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.
Thursday, 6 May 2010 – 12:23 PM
| Comments Off on Brandi Carlile brings ‘Ghost’ to Alaska
Alaskan audiences will enjoy openly lesbian singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile in two local concerts during her Give Up the Ghost tour: July 15 at The Blue Loon in Fairbanks, and July 16 at the Discovery Theater in Anchorage.
Thursday, 29 April 2010 – 4:54 AM
| Comments Off on Don Young on DADT: Don’t trust the Generals
When Rep. Don Young was asked by Matt Felling of KTVA News if he supports the repeal of the military’s gay ban, he answered that President Obama and the Generals don’t have contact with the troops, so the troops should decide instead of the leaders.
Asked whether he would support the repeal of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell. Young replied:
Probably not. I think the system has worked. I think we have to recognize that. I am not at ease saying that this would be a plus for the armed services. And I think we ought to stop going to the heads of the so-called military, and the politicians and ask the troops and see how it comes out. That would tell you a lot more. We have a tendency to think that we know more than the common folk. And Obama and Nancy Pelosi is an exaple of that in the health bill.
[Felling] So you think that the Secretary of Defense, and the Generals don’t have the best sense…
I actually don’t think that they… They’re like the President. They don’t have any contact with their troops. The troops in the field, the guy that’s got mud on his boots, and pulling that M-16 trigger, he’s got armor on his chest at 110 degrees, you ought to ask him.
The so-called military??
As for asking the troops what they think, the troops have been asked, more than once. Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, holds town hall sessions with troops. At a recent session,
which included not only Marines, but members of the Army and the Air Force, both male and female service members explained their indifference to the issue: They’d already served with gays and lesbians, they accepted that some kind of change was imminent, and, they said, the nation was too engulfed in two wars for a prolonged debate about it.
73 percent of military personnel are comfortable with lesbians and gays (Zogby International, 2006).
The younger generations, those who fight America’s 21st century wars, largely don’t care about whether someone is gay or not, and they do not link job performance with sexual orientation.
One in four U.S. troops who served in Afghanistan or Iraq knows a member of their unit who is gay (Zogby, 2006).
In addition, the public overwhelmingly supports lifting the ban:
Majorities of weekly churchgoers (60 percent), conservatives (58 percent), and Republicans (58 percent) now favor repeal (Gallup, 2009).
Seventy-five percent of Americans support gays serving openly, up from 44 percent in 1993 (ABC News/Washington Post, 2008).
Rep. Young needs to hear this, and he needs to hear that Alaskans support the repeal of DADT.
Congress is likely to vote on the repeal this summer. Young might even vote for it, if we remind him of all the Alaska earmarks he can sneak into the bill. He voted for the Hate Crimes Act for that reason. The Don’t Ask repeal will probably be added to the Defense budget, one of his favorite earmark targets.
Call Rep. Don Young and tell him to stop saying weird sh*t… ahem, that you support the repeal of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell and you encourage him to vote for it.
Sunday, 18 April 2010 – 5:57 AM
| Comments Off on Gay AK: locals win grants & awards, unblock web sites, thank Kristara
News and notes from LGBT Alaska
Gay Youth sites unblocked in Mat-Su schools
The Day of Silence website was unblocked from the Mat-Su school computers a week before the April 16 national event, according to Melissa, a high school student in the district. It was blocked all school year under the catergory of “Pornography/nudity.” She gave her teacher a list of blocked LGBT websites that are age appropriate for students and now they can be accessed from school computers. She thinks that this affects all schools in the Mat-Su School District, but she’s not sure. Go, Melissa!
ACLU wins grant for LGBT voter campaign
The ACLU of Alaska won a 2010 Pride Foundation grant “to identify, educate, and register new pro-LGBT Anchorage voters.” Since 2007, Pride Foundation has invested over $100,000 in twelve organizations that serve Alaska’s LGBTQ community. In addition, numerous Pride Foundation scholars hail from Alaska. The next grant application for organizations based in Alaska will be available in June.
