Sunday, 6 October 2013 – 5:19 PM
| Comments Off on A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013
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.
Saturday, 17 October 2009 – 9:52 AM
| Comments Off on Fairbanks Retreat, Panel, GSA, and Harvest Ball
Gays and allies in Fairbanks can enjoy an interesting variety of events in the next few weeks: the Wednesday social group is holding a cabin retreat, the UAF Women’s Studies Program is hosting a discussion on anti-gay talk, the Gay-Straight Alliance is showing the Laramie Project movie, and the Imperial Court of All Alaska is celebrating Halloween a week early with “A Haunted Enchantment” Harvest Ball at the Carlson Center.
Wednesday Social & Retreat
LGBT people and allies have been meeting on Wednesday nights around 9 p.m. In addition to the weekly social, the group rented a cabin on Oct. 23-25 for an LGBTA Retreat. “If you just want to stop out and chill instead of spending the night, you are welcome to do that too,” writes Joshua, the coordinator. RSVP to Joshua for the locations of the retreat and the Wednesday social.
UAF: Anti-Gay Discourse & Gay-Straight Alliance
The UAF Women’s Studies Program is hosting a panel discussion called “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Anti-Gay Discourse” from 1-2 p.m. in the Wood Center Multilevel Lounge on Tuesday, October 27. Chris Coffman (WMS Program Coordinator and English faculty), will moderate. Panelists include Sine Anahita of Sociology, Tim Lower of Psychology, Joseph Thompson of Philosophy, Jordan Titus of Sociology, and possibly others.
This semester, the UAF Gay-Straight Alliance is meeting on Mondays at 5 p.m. They will be sponsoring a free showing of The Laramie Project movie in Schaible Auditorium on Nov. 7 at 3 p.m. Email Jessi for the location of the GSA meetings.
“A Haunted Enchantment” Harvest Ball
The Grand Duchess and Grand Duke of Fairbanks invite you to their Harvest Ball “A Haunted Enchantment” on October 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Carlson Center. The doors open at 7:30 p.m., the show starts at 8:30, and tickets are $12.
The Harvest Ball is a costume party and drag show fundraiser that introduces the community to the newly elected Duchess and Duke of Fairbanks. “A Haunted Enchantment” includes performances by members of the Imperial Court of All Alaska (ICOAA) and by members of the wider community. Everyone is welcome to participate by attending, donating the entrance fee, or getting on stage and performing.
The Fairbanks Court holds several events throughout the year to raise money for two charity organizations, chosen by the Duchess and Duke at the end of their reign. More information is available on the main ICOAA website.
Tuesday, 15 September 2009 – 10:05 AM
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Update: The UAF Gay-Straight Alliance used this event to spark a dialogue about the “ex-gays” and earned the support of the Chancellor and the community. Read about it HERE.
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The huge event banner hanging from the stairs in the UAF Wood Center this week reads: “GAY? LONELY? CONFUSED? Hear Ex-Gay Edward Delgado’s Compelling True Story: “From Sin’s Bondage to Christ’s Freedom!” ‘Straight’ for over 20 years and married to a beautiful wife & has two sons!” The banner also advertises free de-gaying counseling and links to anti-gay websites.
The UAF Campus Bible Ministries is sponsoring the pray-away-the-gay speaker from Exodus International. Delgado is scheduled to speak 14 times in 4 days, on Sept 15-18. He is not one of their regular speakers and is not listed on any Exodus web sites.
Students in the Gay Straight Alliance will hand out information on the truth behind the “ex-gay” lies, and peacefully protest during the speeches. They also want the offensive banner to be removed.
“We aren’t looking to stop the speaker, as he does have the right to speak,” writes GSA member Jessi Angelette, “but the banner is uncalled for. Many people from staff to students are offended by it and are working to have the banner removed.”
The GSA will be tabling on the theme “Stop the Hate” on Tuesday from 12 to 2 p.m. in the Wood Center Mall. They asked to table all week, but were told the table space was all booked up. (Who reserved so many tables for this event?) Instead, they will peacefully protest outside on Wed., Thurs. and Friday.
LGBT-supportive students, staff and Fairbanks community members are invited to join the GSA. They will gather each day at the Wood Center before the first speech, around 10 a.m. on Wed. & Friday, and 11 a.m. on Thurs. Several students plan to attend one of the speeches “all rainbowed up.”
People everywhere can help by emailing the following people about taking down the offensive banner: UAF Chancellor Rogers; the Director of UAF’s Office of Equal Opportunity, Earlina Bowden; and the Board of Regents (Cynthia Henry, Chair or the full Board contact list.) In your message to the Board of Regents, please also mention the need to add sexual orientation to the UA system’s anti-discrimination policies.
The American Psychological Association released a report in August saying that pray-away-the-gay therapies do not work and can lead to depression or suicide. Instead, the APA encourages therapists to try other options for helping clients, like support networks, education on gay issues, or switching churches.
In the video below, three former leaders of Exodus International, including co-founder Michael Busse, explain the failure of “ex-gay” counseling methods and give a public apology for the harm they caused to gays and lesbians while working for Exodus:
University of Alaska students and supporters asked the Regents to add “sexual orientation” to the UA system’s nondiscrimination policy during the Regents meeting in Fairbanks last week. The News-Miner wrote in part:
Jessica Angelette, president of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Gay-Straight Alliance, told the university’s Board of Regents on Thursday that its current anti-discrimination rules lack explicit bans on discrimination based on “sexual orientation,” something she indicated leaves university life scarier for gay students and active supporters of gay rights.
