (Unicorn Booty, 6/3/11). Conservative politicians, preachers and “pro-family” advocates are in heat over a gay pride flag at the Federal Reserve Bank building in Richmond, Virginia. Oh, the horror!

Harvey Milk’s nephew to kick-off Pride Rally (Post Gazette, 6/1). Stuart Milk, Harvey’s nephew, will kick off Pittsburgh Pride this year. Happy Pride to Brian & Michael & Justin & all the other Queer As Folk! More at Pink News.

Winning the Future: President Obama and the LGBT Community. A new microsite from the White House: “In honor of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) History Month, The White House launched our first ever LGBT specific constituency webpage…. This webpage is designed to keep you updated on how the President and the Administration are Winning the Future for LGBT Americans.”

But in that case, Mr. President….

DADT

Gay servicemembers still being discharged under DADT. There was one on April 29, 2011. (Gay America Blog, 6/2/11). Okay, first a presidential declaration of LGBT Pride Month… then a White House website about Obama’s efforts for LGBT Americans… and now we learn a gay airman was discharged under DADT in April, with certification of DADT repeal still months away? Mr. President: explain please.

Update 6/4/11: Bent reader TX SMR has made us aware of two stories which provide pertinent details on this case from Igor Volsky at Think Progress (6/2/11) and from Stars and Stripes (6/3/11). According to the Stars and Stripes story, the airman in question outed himself and — before his commander initiated any procedures — wrote to the secretary of the Air Force asked to be expeditiously separated from the military. See comments below the post for TX SMR’s opinion and Bent contributor Mel Green’s  opinion in response.

Right wing hate watch

Kingdom Come Alaska (June 3-4 in Wasilla) Ugh. Antigay pastor Lou Engle endorsed Uganda’s “stand for righteousness” with regard to its proposed “kill the gays” bill at a rally in Kampala in May 2010. This weekend he’s in Wasilla for an antichoice rally at the Curtis D Menard Sports Center, and his son Jesse Engle will speak at Wasilla Assembly of God’s Sunday service on June 5. We did not put these events on Bent’s events calendar! More on Lou Engle and his prevarications (that is, lies) about what he said in Kampala from Box Turtle Bulletin (6/23/11), Soul Force (2/11/11), and Right Wing Watch (4/13/11).

Ugandan Lesbian Branded By Hot Iron Has To Come Back In Uganda (Lezbelib, 6/3/11). Betty Tibikawa, 22 years old, looked for asylum in the United Kingdom, but instead they’re deporting her back to Uganda, where she’s already been “punished” for her sexuality by being branded with a hot iron. She was also outed by the Ugandan magazine Red Pepper — putting her at increased risk for death in the nation that is still dangerously close to enacting a “kill the gays” bill. We’d like to ask Lou Engle, currently in Wasilla: do you also endorse this as representing Uganda’s “stand for righteousness”?

Marriage equality

Civil Unions Commence in Ill. (Advocate.com, 6/2/11) “More than 30 same-sex couples marked the first day of civil unions in Illinois by taking vows in downtown Chicago’s Millennium Park Thursday morning.”

40 United Methodist Clergy Pledge To Marry Gay Couples (WJON AM 1240, 6/2/11). This too place in St. Cloud, Minnesota, site of a recent gay bashing. Yes, good can happen there too — the America we believe in!

Arts

The Stunning Sheetal Sheth (The Hump Day Crew with Ginni & Bish, 6/1/11). A couple of Aussies with a recent audio interview with Sheetal Sheth, whose film “Three Veils” will be screened at Out North on June 11.

What more of the world needs to look like

Commentary: Together for 55 years, they could be your grandfathers or mine (masslive.com, 6/3/11). Our mission? Bring the Northampton attitude to the rest of the country.