Articles by E. Ross
E. Ross is the founder of Bent Alaska.
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Heterosexual widows and widowers automatically get the Social Security benefits of their deceased spouse, but the IRS treats same sex married, civil unioned and domestic partnered couples as strangers with no rights to their partner’s benefits.
In 1935, the Social Security Act was created to help ensure the economic safety of America’s elderly.The United States Social Security Administration does not recognize same-sex marriages or domestic partnerships as valid relationships.Consequently, thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender seniors are denied Social Security benefits every year.Ineligible for Social Security surivors benefits, and faced with undue economic burdens, many LGBT seniors are forced to give up their homes after losing their partner.
One gay man tells what happened after the love of his life passed away:
Gay AK: Get ready for late summer and fall events
Gay AK is a semi-regular column with short news items and up-coming events for LGBT Alaska. This week, we have a variety of late summer and fall events in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and the Mat-Su.
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PFLAG Fairbanks has a booth at the Tanana Valley State Fair, which continues through August 14. The theme of the fair is “Barn in the USA.” Beverly designed an adorable PFLAG booth and Jenn did the art work (see photo). Stop by and say hello, or sign up for a shift and go to the fair free that day.
The LGBT Center in the Mat-Su Valley has closed due to a lack of volunteers and donations. However, the Wednesday Social continues at Vagabond Blues in Palmer at 5 p.m.
Juneau Pride Chorus begins rehearsing again on September 7, on Tuesday evenings 5:15 – 6:45 p.m. Potential new members are welcome to attend rehearsals. Email Juneau Pride Chorus for information.
Anchorage events
Come to a Meet & Greet at Bernie’s Bungalow on August 18, 5-7:30 p.m. to celebrate Alaska’s LGBT community and the 25th anniversary of Pride Foundation, a northwest organization that helps local LGBT projects and people through grants and scholarships. A 21+ event.
Northern Exposure 2010 is Alaska’s first educational SM and Leather convention, Aug 20-22. Three days of workshops, classes, parties and meals. Register at NE2010. (This is not specifically LGBT, but is a GLBT-friendly event.)
The gay and lesbian bowling league of Anchorage is getting ready to start another season. Our first league meeting is Sunday August 29 at Jewel Lake Bowl at 4 p.m., and our first day of bowling is September 12. Contact the Northern Exposure Bowling League.
The Imperial Court’s Coronation is traditionally held on Labor Day weekend, and Alaska Coronation 38 – “Kickin’ it old School…Back to our Roots” will be Sept. 2-6 in Anchorage. Visit the ICOAA for the schedule and tickets.
The annual Alaska Pride Conference is coming up: October 8-10 at Alaska Pacific University.
29 Years Together: Anchorage gay couple interviewed for Vancouver Pride
“When Fred Traber and Larry Snider began dating in 1981, the social and cultural landscape in their small hometown of Anchorage, Alaska, did not allow them to be open with their relationship.”
So begins an interview of a gay Anchorage couple in a Vancouver, Canada newspaper.
Fred and Larry attended Vancouver Pride on August 1 and got an unexpected souvenir – they were interviewed by The Vancouver Sun about their 29 year relationship, and a video clip was posted online with the article and photos.
The newspaper was looking for gay couples who met in various decades, as part of a Gay Pride series, and a local friend recommended them for the couple who met in the ’80s.
“We had fun doing the interview and were flattered that they asked us,” Fred told Bent Alaska. “It was a fun adventure. They brought a film crew to the hotel and got nearly 2 hours of tape.”
“We covered a lot of topics, and sadly, some of the things most important to us didn’t make the cutting. We talked about the onset of AIDS and the impact it had on the gay community in Alaska – the huge number of friends we lost, the stigma, and lifestyle changes. We talked about having to carefully plan vacations to destinations where we would be safe and accepted. Lots of issues that were prevalent 30 years ago that are not so much today.”
We’ve come a long way, but we still travel to big city Pride events in LGBT-accepting locations. Like Vancouver Pride.