Angelette told regents that some students, gay or straight, are harassed after participating in campus events. She said one girl moved out of her dorm room two weeks before classes ended because she was being bullied by her roommate.
“We … would like to work with the board to have the amending policy (be) the first step in making all campuses safe for every student,” she said.
The university system follows some “interdependent partnership” rules that extend benefits for same-sex couples to employees and faculty. But efforts to explicitly mention sexual orientation in the regents’ nondiscrimination policy — which bans discrimination based on sex, race and other factors — have fallen short at least twice, according to university records.
The comment section below the article is filled with thoughtful support and a few opponents who just don’t get it.
This comment posted under the screen name “reason” clearly explains why the policy change supports the UA mission and is essential in attracting the most qualified employees:
Kudos to UA students for taking the initiative to ask for a change in policy that is long overdue!
Many colleges and universities across the United States already include “sexual orientation” in their nondiscrimination policy, and many are beginning to add “gender identity” as well. The Fairbanks North Star Borough public school district already includes both of these aspects of identity in their nondiscrimination policy. It is important for UA to add both of these to its nondiscrimination policy in order to protect students, staff, and faculty from the very real incidents of harassment that do take place on campus and that Christopher Eshleman’s article describes very well. Adding to the UA’s nondiscrimination policy is essential in forwarding the university’s mission: students, staff, and faculty all need a climate free of harassment in order to do their best work.
Moreover, like any other organization situated in a national and international marketplace, UA is competing with comparable organizations for students, staff, and faculty. Accreditation standards require universities to hire faculty with the most advanced degrees in their fields, and in many disciplines, such degrees are not offered in the state of Alaska. UA thus _must_ compete in the national and international marketplace for many of its faculty. As a faculty member who has sat on search committees for job candidates, I recently heard a job candidate express great surprise upon learning that UA does not offer a form of protection from discrimination that elsewhere is considered “standard.” The lack of language concerning “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” hurts UA.
The University of Alaska system cannot and should not wait for a federal law banning discrimination based on “sexual orientation” and “gender identity”. Many universities, colleges, school districts, and businesses already ban these kinds of discrimination because such policies better help them to achieve their mission. UA needs those protections now: to ensure that we can compete most successfully in the national and international marketplace to deliver the best education to the students in Alaska, and to ensure that all of our people can do their best work in a climate free of harassment and discrimination.
Wednesday, 3 June 2009 – 10:05 PM
| Comments Off on UA Students ask Regents to Amend Non-Discrimination Policy
For the second time this year, University of Alaska students and supporters will ask the UA Board of Regents to add “sexual orientation” to the non-discrimination policy of the UA system. They will make their request during the Regents meeting on June 4-5 at UAF.
“It’s time that we take a stand and be proactive in making sure all students are protected,” reads the message on their Facebook event page. “The Board should not wait until a terrible incident happens to see how important amending the policy is.”
On April 8-9, a group of students from Fairbanks, and one from Juneau, traveled to Valdez to testify to board members about tuition and the univeristy’s non-discrimination policy. Jessica Angelette spoke on behalf of the UAF Gay Straight Alliance. The issue wasn’t on the April agenda, but board chair Cynthia Henry urged the students to keep the dialogue open.
UA President Mark Hamilton spoke with the students outside the meeting room on the Prince William Sound Community College campus. (Pictured from left to right: Hamilton, Patrick Sanders, Todd Vorisek, Jessica Angelette and Kirsten Halpin. Photo by Kate Ripley.)
The University of Alaska does not include “sexual orientation” in their non discrimination policies, although UAA includes it in their Diversity Statement. The Board of Regents must approve amendments to the policies.
“It would be good to have anyone in Fairbanks who supports us to come out and speak,” writes Jessica. “If you would like to share your story with the Board, please feel free to do so.”
The public testimony will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday June 4, and 9 a.m. on Friday June 5, in room 109 of the Butrovich Building at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. A sign-up sheet will be available prior to the meeting.
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.
“‘[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.
The very real consequences of DADT repeal; seeking survivor benefits for same-sex partner of Alaska shooting victim; waiting on SCOTUS decision about whether it will hear Prop 8 case; and other recent LGBTQ news selected by Sara Boesser in Juneau, Alaska.
In this month’s “Ask Lambda Legal” column, Lambda Legal answers a question about the federal government’s longstanding ban against donations of blood from men who have sex with men (MSM).
Alaska Pride Conference 2012 kicks off on October 5 with a First Friday showing at Tref.Punkt Studio of Love is Love, a photographic exhibit of LGBT couples from across the state.
United for marriage: Light the way to justice. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this Tuesday and Wednesday, March 26–27, in two cases about freedom to marry. Please join us on Tuesday, March 26, at the federal courthouse in Anchorage (7th & C) in a circle united for equality.
Pariah, a critically acclaimed film about a 17-year-old African-American woman embracing her lesbian identity, will screen at UAA on Friday, November 2, and will be followed by a discussion on acceptance in honor of Mya Dale. The event is free and open to the public.
Juneau
