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“Inside and Out” and Creative Outreach at IAA

Friday, 6 May 2011 – 8:59 AM | Comments Off

The Fairbanks public is invited to “Inside and Out” tonight, a First Art Friday exhibit at Interior AIDS Association and part of their Creative Outreach program.

This exhibition will include stories, posters, and artwork from agency consumers of the Interior AIDS Association. The presenters chose the title “Inside and Out” because some of them are telling stories or sharing concepts that have had to remain hidden for years, while others are sharing artwork that they have never shared outside of their immediate friends and families. There will likely be stories of recovery, struggles, prejudice, and unique original artwork.

Samuel Johnson has been working with people at IAA to put their stories together and consolidate artwork for the show.

“It won’t be artsy in the same way that other FF openings will be… it will have posters, written stories, pictures, and art that folks here have made. Some of it relates to the above themes, and some relates to the person’s own interest or efforts at drawing and art.”

The previous IAA story event on April Fools Friday showed digital stories related to HIV/STD Prevention. Check out Samuel’s cool digital story about finding IAA and joining the Creative Outreach project:

Interior AIDS Association Creative Outreach Digital Story from Samuel Johnson on Vimeo.

Inside and Out
Date/time: Friday, May 6, 6:00-8:00 PM
Location: Interior Aids Association, 709 W. 2nd, in downtown Fairbanks, across from Gambardella’s.
Cost of admission: Free
Further info: See the Facebook event page.

Keep track of this and other events in LGBTQ Alaska at Bent Alaska’s new & improved events calendar.

Lewis: I’m gay and from Wasilla, Alaska

Thursday, 5 May 2011 – 3:46 PM | Comments Off

The second video from Wasilla was uploaded today on I’m From Driftwood!

After coming out, Lewis is met with religious fanatics at school but love and support at home.

Watch Lewis: I’m From Wasilla, AK

Thanks to Lewis for sharing his home and school coming out stories, and a big high five to his parents for being so loving and supportive of their son!

IFD traveled all the way to Alaska to include us in their story tour, collecting “true stories by gay people from all over in an attempt to help LGBTQ teens feel not so alone.”

Read about their great Alaska adventures here, and watch the other I’m From Wasilla video story here.

IFD has posted five written stories from LGBTQ Alaskans, in addition to the 2 videos. They’re all listed on the IFD Alaska page.

If you haven’t submitted a story yet, write one and send it to them. The story guidelines and submission page is here.

Ex-ADN sports editor Roger Brigham recalls coming out gay in 1980s Alaska

Monday, 2 May 2011 – 6:15 AM | 2 Comments

Roger Brigham did not write a coming out column in the Anchorage Daily News after telling his editor that he was gay, back in 1982, because he did not want to become a political lightning rod. Twenty-nine years later, he still writes a sports column, now for a San Francisco gay paper, and he was ready to tell his personal story in a recent interview with OutSports.com and today to Bent Alaska.

Injustice at Every Turn

Sunday, 24 April 2011 – 6:51 AM | 4 Comments

“Every day, transgender and gender non-conforming people are marginalized because of their gender identity and expression.”

This In The Life video features the personal stories of Ja’briel and Michelle, two trans women. Their experiences highlight the findings of the first comprehensive transgender discrimination study, recently completed by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force.

Watch the video:

The study Injustice at Every Turn “brings to light what is both patently obvious and far too often dismissed from the human rights agenda. Transgender and gender non-conforming people face injustice at every turn: in childhood homes, in school systems that promise to shelter and educate, in harsh and exclusionary workplaces, at the grocery store, the hotel front desk, in doctors’ offices and emergency rooms, before judges and at the hands of landlords, police officers, health care workers and other service providers.”

There are no laws in Alaska protecting transgender people from discrimination or harassment.

When we allow injustice against a group of people, unstable individuals may feel they have permission to act on that prejudice and cause physical harm, like in the violent attack on a transgender woman in a Baltimore McDonald’s last week.

Driftwood to Wasilla: Moose Sausage from a Lesbian Hunter in Alaska

Thursday, 21 April 2011 – 6:04 AM | Comments Off

“Whenever people ask me about the Tour, I always tell them the surprise hit for me was our journey to Alaska.”