Identity thanks Kristara for birthday fundraiser
Last Saturday night’s fund raiser for the Gay & Lesbian Community Center and Kristara’s birthday was a great evening of community, laughs, and donations for the Center. Our thanks go out to Kristara (ICOAA Empress 17, 26, 30, 32), Myrna, all the divas, Kevin and Paige, Mikey, sound, lights, food, folks at the door, and everyone who was there for this special evening.
72% support hospital visitation
In an unscientific poll conducted by KTUU.com Channel 2 News in Anchorage, respondents were asked, “Should hospitals grant the same visitation rights to gay and lesbian partners that they do to married heterosexual couples?” Of the 430 people who voted, 72% said Yes, and only 28% said No. The April 16 poll was in response to President Obama’s memo ordering the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation, including for gay and lesbian couples.
Gay-Straight Alliance wins UAF Diversity Award
The GSA student group at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks won a Diversity Enrichment Award and $100 at the SOAR awards ceremony on Saturday. The GSA is leading the effort to add gays to the UA non-discrimination policy, participates in the annual Day of Silence against anti-LGBT bullying, and raised awareness about the controversial ex-gays when a workshop was held on campus. Read the full story.
Wednesday, 7 April 2010 – 4:57 AM
| Comments Off on RAW 2010 Short Story Winners
Radical Arts for Women is pleased to announce the winners of the 4th annual RAW short story contest.
“We received entries from Anchorage, Fairbanks, Soldotna and Ketchikan. We had science fiction and down-to-earth tales, stories about jail and about rural Alaska.”
“Next year we will change the name of the contest to the Nicole Blizzard Short Story Contest. Nicole Blizzard was a local lesbian writer and editor who passed away in December. She created, published and edited the local LGBT literary journal Naked Ptarmigan (which also publishes the winner of the RAW short story contest), and last year Nicole published her first collection of short stories. We are pleased to rename the contest in honor of her.”
The Winners for 2010
Grand prize and winner of $500 – “Mail Plane” by Emily Sousa
2nd place and winner of $300 – “Itch” by Mel Green
3rd place and winner of $100 – “The Remaking of Audrey Lang” by CN McLaughlin
Honorable mention – “219s” by Amy Whinston
Honorable mention – “Gone, Fishing” by Audrey Fearnside
The winners were announced during the annual women’s performance Celebration of Change. A scene from the grand prize story “Mail Plane” was read during Celebration, and the full story is now posted on RAW’s web site. Mel posted her 2nd place winning lesbian love story “Itch” on her blog Henkimaa.
Saturday, 3 April 2010 – 5:00 PM
| Comments Off on Ugly Betty, Equality Mixer, ATE update
Gay AK – notes for and from LGBTQ Alaska
Justin’s Episode on “Ugly Betty”
GLESN and the creative team of “Ugly Betty” have announced that the character Justin will come to terms with his sexual identity in an April 7 episode. “Your support for GLSEN is making real storylines, just like Justin’s, possible in schools all over our country. We applaud the work you do, and hope you’ll be watching with all of us at Ugly Betty as we help our much-loved Justin take the next step in his personal coming out journey.”
Equality Works Mixer
Join Equality Works for a night of entertainment, education, and community-building, on April 10 at 7 p.m. Meet other people interested in making Anchorage safe for gay and transgender Alaskans. Test your knowledge of LGBT issues and politics in the U.S. Find out how you can help Equality Works move Alaska forward. Be there for the start of something beautiful. E-mail Tiffany McClain for address and directions or call (907) 258-0044 ext. 2006.
DADT, ENDA and AK Hate Crimes updates
Alaskans Together for Equality, Inc. (ATE) continues to monitor legislation at the federal and state level. The Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R. 1283/S. 3065) is moving forward to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law. In addition, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 3017/S. 1584) is making its way through Congress. In order for these two pieces of legislation to continue to move forward we need your help. If you haven’t already, please contact our Congressional delegation and voice your support for these two important pieces of legislation.
In Alaska, we have been monitoring Senate Bill 202 (Alaska Hate Crimes Legislation) that is making its way through the State Senate. If passed as amended it will cover crimes motivated by prejudice, bias, or hatred based on the victim’s sexual orientation as well as on other inherent characteristics. For more news, to become an ATE member or to volunteer for ATE visit Alaskans Together for Equality.
