Articles by E. Ross
E. Ross is the founder of Bent Alaska.
Anchorage Assembly awarded at Coronation 09
The Imperial Court of All Alaska ushered in the reign of the new Emperor and Empress, presented nineteen scholarships and five Community Service Awards — including a group award to the Assembly members who voted “yes” on Ordinance 64 — and performed a series of well-attended shows during Coronation 2009 on Labor Day Weekend.
“We had the best attendance at all functions in years,” writes Emperor XXV Mikey La Choy. “Empress 37 Miss MeMe and Emperor 37 Kevin Holtz have a great year in store for us all, but of course they will need the support of the entire community to make it a success.”
In addition to crowning the new monarchs, Coronation 2009 gave Community Service Awards to these recipients:
Peter Dispirito memorial Award: Adam & Steve: Alex Barros, Teddy Jones, Donald Greene & Jared Krapfl
Wayne Hussey Memorial Award: Holli Yancey
Raymond Jorgenson Memorial Group Award: The 7 brave members of the Anchorage Assembly who voted “Yes” for the equal rights ordinance: Patrick Flynn, Matt Claman, Harriet Drummond, Elvi Gray-Jackson, Sheila Selkregg, Mike Gutierrez & Jennifer Johnston
Shante’ Youth Service Award: Willow Arnell and Mike Mason
Rochelle DeLite Memorial Fairbanks Service Award: Keith Darkchild
The Imperial Court intends to formally present the Raymond Jorgenson Memorial Group Award at an Assembly meeting and personally thank those members who voted in favor of Ordinance 64. The LGBTA community will be invited to the award presentation when a date is finalized.
The 2009 Emperors and Empresses Scholarship Fund awarded a total of $48,500 to 19 students: Alex Barrows, Logan Bartels, James Crump, Rolland Debler, France Desmarattes, Wiliam Ehelebe, Mark Essert, Rachel Furman, John Hirst, Kenneth Jenkins, Wendy Langley, Joshua Lee, Monica Lettner, Colleen McNulty, Juanita Reese, David Robinson, Darren Starr, Emily Tiller and Karl Wade.
Congratulations to Empress 37 Miss MeMe and Emperor 37 Kevin Holtz! We look forward to a wonderful reign.
This Week in LGBT Alaska 9/11/09
This week’s events from the statewide newsletter. Subscribe to Alaska GLBT News.
Juneau
SEAGLA Social Fridays (6-8 p.m.) for GLBT people and our friends over 21, at The Imperial Bar, downtown.
Whale Watching Trip & Pride Chorus fundraiser 9/12, 1-4 p.m. SEAGLA
Mat-Su Valley
Mat-Su LGBT Community Center in Palmer is open M-F 5-8 p.m. (except 6-8 on Wed.) The social group meets Wednesdays, 5-6 p.m. at Vagabond Blues.
Anchorage
Northern Exposure Bowling League first day of bowling 9/13, 4 p.m. at Park Lanes
Men of Adonis 9/13, 9 p.m. at Mad Myrna’s
Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead thru 9/14, 7:30pm Fri/Sat; 4pm Sunday Out North
Tim Miller performs “Lay of the Land” at Out North, Sept 18-19, 7:30 p.m.
Side Street Saturdays, an informal meetup for LGBT writers, at noon in Side Street Cafe.
Sunday worship with MCC Anchorage, 2 p.m.
Transgender Support Group, Sundays 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the GLCCA.
A Stupid Drop-Down Menu
– a guest post by Katie, who works in Anchorage
Yesterday, my co-worker was helping a bunch of new-hires set up their HR information in our electronic system. On the first page with social security number and name is the married or single box. I hate that box. I hate it. She had her information up on the screen for demonstration purposes, and casually said, “Oh, I guess I’m not married any more.” It’s amazing how much this little phrase and that little box have been bugging me ever since then.
My stupid little box says “single.” It doesn’t matter that I have a document hanging on my wall, the first thing you see when you walk in the house, that says I am committed to one person for the rest of my life. It doesn’t matter that my employer would let me offer benefits to her if I wanted to pay taxes on them. My same employer that would let me take out benefits on her still forces me to choose “single” or “married.” I am not married under federal law. I am not single under Vermont law.
On top of the law, there are my personal thoughts of my relationship. In my mind, I have not been single for 12 years. Even if a person starts counting the years from the day we swore our vows to each other in front of our friends and family, then in front of a state judge, I have not been single for 9 years.