The I’m From Driftwood team visited Alaska in November for their national LGBT story project, and the first video interview from Alaska was recently uploaded. They also have five written stories posted by LGBT Alaskans from Eagle River, Anchorage, Juneau and Kotzebue.

For Nathan Manske, project organizer of I’m From Driftwood, Alaska was a high point of the 50 state tour. When Lambda Literary asked “What was one of the most exciting or moving moments while on the road?” he replied:

Visiting Alaska was very memorable. It felt like a foreign trip on a domestic tour. I really had no idea what to expect from the people or places or community but what I found was that the LGBT community there was very tight-knit and diverse. We collected stories from teens in Wasilla and one from a villager, which is what native Alaskans call themselves. I know it’s feeding the stereotype a little to say it felt like a foreign land, but it did in the best way possible.

A quick little story…we were leaving Wasilla on our last day in Alaska, going back to Anchorage, and I told a new friend we had met who was driving us around that I was bummed I never got to have a moose burger. He explained restaurants can’t serve moose; you actually have to hunt them to eat them. He then told me he has a lesbian hunter friend who usually has some fresh moose in her freezer. He called her up and sure enough…we stopped by her place and she gave us some moose sausage. Moose sausage from a lesbian hunter in Alaska. Memorable indeed.

Nathan also told Windy City about Alaska:

Alaska and Hawaii fell at the midpoint of the trip and were very special points during the tour. “They weren’t easy to get to,” Nate remembered. “But that’s why we thought it was so important for us to go.” Nate reminisced that Hawaii seemed like a bit of a vacation, having been on the road for nearly two months. They hung out at Hula’s (Honolulu’s only gay bar) every day.

While in Alaska, they were recognized by a guy at Mad Myrna’s in Anchorage. He turned out to be an excellent tour guide taking them up to Wasilla, a town notorious for one of its residents: Sarah Palin.

“I felt it was important to get a story from Wasilla to show the LGBT youth there that someone is thinking about them in a positive light,” Nate said, “and to let them represent Wasilla the way they want it to be represented.”

They collected two video stories by young gay men from Wasilla: Cody and Lewis. Bent Alaska posted Cody’s video last week and we look forward to seeing Lewis’ video.

The team also wrote about the trip to Alaska on their IFD tour blog. They blogged about staying at The Copper Whale Inn, a gay-owned B&B in downtown Anchorage, meeting LGBT people at the Gay & Lesbian Community Center and at the bar Mad Myrna’s, spending a few hours in Wasilla, and collecting at least 5 video stories during their visit.

“Alaska was the surprise hit for me on the Tour. They’re a special people, those Alaskans. The LGBT community was very tight-knit. At Mad Myrna’s, there seemed to be an even mix of gays and lesbians. They all seemed to band together and appeared to be the perfect example of a unified queer community. The Alaskan scenery was breathtaking but it was all the people sticking together and creating a warm community that I’ll think of when I think of Alaska.”

Thanks for including Alaska in the I’m From Driftwood project!

UAFA reintroduced, bi-national couples sought

Thursday, 14 April 2011 – 12:11 PM | Comments Off

Two equality bills were reintroduced in Congress today: Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). ENDA sheds light on workers fired for being gay or trans, and UAFA raises awareness of bi-national couples torn apart by the ban on same sex marriage. (A repeal of DOMA was introduced earlier this session.)

Bi-national couples have one partner who is an American or a legal permanent resident, and the other partner is from another country. Several bi-national same sex couples were in the news lately when a partner was about to be deported, sometimes to a home country where they may be targeted for being gay. Because of DOMA, Americans cannot sponsor same sex spouses for citizenship.

Tom works with Immigration Equality, an organization fighting to end discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans and legal permanent residents in our nation’s immigration laws. He is working on building support for UAFA from Alaska’s members of Congress, and looking for more bi-national LGBT couples to share their stories.

When UAFA was introduced last year, Tom (working on the same issue but for a different group) explained the importance of UAFA to Bent Alaska and asked us to contact Senators Begich and Murkowski. Recently, Tom wrote to us again, about his current project sharing our stories for UAFA:

“Dear Friends,
Judy and Karin are spending their retirement traveling among 4 countries – missing family birthdays, hospital visits, and weddings – so that they can be together.