“Vancouver Pride is always a very important event for us. The city is so beautiful, the people are so enlightened and there is such a terrific sense of community. The Pride Parade was over 3 hours long – without any gaps. Major corporations, labor unions, government officials, social service agencies, bars, and lots of LGBT groups of people of every stripe. A new attendance record this year with over 600,000 families, friends and visitors watching, applauding and laughing. Very exhilarating and a total validation of our lifestyle.”
And the local newspapers run Gay Pride articles before, during and after Pride weekend, sometimes featuring out of town visitors!
The interview clip focuses on Fred and Larry’s early years together as closeted gay men in Alaska, as well as their California wedding in October 2008 and the Anchorage reception. Here is the video (it starts with a short ad):
[Update: Unfortunately the video is no longer available.]
Team Alaska wins 13 medals at Gay Games
The results are in from the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne, Germany, and Team Alaska kicked butt! Five gay and lesbian athletes and four supporters traveled from Alaska to Germany as Team Alaska, competing in squash, martial arts, road racing and sport shooting. Their medal count is impressive.
Ted Olson explains Prop 8 ruling on Fox
Attorney Ted Olson was a guest on the Sunday morning Fox show to discuss the Prop 8 ruling. Host Chris Wallace pitches the usual far right talking points and Olson hits them out of the park. Best line: “Would you like Fox’s right to free press put up to a vote?”
Maddow: Amtrak’s gay ads upset Family Council
Amtrak is planning a marketing campaign geared to the gay community, and that news has the Family Research Council in a tizzy, reports Rachel Maddow and Kent Jones in the ‘Trainbow’ episode.
(This happened before Prop 8 was overturned. Now the FRC has bigger things to whine about. But the segment is a good laugh after a week of serious news, and shows how petty they are.)
The Alaska Railroad is not part of Amtrak and not likely to make ads inviting gay and lesbian passengers to ride the rails through the Alaskan wilderness (although I’d love to see what they’d come up with…)
But we do have a local FRC-quoting group who would throw a tizzy fit if the Alaska RR did advertise to gays.
Watch Gays on a Train:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Daily Show: Sarah, Maggie & friends on Prop 8 ruling
Wonder what Palin thinks about the overturning of Prop 8? Jon Stewart mocks the absurd comments made by anti-gay reporters and political figures, including what our quitter-ex-gov said about the landmark decision. (Hint – she admits that she hasn’t read the ruling, but gives an opinion on it anyway, of course.)
He also includes an awkward CNN report from a gay bar, and a clip of Anderson Cooper patiently asking a question three times before Maggie Gallagher of NOM answers it… sort of.
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Homer AK Chamber apologizes for gay float snub (photos & video)
After a series of letters, denials and meetings, the Homer Chamber of Commerce apologized to PFLAG in a public letter yesterday, because the emcee for the city’s 4th of July parade refused to introduce the LGBT float. Paul Dauphinais, Executive director of the Homer Chamber of Commerce, apologized for the “omission.” (Emcee Tim White has not apologized.)
“It has been brought to the attention of the Homer Chamber of Commerce that part of the narrative provided by Homer PFLAG for its participation in the Fourth of July Parade was not read during the parade. The Chamber regrets this oversight and apologizes for the omission.”
The fallout from the gay float snub in Homer just kept getting worse: First, emcee Tim White wouldn’t say the names PFLAG and GSA or the words gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender in the introduction of the float. Then the Homer News censored White’s name out of PFLAG’s first letter to the editor about the parade incident. The Homer Tribune, which printed the full letter and posted it online, pulled down the online version. (PFLAG contacted the Trib and the letter is back up.)
Then PFLAG members met with the Chamber of Commerce director, because the Chamber organizes the annual parade and chooses the emcee. PFLAG asked for an apology for this year’s insult and the assurance that next year’s emcee will read the group’s statement as written.
But director Dauphinais initially blew off PFLAG’s concerns, saying that the emcee “has the option to reword material for time, readability, etc.” and that this is a normal practice of “adlibbing” which occurs every year.
Adlibbing?!
