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Action: Anti-trans Denny’s manager needs diversity training

Tuesday, 26 January 2010 – 4:14 PM | 9 Comments

A transgender support group in Anchorage was harassed during a recent meeting at Denny’s restaurant and now the Denny’s corporate office is backing out of a proposed diversity training for the local staff. Anja co-founded the trans support group and their TransAlaska Pipeline website. She sent this message to Bent Alaska:

After the ugly incident that ocurred here in Anchorage, Alaska on December 27, 2009 in which a Denny’s manager openly pointed out and made fun of a group of trangendered people TO OTHER CUSTOMERS in the crowded restaurant, we were led to believe that Denny’s would be subjecting their employees to sensitivity training concerning transpeople as an acceptable resolution.

We have been more than diplomatic in dealing with them, requesting that the manager who incited the incident not be fired, but instead be required to attend an Identity, Inc. sensitivity training.

Denny’s obviously took this as a sign of weakness, and is trying to ignore the whole incident now.

It appears that Denny’s corporate is now pushing this off as a local matter to be swept under the carpet with NO action taken anywhere.

We must take a stand on this. To all of my sisters and brothers out there who are tired of being discriminated against, PLEASE write a letter/e-mail of concern to Denny’s Corporate. Let them know that doing nothing about this is unacceptable, and that it must never be allowed to happen again.

Go to the national Denny’s contact page, click the “Email Us” link and voice your concerns.

Denny’s was involved in a series of lawsuits in the 1990’s involving servers denying or providing inferior service to racial minorities, especially African-American customers. After a $54.4 million settlement, Denny’s created a racial sensitivity training program for all its employees.

Last year, Denny’s lost a transgender bias case in Maine. “This company needs diversity training to understand what it means to be gender-nonconforming,” said Betsy Smith, executive director of Equality Maine.

Wasilla blogger: liberals use children for sex toys & gays are "dead end" of society

Friday, 22 January 2010 – 7:36 AM | 4 Comments

Today is the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s pro-choice Roe v Wade ruling. Why is that on a blog about Gay Alaska? Let’s get Larry from Wasilla to explain the connection:

“This victimization of the underaged female, and the failure of society to remark or to react with condemnation, point to the success of the goal of the liberals who want to use our children for sex toys. This success is marked by the revealing clothes young girls wear, MTV, the ever younger indoctrination of our young in public schools about sex and alternative lifestyles… Abortion is part of the desensitization of society to the taboos associated with how we view and treat our young… The homosexual agenda shares in the goal of the liberal establishment that seeks to breakdown morality and the family to accomplish recruitment for casual sex at ever younger ages.”

Larry Wood was somehow allowed to write an Alaska Gubernatorial column for the Examiner. He wrote glowing columns about Sarah Palin until she quit and made him write about appointed governor Sean Parnell. The quote above is from a column asking Parnell to sign a petition to declare fetuses a protected minority group and thus make abortion a hate crime. The post begins:

“A national movement has finally hit Alaska. This movement seeks to extend Constitution protection to the right to ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ to the unborn. Given former Governor Sarah Palin’s avowed pro-life stance, one wonders if Governor Sean Parnell will add his voice in support of this initiative?… Unlike Sarah Palin, his predecessor, Parnell has yet to speak out on the issue of whether or not the State should be in the business of killing babies in the womb.”

What do you want to bet that ol’ red-shirt Larry testified against extending protection to the right to ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ to the LGBT residents of Anchorage who tried to pass a nondiscrimination ordinance last summer? The anti-abortion post isn’t the first time he called gays pedophiles. His post on the passage of the Hate Crimes Act berated our Congress members for supporting it:

“Yes, Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Don Young, two staunch, conservative Republicans voted with the pack, rather than voice their disapproval of this dirty trick by the Reid Senate and the Pelosi House. Of course, Sen. Mark Begich voted with his party to further establish homosexuals as a “protected” class under a system of law that was supposed to be based upon the fact that none stand above any other…. Meanwhile, in our Congress, the priority is keep pedophiles and homosexuals from being offended by heterosexuals. Once again the liberal congress and Alaska’s congressional delegation said to Hell with our troops and their needs. Why, the egos of this evolutionary dead end faction of our society takes precedent over the welfare of our troops in harms way.”