Celebration wrap-up from RAW
“Thanks for another awesome Celebration! Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers, performers, crew and committees that helped make this year’s Celebration of Change a success. Special thanks to Metro and GLCCA for selling tickets and Kodiak for hosting the after party. And thanks to all that came out and watched the show. See you next year!” Radical Arts for Women.
Thursday, 11 March 2010 – 2:56 PM
| Comments Off on Emma’s Revolution in concert, Pride Chorus opens
Pat Humphries & Sandy O of Emma’s Revolution bring their music of “truth, hope and a dash of healthy irreverence” to Juneau on March 18, 7:30 p.m. at Aldersgate United Methodist Church, and Juneau Pride Chorus will open the concert with a few songs. They will also perform in Sitka and on KTOO radio.
Emma’s Revolution has traveled around the world and throughout the US spreading their message of peace and justice. As a duo, they performed at hundreds of peace and justice events over the last eight years. Their current tour is for their new CD We Came To Sing!, a collaboration with the legendary Holly Near.
Tickets can be purchased at the door, or in advance through Emma’s Revolution and are $15, or $12 for members of co-sponsoring organizations. The concert is co-sponsored by Juneau Pride Chorus, Juneau Veterans for Peace, Juneau People for Peace & Justice and Juneau Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.
During their week in Alaska, Emma’s Revolution will also perform in Sitka and be live guests on KTOO radio. On Monday March 15, they will join “A Juneau Afternoon” at 3:30 p.m. Tune in to KTOO 104.3 FM or via live streaming (click “Listen Live” in the top left logo.)
On Saturday, March 20 they perform in Sitka at the Sheet’ka Kwaán Naa Kahídi Tribal Community House. Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 at the door, no one turned away for lack of ability to pay. Advance tickets may be purchased at Old Harbor Books. On March 21, they will be adding music to the Sunday service at the Sitka Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. All are welcome.
Emma’s Revolution has been called “Smart, funny and informative. Like Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart with guitars.” Don’t miss them.
Award-winning and gay-friendly comedian Kathy Griffin is performing in Anchorage on Friday March 5 at the PAC.
In addition to stand-up comedy, Griffin played a lesbian activist on a recent episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and posed for the NoH8 photo project. She also escorted Levi Johnston to the Teen Choice Awards, and joked that they are engaged and she’s carrying his baby.
“Kathy invades Alaska for one night only in March. Make sure to get your tickets early for this rare stop. In addition, Kathy will be stopping at Borders (1100 East Dimond Boulevard, Anchorage) at noon sharp for a very special book signing. Please call in advance for any special instructions the store may have: 907-344-4099.”
“Multiple HBO and Bravo specials weren’t enough! Catch double Emmy award winning Kathy Griffin live in her true element. She has more stories, more dish, more of what she shouldn’t say but you know you want to hear. Chicago native Kathy Griffin is a multi-faceted performer with a rapid fire wit. Come with an open mind and laugh until you puke . . . Just a little.”
Griffin loves “her gays” and will definitely have gay and lesbian fans at the Anchorage show. She even looked for – and found – gay soldiers when entertaining troops in Afghanistan, in this video clip from her DVD Allegedly:
Her fourth stand-up comedy DVD She’ll Cut A Bitch was released in January. Learn more at Kathy Griffin’s home page.
Tickets are $65 for the main floor and $45 for the mezzanine and balcony, and are available through the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts event page for Kathy Griffin.
Sunday, 14 February 2010 – 11:32 AM
| Comments Off on k.d.lang’s queer Alaskan Valentine
k.d. lang sings – and howls – the love song Barefoot from her movie Salmonberries, which takes place in Kotzebue, Alaska. Although the video does not show her feet, she is bare from the chest up. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Saturday, 16 January 2010 – 8:37 AM
| Comments Off on No Name-Calling Week, Prof. Smoke on Matthew Shepard, & the Women’s Summit
Gay AK – notes for and from LGBT Alaska
No Sticks, No Stones, No Dissing
GLSEN’s No Name-Calling Week is January 25-29, 2010, a week of educational and art activities aimed at stopping name-calling and bullying in schools. The Creative Expression Contest is an opportunity for students to submit essays, poetry, music, original artwork, or other pieces that convey their experiences and feelings about name-calling, and their ideas for putting a stop to verbal bullying in their schools and communities. Lesson plans and other resources at No Name-Calling Week.
