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Bent Alaska’s blog will continue in hiatus indefinitely; but the Bent Alaska Facebook Group on Facebook is thriving — join us! A long-overdue update from Bent Alaska’s editor.

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This Week in LGBT Alaska 5/21/10

Friday, 21 May 2010 – 9:33 AM | Comments Off on This Week in LGBT Alaska 5/21/10
This Week in LGBT Alaska 5/21/10
This week’s LGBT events from Alaska GLBT News.

Homer

New Group: Youth-Community GSA, meets 5/22, 3:30-5:30 p.m. in the Homer Public Library Conference Room.

Juneau

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

Fairbanks

Wednesday Social Group, contact Joshua for the location.

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

GLBT Art Show “Celebrate” opens 5/21 at Out North, runs through Pride Month.

Summer Kick Off Comedy Hypnosis Show: Night of Mayhem 5/22, 9:00p.m. at Mad Myrna’s. Tickets & info: Jay Her.

Ann Reed in Concert 5/22, 7:30p.m. in the Wilda Marston Theater at Loussac Library. Tickets & info: Ann Reed.

LGBT Alaska Democratic Party Caucus meeting 5/24, 6-8 p.m. at ADP Headquarters, 2602 Fairbanks Street, in Anchorage.

Ever Ready “Light” 5/25, 7-9 p.m. jammin at Uncle Joe’s Pizza in Anchorage.

Put the "March" back in Pride March

Thursday, 20 May 2010 – 8:47 PM | Comments Off on Put the "March" back in Pride March
Put the "March" back in Pride March
Take Back Pride is a new campaign to bring action back into the Pride Marches around this country. They ask that we educate ourselves on the many inequalities we face, and stand up and say something about it. Let’s put the “March” back in Pride March.
Watch the Take Back Pride promo:

What do you think: Is there room in our PrideFest Parade – an act of visibility and festivity – for an element of protest against the many injustices the LGBT community still faces, in Alaska and elsewhere?
Here’s the full Take Back Pride message:
While last year we celebrated the 40th Anniversary of our liberation at Stonewall on the last Sunday of June in 1969, we are celebrating another anniversary in 2010. And we need to do it right.
On the last Sunday in June 1970, Gay Liberation Front and Gay Activists Alliance, in commemoration of the Stonewall riots, staged the first Gay Liberation Day March. Organizers in Los Angeles and San Francisco also held marches that day.
We have much to celebrate. As a community we have struggled and fought for our very lives. Together, we have accomplished what at one time was a fantasy at best. Our sexual liberation has been celebrated every year now for 40 years with what was once a march and is now a parade, in the streets of New York and dozens of other cities across the country and the world.
This year, in light of the major battles we have ahead of us, we are asking for all of you to join us in taking back pride. While we have so much to be proud of in what we have accomplished as a community, this fight is far from over. We want our community to not only remember those who have fought and died before us, but to forge ahead in the struggle — so that our children may one day live truly free and equal lives in this country.
The organizers of Pride Marches around the country work tirelessly over the course of the year to bring us the most inclusive marches and celebrations in the world. We want to help those organizers by working with them to implement plans for education and protest within our marches.
We know that our community is made up of every race, creed, religious affiliation and political background imaginable. We come from everywhere, from Africa to New Zealand. We represent Conservatives and Socialists. We are made up of Catholics and Buddhists alike. The time has come to embrace our ideals and differences and remember that what we have in common as a community – is our strength.
For Pride 2010, we ask that organizers and participants of marches around this great country take this opportunity to be heard. Yell. Scream. Chant. Wear your chaps and thongs, but carry a sign while you do it. Put on your most sequined ball gown, but shout for your rights as you flaunt your fabulousness. The sheer number of people who turn out in the streets this June will send a clear message around the world that we are not content with what we have. We are somebody. We deserve full equality.
If you’re marching with a group, ask your group what they are angry about. It could be Marriage Inequality, or Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. It could be that in 31 states, you can still be fired for being gay. (see the Get Angry section for more issues.)
We owe it to our community and to those young gay people who are still afraid to say who they are to TAKE BACK PRIDE. Make your signs. Create your chants. It’s time for us all to remember this is a march, not a parade. This is OUR celebration of who we are and it has the potential to once again be something we are ALL truly proud of.
Please join us by making a comittment to Take Back Pride in your own way.
Sequins and signs – we can do that! June 26, 2010: Alaska PrideFest in downtown Anchorage. Be there, and bring your friends.

