Bent Alaska | Author Archives

Withrow Wins RAW Story Contest

Wednesday, 18 February 2009 – 11:39 PM | Comments Off

The winners of the RAW Short Story Contest 2009 are (… drumroll … )

1st Place ($500, publication and an invite to read at Celebration) – Frayed Yellow Rope by Wendy Withrow

2nd Place ($300) – She Remembers on a Cold Summer Day by Brianna Dym

3rd Place (tie, $50 each) – Tomorrow by Alix Layton and Gestures by Marilyn Conner

Honorable Mentions –

The Crinoline Revolution or Searching for Regina’s Vagina by Terrilyn F. Watts

Moving Mountains by S.P. Horton

The Thing That Killed Her by Karis Koett

Pathways of Desire by Jean Anderson

Holding Pattern by EJ Essic

Thunderstorm by Annette Baker

Congratulations to everyone who submitted a story!

Celebration of Change, Radical Arts for Women’s annual performing arts event and fundraiser, is June 13, 2009 in the Wilda Marston Theater at Loussac Library in Anchorage. Visit RAW for more information and to get involved.

The Naked Ptarmigan, the queer Alaska journal that published several of last year’s contest stories, is now accepting email submissions year-round.

“Gender identity” added to Fairbanks school policies

Tuesday, 17 February 2009 – 11:36 PM | Comments Off

Fairbanks North Star Borough School District passed a motion to include “gender identity” as a protected group in their non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies — the first school district in Alaska to do so.

Fairbanks NSB school board vs. PTA president on gender identity

Wednesday, 11 February 2009 – 4:20 PM | Comments Off

In a first for Alaska, the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District is set to add gender identity to its non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies — over the objections of the PTA president of the school that asked for advice on the policy.

An Unlike Ally

Wednesday, 11 February 2009 – 3:21 PM | 2 Comments

William Saltonstall, a former Massachusetts state senator who died last month at the age of 81, was an outspoken ally of LGBT equality, in part because of his daughter and grandson who live in Palmer.

Saltonstall was a staunch Republican who served in the legislature from 1966 to 1978. He became an advocate for LGBT rights in the last decade of his life.

In 2000, he began speaking out against opponents of gay adoption and same-sex marriage. He wrote letters, donated money and lobbied for marriage equality. In 2006, Saltonstall changed his party affiliation to democrat. “I’ve been active in the gay rights movement, because my daughter is gay – she lives in Alaska – and the party has not been favorable to people like her,” he told the Boston Globe.

Abigail, her partner Chris and their three children live in Palmer and own Half Moon Creek art gallery in Anchorage.

What do you know about LGBT Alaska?

Tuesday, 10 February 2009 – 5:36 PM | Comments Off

Art, politics, entertainment, sports, religion – share your knowledge of LGBT Alaska on the blog. Interview your friends, review our shows, give good advice or spread outrageous rumors! It’s time to expand the blog and bring in more writers who represent different voices within our community. Send your ideas to Bent Alaska and see your byline on line. Thanks!

Freedom to Marry Week

Monday, 9 February 2009 – 3:59 PM | Comments Off

The annual Freedom to Marry Week is February 8-14, 2009. We are asked to tell three people what it’s like for us or our loved ones to be LGBT, and what it means to be treated as less than equal for being gay. Why? Because people who know about our lives are more likely to support our civil rights.

Who will you tell?

Meanwhile, check out this touching Fidelity video with the “Don’t Divorce Us” photos. I saw a picture of Alaska in there – is this someone we know?

Pick. Click. Give. for Gay Alaska

Sunday, 8 February 2009 – 6:53 PM | Comments Off

Alaskans can go online to apply for the PFD and support our favorite Alaska non-profits with just a click. It’s a chance for all of us to come together and give a little extra.

More than 330 organizations have qualified for the 2009 PFD check-off program, including several LGBT non-profits and our allies: Identity, Four A’s, the ACLU of Alaska, and Out North.

To donate all or part of your PFD, apply online then choose the groups you would like to support. The filing period continues through March 31, 2009.

Find more info online at Pick. Click. Give.

Today is Black AIDS Awareness Day

Saturday, 7 February 2009 – 10:09 PM | One Comment

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2009 on aims to get Black Americans educated about the basics of HIV/AIDS, get tested to know their HIV status, get involved in their community around the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and get treated if they are living with HIV/AIDS.

Because “Black Life Is Worth Saving!”

For AIDS testing and information in Alaska, contact Four A’s in Anchorage and Juneau, and Interior AIDS Assoc. in Fairbanks.

This Week in LGBT Alaska 2/6/09

Friday, 6 February 2009 – 12:11 PM | Comments Off

Check out this week’s events from Alaska GLBT News.

For full listings, classifieds and up-coming events, subscribe to AGN, the weekly email newsletter.

Bent Alaska on Facebook

Check out Bent Alaska’s Facebook page. Want to be friends? Come post your events and opinions directly on the wall!

Juneau

SEAGLA Social Fridays (6-8 p.m.) for GLBT people and our friends over 21, at The Imperial Bar, downtown.

SEAGLA Night at the Theatre: Shakespeare’s R&J, 2/6, 7:30 p.m. by Thunder Mountain Theatre Project, at the The Old Elk’s Hall. Tickets at Hearthside Books.

Fairbanks

PFLAG Fairbanks meeting to discuss the proposed School Board policy change 2/8, 4 p.m.

Mat-Su Valley

Mat-Su LGBT Community Center social support group meetings to discuss LBGT issues in the valley. Mondays at 2 p.m. and Wednesdays at 5 p.m. Vagabond Blues in Palmer.

Anchorage

Sweet at Out North Theater begins 2/6, 7 p.m. for the Off the Rocks Theater Project.

Equality Works Steering Committee meeting at the GLCCA, 2/7, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Alaska Rainbows monthly dinner 2/7, 5-7 p.m.

LGBT Town Hall to End Discrimination in Anchorage 2/11, 7 p.m. at Immanuel Presbyterian Church. Equality Works

Dan Savage: Savage Love Live! 2/12, 7:30 p.m. at UAA’s Wendy Williamson Auditorium. General Public $10, free for students with UAA ID. UAATix.

An Electro Affair with Kilogram and Grym 2/12, 9 p.m.-2 a.m. $5 at the door. Mad Myrna’s.

Savage Love, live in Anchorage

Thursday, 5 February 2009 – 10:30 PM | 2 Comments

If you read Alaska GLBT News, you already know that Dan Savage, an openly-gay author of a popular sex-advice column, is coming to Anchorage on Feb. 12 to present Savage Love Live, a talk followed by audience questions on anything and everything sexual.

Feb. 12, the day of the Anchorage show, is also national Freedom to Marry Day. Savage and his partner were married in Canada in 2005, and Dan is a strong advocate of LGBT equality.

Today’s Anchorage Press, the alternative weekly that carries the Savage Love column, ran an interview with Dan:

“‘[H]homophobia, like racism, is a pastime of the ignorant and elderly. And the elderly are leaving us. They want to take a snapshot of this moment in time and lock in these prejudices, and make them hard to undo. But they’re losing ground. We’re moving the ball down the field and we’re winning. It’s just… Canada got the French; Australia got the convicts; we got the fuckin’ Puritans.'”

See Savage Love Live at UAA’s Wendy Williamson Auditorium, 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 12. Students with a UAA ID get in free. General Public tickets are $10 and are available at UAATix.