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"Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" at Mini Film Fest for Anchorage Pride

Saturday, 12 June 2010 – 2:16 PM | Comments Off

The Bear Tooth is hosting a GLBT Mini-Fest for Anchorage Pride Week with three movies: City of Borders (an Israeli documentary), The Big Gay Musical (a romantic date movie) – both showing on Monday June 21 – and the 1994 classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert showing Thursday June 24.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: Thursday, June 24 at 10 PM, tickets $3

This is the tale of two drag queens and a transsexual who embark on a road trip to a remote resort town in the Australian desert on a bus christened Priscilla. When Anthony “Tick”/Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) is invited to perform in Alice Springs, he recruits flamboyant young stud Adam/Felicia (Guy Pearce) and the legendary, refined Bernadette (Terence Stamp) to join him. Mitzi, however, fails to disclose one important fact to his friends: his wife is the one who invited them to Alice Springs.

With one big secret about to be revealed and another one up his sleeve, Mitzi is a little stressed. With long hours on the road ahead of them, the trio lip-synchs campy songs on the bus, creates fabulous costumes, and meets a multitude of colorful characters along the way. They party with friendly aborigines, are confronted by judgmental townspeople who are averse to drag queens, and meet Bob (Bill Hunter), a warmhearted mechanic and drag fan who joins them for the last leg of their trip when their bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere.

Fantastic costumes and fabulous makeup abound, and fine performances are delivered all around. But perhaps most important are the implicit messages that families come in all forms, that friends can make a family, and that love really knows no boundaries.

It’s the Australian film that blitzed overseas box offices. It caused a near riot at the Cannes Film Festival. It won an Academy Award®. It’s fun, daring, over-the-top and unforgettable. It’s a road movie with attitude and the occasional frock. (Australia 1994, Rated R)

The other two trailers will be posted separately. For more information, visit the Anchorage Pride Mini GLBT Film Festival, and see the full Pride Week schedule at Alaska Pride 2010.

"The Big Gay Musical" at Mini Film Fest for Anchorage Pride

Saturday, 12 June 2010 – 5:14 AM | Comments Off

The Bear Tooth is hosting a GLBT Mini-Fest for Anchorage Pride Week with three movies: City of Borders (an Israeli documentary), The Big Gay Musical (a romantic date movie) – both showing on Monday June 21 – and the 1994 classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert showing Thursday June 24.

The Big Gay Musical: Monday, June 21 at 7:45 PM, tickets $3

Paul and Eddie have just begun previews for the new Off-Broadway musical “Adam and Steve Just the Way God Made ‘Em.” Their lives strangely mirror the characters they are playing. Paul is looking for the perfect man and Eddie is dealing with how his sexuality and faith can mix. After yet another disastrous dating experience, Paul has an epiphany. He is done dating and just wants to be a slut like the sexy chorus boys that share his dressing room. Eddie has to tell his parents that he’s gay and is starring in a show that calls the bible the “Breeder’s Informational Book of Living Examples”. Eddie comes out to his family and Paul goes on Manhunt. Eddie’s parents are destroyed by the news and Paul can’t even have a good one-night stand. But after musical numbers with scantly clad tap dancing angels, a retelling of Genesis, tele-evangelists, a camp that attempts to turn gay kids straight, and a bunch of showtunes, everyone realizes that life gets better once they accept who they really are. And they are just the way God made ’em. (US 2009, not rated)

The other two trailers will be posted separately. For more information, visit the Anchorage Pride Mini GLBT Film Festival, and see the full Pride Week schedule at Alaska Pride 2010.

McDonald’s gay ad goes viral (video)

Sunday, 6 June 2010 – 5:00 AM | 2 Comments

McDonald’s France has released a new ad campaign called “Come As You Are” which promotes the fast food chain as a place where diversity is welcomed. Their bittersweet gay-themed ad went viral this week. Some LGBT blogs asked why they chose a closeted gay youth instead of an openly gay character. Then Bill O’Reilly of FOX declared that it would never run in America and compared it to an ad welcoming Muslim terrorists.

Watch the gay-themed McDonald’s ad and see for yourself:

Transgender podcast debuts with Alaska show on "Transpeople and Christianity"

Tuesday, 25 May 2010 – 7:06 AM | Comments Off

The first show of “Good Morning, TransAmerica!” is now available, with news and discussion on transgender issues around the world, hosted by Anja Gensel of Anchorage, Alaska.

The first show is called “Transpeople and Christianity: Does God have a plan for us?” Anja and her guests address why many fundamentalist Christian churches reject transpeople, how they hijacked the Anchorage Assembly hearings last summer, and why they have it wrong.

We ask the question “Can you be transgendered, AND be a Christian?” We hear from Anchorage Televangelist Jerry Prevo, Pastoral Minister Sarah Gavit of St Mary’s Episcipal Church, and two Christian Transwomen, Kelly Johnson and Piper Moritz.

Another local segment on the show is “TransLife in a small Alaskan town” with commercial fisherman and transwoman, Carrie Thorne. Carrie also discusses her experiences with Dr. Toby Meltzer, who performed SRS, Voice modification and FFS on her.

Other guests include Lisa O. discussing her SRS results performed in Thailand by Dr. Suporn.

Finally, Mental Health Clinician Roni Lanier, M.S. reviews the book: “Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working With Gender-Variant People and Their Families” by Arlene Ister Lev.

Plus, the podcast opens with a review of recent transgender world news.

The second show is called “TransLife in Australia” and will be available in June. For the third show, Anja travels to Chicago to the 2010 “Be-All” International Gender Conference.

“Transpeople and Christianity: Does God have a plan for us?” is available HERE.