Protecting a minority group that is targeted for discrimination does not raise them above others, it simply levels the field. But given his opinion on protected status – that it raises some groups above others and creates an unfair situation – his argument in the very next column in favor of making fetuses a protected class, and thus unfairly raising them above others, is a stunning about-face. Enough to give one a touch of vertigo.

Of course, Pres. Obama is also to blame for gays and liberal destroying the country. In the special rights for fetuses column, his tirade against gays and “liberals who want to use our children for sex toys” includes a predictable attack on Obama for the appointment of Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Educators Network:

“One of the most notable examples is the North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), supported by Kevin Jennings, President Obama’s director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools (OSDFS).”

You knew he was going to mention NAMBLA, didn’t you? How tired. And completely untrue. Kevin Jennings is the current punching bag of the far right homophobes because he’s an openly gay man appointed by Pres. Obama – two people who send the far right into crazyland. Jennings founded GLSEN and dedicated his life to creating safer schools for LGBT kids, and no, he does not support illegal sexual activities. But truth is low on the far right list of priorities, well below firing gays and demonizing liberals. He also argues that abortion causes immigration:

“Another byproduct of abortion is the current illegal migrant worker situation. These are foreign nationals that are in the U.S. illegally, who are taking jobs, benefits and resources that are rightfully the purview of the naturalized U.S. citizen and their children. Abortion has created the demand for labor by terminating approximately 45 million Americans before birth, too many in the last trimester of the reproductive process. We have killed those before they are born who would otherwise be there to replace an aging and diminishing U.S. workforce.”

Creepy, huh? Let’s drag his whole paranoid argument out into the light and see what it says. (hold on to something solid):

Abortion causes illegal immigration,

because America doesn’t have enough poor children

waiting to fill all the menial jobs for starvation wages.

And abortion promotes the homosexual agenda

because… well, somehow abortion allows gays to share

in the liberal goal of using children as sex toys.

So if Gov. Parnell is a good governor like Sarah Palin,

he will sign a petition to give ‘special rights’ to fetuses

(protected group status for stigmatized minority groups,

like gays, but fetuses should have them instead.)

Then abortion will be classified as murder

and that will magically stop

non-white foreigners from sneaking into America,

put an end to casual sex, rape and MTV,

and prevent gay people from taking over Congress.

Pure. Batshit. Crazy.

Palin, McCain, Gay Marriage and CPAC

Thursday, 21 January 2010 – 7:14 PM | 2 Comments

Several bits of news converged this week connecting Sarah Palin, John McCain, gay marriage and republicans in a tangled web that may spell change in the GOP:

1. Cindy McCain, the former presidential hopeful’s wife, posed for a photo shoot with the NOH8 campaign against Prop 8 and in favor of gay marriage. Daughter Meghan already posed for the campaign. Senator McCain’s office released a statement saying that he continues to oppose marriage equality. He is running for re-election this year.

2. Sarah Palin endorsed McCain’s re-election campaign and agreed to stump for him. Palin may have a gay friend (what pageant girl doesn’t have a gay friend?) but she doesn’t support legal rights for gays. She opposes domestic partnerships, civil unions and marriage equality. Cindy McCain’s NOH8 photo shoot is not likely to improve Palin’s opinion of her.

3. Neither Palin nor McCain are speaking at CPAC, the annual conservative conference, but gay republicans are co-sponsoring the event. The anti-gay Liberty Counsel threatened to withdraw from CPAC because the organizers accepted sponsorship from GOProud, who would like to be friends with Sarah but would have better luck with Cindy and Meghan.

4. Palin did not speak at CPAC last year either, or rather, she was supposed to speak but didn’t attend. She said she never committed, CPAC said she did. The conference organizer accused Palin of “whining” after she backed out, which may explain why she isn’t going this year.

5. Other CPAC co-sponsors include the Alliance Defense Fund, the ultra-conservative legal team defending Prop 8 in the current federal trial, and NOM, a national group for straights-only marriage that produced those ridiculous Gathering Storm ads for Prop 8. They also ran the campaign that repealed marriage equality in Maine. These are the groups Palin appeals to, but she isn’t attending the conference. Instead, she’s speaking at a Tea Party shindig while gay republicans climb into bed with the anti-gay CPAC sponsors.

