Friday, 3 October 2008 – 9:59 AM
| Comments Off on This Week in GLBT Alaska – 10/3/08
Check out this week’s events from Alaska GLBT News.
Juneau
Jump the Broom: in Solidarity and Celebration of Love and Marriage 10/5, 3:30-7:30 p.m. Juneau Arts & Cultural Center. All proceeds go to Equality for All.
Fairbanks
Harvest Ball 10/3, door at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. $15 at the Pioneer Park Civic Center. ICOAA
Disco/Funk Party with DJ Double D 10/4, 9 p.m.-? 21 and over. Jeff’s house.
Anchorage
Ever Ready in Eagle River 10/3, 7:30 – 11:30 p.m.
Salon DaVinci’s Four A’s Fundraiser 10/4, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
End of Summer Weenie Roast with The Last Frontier Men’s Club 10/4, 7 p.m.
The Voices of Mad Myrna’s, a Night of “Live” Karaoke 10/4, 9 p.m.
Bible Study at MCC, starting this Sunday 10/5, 1:15-1:45 p.m.
Hump Day Happy Hour with TLFMC 10/8, 5-7 p.m.
Saturday, 27 September 2008 – 1:45 PM
| Comments Off on Court crowns Emperor and Empress, gives awards and scholarships at Coronation
Mike Bartels of Fairbanks and Paula Butner of Anchorage were crowned at Coronation 2008 as the new Emperor and Empress of the Imperial Court of All Alaska (ICOAA). The Court also announced the winners of five annual awards, and the recipients of the scholarship program.
A total of $60,000 was granted to the 25 scholarship recipients for 2008.
The Scholarship Awards are based on economic need, scholastic achievement, leadership ability and contributions to the Lesbian/Gay community, with preference given to members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and allied (GLBTA) community.
The Imperial Court’s five annual community service awards are given to individuals and businesses in Alaska’s GLBTA community.
Chosen by the College of Emperors and Empresses:
The Raymond Jorgenson Community Service Award to a group/business went to Bent Alaska
Raymond Jorgenson worked tirelessly for many years on behalf of the GLBTA community of Alaska and the Imperial Court. He was a founding member of every GLBT organization that existed during his day and espoused that it was only through our combined efforts that Alaska’s community could grow stronger. In his honor, the College chooses an organization, group, or business award each year to recognize their outstanding works on behalf of our community.
The C Wayne Hussey Community Service Award to an Individual went to Mr. Gay Alaska Kevin Holtz
C Wayne Hussey was the first Elected Empress of All Alaska and a founder of the Imperial Court of All Alaska. This award is presented annually by the College in recognition of an individual’s outstanding contributions to the community.
Elected by the Fairbanks Community:
The Rochelle DeLite Fairbanks Community Service Award went to College Floral owned by Michael Bartels
Rochelle DeLite served the Fairbanks Community and Imperial Court throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s as a driving force to keep both the Duchy of Fairbanks and the community together. In her memory, the GLBTA community of Fairbanks elects a recipient each year for their outstanding contributions to the Fairbanks Community.
Elected by Alaska’s LGBT Community during voting for Emperor and Empress:
The Peter Dispirito Award for Community Service went to Allie Hernandez.
An outspoken member of the community, Peter was very active in all GLBTA Community affairs. He was instrumental in opening the first gay bar in Alaska, was one of the founding members of the Imperial Court of All Alaska, one of the foremost members of the gay social scene and was loved by all who knew him. He was murdered in 1973. His murderer was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a mere 2 ½ years in prison. After serving only several months, he was released on parole. The murder and subsequent light treatment of the murderer only served to unite the Gay community and sparked the first real Gay Community activism in Alaska. To honor his memory past recipients, the board of directors of the ICOAA, and the College all place nominations on the ballot at the time of voting for Emperor and Empress… the community then elects the recipient of the award for their contributions to the advancement of the GLBTA Community in Alaska.
Chosen by the reigning Emperor and Empress and given to persons under the age of 21:
The Shante’ Youth Volunteer Service Award went to Paul O’Leary & Ashley Earll.