This is how the incident was described by Band of Thebes, who marched with the gay group:
“Along the route, when the crowd realized who we were, they often loudly increased their cheering. However, the emcee in the judging booth who read every other group’s information or prepared statement refused to announce our name, mission, wouldn’t say PFLAG, GSA, lesbian, gay, or anything about us other than “Float #10… uh… building community… and diversity.”
That’s not an ad lib, that’s an insult! Joseph Lapp, vice president of Homer PFLAG, responded with this excellent open letter to the Chamber, which he also sent to Bent Alaska:
“I appreciate both your taking the time to meet me in person and the emailed response you sent last week. PFLAG were and remain very concerned about the fact that the emcee chosen by the Homer Chamber of Commerce omitted the words “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered” during our participation in the Homer 4th of July Parade. I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with some background about who we are and what we stand for, respond to a couple of points in your email, and hopefully identify some positive ways to move forward. I have decided to reply publicly in hopes of answering some questions among our constituency that have been raised since the incident, and since the incident occurred in a public venue I think that the discussions that come out of it ought to be public as well, so I will be forwarding this message to our Homer PFLAG list and to other groups and individuals who picked up the story. I hope that you will share it with the board of the chamber as well.First, I’d like to say that marching in the Fourth of July parade is enormously meaningful for our organization. Last year when we entered the parade it was the first time that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (lgbt) people and their friends and allies publicly marched down a Homer street in the town’s history. For many of our participants it was the first time that they publicly identified themselves either as an lgbt person or a straight ally to our community. I think it’s safe to say that we were all terrified, and with no small of amount of reason, many of us having been victims of harassment, violence, and discrimination at various points in our lives. So to say that we were thrilled by the overwhelming support we had in terms of numbers (our float fielded more participants than any other in the parade) and from the amazingly supportive on-lookers would be a great understatement. For me, and I’m sure for many of our marchers, it was one of the proudest moments of my life.
Hopefully that gives you some idea why our reaction to what happened at the parade this year is so strong. When your emcee failed to read the words “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered” it felt like a slap in our collective faces. The amount of personal courage it takes to stand up as an lgbt person in Alaska, where it is perfectly legal to fire us from our jobs or kick us out of our apartments solely because of our sexuality, is enormous and to be met with such a bold dismissal from the professional announcer chosen by the Chamber of Commerce was awful.Second, I’d like to respond to a couple of points from your email. You write that the emcee “has the option to reword material for time, readability, etc.” and that this is a normal practice of “adlibbing” which occurs every year. I’m curious because there were a number of much longer and wordier statements announcing other floats in the parade. Our written statement was a bit less than 25 words long. It takes less than 30 seconds to read. So I don’t see how time could have been a factor in the emcee’s “editing” process. As for readability, I can see that a word like transgendered might be a mouthful, although one would think that an emcee who works as a talk radio host could probably tackle it, [but] a word like gay, consisting of three letters and only one syllable, is extremely pronounceable. Next I would ask why it is the policy of the chamber to allow their emcees to personally and without any accountability edit the contributions of parade participants. I’m curious if you would find it acceptable for one of your emcees to edit out references to military service from the VFW folks, or references to boats from the Homer Wooden Boat Society. Either one would render the statement meaningless, just as what your emcee announced was completely devoid of meaning. You also state explicitly in your email that you did not speak with the emcee regarding what happened. Is it the policy of the Homer Chamber of Commerce to ask no accountability from its employees and volunteers when evidence exists of possible willful discrimination against a whole segment of the population? It’s my understanding that people like this represent the organizations they work for; is discrimination a proper representation of the Homer Chamber? If so I think that there are many of your members who would like to be made aware of that fact.Third, I would like to offer two suggestions for moving forward in a positive way. While I’m outraged by the emcee’s actions during the parade I do not believe that the chamber as an organization is one that favors discriminating against people based on their sexuality or gender identity, but the events of the 4th cast some doubt on that. I think it’s fair to ask that the chamber both make a public apology for what happened and to publicly clarify the organization’s position on this form of discrimination. In addition, I think that it’s fair to ask that the chamber make a commitment to more carefully screen emcees in the future to prevent against selecting one that has such an ideological bias as to prevent them from reading references to the race, gender, religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation, or gender identity from the written statements provided by the parade participants.In closing, the emails I’ve received from you end with a quote that I rather like, it says “it is curious that physical courage should be so abundant in the world and moral courage so rare.” I agree with Mark Twain here, and I can only assume that you do as well, so while it takes a degree of moral courage to take a stand against hate, fear, and discrimination, I hope that you and the Homer Chamber of Commerce have that courage. I would hate for the young people who courageously marched in the parade with us to have their first experience with public support for lgbt people to be insulted.
