Bent Alaska | Author Archives

– a guest post from the organizers of this Sunday’s Candlelight Vigil in memory of Jason Mattison Jr. and Jorge Steven Mercado, 3-4 p.m. on the Anchorage Park Strip.

* * *

Many in our community struggle to survive. We struggle to be ourselves, out of the closet, and love life for all its goodness. In many places, even after the Hate Crimes Act recently passed, people are hurt, threatened, harassed and even killed for who they are.

We believe it is not our human nature to spread hate but instead to create a world of love. This is what the LGBT community of Alaska teaches: love, respect and the willingness to be free. Others may not have this choice and yet are still part of our community at large.

Please let us take a moment to remember two so very young gentlemen whose lives were taken from them by recent hate crimes:

JASON MATTIS JR, only fifteen years old, was forced into inappropriate sexual relations with a convicted murderer. He was very popular amongst his peers in high school.

JORGE STEVEN LÓPEZ MERCADO, only nineteen, and was beaten, dismembered and decapitated. The police investigator (who has been reprimanded) said he deserved it because he was gay.

The cruelty exists and we should remember these two who died. Let us ALL in every community show our love and respect for one another in a vigil to honor all hate crime victims. This will be an hour of peace to remember the people who have died just being themselves and for our rights.

Join us for a Candlelight Vigil for Hate Crime Victims. November 22, 2009 3-4pm @ the Park Strip, 9th and L Street in front of the American Flag. Please bring a candle and some love.

Free copies of "Silent Lives" for GLBT-welcoming ministries

Tuesday, 17 November 2009 – 8:21 AM | One Comment

PFLAG Juneau has received another grant to give away several hundred more copies of the book by local author Sara Boesser, Silent Lives: How High a Price?

Silent Lives combines autobiographical stories, personal interviews and questions for reflection to explore issues about everyone’s sexual orientation and gender status, whether heterosexual, or gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or intersexual.

Boesser examines the consequences a sexual minority person suffers when attempting to pass as heterosexual or as having a traditional gender expression. She also looks at how society as a whole is affected when an individual is pressured to hide his or her sexual identity.

This year, the gift copies are available for furthering the work of “Welcoming Ministries” around the country: for faith and religious people, groups and denominations that are working to become more accepting of GLBT people, for your own work to make your faith community more accepting of GLBT people, or to give to someone you know who is involved in that effort, maybe a copy for a church or synagogue library, a counselor’s office, a religious parent, or a faith leader, rabbi, minister, preacher, pastor, or priest.

The book isn’t religious per se, but Boesser is a minister’s daughter and she reflects on that in the book. Excerpts of Silent Lives are posted on the Silent Lives web site.

“This book is the result of my personal struggle for integrity,” Sara wrote in the introduction to Silent Lives. “I realized I could no longer be silent and let society condemn a core part of me while praising the outer manifestations I selectively permitted it to see. And with that realization came another: while society was blind, my very silence was what blocked its vision.”

“From that instant of realization, my only hope for personal peace was to seek clues that could free me from my silence and to speak out about what I discovered in the process. This book is the result of the first fourteen years of that search.”

Kathy Reim of the Skagit PFLAG chapter wrote a column based on Silent Lives:

“Where is the silence in my life or yours? What do we lose when, as Sara Boesser challenges us, we “pass”- we pretend for whatever reason to be something else to make it comfortable for others and easier for ourselves – and lose our authenticity in the process?”

“… Boesser suggests we all lose when silence separates us. We end up hiding from ourselves. When the safety net is widened for all of us, the lives of everyone will be enriched.”

If you’d like a free copy or two, write to Sara Boesser with your name and mailing address, and say how many copies you’d like. And feel free to forward this message to others who might be interested.

You can read more about the welcoming Christian movement at Welcoming Community Network, and the welcoming multi-faith movement at Welcoming Resources.

Sara’s News round-up 11/16/09

Monday, 16 November 2009 – 1:14 PM | Comments Off

LGBT news links from Sara Boesser in Juneau.

1) Hong Kong Wedding for Trans Woman?

Hong Kong, China, Advocate, November 16, 2009

2) Dolly Parton: I’m for Gay Marriage

Advocate, November 16, 2009

3) Columnist: Church Threat “Uncharitable and Cruel”

Washington, Advocate, November 13, 2009

4) Ian McKellen takes act to film, TV — and gay rights

New York, Reuters, November 11, 2009

5) Mormons back gay rights in Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City, Utah, Washington Times, November 112, 2009

6) Africa: Inclusive Sex Education Needed in Schools

Africa, AllAfrica.com, November 11, 2009

7) Gay Jesus takes the stage

Orange County, Calif., whec.com, November 12, 2009

8) Conservatives Use Marriage Litmus Test

New York, Advocate, November 16, 2009

9) Folky Pop Musical Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding Opens in Toronto

Toronto, Canada, Playbill.com, November 15, 2009

10) Portia and Ellen on the Meaning of “Wife”

Planet Out, November 11, 2009

Sara’s News round-up 11/8/09

Sunday, 8 November 2009 – 2:12 PM | Comments Off

LGBT news links from Sara Boesser in Juneau.