Ann Reed in Anchorage, May 22

Saturday, 15 May 2010 – 12:31 PM | Comments Off on Ann Reed in Anchorage, May 22
Ann Reed in Anchorage, May 22
Lesbian singer Ann Reed returns to Anchorage for a concert on Saturday May 22, at 7:30 pm in the Wilda Marston Theater at Loussac Library. Tickets are $22 in advance/ $25 at the door, order through her site or call 1-800-947-9180.
Listen to a clip from Not Some Far Away Place, the first song on her most recent CD (and 20th album) Where The Earth Is Round.
Considering her decades of performing, she should have plenty of videos, but there are none on her website. YouTube only has poor-sound-quality clips of her concert with the Twin Cities Women’s Choir in February 2010, and this 1996 video of Hole in the Day. The sound is ok, but the visuals stop half way through.
Listen to Ann Reed’s Hole In The Day:

At her Anchorage concert in the mid 1990’s, Ann sang new-at-the-time songs and classics, like the funny parody Power Tools (are a Girl’s Best Friend), Heroes, about the famous women who influenced her, and Life Gets Real, a song about turning 40.

Coronation, 2nd Celebration for F. Ken, Leaders & Cleaners

Saturday, 15 May 2010 – 8:17 AM | Comments Off on Coronation, 2nd Celebration for F. Ken, Leaders & Cleaners
Coronation, 2nd Celebration for F. Ken, Leaders & Cleaners

Gay AK – Notes from LGBT Alaska

Coronation 38, Labor Day weekend

Alaska Coronation 38 — “Kickin’ it old School…Back to our Roots” Labor Day weekend in Anchorage, Sept. 2-6, 2010! Call the Sheraton for reservations (907) 276-8700, mention ‘ICOAA’ for the special rate. Visit Imperial Court of All Alaska for updates throughout the summer.

2nd Celebration of Life in August for F Ken Freedman

F. Ken Freedman, a long-time member of the Anchorage LGBT community, a licensed professional counselor, Queer Activist and loving presence in the world, passed away on Saturday, May 1, 2010. Many calls and e-mails came in after the Celebration of Life was held on May 6th saying “But I did not know”, “Can we have a second service?” We decided to do so. Please send your name to Victoria if you would like to be kept in the loop about this service. His brother, who was very close to F Ken, spoke to him daily on the phone would love to meet all of F Ken’s Alaskan family. They are planning a second Celebration of Life in August 2010 to allow the greater community to mourn with them. More details to follow as they are planned. Please sign his guest book and share your memories with F Ken’s family of origin and family of choice.

Judge Lack wins Harvard fellowship

Judge Jonathon Lack, appointed in 2007, serves as the Superior Court Master and District Court Magistrate in the Alaska Court System, and he is one of ten LGBT leaders to win a Harvard fellowship this summer from The Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute. Congratulations!

New leader for the UAF Gay-Straight Alliance

Jessi Angelette, president of the UAF Gay-Straight Alliance and the student spokesperson for the effort to add gays to the UA non-discrimination policy, is moving out of state this summer. Lauren Tibbitts-Travis, current pres. of the GSA at Juneau Douglas High School, is graduating and moving to UAF where she will be their new GSA president and will continue working for the UA policy change. The Regents agreed to deal with it this year, their next meeting is June 3-4 in Anchorage, and Lauren will speak at the meeting. Thanks, Lauren! Congratulations to Jessi on the pregnancy, and good luck in your next state!

PFLAG thanks Mary Parker

The Anchorage PFLAG Board of Directors has accepted, with gratitude and thanks, the resignation of Board member Mary Parker. Mary has been a board member for the past 14 years, among many other things she has been our primary contact person with all aspects of Anchorage youth and UAA during that entire time. She plans to continue her work as a point of contact for both youth and UAA, but she wants to eliminate Board meetings from her busy schedule. The Board thanks Mary for her many years of valuable service and we hope her future schedule has a little more flexibility. Thank you very much for your time and efforts Mary, your wisdom will be missed!