The “gay marriage debate” makes a lot of people feel very passionately. The polls and the politicians say that most people feel that me having the status of “married” infringes on THEIR rights. I just don’t understand. Matrimony is a religious word. Marriage is not. “Married” is a status that I stare at, yet feel like I cannot chose from a stupid drop-down menu. So I sit in no-where-land. I sit here, trying not to infringe on someone else’s rights, meanwhile ignoring my own. Do I not have the right to pick something from this stupid drop-down menu that doesn’t make me feel like 12 years don’t matter? Do I not have the right to be married to someone instead of no one?
I know there are hundreds of other financial, political, social, and moral reasons for me to be in on this debate. There are hundreds of reasons I should be out marching for everyone else in my situation. There are hundreds of reasons I should be sitting here fuming, and writing my thoughts down. However, I think it must be a sign, that something so trivial as a stupid drop-down menu makes me feel like I don’t have the same rights as a straight person who “forgot” to change her status from “married” to “single.” The straight person who was only “married” for 3 years, and ended the relationship on a matter of not caring, and her status was changed back to “single” with nothing more than a signature on a line. I had to drive to Vermont to take my vows in front of someone I barely knew, to change my status in the eyes of ONE state’s law. If I want to change my status back, I would have to move to Vermont for a year, before I would be allowed to sign that line. I have no desire to sign that line. I do, however, have the desire to pick something other than “single” from that stupid drop-down menu.
Some friends of ours have marriage licenses and civil unions from every state that has a law on the books. Every time a new state passes a new law, they go there, and swear their vows again. Why? Because the federal government still says that they must choose the “single” category. They have 7 marriage licenses, and 8 Civil Union licenses. 15 licenses, but yet if they lived where we do, the 15 licenses are constitutionally illegal.
I keep telling myself that eventually times will change. Only 30 years ago, the thought of being able to get health insurance through my employer for my partner was considered pretty obscure. In 30 years, we’ve made progress. Not long ago, people of different ethnicities could not get married. The arguments said, “If we allow white people and black people to marry, gay people will want to get married too.” What does that mean? Does that mean that we should back-track? Stop Catholics from marrying Protestants? Stop Japanese people from marrying Irish people? Why is progress toward an equal society bad?
Why do I feel so strongly about a stupid drop-down box?
Think about it. What would you do, if you didn’t feel like you fit into the categories given? The US government forces me to chose a category that I don’t think I belong to. How would you feel?
Until I figure this out, I will continue to hate this stupid drop-down box.
New Press seeks Essays on Queer Alaska
Ex-Alaskan Kim Wyatt and Shelley Zentner from the UK launched Bona Fide Books earlier this year, “a small press that seeks to publish provocative and adventurous literature.” They are seeking submissions for two anthologies of literary essays: Queer in the Last Frontier and Permanent Vacation: Living and Working in Our National Parks.
Queer in the Last Frontier explores the experience of LGBT Alaskans, the challenges and pleasures of being queer in a place that is “isolated, conservative, and impossibly beautiful” for both chechakos and sourdoughs. Permanent Vacation considers the daily life and wider implications of living and working in our national parks, from Denali to the Everglades.
Queer in the Last Frontier
Alaska is a place of extremes, where people go to reinvent themselves. Or perhaps you were born there at a time when it wasn’t safe to be out. What is it like to grow up or remake yourself in a place that is isolated, conservative, and impossibly beautiful? Bona Fide Books seeks literary essays for Queer in the Last Frontier, the first collection to explore the challenges and pleasures of being gay or lesbian in the Great Land. We seek a diversity of experience, from the newly arrived to the old-timer who has seen it all. Send us your stories of prejudice, triumph, and community in the Last Frontier.
Writers will receive $100 for their story and one copy of the collection. Deadline: February 5, 2010. Manuscripts should be typed, double-spaced, and 12 point Times New Roman or Courier font with standard formatting applied; word count is limited to 5,000. Send to Bona Fide Books submissions with “Alaska” and the title of work in the subject line.
Permanent Vacation: Living and Working in Our National Parks
Bona Fide Books is also seeking literary essays about your experience working in our national parks, from Denali to the Everglades, Yellowstone to Yosemite. Some go seeking commune with nature; others to escape. Diverse park experiences are desired. Although we enjoy tree-hugging epiphanies, we also want to read about day-to-day life, and societal, environmental, and existential implications of living in the park. What happened there, and how did it influence your life?