6. The federal court challenge on the legality of Prop 8 continued this week with the republican mayor of San Diego testifying in support of gay marriage because he wants his lesbian daughter to have a legally equal relationship with her lover, not a second class civil union or domestic partnership. Ted Olson, a top conservative lawyer and the former Solicitor General of the United States, is defending gay marriage.

7. GayPolitics posted a list of prominent republicans who support marriage equality, including Steve Schmidt, McCain’s chief strategist during his 2008 presidential run, and FOX News contributor Margaret Hoover, who announced her support for marriage equality last week in an op-ed titled, “Why I’m Joining the Fight for Marriage Equality.” Sarah Palin was hired by FOX the same week.

High profile republicans are coming out in support of gay marriage, even leading the way to marriage equality. Openly gay republicans are co-sponsoring conservative events. Even FOX has a pro-equality commentator. Perhaps mainstream republicans are trying to regain control of their party from the religious extremists by making support for gay marriage a moderate position.

Where will that leave Sarah Palin and her far right religious fans who refuse to accept the “gay marriage = individual liberty” memo? On the outer fringe, where they belong.

Ex-gays inspire Kill the Gays bill in Uganda, CBC & Prevo are silent

Thursday, 10 December 2009 – 2:43 PM | 2 Comments

American ex-gay leaders, mega-church pastors and conservative senators are behind the push for Uganda’s anti-homosexuality law that will impose life imprisonment for being gay, death by hanging for having gay sex if you’re HIV positive, and up to 3 years in prison for not reporting gay people to the government.

U.S. ex-gays organized a conference in Uganda earlier this year that provided the inspiration and supposed “evidence” to justify the Anti-Homosexuality Law, introduced right after the conference. If gays can be cured by prayer, goes the argument, then those who continue to be gay are just not praying hard enough. In Uganda, being gay is already a crime, and now anyone who isn’t cured will be sent to prison for life or killed.

Is the true intent of the ex-gay industry to eliminate homosexuals – by any means necessary? Do the sponsors of the ex-gay events in Alaska support this? Why haven’t the UAF Campus Bible Club, the Abbott Loop Community Church, and Jerry Prevo spoken out and condemned this death bill?

Rachel Maddow is reporting an on-going series called “Uganda Be Kidding Me” on the U.S. connection to the proposed law. A segment focusing on the ex-gays shows three American groups closely involved with Uganda’s effort to eliminate gays: congressmen connected to The Family, evangelical pastors, and the ex-gays.

Watch Uganda Be Kidding Me: the story behind ‘curing’ gays (Dec 8):

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The ex-gay methods are dangerous and ineffective, and these groups are exporting a deadly homophobia to countries like Uganda. But the larger goal of The Family is Dominion, a world run by evangelical Christian rule. In other words, sharia, and a return to the Dark Ages.

Frank Schaeffer on the Brad Blog shows that killing gays for Jesus is just part of the larger plan. Bruce Wilson on Talk To Action connects Rick Warren’s purpose driven “reformation” to Uganda’s anti-homosexuality law, and explains the Dominion plan for setting up evangelical Christian governments. Uganda is just the tip of the iceberg.

Box Turtle Bulletin tracks the ex-gay industry and has been following the Uganda bill all year.

For an inside look on African gays, GayUganda is a blog written by a gay Uganda man who is still in the country, writing about the bill and the international response, and questioning whether he and his partner should leave or stay and be martyred. It’s heartbreaking.

So who is going to ask Campus Bible Club, Abbott Loop, and Prevo if they support the Kill the Gays bill?

Anti-Gay Lobby Bullies UA Regents and Students

Thursday, 3 December 2009 – 11:07 PM | 2 Comments

Bent Alaska and the UA student, staff and faculty group asking the Board of Regents to add sexual orientation to the UA non-discrimination policy both got an unusual Facebook friend request the day after Thanksgiving: from Dave Bronson, of the anti-gay Alaska Family Council.

Why did Bronson ask to friend us three days before the regents meeting at UAA, when it was already public knowledge that the students would make their request again? Did he hope we wouldn’t notice that he’s an employee of the Family Council? Was he that desperate to know what else we might have planned?

