Tuesday, 13 January 2009 – 12:26 PM
| Comments Off on PFLAG Showing "Further Off the Straight and Narrow"
Anchorage PFLAG will be showing “Further Off the Straight and Narrow: New Gay Visibility on T.V. from 1998 thru 2006” on January 15 at 7 p.m., during the monthly meeting at Immanuel Presbyterian Church.
“Further Off the Straight & Narrow” looks at sitcoms, reality shows, and premium cable programming and explores how GLBT characters on television are becoming more complex and varied. View
the preview.
Friday, 9 January 2009 – 4:26 PM
| Comments Off on This Week in LGBT Alaska 1/9/09
Check out this week’s events from Alaska GLBT News.
For full listings, news and up-coming events,
subscribe to AGN, the weekly email newsletter.
The deadline for the RAW Short Story Contest is next Thursday, Jan. 15. Open to all women living in Alaska. The pieces must be fiction, between 250 and 5,000 words, and contain some lesbian content. For prizes and guidelines, see
Radical Arts for Women.
EVENTS
Juneau
Miniature Golf New Year Social 1/10, 4 p.m. at the JACC. Contact SEAGLA.
Fairbanks
PFLAG’s January Meeting 1/10, 4 p.m.
The Masquerade Ball (show & dance) 1/10, doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. dancing after. Join ICOAA at the Carlson Center.
Anchorage
Sarah Gavit will bring the message at MCC’s Sunday service 1/11, 2 p.m.
PrideFest planning meeting 1/12, 6 p.m. Join Identity and ICOAA in planning Anchorage PrideFest 2009, set for June 14-21.
Step by Step with Rev. Van Manen 1/15, 6: 30 p.m. Fellowship at 6:30 p.m. and class at 7 p.m. Metropolitan Community Church.
Thursday, 8 January 2009 – 12:54 AM
| Comments Off on Tee Time: SEAGLA Miniature Golf Social
The GLBT community in Juneau and their friends are invited to play miniature golf for a New Year Social, on Saturday, January 10, at 4 p.m. at the Juneau Arts and Cultural Center.
“The JACC miniature golf course is really incredible, simple to do, and very fun,” said the announcement from
SEAGLA, the Southeast Alaska Gay and Lesbian Alliance. “It will be fun for the whole family.”
SEAGLA has paid for the first hour of golfing, so don’t be late! Pay-your-own-way golfing continues until 6 p.m. for $5 per round of golf.
Participants can make donations to SEAGLA or renew their memberships for 2009, and can make donations toward the cost of the golf course rental, which is a fundraiser for JACC.
The Juneau Arts & Humanities Council web site has a slide show of the JACC sculpture garden
miniature golf course.
SEAGLA also holds Social Fridays from 6-8 p.m. at the Imperial Bar in downtown Juneau. GLBT people and friends over 21 are invited to have a drink and unwind from the work week, meet new people and catch up with friends.
Visit
SEAGLA for more information about GLBT activities in Southeast Alaska.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009 – 11:00 PM
| Comments Off on Step by Step with MCC’s Rev. Van Manen
Rev. Norman Van Manen, the new pastor of
MCC Anchorage, is starting a spiritual development and leadership class called Step by Step that will replace the Soul Food program on Thursday evenings.
Step by Step begins on January 8, with fellowship and snacks at 6:30 p.m. and the class at 7 p.m.
Metropolitan Community Church of Anchorage, a GLBT-inclusive church, appointed Rev. Van Manen to the position of Development Pastor immediately following
his visit in mid-December.
“We were greatly encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response to Rev. Van Manen,” wrote Matthew Moak, the Vice-Moderator.
Rev. Van Manen will officially take the helm of MCC Anchorage on February 15th, 2009. The annual congregational meeting, usually held the third week of January, will be postponed until the new pastor is installed.
Tuesday, 23 December 2008 – 3:23 PM
| Comments Off on Celebrate the Holidays with Anchorage’s GLBT Community
The Metropolitan Community Church hosts their annual Christmas Eve Service and Recital on Wednesday, from 7-8:30 p.m. All from the community and church are welcome to attend the special evening of Christmas music and fellowship.
MCC Anchorage is also celebrating the appointment of Reverend Norman Van Manen as their Development Pastor. Rev. Norman will officially take the helm on February 15th, 2009.
After the service, join the staff at
Mad Myrna’s for their annual Christmas Eve pajama party.
On Christmas Day, the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Anchorage (
GLCCA) will be open from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. serving cookies, muffins and sodas to the gay community and our friends. The Center will be closed on Christmas Eve.
Visit the
GLCCA page on Identity’s site for the address, a photo tour of the Center and pictures from the Thanksgiving Day open house.
Wrap up the season with the New Year’s Eve Party at
Mad Myrna’s, or rock with
Ever Ready on New Year’s Eve in Palmer. Then begin 2009 with the GLBT community at the New Year’s Day Cookie Exchange at the
GLCCA.
Tuesday, 16 December 2008 – 11:44 PM
| Comments Off on Toys for "Nots" Gives to Gay Families First
Ms. Alaska Leather 2008 is hosting a fundraiser for Toys for “Nots” on Dec. 19, with a Christmas food sale and gift auction at Mad Myrna’s. Her goal is to raise at least $500 dollars worth of donations to buy items for families in need, as the Toys for Nots committee did last year.
Tami won the title of Ms. Alaska Leather last January at
Arctic Heat, the titleholder event for The Last Frontier Men’s Club.
Toys for Tots collects donated Christmas toys for needy families and is sponsored by the United States Marine Corps. But what is Toys for Nots?