This award is given in memory of Shante’, for her outstanding contributions to the community. Our Hawaiian Princess worked closely and tirelessly with the GLBT youth of Anchorage to further acceptance among their peers and a more cohesive bond between them and the broader GLBT community. Also as a teacher of her Native dance to other young people, she brought them into our community as allies, helping foster new lasting friendships and understanding in the Anchorage community at large.
Monday, 8 September 2008 – 10:40 PM
| Comments Off on Out in Alaska’s Adventure Tours for Gay and Lesbian Travelers
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner published this great story about Out in Alaska, Tim Stallard’s successful business taking gay and lesbian visitors on wilderness adventures in Alaska.
Read the story, then visit
Out in Alaska and check out Tim’s exciting tours.
Fairbanks tour guide finds niche in gay, lesbian market
Matt Hage
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Our basecamp among the fireweed of Bulldog Cove was right out of an Alaska postcard.
Behind us sat a freshwater lagoon hemmed in by jagged peaks covered in a lush carpet of green. The view from our beach overlooked the coastal Bear Glacier. Waves crashed against the twisted sea stacks that cut the cove off from the rest of Resurrection Bay, about 20 miles from Seward. It was picture perfect; exactly what you want if you are a traveler paying a pretty penny for a guided Alaska experience.
I was one of a dozen guests on a week-long tour with Out in Alaska, a Fairbanks-based guide service that specializes in adventurous trips for gay and lesbian travelers. Our 10-day itinerary began with three-days of sea kayak touring in Kenai Fjords National Park and the charter boat had just dropped our gang on the beach. Guide and company owner Tim Stallard was earning his paycheck, zipping around the beach to help clients setup tents, making sure the kayaks were secure and erecting a tarp for the camp kitchen. This definitely wasn’t his first rodeo; Stallard moved around camp, taking care of
challenge after challenge while keeping his cool. To watch him calmly explain how to set-up a tent for the fifth time or answer 101 questions about bear attacks was to witness superhuman patience.
“Guiding takes a tremendous amount of patience, which luckily I seem to have,” Stallard said, noting he expects many questions on his trips; most of his clients are gay men from big cities whose outdoor experience measures little to none.
Roughing it doesn’t seem to score very high with that demographic and Stallard is usually taking clients on their first big outdoor adventure. For Ronnie Ventura and Bob deLuna of New York, this would be their first camping trip. Ever. Thomas Gardiner, an Englishman who is now living in New York, said this was something he hadn’t done for a very long time and never in big wilderness. Californians Jeremy Marble and Joe Dintino were a bit more experienced with the outdoors. Dintino enjoyed telling his “bears in camp” story from Yosemite National Park just after Stallard had given assurance to a sleep-deprived guest.
Mylissa Denny from Austin, Texas was fresh out of the Army where she had done plenty of sleeping on the ground, mostly in Afghanistan overlooking Tora Bora.
“Looks like I’m the token lesbian,” she said, introducing herself at camp.
She was the only woman on the trip roster, which might prove awkward for a week-long tour where you don’t know anyone else. But not here on the beach of Bulldog Cove.
“It’s always good to have a lesbian around to do the heavy lifting,” Gardiner joked, much to the delight of Denny.
It became apparent that the ice has already been broken and the crew is already fast friends.
“And you’re the token straight guy,” Denny said, referring to me just when I was wondering where I stood with this eclectic group.
It was also apparent that nobody was going to be out of the loop throughout our journey, which began on the waters of Resurrection Bay and culminated with a backpacking trip into Denali State Park.
About Out in Alaska
Stallard’s Out in Alaska is the culmination of over a decade of experience managing outdoor recreation projects. In the mid-1990’s, he took over the student-run Outdoor Adventures at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Stallard had some big ideas for a major overhaul of what was a small closet space with a checkout desk for ratty sleeping bags and miss-matched skis. Within a few years he turned the office into a proud outdoor program that allowed students from all over the world to rent high quality equipment and sign up for guided trips that would get them out in Alaska. Many of the trips offered were his own creations, including our adventure to Bulldog Cove.