Writers will receive $100 for their story and one copy of the collection. Submit manuscripts postmarked no later than January 5th, 2010 to Bona Fide Books submissions with “Permanent Vacation” and the title of work in the subject line. Manuscripts should be typed, double-spaced, and 12 point Times New Roman or Courier font with standard formatting applied; word count is limited to 5,000.
For more information, please visit Bona Fide Books.
Lay of the Land puts Local Struggle in a National Context
Tim Miller returns to Out North on September 18 & 19 to place “the emotional and political wreckage” of gay rights battles like Ordinance 64 in perspective with his tales of life as a traveling gay activist.
Lay of the Land is Tim Miller’s saucy, sharp-knifed look at the State of the Queer Union during a time of trial. Careening from his sexy misadventures performing in 45 States, to marriage equality street protests, to the electoral assaults on gay folks all over the country, to his life as a grade-school flag monitor, to choking on cheap meat caught in his 10 year old gay boy’s throat, Lay of the Land friskily gets at that feeling of gay folks being perpetually on trial, on the ballot, and on the menu!
And will Tim have something to say about Dan Sullivan’s recent veto of the gay rights ordinance? You betcha!
Bent Alaska asked Tim about bringing Lay of the Land to Anchorage:
Q. How does our local struggle for an anti-discrimination ordinance fit into Lay of the Land?
A. Sullivan’s veto of Ordinance 64 really sucks, especially with “Diversity” month in Anchorage! For us California folks, it really brings up all that toxic Prop 8 stuff. (Hmmm, 8 is the square root of 64!)
I think from 64 to Florida Ammendment 2 to Calif Prop 8 to today’s Referendum 71 in Washington State that would stop WA domestic partnerships before they even start, it is the same basic principle of disrepecting the humanity for gay folks. It has nothing to do with Marriage Equality, as AO 64 and WA R-71 show. They don’t want us to feel welcome in our own homes, our own country!
LAY OF THE LAND is all about the emotional and political wreckage of these post Prop 8/64 moments. When I performed the piece in Florida two months ago, the Prop 8 situation was immediately relatable to what they went through on election day with Amendment 2.
Q. Will you add Alaska to the outline map of America that you use in your show?
A. Sadly, the national lighting company ROSCO doesn’t make a gobo effect with all 50 states. But I have added a great Alaska video section! I do refer to the lighting gobo in the performance and how it is messed up because it is missing Alaska and Hawaii.
Q. Have you visited or performed in Alaska before?
A. I have perfomed in Anchorage once before, at Out North in 2004.
Q. What’s next for you? Are you going to the National Equality March?
A. YES! I will be at the National Equality March. I will get up at 4 a.m. to get there from Carbondale Illinois, where I am performing at Southern Illinois University. I am very excited about all my touring, performances and residencies for the coming year with LAY OF THE LAND. It just premiered in LA in May and I’ve started a national tour. First stops this summer: L.A., Tallahassee, Cleveland Ingenuity Festival and Alaska! “Lay of the Land” indeed!
Miller is a solo performer, performance teacher, co-founder of two performance spaces, and author of the books Shirts & Skin, Body Blows, and 1001 Beds, an anthology of his performances and essays which won a 2007 Lambda Literary Award.
Tim Miller performs Lay of the Land at Out North on Sept 18 & 19, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20, and are available online.
Whale Watching Tour & Pride Chorus fundraiser
Bring your family and friends on a whale watching cruise on Sept. 12 and raise funds to send the Juneau Pride Chorus to the Sister Singers Network Festival.
Sister Singers Network is “a cooperative web of feminist choruses and ensembles, composers, arrangers, and individual singers working together to support and enrich the women’s choral movement.” The next festival is the 2010 Choral Festival in Chicago.
The Whale Watching Trip is Saturday, Sept 12, 1-4 p.m. The Allen Marine Catamaran will depart from Auke Bay Public Boat Harbor. Please be on board by 12:45, bring a warm, rainproof jacket to wear on the observation deck, and don’t forget your camera. Finger Foods will be served. Tickets are available from chorus members, or call 780-5230. $40.00 Adults, $20.00 Students (K-8), $100.00 for a family of 4. Contact SEAGLA for more information.
This Week in LGBT Alaska 9/4/09
Ask Senator Murkowski to support ENDA! Call 202-224-6665 or use her online email form.
This week’s events from the statewide newsletter. Subscribe to Alaska GLBT News.
Juneau
SEAGLA Social Fridays (6-8 p.m.) for GLBT people and our friends over 21, at The Imperial Bar, downtown.