1) Maine voters reject marriage law ~ Amid disappointment, questions linger over national strategy

Maine, Washington Blade, November 3, 2009

2) Voters expand same-sex rights

Seattle, Seattle Times, November 6, 2009

3) Obama signs HIV/AIDS bill extension; implements lifting of AIDS travel ban

Washington, 365Gay.com, October 30, 2009

4) Sex-Reassignment Surgery Ban Pushed

Washington, Advocate, November 6, 2009

5) Schools emerge as new tactic in gay marriage votes

San Francisco, 365Gay.com, November 6, 2009

6) N.J. legislators may face same-sex marriage push

Mount Laurel, N.J., November 5, 2009

7) Lesbian Named Part Owner of Cubs

Advocate, November 2, 2009

8) Transsexual Jesus sparks protests

Glasgow, BBC News, November 4, 2009

9) One in five priests refuse to wed same-sex couples

Sweden, The Local, November 7, 2009

10) Can a boy wear a dress to school?

Omaha World-Herald, November 8, 2009

11) Police LGBT liaison wears uniform during Atlanta Pride parade ~ Harris reverses decision made earlier in the week

Atlanta, Southern Voice, November 06, 2009

Sara’s News Round-Up 11/1/09

Sunday, 1 November 2009 – 3:28 PM | Comments Off

National LGBT news links from Sara Boesser of Juneau, Alaska.

1) Sweden’s Lutheran church to celebrate gay weddings

Stockholm, Sweden, AFP, October 23, 2009

2) Focus of Gay-Marriage Fight Is Maine

Maine, New York Times, October 27, 2009

3) Katherine Ragsdale installed as Episcopal Divinity School’s president and dean

Cambridge, Mass., Episcopal Life, October 28, 2009

4) Prominent United Methodist Minister Elected to National Board of Directors of PFLAG

Washington, DC, PFLAG, October 26, 2009

5) Stoning law to be reviewed

Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Straits Times, October 27, 2009

6) Newsom’s Out: Quits Calif. Governor Race

San Francisco, Advocate, October 30, 2009

7) Army dream of transgender man

Middlesbrough, Ireland, Belfast Telegraph, October 30, 2009

8) AP NewsBreak: IOC to hold meeting on gender cases

London, Associated Press, October 27, 2009

9) Call for equal rights for all forms of family

Malta, Times of Malta, October 30, 2009

10) Paterson calls lawmakers back for marriage bill ~ New York Governor wants ‘extraordinary session’

Albany, New York, Southern Voice, October 30, 2009

Sara’s News Round-Up 10/25/09

Sunday, 25 October 2009 – 10:56 PM | Comments Off

National LGBT news from Sara Boesser of Juneau, Alaska.

1) Obama Administration to Ensure Inclusion of the LGBT Community in HUD Programs

Dept. of Washington, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), October 21, 2009

2) Gay & Lesbian Manners: Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are

Huffington Post, October 14, 2009

3) D-Day veteran’s speech on gay marriage is YouTube hit

Maine, Telegraph, UK, October 21, 2009

4) Students pledge to address anti-gay bullying

Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore Sun, October 21, 2009

5) 8-year-old boy has “sex change”

Arizona, Vietnam Net, October 20, 2009

6) O Danny Boy! Gay tourism to Ireland booming

Dublin, Ireland, Irish Central, October 21, 2009

7) Killer renounces Mob, says he is gay

New York, UPI.com, October 20, 2009

8) Karger: Proposition 8 Film Explains Mormon Gay Marriage Involvement

Utah, On Top, October 21, 2009

9) Federal Bill Would Deny Funding to States Banning Gay Adoption

Washington, Memphis Flyer, October 19, 2009

10) Census will count same-sex couples

San Francisco, The Reporter, October 19, 2009

11) Transgender Shoplifting Story Inspires Absurd Corrections

Maryland, Washington City Paper, October 20, 2009

12) American gays looking to Indian surrogate industry to have children

Washington, New Kerala, October12, 2009

13) Bishop Spong issues personal manifesto

Auckland, New Zealand, St. Mathew In-the-City, October 20, 2009

14) Do we really want sports defining gender?

Copenhagen, Salon, October 12, 2009

15) Congress extends hate crime protections to gays

Washington, 365Gay.com, October 23, 2009

16) 2 Maine newspapers: Preserve gay marriage

Augusta, Maine, October 23, 2009

Sara’s News round-up 10/18/09

Sunday, 18 October 2009 – 5:57 PM | Comments Off

This week’s national GLBT news chosen by Sara Boesser of Juneau, plus a photo of Alaskans Together for Equality representing our state with a rainbow big dipper banner at the National Equality March in Washington, DC on October 11, 2009. (Thanks to the folks at SEAGLA for sending the photo.)