“I used to bring UAF students out here,” he replied when I asked how he knew about the place.
Stallard’s UAF program took hundreds of students backpacking along Kesugi Ridge in Denali State Park, which is also the second part of this week-long Out in Alaska adventure.
Even though Stallard came from a family steeped in business sense, he didn’t take a turn down that road until graduate school.
“My dad is a successful entrepreneur, so I always knew it is possible to create your own opportunity, work for yourself, and even create jobs for others,” he said.
Having spent several years in the world of outdoor recreation and instruction, Stallard made the decision to study business and make a go of his own guiding company when an opportunity for graduate school surfaced.
“There were already a number of guiding businesses around Alaska so I would need to offer something unique,” he said. “About that time I read that the gay and lesbian segment of the USA travel market was estimated to be around $55 billion. Niche travel of all sorts was growing in popularity and nobody was offering trips specifically for gay travelers in Alaska, so I had my idea.”
Stallard completed his Master of Business Administration with three years of night classes and launched his niche business in the fall 2004. He credits his initial success with a strong web presence, some carefully placed advertising and networking at a few travel trade shows. Out in Alaska took off with four scheduled trips the following year. After the 2006 travel season, Stallard’s venture was almost breaking even. “But I was getting busier and busier and could no longer continue to work a day job and develop my business,” he said. “This was a moment of blind faith; I could cut my losses of money invested and stick with the safety and benefits of my regular job or quit and develop my business further.”
He jumped. And he jumped far. His 2008 listing holds a dozen adventures, from the Brooks Range to Katmai National Park to Fjords of the Kenai Peninsula. Most of them filled way in advance. The trips are not limited to gay and lesbian individuals, nor do they have limits on experience level. Stallard’s business is geared to urbanites who have little to no experience in the wilderness. Anyone who can handle a computer and the Internet can make a reservation on his Web site,
www.outinalaska.com, and sign up for an adventure.
The trip
Sea kayaking from a basecamp could be the perfect trip option for novice wilderness travelers in Alaska. Paddling a tandem kayak for a 10-mile tour was just about perfect for our crew. And when the seas began to pick up on the third day, we cut our tour short and headed back to the protection of the cove. Our water taxi even stopped by to check on us while out making another pick-up.
We made it back, and life in Bulldog Cove was easy, but plans for the upcoming hike reminded us we weren’t done working. Backpacking in the Alaska Range in August, as we were preparing to do in our next leg of the excursion, is a whole different story. As a whole, this group was out to push themselves. It’s a good thing. Our tour was a 17-mile section of the popular Kesugi Ridge Trail system. An initial three-mile climb up the Little Coal Creek Trail took us to a high alpine wonderland, complete with hooting Arctic ground squirrels, boulder-strewn cascades and crystal tarns as clear as the mountain air. Stallard’s guests were in awe as the setting sun cast its rays on our camp during dinner. Little did we know this light show was the precursor to a violent night of big wind, rain and hail. Everyone’s tent-pitching skills where put to the test as the storm came out of nowhere. Once again, Stallard was working hard, checking in on each tent after taking care of the cook tarps in a torrential rain. Sitting tight to wait out this storm with a couple boxes of wine was not an option up here. Tomorrow we would have to hike in this car wash. For a minute I wondered if there would be any casualties, but laughter from a distant tent gave confidence that this crew was going to be all right.
Our final morning in Denali State Park dawned cold and wet. The entire crew crowded the cooking area, huddled over steaming cups of coffee in their rain jackets. Stallard worked the small camp stove to keep the coffee thermos filled and bring water to boil for morning hot cereal. Our camp high on Kesugi Ridge was now in the clouds and a hanging mist entrapped us in a shroud perfect for hypothermia. But even in the steady drizzle, Stallard’s guests remained in the highest spirits. Cheerful sing-song calls of “g’morning” went around camp. Searching the bear-proof food kegs for hot cocoa, my wet hands struggled with the lid.
