by Shannon Sanderson

Out in the Silence was shown two nights ago (Sunday, Nov. 6th) at Out North. It was an excellent turnout of students, families, allies, and friends to address the issue of bullying of our teens that is brought up in the video.

Eric Braman and Kris Katkus did a fantastic job coordinating and organizing this event. They extended thank you‘s to Spectrum (APU), The Family (UAA) and Out North for their help in sponsoring the event. (I believe there may have been others, I’m remiss for not remember each and every one.)  Heather Hamilton, president of The Family, reported on Facebook that the event raised “more money for Out North and the GSAs than I could have hoped for at a ‘donation only’ event — well over $200. Congratulations on a job well done.”

Monica Letner, an amazing local musician offered her talent to start and finish the show. Her beautiful rendition of “Who You Are” by Jessie J was just as eerily touching and poignantly pertinent to the cause in this venue as it was when she sang it at the Community Building Conference!

Penny Arcade was able to join us and share some insightful thoughts on the journey we’re on as “outsiders” in a world of “pack animals”. It was touching and motivating to be reminded that while we are outsiders, we have the power (and responsibility) to continuing striving to be the person we’ve always wanted to be and to do exactly what it is we’ve dreamed of doing with our lives! She was the perfect combination of friendly, caring, open, engaging and instructive opening for such a serious topic film.

The talks after the film were poignant and heartfelt.

One beautiful young lady shared her experience of having never suffered any dramatic negativity from coming out, until the last year when her job has sent her all over the U.S. The silence was palpable when she shared that this was the first time “in a long time” that she’d felt comfortable again, surrounded as she was in a room of like-minded strangers.

Students from Mat-Su who traveled through the heavy snows to attend talked about sitting in Vagabond Blues looking for other GLBTAs, feeling alone and having no support, the frustration of having their GSAs shut down.

Students and parents alike expressed an interest in seeing more support within schools all over Alaska.

Several people noted that they were inspired by parts of Out in the Silence where efforts to simply build friendships between the gay men and the straight antigay leaders in the community succeeded and resulted in finding a supportive middle ground between the two causes. It was also acknowledged that there are some — as one lady in the movie — that are never going to be swayed, and it’s not worth our time to continue battling those people, when the majority of people are willing to listen and learn.

An inspiring suggested was made by one of the younger One Anchorage volunteers that in the room we had people from at least 4-6 different GLBTA groups in the area, many of whom didn’t know each other or about each other. She suggested that we work to create activities like this that bring those groups together every couple  months so that we can be reminded that we are all part of one larger community. I second that idea! What a great plan! I hope we can make that happen!

A group of allies also raised their hands that they want to be supportive, explaining that they simply don’t hear about events in the community and don’t know how to be more involved. Names, numbers, dates and times were exchanged and I think I can say all who attended look forward to seeing each other again in future events!

For those with an interest:

Spectrum at Alaska Pacific University meets Mondays, 7:00 to 8:30 PM at the Atwood Center, APU.

The  Mat-Su College GSA meets on the Mat-Su College campus on Mondays 4:30–6:00 PM and Thursdays at noon.

The Family at UAA meets on Wednesdays from 7:30-9:00 PM in the Lyla Richards Conference Room in the Bookstore building on the main campus. Meetings are open to the public, you do not have to be a UAA student to attend