Gale Smoke on Matthew Shepard
Professor Gale Smoke will review Judy Shepard’s book “The Meaning of Matthew, and a World Transformed” (Hudson Press, 2009) at this month’s Anchorage PFLAG meeting. Refreshments will be available and all are invited to the meeting at Immanuel Presbyterian Church on Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. Anchorage PFLAG.
Alaskans Together announces new board and officers
Congratulations to the new board members: Heather Bayless, Kelli Burkinshaw, Shayle Hutchison, Miguel De Marzo, Verner Wilson, and Christopher Narvaez. For 2010, the new executive officers for the organization are as follows: Elias Rojas – Board President, Joseph Lapp II – Vice President, Kevin Kristof – Treasurer, and Miguel De Marzo – Secretary. We are happy to announce that ATE is now a member of the Equality Federation. Come and join in the fun and hard work by volunteering to serve on one of the committees, which meet monthly by conference call. There is room for you! Join Alaskans Together.
It’s time to sign up for the 2010 Women’s Summit on March 17-19. The theme for this year is “Interpersonal Violence in Alaska: Why Alaska Ranks at the Top, and Strategies for Success.” The keynote speaker is Rebecca Levenson, Senior Policy Analyst with the Family Violence Prevention Fund. Come listen, learn and network with other women from around the state. Rebecca will also speak at a luncheon in Anchorage on Wednesday, March 17, 12 pm at the Sheraton Hotel downtown, $35/person. A limited number of scholarships are available for the Juneau conference (for travel, lodging and registration) and are due by March 1. For those arranging your own travel and lodging, applications are due by March 10. The Women’s Summit is organized by the Alliance for Reproductive Justice.
Tantric Wisdom for the Activities of Daily Living
Bird Trungma, Rinpoche, has moved her short essays on Tantric Wisdom to HubPages. She hopes you will keep reading them, and continue to enjoy and benefit from them. Her first essay tells her story of moving to Anchorage, almost leaving, then deciding to stay. Check out Bird’s Tantric Wisdom.
Sunday, 10 January 2010 – 8:12 PM
| Comments Off on Anchorage paper hosts legacy book for Mary Daly, Boston lesbian author
Mary Daly, radical lesbian feminist author of Gyn/Ecology and Beyond God the Father, passed away on Jan. 3, and the Anchorage Daily News opened a legacy book for the Boston professor who didn’t live in Alaska and probably never visited.
The ADN reprinted her obituary from the Associated Press, and the guest book currently has 105 entries, mostly from New England. Only 2 entries are from Alaska, although a few entries do not give locations.
Daly was a major voice in the women’s movement and a central figure in eco-feminism. Several of her books are among the classics of women’s studies courses. Her first book, The Church and the Second Sex published in 1968, argued that the Church systematically oppressed women for centuries. In later years, she considered herself “post-Christian.”
“Ever since childhood, I have been honing my skills for living the life of a Radical Feminist Pirate and cultivating the Courage to Sin,” she wrote in the opening of “Sin Big,” a 1996 autobiographical article for the New Yorker magazine. “The word ‘sin’ is derived from the Indo-European root ‘es-,’ meaning ‘to be.’ When I discovered this etymology, I intuitively understood that for a woman trapped in patriarchy, which is the religion of the entire planet, ‘to be’ in the fullest sense is ‘to sin.’ ”
Daly made headlines when she retired from Boston College (a Jesuit university where she taught for 30 years) rather than admit men to some of her advanced women’s studies classes, saying that the presence of men made the women less likely to speak. She did let men enroll in her introductory feminism courses and tutored them in the advanced subjects. Her anti-trans opinions were as controversial in the LGBT community as her anti-patriarchy stance was at Boston College.
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.