“Ask Mylissa, she’ll get that open for you,” Ventura chided with a grin.
Denny put down her own steaming mug and motioned for me to hand it over. She effortlessly clicked the lid and handed me the cocoa bag.
Conversation swirled around the hissing stove, but a lot had changed in the past week. For the first time in their lives, these travelers got to partake in one of the great traditions of wilderness travel. Spend enough time with any group in any wilderness and the morning conversation invariably turns to toilet talk. It was inspiring to see this collage of folks from urban America hilariously sharing their bathroom adventures while scarfing instant oatmeal from a plastic bowl in the rain. It was a sure sign of complete immersion: They were backpackers. Stallard’s work here was done.
Well, almost done. Stallard actually had a lot more work in front of him. My time with Out in Alaska was done, but he and his seven guests were on the hunt for a few large pizzas and pitchers of beer in the Denali National Park area. Stallard planned to see the last of his clients off a couple days later in Fairbanks and almost immediately start preparing for the arrival of the next crew for a weeklong adventure on the world-famous Yukon River. But Stallard has no regrets about the pace; he recognizes that he has a job that many would dream of having.
“My office is the great outdoors,” he said. “I get paid to visit spectacular areas of Alaska.”
But the job can also be exhausting and Stallard admitted by August he is looking forward to things slowing down in the winter. To do this work means that he forfeits his own summer. But, he said, it’s worth it.
“My guests continually remind me of how special Alaska is and how lucky I am to live here.”
Token straight guy Matt Hage works as a magazine photographer based in Anchorage.
Friday, 22 August 2008 – 5:08 PM
| Comments Off on This Week in GLBT Alaska 8/22/08
Check out this week’s events from Alaska GLBT News, the email newsletter.
Fairbanks
White Trash Party with DJ Double D, 8/23, 9 p.m-? at Jeff’s house.
Homer
Wasilla
Ever Ready at the Great Bear Brewing Restaurant, 8/23, 8 p.m.-midnight
Anchorage
Four MCC Programs on the “Ex-Gay” Movement, Thursdays 8/21-9/11, 6:30 p.m. $6
Ever Ready at the AMVETS Post 49, 8/22, 7-11 p.m.
Northern Exposure Bowling League season registration, 8/23, 4 p.m. at Park Lanes
Benefit for Off the Rocks, 8/23, 7 p.m., at Out North, pay what you can. More info.
Hump Day Happy Hour with The Last Frontier Men’s Club, 8/27, 5-7 p.m. at the Raven every 2nd & 4th Wednesday.
Thursday, 21 August 2008 – 10:45 PM
| Comments Off on 1049 Daily US Newspapers Accept Same-Sex Wedding Announcements – But Only 339 Have Received Them
Q. Which of Alaska’s daily newspapers will print same-sex wedding announcements?
A. All of them – technically.
Alaska is one of only 9 states where all of the daily newspapers will print same-sex wedding announcements, according to a report this week from
GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
The Juneau Empire posted a
same-sex wedding announcement in May, and the Anchorage Daily News has printed several. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner agrees to print them (but hasn’t yet) only if the wedding is legally recognized where it was performed. Alaska’s other daily newspapers (see chart) will print our wedding, union and commitment ceremony announcements – but none have been submitted.
The
Announcing Equality project asks us to send our announcements to local newspapers to increase LGBT visibility.
In cities and small towns all over the country, communities are seeing the lives of their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) family members, friends and neighbors reflected in their media outlets. These stories will spur the kinds of everyday conversations that will change hearts and minds.
GLAAD first launched the Announcing Equality campaign in 2002, after working with The New York Times to open its weddings/celebrations pages to lesbian and gay couples. Six years later, the number of inclusive newspapers has jumped from 70 to 1049, and nearly 72 percent of all daily newspapers in the United States now accept wedding and/or commitment ceremony announcements for same-sex couples.
Unfortunately, most of these papers haven’t had a chance to run an announcement. That’s where you come in!