Earlier in the week, the Alaska Family Council – a political lobby group unrelated to the university – sent an email blast titled “Don’t Let UA Regents Be Bullied By Homosexual Activists,” denouncing the students who are asking for the policy change (and who mostly happen to be heterosexual):

We have learned that activists in the homosexual movement are attempting to convince the University of Alaska Board of Regents to change the university non-discrimination policy so as to give special recognition to homosexuals. If successful, individuals engaging in homosexual behavior will be afforded the same recognition as members of racial and ethnic minorities.

Of course we want the same recognition as other minority groups. And if we’re asking for the same rights, then they aren’t special rights, they’re equal rights.

The Family Council told their members to email each of the 11 regents and pressure them to reject the students’ request.

Jessi Angelette, a UAF student leading the effort, did testify at the meeting, saying in part:

I am here today before you once again to urge you to amend the current non-discrimination policy and to add it to the next meeting’s agenda…

The Alaska Family Council has sent out an email stating that you the Regents are being bullied by homosexual extremists. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. We are a representation of the students you have sworn an oath to educate and protect. There are thousands of students who call the campuses home while trying to attain their education. Isn’t it their right to feel protected from being harassed and discriminated against based on their orientation or their perceived orientation where they call home?

After doing research of other college and university non-discrimination policies, we have found that many have sexual orientation included in their polices and some of the schools are in states that do not have laws protecting LBGT citizens, such as Alabama. We have also looked at Tier 4 in the school rankings where UAF is ranked and have found only 1/6 of the schools do not have sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policy. These schools have shown that even though their cities and states may not have laws to protect the LBGT citizens, they have taken it upon themselves to insure the safety of their students.

UAA students John and Heather Aronno also support the policy change. In The Bully on Campus at UAA, they quote the Family Council argument that this policy would limit their freedom to insult us, then respond to Jim Minnery, who signed the email:

…Have you been to UAA Jim? The right-to-life club hands out fliers with a revolver aimed at a fetus. We’re not in any danger zone that threatens the suppression of free speech, nor is anyone impeding the free exercise of religion… Unless it’s hate speech. You’re the one asking people who are otherwise in no way affiliated with UAA to flood board member inboxes and voicemail, and if that doesn’t work, barge into a board meeting and scream bloody murder. Again.

The students also note that the Council email links to a faux-college video called “Indoctrinate U: Our Education, Their Politics” and the page only lists past screenings, not the upcoming ones (to avoid protests?) Don’t be surprised if it shows in Anchorage next year.

So, which group do you think the UA Regents should give priority: UA students and staff, or an unrelated political lobby trying to force their religious bigotry on our public university?

Please take a moment and contact the UA Regents in favor of the student request. If you are a current or former UA student, staff or faculty member, please mention your connection to the university.

And if you moderate a GLBT Alaska Facebook page, please check profiles before you accept friend requests. You never know who will want to be your “friend.”

Candlelight vigil for hate crime victims

Saturday, 21 November 2009 – 8:52 AM | 2 Comments

– a guest post from the organizers of this Sunday’s Candlelight Vigil in memory of Jason Mattison Jr. and Jorge Steven Mercado, 3-4 p.m. on the Anchorage Park Strip.

* * *

Many in our community struggle to survive. We struggle to be ourselves, out of the closet, and love life for all its goodness. In many places, even after the Hate Crimes Act recently passed, people are hurt, threatened, harassed and even killed for who they are.

We believe it is not our human nature to spread hate but instead to create a world of love. This is what the LGBT community of Alaska teaches: love, respect and the willingness to be free. Others may not have this choice and yet are still part of our community at large.

Please let us take a moment to remember two so very young gentlemen whose lives were taken from them by recent hate crimes:

JASON MATTIS JR, only fifteen years old, was forced into inappropriate sexual relations with a convicted murderer. He was very popular amongst his peers in high school.

JORGE STEVEN LÓPEZ MERCADO, only nineteen, and was beaten, dismembered and decapitated. The police investigator (who has been reprimanded) said he deserved it because he was gay.