Kenai Peninsula
“Hedwig and the Angry Inch” starring Atz Lee Kilcher, 9/4-9/7, 8 p.m. at Pier One Theater. Tickets $15 at the Homer Bookstore and Pier One.
Mat-Su Valley
Mat-Su LGBT Community Center in Palmer is open M-F 5-8 p.m. (except 6-8 on Wed.) The social group meets Wednesdays, 5-6 p.m. at Vagabond Blues.
Anchorage
CORONATION SEPT 4-7
Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead 9/3-9/14, 7:30pm Fri/Sat; 4pm Sunday Out North
Side Street Saturdays, an informal meetup for LGBT writers, at noon in Side Street Cafe.
Sunday worship with MCC Anchorage, 2 p.m.
Transgender Support Group, Sundays 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the GLCCA.
Override Deadline & Support for ENDA
from Equality Works:
Thanks to all of you who called and e-mailed Debbie Ossiander encouraging her to help override the Mayor’s veto of AO 64. Many of you have forwarded your letters to us and we have been impressed by your passion and commitment to this cause. We believe that Assemblywoman Ossiander’s concerns with AO 64 are matters that could easily be addressed by overriding the veto and offering up amendments to Title V. Unfortunately, she has not responded to attempts to work with her productively to craft the best and most inclusive nondiscrimination law possible.
The deadline for overriding a veto runs out this coming Monday, September 7th, and while we are still willing to work with Assembly members to achieve an override, we have also begun to look ahead at other ways in which we can work with members of the LGBT community and our allies to ensure that Anchorage becomes a city that protects all of its citizens from discrimination, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.
In the short run, one way that you can help us achieve our goal is to contact Senators Begich and Murkowski and encourage them to become co-sponsors of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). If passed, ENDA would make employment discrimination a violation of federal law. While it is not as expansive as our local laws—it would not protect people from discrimination in housing and public accommodations, for example—it would nonetheless be a huge step forward in our goal of achieving equality for all in Anchorage. While we would have preferred for such a law to be passed on a local level, we are willing to use every tool available to us. As we said months ago, our opponents may have prepared for a sprint, but we are prepared to go the distance and hope that you are too.
Contact Senator Mark Begich and Senator Lisa Murkowski through the online contact forms linked to their names.
Anchorage Mayor’s No-Gays-Need-Apply Diversity Month
September is Mayor Sullivan’s Hypocrisy… er, Diversity Month, celebrating the diverse cultures of Anchorage just two weeks after he vetoed the equal rights ordinance.
“Mayor’s Diversity Month is an opportunity for the city to partner with the community to showcase diversity efforts,” said the mayor.
On August 17, Sullivan showcased his diversity efforts by vetoing Ordinance 64, a measure passed by the Assembly to add sexual orientation to the city’s anti-discrimination policies. The mayor’s veto statement – listed on the same City of Anchorage web page as the Diversity Month announcement – cites “the absence of compelling data” and “the will of the community” as the reasons for his veto, despite the weeks of sometimes emotional testimony on the need for protections.
The Mayor’s Diversity Month is made up of events and programs that “encourage dialogue, partnerships and respect for Anchorage’s diverse population.” The community is invited to participate in the events, which this year recognize seniors, youth, Latinos, Blacks, military women, Hawaiians, and the disabled. There are no LGBT events.
Official Definition of Diversity: “Diversity in this Administration’s book means, in addition to differences based on ethnicity, gender, age, religion, disability, national origin and sexual orientation, an infinite range of individuals’ unique characteristics and experiences, such as communication styles, career, work, life experience, educational backgrounds and other variables… The goal of diversity awareness is to create an inclusive, respectful and equitable work environment and community.”
Ordinance 64 (S-2) was a compromise measure that protected lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from discrimination in employment, housing, education, public accommodations, financing, and Municipal practices, but included exemptions for religious organizations, public restrooms, business costs, dress codes and gender presentation in the workplace. The anti-gay lobby, lead by the Baptist churches, continued to call gays “perverted, diseased and depraved” and opposed the ordinance despite the compromises.
The Mayor’s Unity Dinner will be held on Friday, September 25, at the Hilton Anchorage Hotel. The event was called the Diversity Dinner in previous years, but Sullivan changed the name to Unity and invited Lynn Swann, ex-NFL player now an anti-gay Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, as the keynote speaker. Community awards will be presented during the dinner.
“Our community is made up of many unique groups, but we all share some common values: the importance of family, quality education for our children, and safe, vibrant neighborhoods. This year’s event is meant to celebrate these values while respecting the diversity that makes Anchorage such a great place to live,” said Mayor Dan Sullivan.