We’re urging you to recognize the celebrations and milestones in your life by sharing the story with the newspaper, and to share your story in other forms of media, from office newsletters and union periodicals to church bulletins, public radio, Facebook and YouTube.
And be sure to send the link to Bent Alaska!
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ALASKA
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Media Outlet
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City
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URL
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Will Publication Print an Announcement?
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Has Publication Printed an Announcement in the Past?
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Anchorage Daily News
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Anchorage
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Y
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Y
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Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
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Fairbanks
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L
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N
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Juneau Empire
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Juneau
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Y
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Y
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Peninsula Clarion
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Kenai
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Y
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N
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Ketchikan Daily News
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Ketchikan
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Y
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N
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Kodiak Daily Mirror
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Kodiak
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Y
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N
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
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Sitka
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Y
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N
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L = Newspaper will print announcements only if the union is legally recognized.
Friday, 15 August 2008 – 2:45 PM
| Comments Off on This Week in GLBT Alaska 8/15 – 8/21
From the newsletter Alaska GLBT News (
subscribe):
Juneau
SEAGLA members will meet and greet the
Pied Piper‘s Alaska gay travel group, Sunday 8/17 at 5-7 p.m. The Imperial Bar and Billiards.
Fairbanks
Enter the Tundra Buffalo Run in Denali Park, as a fundraiser for the
Interior Aids Association on Saturday 8/16. Register at Riley Creek Mercantile 2-4 p.m. $25 entry fee.
Kenai
Anchorage
ICOAA Emperor & Empress Voting 8/16 at the GLCCA 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Absentee ballots for download at ICOAA.
Bag Lady Sue Comedy Show, Saturday 8/16 at 9 p.m. Mad Myrna’s, $10.
MCC Board of Directors Meeting 8/17. Service at 2 p.m., meeting at 3:30 p.m.
Debate Party for Mark Begich, Wednesday 8/20, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Email M.E. for more information.
It didn’t rain on the Golden Days Parade, and the forty-five-foot rainbow flag from Key West, Florida cast multicolored light on the girl skipping beneath it as the PFLAG contingent marched down Second Avenue in Fairbanks, Alaska.
“The flag did not arrive until the afternoon before the parade,” said Terrie Donovan, marcher and organizer of the PFLAG Golden Days Picnic after the parade. “There was a lot of anxiety that it might not get here in time.”
In 2003, Key West Pridefest commissioned Gilbert Baker to make the world’s longest gay pride flag, which was sixteen feet wide by a mile and a quarter long and took 3,000 volunteers to carry. Baker created the original rainbow flag design in 1978 at the request of the late Harvey Milk, the first openly-gay San Francisco City Supervisor.
After the Key West Parade, the flag was cut into sections and loaned to gay pride groups around the country. Peter Pinney of Fairbanks PFLAG and Tim Stallard of Out in Alaska arranged to borrow a sixteen foot by forty-five foot section for the Golden Days Parade.
The Golden Days Parade celebrates the gold rush origins of Fairbanks. Many local groups and politicians march in the parade, and spectators camp out in folding chairs to reserve a good spot.
PFLAG marcher Beverly Chmelik was interviewed for the Channel 11 live parade broadcast, and her interview was on the local news. “They asked what PFLAG was about and what we do. I told them it was a support group for parents of gay, lesbian and transgender children, and for those who are coming out and wanting to tell their families.”
“I forgot to say that for more information, please see our booth at the Fair.” PFLAG Fairbanks is building a themed booth for the Tanana Valley Fair, August 1-9.
PFLAG held their annual Golden Days Picnic at Nussbaumer Park, providing hamburgers, hotdogs and lemonade to a group of lesbians, gay men, transgendered women, straight allies and children. The picnic was funded by a grant from the Imperial Court of All Alaska.
The historic rainbow flag segment was returned to Florida – until next year.
Before the parade, Beverly Chmelik, Pete Pinny and another PFLAG member hold the Fairbanks chapter banner while the rest of the contingent holds the historic rainbow flag from Florida. Photo by Shayle.