Keith, President of the Men’s Club, explained the story behind the name:
A few years ago, the Duke and Duchess of the
Imperial Court held a Toys for Tots fundraiser and recieved hundreds of toys for donation. When the Marines were called to pick up the toys, the ducals were told to put the toys
outside on the icy sidewalk, because the Marines wouldn’t enter Mad Myrna’s. They will accept toys from the gay community, but they are afraid to walk into a gay bar to pick up our donations.
So the ducals renamed the event Toys for Nots and give first choice to the children of gay families in need. Remaining gifts are offered to the Toys for Tots program.
“We did receive an apology phone call from a Ft. Richardson general promising that it would never happen again,” wrote Keith. “However, they have not picked up our donations for the past 3 years.”
The Toys for Nots Fundraiser is Dec. 19, 2008, from 6:30-9 p.m. at
Mad Myrna’s.
Sunday, 14 December 2008 – 4:29 PM
| Comments Off on Got “Milk”?
Did you see Milk this weekend?
“My partner and I just returned from seeing it and it is a MUST SEE,” wrote Dee. “We did not buy from the consession stand, due to the ownership of the theater (Mormon) but would not have missed the first day of this film… I urge the community and our allies to see this movie. We’re thinking Academy Award for Penn.”
“The Prop 6 part was disturbing because it reminds me so much of Prop 8,” wrote Elias, “along with the other dozen ballot measure campaigns I’ve been in.”
I agree that Penn gave an excellent performance, and that the comparison between winning Prop 6 and barely losing Prop 8 is heart-wrenching.
Gay and lesbian history is so hidden that many young adults don’t know about the struggle for our rights. Milk opens with the police raiding a gay bar, beating the customers and dragging them off to jail, simply for being gay. The scene uses real video from the late 60’s and early 70’s. We’ve come a long way.
Then in 1978, the newly-elected Supervisors, representing minorities who had never been represented before, voted to add ‘sexual orientation’ to the non-discrimination policy of San Francisco. They knew the gay community was an ally, and they understood that job and housing protection is an important civil rights issue.
I watched this scene in a movie theater in Anchorage, Alaska, where 30 years later we do not have ‘sexual orientation’ in the city’s non-discrimination policy. It isn’t in the state policy either. Or the national policy.
We still have a long way to go.
If you haven’t seen Milk, definitely see it. Remember to take the Milk Challenge — boycott the concession stand and give a donation to Alaskans Together for Equality, to off-set the ticket profit to the Mormon-owned and Prop 8 supporting Century/Cinemark.
If you saw Milk, what did you think about it?
Friday, 12 December 2008 – 4:25 PM
| Comments Off on This Week in LGBT Alaska 12/12/08
Check out this week’s events from Alaska GLBT News. For full listings, news and up-coming events, subscribe to AGN, the weekly email newsletter.
The movie
MILK opens today (Friday, Dec. 12) in Anchorage
at the Century 16. Don’t support the Century/Cinemark CEO who donated $9,999 to Prop 8!
Boycott Century’s concessions! Eat before you go and only buy the ticket, no food or drinks. Then
take the Milk Challenge!EVENTS
Fairbanks
Jeff’s Black and White Solstice Party 12/13, 9 p.m.
PFLAG’s December Meeting 12/14, 4 p.m.
Anchorage
MILK opens at the Century 16 on 12/12. Take the Milk Challenge!
A Powerful Noise at the Anchorage Museum, 12/13 at 6 p.m. (AIFF)
Half-Life 12/13 at 5:30 p.m. at The Bear Tooth and 12/14 at 4:45 p.m. at Fireweed Theater. (AIFF)
ICOAA’s SnowBall Winter Wonderland at Mad Myrna’s 12/13, door opens at 8:30, show at 9 p.m.
Meet MCC pastoral candidate Rev. Norman Van Manen, 12/14 at the 2 p.m. service.
The Men’s Club Christmas Party 12/14, 5-10 p.m. RSVP.
The movie Milk opens tomorrow (Friday, Dec. 12) in Anchorage, showing at 1:40, 4:35, 7:35 and 10:30 p.m. at the Century 16, across from Loussac Library. The message of Milk is timely, and the reviews sound great. (Watch the Milk trailer.)
Here’s the problem: We want to support a good-quality gay movie (and encourage the production of more gay movies) but don’t want to support the Mormon-owned Century/Cinemark whose CEO donated $9,999 to Prop 8, the California initiative that eliminated gay and lesbian marriage.
The solution: Boycott Century’s concessions! Eat before you go and only buy the ticket, no food or drinks.
Theaters don’t make much on admissions; most of their profit is from concessions. We can support the film and still deprive the theater of revenue.
Several people wrote in about the concessions boycott (thank you!) Jason suggested that we “sneak in our own candy” as an extra dig at Century.
Elias suggested that we offset the ticket fees to Century with a donation to Alaskans Together for Equality, the state LGBT rights group that takes on political issues like the ones Harvey Milk fought for. It’s a great way to support equal rights and, at the same time, withhold money from those who work against us!
Take the Milk Challenge: See Milk, and balance your political karma with a donation to Alaskans Together.
And Milk is the perfect time to start wearing a White Knot for marriage equality, “because everyone should be able to tie the knot.”
Today is December 10, International Human Rights Day. Today is also “Day Without a Gay.” We are asked to call in ‘gay’ to work, not contribute to the economy for one day, and spend the day helping others.
1. An economic Boycott. For one day, do not go to work (if possible) and do not buy anything. The LGBTQ community contributes
$700 billion per year to the U.S. economy, but we don’t get the same rights as other citizens. Stop contributing to the economy for one day.
3. A day of Visibility. There are many ways to increase visibility for LGBT rights on Dec. 10. For example,
wear a white knot for marriage equality (“because everyone should be able to tie the knot”) and pack your lunch instead of buying it.
What are you doing for Day Without A Gay?