The cruelty exists and we should remember these two who died. Let us ALL in every community show our love and respect for one another in a vigil to honor all hate crime victims. This will be an hour of peace to remember the people who have died just being themselves and for our rights.

Join us for a Candlelight Vigil for Hate Crime Victims. November 22, 2009 3-4pm @ the Park Strip, 9th and L Street in front of the American Flag. Please bring a candle and some love.

Alaskan Psycho-Zombie-Homophobe Halloween video

Saturday, 31 October 2009 – 1:11 PM | One Comment

On Halloween, we watch scary movies. But Bent is a GLBT Alaska blog, and there aren’t many scary movies set in queer Alaska. However, there are scary videos of our homegrown homophobes.

The scariest gay-related Alaska show I’ve ever seen was real: the public hearings on the non-discrimination ordinance. It was downright creepy listening to religious fanatics read a steady stream of random Biblical quotes and unscientific homophobic nonsense to the Anchorage Assembly as their public comments against a secular non-discrimination ordinance, while dozens of devil-red-shirted church members clapped at the lunacy. They were all kinds of crazy, and scarier than fictional characters because you might find yourself standing in the grocery store next to them after the hearing.

But I won’t subject you to the testimonies. Instead, John at Alaska Commons recently posted a creepy video from Prevo’s 38th Pastoral Anniversary at ABT mixed with photos from the protests outside the hearings.

Gryphen from Immoral Minority actually attended Prevo’s celebration of homophobia and wrote an interesting story about that day. On John’s video montage, he said,

“Crushing the enemy under our feet.” No you did not hear that wrong.

I was sitting in the audience when they were singing that song and watched the congregation, with heads lifted toward the heavens, belt out that song with both conviction and passion.

They DO believe with all of their hearts that they are fighting a battle against the devil, and that the LGBT community are his agents here on earth.

Definietly creepy. So here is a video of local Alaskan homophobes for a bit of Halloween entertainment. Thanks to John and Gryphen for the video and on-the-scene commentary.

Churches are at war over homosexuality

Tuesday, 27 October 2009 – 11:56 AM | Comments Off

This article on the harm caused by anti-gay churches was written by Matthew Moak and posted yesterday on MCC Anchorage.

If the past summer in Anchorage is any indication, Christian churches are at war over homosexuality and this war is exacting a heavy toll among homosexuals themselves. Homosexuals are the number one persecuted group of people in the Christian community, persecuted by their own friends, families, and church families.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers, according to the Massachusetts 2006 Youth Risk Survey. A 2007 San Francisco State University Chavez Center Institute study shows that LGBT and questioning youth who come from a rejecting family are up to nine times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. And for every completed suicide by a young person, it is estimated that 100 to 200 attempts are made (2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey).

If that is not disturbing enough, GLBT youth left homes last year more often (12.38 times) than their heterosexual counterparts (6.69 times). GLBT youth were more likely to leave as a result of physical abuse, alcohol use in the family and conflicts with family over their sexual orientation.

Nothing says Jesus like making a child’s living conditions at home so unbearable that they feel they must either take to the streets where drug addiction, sexual abuse, homelessness, alcohol addiction and more horrific realities await them on the streets, or commit suicide. Nothing says Jesus more than displaying such an utter lack of understanding or compassion that homosexuals are driven from their homes and take their lives.

This summer on the Eddie Burke show, one caller referred to the homosexual community as non-human. Other callers read Scriptures that they interpreted to mean that God did not love homosexuals. I suspect that callers believe this because it is what they have been told as opposed to seeking and searching the Scriptures.

Baptist Pastor Jerry Prevo claims that the idea of homosexuals being protected from discrimination under the law would give them special rights which are unnecessary because homosexuals already have the same rights as heterosexual individuals. Further, in a KTVA interview, Prevo also claims that he doesn’t believe discrimination is actually happening in the city of Anchorage.

In an interview conducted by the Anchorage Daily News, Pastor Prevo asserts:

“I’ve tried to reason with these people. I don’t want the issue to come up. I’ve just dealt with a couple. … Their daughter, 19 years old now, is taking shots to make herself a man. These parents, their daughter never had any signs of being unsatisfied with her assigned sex, which is another terminology in here that’s a legal term, assigned sex at birth, and what they feel like has happened, she just got with this crowd and has been brought over.