For more information on the next shows, visit “Good Morning, TransAmerica!” on TransAlaska Pipeline, the website for Transgender Alaska.

Fairbanks soldier investigated for “future gay terrorist” video

Sunday, 23 May 2010 – 11:27 PM | One Comment

A Fairbanks soldier is under investigation for posting on Facebook a video titled “future gay terrorist!” with two Iraqi children being taunted about being homosexuals and terrorists, and writing, “I was bored in Iraq. So I kept myself entertained.”

The young boys don’t understand the soldier’s insults about being gay and liking gay sex, so they nod and smile. When he asks if they will grow up to be terrorists, at first they return his thumbs up, then the older boy realizes the soldier is not being friendly.

Robert Rodriguez, stationed at Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks, made his Facebook page private a week after posting the clip, and his wall and videos are no longer visible to the public. However, a second Alaska-based soldier shared the video, and concerned friends in North Carolina contacted a local television station, which posted this video and the article quoted below:

The 30-second clip shows the two boys standing side by side on a dusty road, and the photographer asks them if they’re gay and engage in homosexual acts. The boys smile and nod, but it’s unclear whether they understand English.

“Are you going to grow up to be a terrorist? Yeah! All right! Cool! Yeah, terrorists! Woo!” the photographer says.

The boys smile and give a thumbs-up signal.

“Are you going to plant IEDs?” the photographer asks. “Yeah, awesome!”

The older boy apparently realizes at this point that they are being mocked, and he holds down the younger boy’s arm.

The video was posted May 14 on the Facebook page of Robert Rodriguez and titled “future gay terrorists.”

Rodriguez describes himself on Facebook as a soldier living in Fairbanks, Alaska. An Army spokesman said a Spc. Robert Rodriguez is stationed at Fort Wainwright, outside of Fairbanks.

It’s unclear whose voice is heard on the video, but in posting the video to Facebook, Rodriguez wrote, “I was bored in Iraq. So I kept myself entertained.”

A North Carolina soldier who also is based in Alaska subsequently shared the video with friends on his Facebook page, and a concerned area resident alerted WRAL News.

“The conduct portrayed in video is disgraceful and clearly inconsistent with the high standards we expect of every Soldier. The incident is currently under investigation. The Army will take appropriate action based on the findings of the investigation,” Maj. Bill Coppernoll, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Army in Alaska, said in a statement Friday.

Only Gay Eskimo (video)

Friday, 21 May 2010 – 9:52 AM | Comments Off

The Gay Eskimo comedy song from Mad TV has been stuck in my head all week, so I’m passing the ear worm to you. Enjoy!

“I’m The Only Gay Eskimo” by Corky & The Juice Pigs:

Christian singer Letting Go and coming out

Sunday, 16 May 2010 – 5:31 AM | Comments Off

Christian singer Jennifer Knapp returned from a seven year break with a new cd Letting Go, a new tour, and a new honesty about herself — she’s both a Christian and a lesbian.

It hasn’t been easy for Knapp. Many have condemned her, and she was forced to debate her soul on Larry King Live. But others have embraced her and created Facebook pages to show their support, including this one by an Anchorage fan who hopes to bring Knapp to Alaska for a concert.

Here is an acoustic performance of Dive In recorded before a show in February 2010 in Tennessee:

Ann Reed in Anchorage, May 22

Saturday, 15 May 2010 – 12:31 PM | Comments Off

Lesbian singer Ann Reed returns to Anchorage for a concert on Saturday May 22, at 7:30 pm in the Wilda Marston Theater at Loussac Library. Tickets are $22 in advance/ $25 at the door, order through her site or call 1-800-947-9180.

Listen to a clip from Not Some Far Away Place, the first song on her most recent CD (and 20th album) Where The Earth Is Round.

Considering her decades of performing, she should have plenty of videos, but there are none on her website. YouTube only has poor-sound-quality clips of her concert with the Twin Cities Women’s Choir in February 2010, and this 1996 video of Hole in the Day. The sound is ok, but the visuals stop half way through.

Listen to Ann Reed’s Hole In The Day:

At her Anchorage concert in the mid 1990’s, Ann sang new-at-the-time songs and classics, like the funny parody Power Tools (are a Girl’s Best Friend), Heroes, about the famous women who influenced her, and Life Gets Real, a song about turning 40.

Country music’s Chely Wright: lesbian white female

Monday, 10 May 2010 – 5:33 PM | Comments Off

So far this year, Latin pop star Ricky Martin came out, then Christian singer Jennifer Knapp came out, then country western singer Chely Wright (known for her hit song “Single White Female”) came out – 2010 may be the year for singers with conservative audiences to come out of the closet and tell their fans that they already know and admire someone gay or lesbian and it’s no big deal.

Here’s Chely on the Today show:

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

Wasn’t k.d. lang was the first openly lesbian country music artist? Well, Chely’s great and we should invite her to Anchorage for a book signing and concert. Alaskans love country music!

Check out Chely’s website with her new cd Lifted Off the Ground and her book Like Me.

Rachel Maddow on George "Rentboy" Rekers

Saturday, 8 May 2010 – 12:23 PM | 3 Comments

George Rekers is the co-founder of the Family Research Council and is paid to convince school districts and state courts that gays can be cured. He is also secretly gay, as we learned in this week’s “Rentboy” scandal. Rachel Maddow explains:

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

Hmm. “When people have built their careers, their professions, on professions of their own sexual moral rectitude – David Vitter, John Ensign – when people have built their careers on trying to make life miserable and dangerous for gay people while they themselves are secretly gay – Larry Craig, George Rekers – then congratulations, you’ve made the news!”

Makes me wonder which Alaskans who have built their careers on making life miserable for gay people might be secretly gay…