Thanks to the Fabulous Nine

A great big Thank You to the Fabulous 9 people who showed up at 10 a.m. on Saturday and worked so hard to clean the highway for PFLAG Juneau. There were 4 men and 5 women who worked really hard! We collected 12-15 bags of garbage and quite a bit of recyclables. The sunshine was glorious, the lake was beautiful, and we got several waves and gratitude honks from passers by. That was community service you can see and feel good about, SEAGLA and PFLAG working together on improving the community in which we all live… Thanks!

LGBT Caucus Joins Alaska Democratic Party

Friday, 14 May 2010 – 10:45 AM | Comments Off on LGBT Caucus Joins Alaska Democratic Party
LGBT Caucus Joins Alaska Democratic Party
Alaska’s first LGBT political caucus is official!
The Alaska Democratic Convention approved the new LGBT Caucus on Saturday as an adjunct to Alaska’s Democratic Party. The next meeting of the LGBT Caucus is May 24 at the Democratic Party headquarters in Anchorage.

“The LGBT community will now have an official voice in the Alaska Democratic Party,” said Bert Mead, long time Democratic activist.

“We hope to engage the LGBT community to participate in local, state, and federal campaigns, and provide the training and knowledge to get involved politically across the state.”

The LGBT Caucus will meet on a regular basis to support and endorse Democratic candidates running for office, meet and lobby elected officials, and recruit more LGBT Democrats to participate in the Alaska Democratic Party. Alaska’s other LGBT organizations are non-profits and cannot endorse political candidates or promote the activities of a political party.
“The Alaska Democratic Party welcomes the LGBT Caucus to our ranks,” said Patti Higgins, Chair of the Alaska Democratic Party.
“As the Democratic Party continues to lead the fight for freedom for all, we invite other groups to join and add their strength and voice to ours. It is our expectation that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ will be gone before the end of this year. We also expect that the Employment Non‐Discrimination Act will be passed.”
The Grrlzlist noted that this first LGBT Caucus of Alaska’s Democratic Party is a “fitting tribute to Dan Carter-Incontro,” Alaska’s first openly-gay Democratic delegate. Dan passed away on April 18, 2010.
The next meeting for the LGBT Alaska Democratic Party Caucus is on May 24, 2010 from 6-8pm, at the ADP Headquarters, 2602 Fairbanks Street in Anchorage. Come meet other LGBT Democrats and discuss the future of the caucus.
For more information about the LGBT Caucus, please contact Bert Mead.

This Week in LGBT Alaska 5/14/10

Friday, 14 May 2010 – 7:45 AM | Comments Off on This Week in LGBT Alaska 5/14/10
This Week in LGBT Alaska 5/14/10
This week’s LGBT events from Alaska GLBT News.

Juneau

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

Fairbanks

SOAP presents “Alice in the Underground” at the Empress Theater thru 5/15, at 7:30. Tickets $20 general/ $15 students, seniors, and military. Free for youth under 18.

Wednesday Social Group, contact Joshua for the location.

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

“Helping Transpeople Find Their Voice” on 5/15 at 9 p.m. A great show at Mad Myrna’s to benefit TransAKtion, the Transgendered Alaskan Social Group, and the TransAlaska Pipeline website.

LipGLoss Revue returns to Kodiak Bar & Grill on 5/15 at 10 p.m.

Community Bake Sale to benefit the Four A’s on 5/16 from 4-6:30 p.m. The annual Bake Sale at Mad Myrna’s includes a dessert competition this year!

GLBT Art Show entries sought by Out North, opens 5/21

Hater Alert: Sound Aviation

Thursday, 13 May 2010 – 11:16 AM | Comments Off on Hater Alert: Sound Aviation
Hater Alert: Sound Aviation
A Bent Alaska reader asked the owner of Sound Aviation – a flight-seeing company based in Anchorage – a few questions about his scenic tours and got a long homophobic rant in reply. Why? The reader’s email had a signature line supporting Alaskans Together for Equality, the statewide LGBT advocacy group, and Sound Aviation’s owner Bill Marsan felt compelled to tell a potential customer that gays can be cured – and pilot Bill can show us how:

God has created man to have fellowship with Him and gave man and women the desire to be fruitful and multiply—have children so that they too could enter into fellowship with God… He made sure that man knew why He had made him and gave him a book to instruct him. The Bible. This same Bible tells us that it is wrong and unnatural for men to burn with lust for other men and women to burn for other women. It is a crime against nature and the whole purpose and reason He made us. It is not loving but rather sinful. God has made a way for sinful man to be forgiven instead of being judged in the end. Since everything He asks man to submit to is right, just and loving —to do other than that is unloving and causes hurt, pain and misery to a society. The way to be forgiven is to stop sinning and submit to God’s rule of love which will bless all people you come in contact with. We are cleansed as we believe in the Lord Jesus and what He did on the cross—He came to allow a way for the law of God to be upheld and yet allow Him to forgive sinful man based on their faith in His substitutionary death on the cross–By faith in Him our pending doom can be canceled and we may begin a relationship with Him—It is really amazing to see how God deals with man–such patience with the wicked—waiting for them to turn to Him and His design for the universe. You to may enter into this amazing relationship TODAY—if you wish more information I would be happy to provide you with more. Homosexuality is NOT a civil rights issue —It is a SIN issue.

All that (and much more – this quote is only the second half of his reply) in response to a few questions about scenic tours.
We don’t have to support business owners who force their anti-gay religious bigotry on us! Spend your ‘gay dollars’ on gay-positive businesses, like those in the LGBT-Friendly Business Lists linked in the right-hand column of the blog.
Please spread the word about Marsan, so that no gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender visitor to our beautiful state becomes a captive audience to this hater and has to sit through a whole flight of his ugliness.

LGBT Art Show comes to Anchorage

Wednesday, 12 May 2010 – 6:10 PM | Comments Off on LGBT Art Show comes to Anchorage
LGBT Art Show comes to Anchorage
– a guest post by Zirrus VanDevere, owner of Art Works Gallery on the Kenai Peninsula, and author of the “Art Seen” column in the Redoubt Reporter.
—-
I own Art Works Gallery in Soldotna, Alaska, and recently held an invitational exhibit called “Celebrate”. The show was inspired by a speech President Obama gave to the Human Rights Campaign, and in it, he backed the LGBT community with no compromise, and I was incredibly moved.
I wanted this exhibit to be a celebration of the steps forward, rather than a rant, and feel that the artists rose to the challenge.
The Peninsula Clarion ran an article about it, and the response was entirely positive. I expected some sort of adverse reaction, but got absolutely NONE. It may actually be safe to come out on the Kenai Peninsula!
The show will now travel to Anchorage where the Out North Theater will display it in the large gallery space with new entries added to it. The show opens May 21st and runs through June 26th. Contact art@outnorth.org if you’d like to add your “voice”.

This Week in LGBT Alaska 5/7/10

Friday, 7 May 2010 – 6:49 AM | Comments Off on This Week in LGBT Alaska 5/7/10
This Week in LGBT Alaska 5/7/10
This week’s LGBT events from Alaska GLBT News.

Juneau

Annual Highway Clean-Up with PFLAG and SEAGLA on 5/8. Meet at the Auke Lake parking lot promptly at 10 a.m. wearing bright colored clothing. Bags and gloves are provided.

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

Fairbanks

SOAP Presents “Alice in the Underground” at the Empress Theater 5/7 thru 5/15, at 7:30. Tickets $20 general/ $15 students, seniors, and military. Free for youth under 18. On May 7, they’re hosting a First Friday event featuring youth artwork and a silent auction before the show.

Wednesday Social Group, contact Joshua for the location.

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

Identity Team in the Graze to Raise fundraiser 5/7, 5:30 p.m. Start at the Dena’ina Center and walk through downtown, raise funds for the Community Center.

TLFMC Dehibernation Brown Bear Bus Run 5/8, 12-5p.m. Ages 21+ only. Tickets $20. Bus leaves The Raven (708 East 4th Ave) at noon.

LGBT Democrat Caucus: Get Our LGTB Voices Heard, meeting on 5/11 at 7p.m. at the GLCCA.

Brandi Carlile brings ‘Ghost’ to Alaska

Thursday, 6 May 2010 – 12:23 PM | Comments Off on Brandi Carlile brings ‘Ghost’ to Alaska
Brandi Carlile brings ‘Ghost’ to Alaska

Alaskan audiences will enjoy openly lesbian singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile in two local concerts during her Give Up the Ghost tour: July 15 at The Blue Loon in Fairbanks, and July 16 at the Discovery Theater in Anchorage.