The gay community of Anchorage has been trying to pass an equal rights ordinance for over 35 years. This summer was the third attempt. The Assembly passed it 7-4, one vote short of a veto-proof majority, and the mayor vetoed it a week later. The Assembly has 21 days to override the veto, but would need 8 votes in favor.
The Mayor’s CommUNITY Award Program recognizes those businesses, organizations and individuals in Anchorage that have advanced the causes of diversity and unity.
There are three awards in the Mayor’s CommUNITY Award Program:
- The Business CommUNITY Award recognizes an Anchorage business which best represents a corporate spirit of diversity and community through hiring practices, programs, and outreach.
- The Community and Nonprofit Organization Award is presented to the Anchorage group which best demonstrates its sustained committment to inclusive programs that enhance diversity and the community at large.
- The Individual Award recognizes a person who actively promotes inter-group relations among diverse populations in the City.
Examples of criteria to be used while selecting award winners include:
- The nominee’s long-term commitment to the value of building unity and diversity, including specific examples with documentation.
- The creation, development, promotion, organization or significant participation in events and programs that focus on diversity and community enhancement.
- Educational efforts in matters of diversity and community development including innovative programs/opportunities.
- Efforts in Collaboration with other community groups to recruit people from diverse backgrounds to increase participation by members of groups from all backgrounds.
Mail Forms (no later than September 12th) to: Municipality of Anchorage, Mayor’s CommUNITY Award Program, 632 W. 6th Avenue, Suite 620, Anchorage, AK 99501.
A diverse collection of small, mid-sized and large Anchorage businesses, including CIRI, an Alaska Native Corporation, signed a public statement in support of Ordinance 64. Many Fortune 500 companies do business in Anchorage and have nondiscrimination policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity.
We should nominate CIRI for the Business CommUNITY Award, and Identity for the non-profit award.
Municipality of Anchorage Diversity Council Mission and Purpose, as stated in the Diversity Council Brochure linked on the Mayor’s Diversity Month page:
“The mission of the Diversity Council is to attract and embrace diversity within the workforce and greater community. Purpose: To promote our strength, which is grounded in our diversity.”
“Scope of Activities:Identify and recommend changes to procedures/programs to promote diversity;Promote and publicize diversity;Monitor the Council’s effectiveness;Accept employee or non-member suggestions/complaints and respond as appropriate; and,Encourage recognition of employee involvement or support of diversity.”“The Municipality of Anchorage Celebrates Diversity!Diversity is Not an Option — It’s Our Obligation!Diversity: Embrace the Heart of It!“
“I hereby veto AO2009-64(S-2) as amended.”
September 1 is the first day of Mayor Sullivan’s so-called Diversity Month, just two weeks after he vetoed the Assembly’s anti-discrimination ordinance. For a national comparison, September 1 is also the first day that same-sex couples can get legally married in the state of Vermont. Six states, including Iowa, allow gay couples to get married.
To nominate an individual, business or company for a diversity award or host an event, visit the municipal website at www.muni.org/diversity. Individuals or organizations/companies interested in hosting a diversity event should complete the events form and fax it to 343-4875. Events can be scheduled for September and October.
Can we register the Pride Conference as an official city Diversity event?
To get information, ask questions or make suggestions about the Mayor’s Diversity Month, call (907) 343-4890.
Charlie Brown comes out in "Dog Sees God"
What would happen to Charlie Brown and his friends if they grew up?
When CB’s dog dies from rabies, CB begins to question the existence of an afterlife. His best friend is too burnt out to provide any coherent speculation; his sister has gone goth; his ex-girlfriend has recently been institutionalized; and his other friends are too inebriated to give him any sort of solace. But a chance meeting with an artistic kid, the target of this group’s bullying, offers CB peace of mind and sets in motion a friendship that will push teen angst to the very limits. Drug use, suicide, eating disorders, teen violence, rebellion and sexual identity collide and careen toward an ending that’s both haunting and hopeful.
Christina Ashby directs a local cast in the play New York Magazine called “funny and endearing” when it premiered at The New York International Fringe Festival in 2004.
Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, a play by Bert V. Royal, will be performed at Out North Theatre on 3800 Debarr Road, September 4-14 at 7:30 p.m. on Fri/Sat; 4 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $14.50 online; $15 at the door. There is also a Pay-What-You-Can preview on Sept. 3 at 7:30 p.m.