The letter was shared on Homer PFLAG’s Facebook page, and they asked us to call and write to the Homer Chamber of Commerce, which many people did. The Tribune posted Joseph’s letter yesterday, the same day as the Chamber’s apology.
The Homer News also published the Chamber’s apology, along with a response from PFLAG thanking the Chamber for “it’s commitment to not engage in any sort of discrimination against people based on their sexuality or gender identity.” PFLAG also thanked the people of Homer:
“We would like to thank the Homer community for the support you’ve shown us, and look forward to continue working with all of our partners and allies to make Homer a community free of hate and discrimination.”
Congratulations to Homer PFLAG and the people of Homer for resolving the Chamber’s role in this incident with letters and meetings!
The only question now is whether emcee Tim White will take responsibility for his actions and apologize to PFLAG. Mr. White, will you step up to the plate, or will you hide behind the Chamber?
Miriam Elizondo made this very cool video of Homer PFLAG marching in the July 4th Parade. Please watch it:
Gay Marriage Ban Overturned! *Updates & Reviews*
In a big win for marriage equality, a federal judge overturned California’s Prop 8 today, ruling that “Proposition 8 is unconstitutional under both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses.”
Chief U.S. District Judge Walker’s ruling concludes:
“Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples. Because California has no interest in discriminating against gay men and lesbians, and because Proposition 8 prevents California from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis, the court concludes that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.”
The full ruling is HERE. The anti-gay side is expected to appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Alaska in it’s jurisdiction.
UPDATE 2:
Reviews of the decision are all over the web. A good explanation of the 138 page ruling is posted on Towleroad, highlighting the main points and discussing it in terms of both due process and equal protection. Another good analysis is on Out for Justice.
Rachel Maddow devotes most of Wednesday’s show to Prop 8, including an interview with attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies, a good review of the findings, and a segment on how George “rent boy” Rekers helped us win by discrediting himself and his research, which was used by the anti-gays.
Keith Olbermann also has a good review of the Prop 8 ruling, looking ahead to the appeals in the Circuit Court and the Supreme Court.
For a local Alaska angle, check out this post on Alaska Commons.
UPDATE:
Celebration rallies are taking place around the country, including in Anchorage where supporters are meeting at City Hall at 5:30 p.m., according to Anchorage Won’t Discriminate.
Ted Olson, attorney for the same sex couples, comments on the ruling:
Day of Decision on Prop H8 – Anchorage rally
The first federal Prop 8 ruling will be announced today, supposedly between 1-3 p.m. Pacific time, and equality rallies are being held tonight to celebrate or protest the decision in California and across the United States, including one in Alaska.
Anchorage Won’t Discriminate shared this message on Facebook: “Join us at The Day of Prop 8 Decision rally in front of Anchorage City Hall (in front of Kaladi’s) today starting at 5:30pm. Bring posters and bring your chants. Win, lose or tie, we stand in support of LGBT equality.”
Also bring rain gear.
Whatever Judge Walker decides, the ruling will probably be put on hold and appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Alaska in it’s jurisdiction, and eventually heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Today’s decision is important because it sets the legal foundation for those rulings, and determines the scope, factual findings, and level of scrutiny for the case.
Hopefully, Prop H8 will be overturned! Check back later today for the ruling.
This Prop 8 Day of Decision video set to the words of Dustin Lance Black, producer of MILK, lists a few of the rallies being held today, but the touching part is Black’s message:
