Articles by E. Ross
E. Ross is the founder of Bent Alaska.
“Inside and Out” and Creative Outreach at IAA
The Fairbanks public is invited to “Inside and Out” tonight, a First Art Friday exhibit at Interior AIDS Association and part of their Creative Outreach program.
This exhibition will include stories, posters, and artwork from agency consumers of the Interior AIDS Association. The presenters chose the title “Inside and Out” because some of them are telling stories or sharing concepts that have had to remain hidden for years, while others are sharing artwork that they have never shared outside of their immediate friends and families. There will likely be stories of recovery, struggles, prejudice, and unique original artwork.
Samuel Johnson has been working with people at IAA to put their stories together and consolidate artwork for the show.
“It won’t be artsy in the same way that other FF openings will be… it will have posters, written stories, pictures, and art that folks here have made. Some of it relates to the above themes, and some relates to the person’s own interest or efforts at drawing and art.”
The previous IAA story event on April Fools Friday showed digital stories related to HIV/STD Prevention. Check out Samuel’s cool digital story about finding IAA and joining the Creative Outreach project:
Interior AIDS Association Creative Outreach Digital Story from Samuel Johnson on Vimeo.
Inside and Out
Date/time: Friday, May 6, 6:00-8:00 PM
Location: Interior Aids Association, 709 W. 2nd, in downtown Fairbanks, across from Gambardella’s.
Cost of admission: Free
Further info: See the Facebook event page.
Keep track of this and other events in LGBTQ Alaska at Bent Alaska’s new & improved events calendar.
Lewis: I’m gay and from Wasilla, Alaska
The second video from Wasilla was uploaded today on I’m From Driftwood!
After coming out, Lewis is met with religious fanatics at school but love and support at home.
Watch Lewis: I’m From Wasilla, AK
Thanks to Lewis for sharing his home and school coming out stories, and a big high five to his parents for being so loving and supportive of their son!
IFD traveled all the way to Alaska to include us in their story tour, collecting “true stories by gay people from all over in an attempt to help LGBTQ teens feel not so alone.”
Read about their great Alaska adventures here, and watch the other I’m From Wasilla video story here.
IFD has posted five written stories from LGBTQ Alaskans, in addition to the 2 videos. They’re all listed on the IFD Alaska page.
If you haven’t submitted a story yet, write one and send it to them. The story guidelines and submission page is here.
Fairbanks Rainbow Prom: Born This Way
The Imperial Court’s Grand Duke and Duchess of Fairbanks would like to invite you to the 2011 Rainbow Prom show and dance…We Were Born This Way!
Your Duke and Duchess, Lynnette and Kara, did a survey at the very first event. We asked everyone to comment in the theme section and an overwhelming request for a prom was given.
We hope you come out in one of the PRIDE colors, or all of them. Be creative, be fun, be daring like Lady GaGa! If wearing a Tux/Prom dress is not your thing, come dressed head to toe in PRIDE colors and we will give you a $5 discount. (Michael will be at the door and he will be expecting a bright Lady GaGa all-OUT type outfit.)
Our host is Empress Paige Pila Boho Langit!
DJ 50/50 is spinning the tunes.
When: Saturday, May 7, from 8pm to 2am. Doors open at 7pm. Show starts promptly at 8, with dancing afterwards.
Sponsored by: The Imperial Court of All Alaska
Where: The Blue Loon, 2999 Parks Hwy Fairbanks, Alaska
How much: $15 cover; $10 if you come dressed for a prom (or in Pride colors!) 21+ only.
Further info: See the Facebook event page.
Note: This is not a youth prom, it’s a prom-themed drag show and dance for 21+ only. However, the Duke and Duchess are planning an all-ages step down show on July 30. Put it on your calendar.
Keep track of this and other events in LGBTQ Alaska at Bent Alaska’s new & improved events calendar.
Brandi Carlile returns to Alaska
Both Anchorage and Fairbanks are on Brandi Carlile’s summer 2011 tour!
How many gays must God create before we accept them?
The Minnesota legislature is debating a ban on same sex marriage, similar to the one passed in Alaska in the 90’s. On Monday, Rep. Steve Simon spoke in support of gays and lesbians and raised thoughtful questions, like this one that earned him spontaneous applause:
“How many more gay people does God have to create before we ask ourselves whether or not God actually wants them around?”
Watch the video:
Step Up, Step Out for Alaska Pride
The NorthView‘s spring issue is online, full of updates on the activities at Identity, including a review of the Community Center fundraiser, their new visibility campaign “I am Identity,” and this Alaska Pride article by incoming co-chair Felix Rivera (reposted with author’s permission.)
Alaska Pride asks each and every one of us to Step Up, Step Out
By Felix Rivera, Incoming Co-ChairThis year, the steering committee behind Alaska Pride is looking to step up the 9-day celebration in June, the annual Alaska Pride Fest. The dates this year are June 18 – 26.
The theme the group has selected is reminiscent of happenings throughout the country: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed, the Defense of Marriage Act is being scrutinized by White House administration, and states around the country are passing pro-equality laws.
But still, the work is not done. Anchorage still does not have an equal-rights ordinance protecting GLBT folks from undue discrimination. Even more, our GLBT brothers and sisters in Africa face threats to their lives on a daily basis. Some have even lost their lives fighting for justice.
This summer, we ask each and every Alaskan to Step Up, Step Out. So what does that mean exactly? Haven’t attended Pride Fest in a few years? We ask you to Step Up and support your local community. Want to put on an event for Pride or volunteer, but haven’t found the motivations to do so? We ask you to Step Out of your comfort zone and become involved.
Each and every one of us should follow this motto. This year, Alaska Pride asks that you run with it! After all, that is what Pride is all about: Alaska Pride promotes state-wide gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender equality through education and celebration.
This year, to help us better follow our motto, the steering committee has decided to put the two umbrella events of Alaska Pride Fest and Pride Conference under one label: Alaska Pride. Both of these serve to help educate ourselves on what it means to be GLBT in Alaska, but also to celebrate our Pride.
In essence, Alaska Pride Fest serves as the heart of Alaska Pride. Alaska Pride Conference serves as the
head. Head and heart. One cannot exist without the other.One heart, one mind, Alaska Pride.
Please check out our website at AlaskaPride.org, and email us at info@identityinc.org if you are interested in being a sponsor, individual donor, vendor, or volunteer.
Thanks to Felix Rivera and Emily Kloc for stepping up as the incoming Alaska Pride co-chairs, and to current co-chairs Johnathan Jones and Gail Palmer for the great work they’ve done and are doing for Alaska Pride.
What are you going to do for Alaska Pride?
Gay pride flags thrown in mud outside youth dance
136 queer and allied youth from Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley attended the Glee-themed Pride Prom last weekend at Out North – and at least one vandal, who took down four of the five rainbow flags decorating the outside of the building. A flag was hung upside down, others were thrown on the ground in the mud.
Kaboom by Gregg Araki, Monday at Bear Tooth
Gregg Araki’s newest film, Kaboom, is screening at the Bear Tooth tonight as the 8pm Art House Movie.
Kaboom is “a wild, witty and sex-drenched horror-comedy thriller featuring a gorgeous young cast.” Araki, a pioneer of new queer cinema, describes it as “a bisexual Twin Peaks in college… a mash up of at least five or six different genres… It’s really fun and sexy and kind of crazy.”
Here is the plot summary:
Kaboom is a thriller/comedy telling the story of Smith (Thomas Dekker from Heros) an ambisexual 18 year old college freshman who stumbles upon a monstrous conspiracy in a seemingly idyllic seaside Southern California town.
Smith’s everyday life in the dorms – hanging out with his arty, sarcastic best friend Stella, hooking up with a beautiful free spirit named London, lusting for his gorgeous but dim surfer roommate Thor – all gets turned upside-down after one fateful, terrifying night.
Tripping on some hallucinogenic cookies he ate at a party, Smith is convinced he’s witnessed the gruesome murder of an enigmatic Red Haired Girl who has been haunting his dreams. What he discovers as he tries to find out the truth leads him deeper and deeper into a mystery that will forever change not only the course of his young life but the destiny of the entire world.
What does Araki mean by ambisexual?
There are various forms of it: the omnisexual, polysexual, etc., and all of it means that sexuality is a fluid thing. It’s ambiguous. Bisexual sounds to me like an old school scientific kind of category. I have always believed that sexuality is not really black and white, that it is a gray area. As time goes on, people become more open and fluid in terms of their views of sexuality. The younger generation, their view is not really about labels and categories and declaring themselves. It is more about the experience and attraction and not so black and white. I find that that is becoming more and more common, even more so than the mid 90s.
Watch the trailer:
Kaboom
Directed by Gregg Araki
Cast: Thomas Dekker, Chris Zylka, Roxane Mesquida, Juno Temple, Haley Bennett
Monday, April 25th, 8:00 PM, $3.50 GA
Bear Tooth Theatrepub
Art House Monday premiere
US/France sci-fi comedy, “new queer cinema” 86 minutes.
Not rated, graphic sexual situations, nudity, violence and strong language. Persons under 18 not admitted.
Injustice at Every Turn
“Every day, transgender and gender non-conforming people are marginalized because of their gender identity and expression.”
This In The Life video features the personal stories of Ja’briel and Michelle, two trans women. Their experiences highlight the findings of the first comprehensive transgender discrimination study, recently completed by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.
Watch the video:
The study Injustice at Every Turn “brings to light what is both patently obvious and far too often dismissed from the human rights agenda. Transgender and gender non-conforming people face injustice at every turn: in childhood homes, in school systems that promise to shelter and educate, in harsh and exclusionary workplaces, at the grocery store, the hotel front desk, in doctors’ offices and emergency rooms, before judges and at the hands of landlords, police officers, health care workers and other service providers.”
There are no laws in Alaska protecting transgender people from discrimination or harassment.
When we allow injustice against a group of people, unstable individuals may feel they have permission to act on that prejudice and cause physical harm, like in the violent attack on a transgender woman in a Baltimore McDonald’s last week.
Jerry Merryman (1938–2011)
Jerry Merryman lived in Anchorage for 17 years and his ‘home away from home’ was The Raven. He died of massive heart failure on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2011 in Alturas, California. A friend who also used to live in Anchorage sent the obituary to Bent Alaska today. Jerry’s family did not know how to contact his friends in Alaska (and did not acknowledge in the obituary that he was gay.)