“My problem is when I take this stand and I can’t minister to these people. I can’t tell them that Jesus Christ died for them and will forgive them just like he will an adulterer or a murderer and they can be changed. It makes it hard for them to listen to me, because they frame me as being hateful. … But I see it as that I’m telling them the truth. …

“I’ve had those who’ve come out of homosexuality in my church, and I’m sure I have some there now that are homosexuals. Based on scripture, I just can’t allow them to promote it as an acceptable alternative lifestyle.”

Red flags should immediately be raised when the pastor of any church is unable to minister to any individual or a group of people. What Pastor Prevo has asserted here is his inability to love all people.

Often, when we are so close to a subject we are passionate about, we fail to see that it is ourselves promoting hate, intolerance and that individuals who display such an utter lack of compassion, understanding and love (the greatest commandment) are the very people who are enabling children and young adults to take to the streets, and to take their lives.

It is time Anchorage to begin shouting from our churches that the spreading of hate, intolerance and discrimination must end. The lives of so many are being destroyed and countless lives are being lost, largely because churches and spiritual leaders such as Jerry Prevo are far too busy trying to be correct, rather than making an attempt to minister and to love.

Gay-Straight Alliance sparks dialogue on "ex-gays" with Chancellor’s support

Thursday, 22 October 2009 – 1:28 PM | Comments Off

The third Ally Week post celebrates the determined and creative actions of the Gay-Straight Alliance at UAF, and their allies on the staff and in the community, in dealing with CBC’s pray-away-the-gay speaker on campus last month.

———-

Gay and lesbian students and staff at the University of Fairbanks got an unpleasant surprise when they entered the Wood Center in mid-September: “GAY? LONELY? CONFUSED?” read a banner hanging from the stairs. The solution was to stop being gay, according to the “ex-gay” speaker Edward Delgado, who was invited to UAF by Campus Bible Club to preach on how he stopped having sex with men and became heterosexual through Jesus. His speech was called “From Sin’s Bondage to Christ’s Freedom!”

The banner listed the anti-gay group Exodus International, but didn’t mention that the Exodus “reparative therapy” methods are dangerous and discredited, or that Exodus supports forced therapy and incites hatred and violence towards gays around the world. Nor did it mention that Delgado is a deacon at Dimond Boulevard Baptist Church in Anchorage.

This was not a good way to start the school year. Nothing like a big homophobic banner in the central gathering place of the campus and a 4 day anti-gay religious event at a public university to ruin the welcoming educational atmosphere for the gay and lesbian students and staff.

But the Gay-Straight Alliance was all over it. At first, the GSA wanted the banner taken down.

“We aren’t looking to stop the speaker, as he does have the right to speak,” wrote 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.”

Their plan to ask the Chancellor to remove the banner started a wide-ranging discussion in the comments of the News-Miner article and Bent Alaska post about freedom of speech and using more speech, especially humor, to counter hate and absurdity.

The students prepared factual flyers on the so-called “therapy,” wrote on the UAF free speech wall, organized a peaceful sit-down protest, and created a positive banner to hang next to the anti-gay one.

Delgado’s first speech was on Tuesday Sept. 15. “There were GSA members who went to hear what the speaker had to say, including me,” wrote Jessi. “We thought that if we were going to be opposing someone we might as well hear what we were opposing.”

Was he reasonable? “I would have to say no,” Jessi replied. “One person said to the speaker that he was happy for him that he found God and everything but that he is happy with who he is and was wondering if the speaker could show him the same kindness and be happy for him… the speaker said NO.”

“One GSA member said the speaker gave the most hateful loving speech she has ever heard.”

That night, UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers addressed the issue during the Convocation ceremony:

“I’m committed to an open and welcoming and inclusive university. It’s important to me that this is a community where people feel safe and able to pursue their academic goals. I know there are times where this campus does not feel welcoming, inclusive or safe to some of our members. I’d like to change that.”

“For those in this community who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, I’m sorry that there are people who are intolerant of who you are.”

The video of his speech includes photos of the anti-gay banner and the free speech wall:

With the support of the Chancellor, the GSA fought the “ex-gay” lies with truth and humor, and creative support came from all sides.