Although Edward started a business in the United States and cares for his ailing partner, he could be deported at a moment’s notice because John, an American citizen, can’t sponsor him for residency.

Jaylynn and Shirley have been together for over two decades, and are raising twin boys – but even as an American citizen, Jaylynn worries every day that her wife will be sent back to the Phillipines.

Do you have a story like these, or know someone who does? We are working with Immigration Equality to pass the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), which would allow gay and lesbian Americans to sponsor their foreign born partners for residency in the United States – and we need your help.

Stories like yours, and those you’ve just read, are the most powerful weapons our community has – whether we are fighting for marriage equality, non-discrimination laws, or immigration rights. Your story makes a difference to members of Congress, to the media, and to other couples fighting for equality. Please take a moment to visit Immigration Equality’s website and submit your story.

If you would like to find out other ways that you can help pass Uniting American Families Act, please contact Tom Tierney of Immigration Equality, at ttierney@immigrationequality.org

Thank you for all you do for equality.”

UAFA finished the last Congress with 162 co-sponsors in the House and Senate. That was a record, and they want to set another record this year. Neither of our senators is a co-sponsor of UAFA.

Please call Senator Begich and Senator Murkowski at the Capitol switchboard: (202) 225-3121 and ask them to co-sponsor the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) this year.

Gay teen from Wasilla was assaulted, tires slashed, rejected by parents but looking ahead

Tuesday, 12 April 2011 – 3:00 AM | 9 Comments

Cody had a horrible coming out. His college buddies at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and his brother and parents in Wasilla all reacted badly, only his sister is supportive. But he won’t let them ruin his life.

The “I’m From Driftwood” team interviewed LGBT Alaskans for their national story project, and the first video from Alaska was uploaded on Monday. The story is from Cody James, raised in Wasilla. Watch:

How sad that their son was assaulted and, instead of helping him, they caused him more harm. Hopefully, they will learn to love and support him as the wonderful young gay man that he is.

And what kind of university would allow a student to be harassed for 4 months?

The main perpetrator got a slap on the wrist, 24 hours in jail and some community service hours, Cody told Bent Alaska. The others got off. The city and campus police wouldn’t do anything to stop the bullying, so he fled Fairbanks and moved to Anchorage. When he explained to his family why he left college, they rejected him for being gay.

The University of Alaska, Fairbanks and the Fairbanks police owe Cody an apology, at the very least, and assurance that they will protect other students from being bullied out of an education. [Hint: Get an LGBT-inclusive anti-bullying policy, and enforce it.]

Cody wants to put this bad time behind him and move forward. But he could have called the FBI to investigate the assault under the federal Hate Crimes law passed in 2009. They have the authority to step in when local officers won’t take an anti-gay attack seriously.

Why the FBI? Because we aren’t protected by Alaska’s hate crimes law, and a bill adding LGBT Alaskans is currently stuck in the Finance committee.

Please contact the legislators today and tell them to approve SB 11, the Alaska Hate Crimes bill. We obviously need it.

Thanks to I’m From Driftwood for including Alaska in their story tour and collecting this important story. And thanks to Cody for being brave, finding support and sharing his story. May his life get much better and stay good.

Are you LGBT? Have you lived, worked, spent time in Anchorage? We need your help.

Wednesday, 2 March 2011 – 1:37 PM | Comments Off

“My review shows that there is clearly a lack of quantifiable evidence necessitating this ordinance.” That’s what Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan stated on August 17, 2009 when he vetoed Anchorage Ordinance 2009-64, the Anchorage equal rights ordinance, which had been passed the previous week by a vote of 7 to 4 by the Anchorage Assembly. If you are an LGBT person who lives, works, or spends time in Anchorage — or if you’ve lived/worked/spent time in Anchorage in the past — please complete the Anchorage LGBT Discrimination Survey.

Gay Alaskan joins AmeriCorps, makes it better for himself and other youth

Sunday, 6 February 2011 – 12:35 PM | One Comment

Kevin Viado was raised in Kodiak, had never been to a gay event, and described himself as “really shy” before joining AmeriCorps. After several months of helping other people, with a team of mostly straight young adults who like and accept him as he is, he is now confident enough to make his own It Gets Better video and help other LGBT youth.