A few students put up a temporary banner near the anti-gay one, but it was quickly replaced with an approved banner advertising the weekly GSA meetings. The rainbow poster (above) starts, “Gay? Bi? Ally? Be Proud! STOP the HATE.”

“I was contacted by a friend who does graphics and he offered to do the graphic for us on the computer so that we could get it printed right away,” wrote Jessi. “We then took it to the Graphics Artist in the Wood Center and he printed it for us, then we talked to the scheduling office and got the banner authorized to go up that day.”

Creative responses also came from UAF staff. Kate Wattum’s photoshopped parody-banner advertised her “Life of Laughter (lol)” story “Move Forward, Never Straight: ‘Gay’ for 46 years and partnered to a fabulous woman and has three children!”

But Wattum thought the anti-gay banner should stay up for a different reason. “I think it is absolutely critical that everyone is reminded that gays face this harassment every day,” she wrote.

Fairbanks resident and “Nuggets” creator Jamie Smith, a former UAF student, drew a cartoon about it for his blog ink & snow:

“Delgado was quoted saying ‘the homosexual lifestyle leads to promiscuity, abuse, alcoholism and drug abuse’…”

“Fact is, the vast, overwhelming number of promiscuous, diseased, abusive drug-addicted alcoholics (some of the darned nicest folks you’d ever ask for as friends, I might add) are heterosexuals. You know, the very same people who keep constantly screwing up marriage; that righteous bastion of American moral purity, the sacred institution threatened with destruction by same-sex unions.”

“Never got around to hearing any of Delgado’s speeches, or a chance to confront the guy with his hypocrisy… But when all’s said and done, I’m left using the tools that I have been blessed with, lobbing poo from the sidelines. So I went home and drew about it…”

Meanwhile, Jim Minnery, president of the Alaska Family Council, told their parent organization Focus on the Family that Chancellor Rogers refused to bar Delgado from the campus, entirely missing the point that the GSA never asked for him to be barred. FOF recently got out of the ex-gay business because their donations are down this year.

“Kudos to him,” Minnery said. “There are folks on the campus that may have a more conservative bent in their mindset, and I hope they’re emboldened by this.”

But the students who were made bold by the Chancellor’s speech and the outpouring of support from the campus and community are the gay and straight students who faced this threat together and grew stronger.

“The GSA has an amazing amount of energy and has spearheaded quite a bit of that toward some good dialogue,” wrote Pete Pinney of PFLAG Fairbanks. “We support them.”

Jessi summed up the week for the GSA:

“The GSA not only had people stopping by the meetings after the whole thing, but it was so amazing to see how much support we were getting on campus. While we were doing our sit-down protest, a very nice man bought a few of us hot chocolate, and then later on even our Chancellor sat down with us for a few mintues… ON THE FLOOR!”

“We have had so many people tell us we were so awesome in the way we handled ourselves. For those who were once worried about how the campus feels about GSA being on campus… that week the speaker was here showed us our campus’ true colors. The support we recieved was a happy and welcomed surprise. I have never been more proud to be a part of this campus then that week.”

Kudos to the Gay-Straight Alliance for being true allies!

Prevo Celebrates 38 Years of Hate

Sunday, 27 September 2009 – 3:42 PM | One Comment

Jerry Prevo is celebrating Gay History Month with a party honoring himself and his many years of spreading lies and prejudice against the gay community.

The invitation shown above describes Jerry’s main achievement in all those years at ABT: making sure Anchorage continues to treat gay people as second class citizens.

“This year Pastor Prevo … fought and won against making homosexuality an acceptable alternative lifestyle in our city…”

Remember how the ordinance opponents kept saying that it wasn’t about letting pastor Jerry decide the secular laws of our city… it was about bathrooms and businesses and other nonsense?

Well, Jerry thinks it’s all about HIMSELF – “he fought” – not a coalition of leaders, or the conservative churches of Anchorage, or any recognition of a group effort. Jerry claims a personal victory over the city.

This invite is proof that his real goal was – and has always been – to build his church upon a foundation of homophobia.

Jerry, it doesn’t take courage to demonize your neighbors for media attention and big donations.

38 years of Hate, a career to be proud of.

– hat tip to The Alaska Commons for the invitation.