A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013

Update: This Way Out also airs on KEUL 88.9 FM in Girdwood and 105.3 FM in Hope on Wednesday evenings at 10 p.m. (Thanks to DJ Ultraviolet)

Every Wednesday, listeners in Anchorage, Eagle River, Kasilof and the Mat-Su can tune in to This Way Out, an award-winning and internationally distributed gay and lesbian news and music program, on KWMD from 8:15-8:45 p.m.

KWMD broadcasts in Anchorage on 104.5 FM and 87.74 FM, in Eagle River on 92.5 FM, in Kasilof on 90.7 FM, and in the Mat-Su on 107.9 FM. 

This Way Out begins with a summary of major news events in or affecting the lesbian & gay communities around the world. The 30 minute magazine-style program continues with interviews of authors and performers, music by openly-Lesbigay recording artists, humor, readings from GLBT literature, and news feature stories.

The weekly show was broadcast in Fairbanks on KSUA 91.5 FM, but has not been aired since the Homophonic Radio program was discontinued.

This Way Out recently celebrated 20 years on the air. The all-volunteer operation accepts donations, and CD or tape subscriptions are available for those who live outside the broadcast areas.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) – Alaska continues to rank high nationally in the rate of chlamydia cases but relatively low in the most serious sexually transmitted disease, HIV, according to reports by the state Division of Public Health.

The 2006 figures were compiled by the Centers for Disease Control.

Alaska ranked first or second in chlamydia, 25th in gonorrhea and 28th in syphilis but low in HIV.

“We have a low prevalency rate in the state and we would like to stay that way,” said Mollie Rosier, manager of the Section of Epidemiology’s HIV/STD program.

The most common method of HIV transmission in Alaska was men having sex with men. Other categories included heterosexual contact with a partner known to have HIV, or injection drug use.

Rosier said statistics were divided into two time periods because there were not enough cases for year-to-year analysis: 1982-2002 and 2003-2007.

There were 1,206 known HIV cases in Alaska from 1982 to 2007. Thirty-seven first-known HIV diagnosis cases occurred in 2007. Of the cases reported, 81 percent of people with the disease were males and 58 percent were white.

The chlamydia bulletin said the disease plays a role in facilitating HIV transmission. However, with such a high rate of chlamydia and such a low rate of HIV, it was impossible to tell if chlamydia played a role in contraction of HIV in Alaska, Rosier said.

The bulletin stated that 4,911 cases of chlamydia were reported in Alaska during 2007, an 8 percent increase over 2006. That was part of a significant increase of chlamydia cases in Alaska since 1996, reaching a rate of 49 cases per 100,000 people on average.

The program’s Donna Cerere prepared the bulletins and said there was no easy or simple answer to why Alaska has such a high rate of chlamydia and gonorrhea. The rise could be a byproduct of a more sensitive test, she said.

Chlamydia and gonorrhea can be treated with antibiotics. However, the more times a woman contracts the disease, the higher the risk of infertility, Cerere said.

UPDATE: The ABC News clip on Sarah Palin’s support of removing Howard Bess’ “Pastor, I Am Gay” from the Wasilla public library is at: Palmer Pastor’s Gay-Positive Book was on Mayor Palin’s Censor List

Palmer community activist Howard Bess celebrated his 50th year as an ordained American Baptist minister by retiring from his role as pastor of the Church of the Covenant.

Bess is the author of the book “Pastor, I Am Gay” and one of the founders of the Anchorage-based gay rights group Identity Inc. In Palmer, he encouraged the Mat-Su GLBTA community to hold their meetings at the church.

The Anchorage Daily News ran an interview of Howard Bess, including why he became involved in gay issues, the local response to his work on behalf of Alaska’s GLBTA communities, and the wide variety of other social issues that are important to him.

Del Martin, left, places a ring on her partner Phyllis Lyon, right, during their wedding ceremony officiated by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, center, at City Hall in San Francisco, Monday, June 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, Pool)

Today, the Norwegian Parliament passed a bill that makes civil marriage gender neutral, giving same-sex couples the right to marry. The law also recognizes both partners in a marriage as equal parents, and gives lesbian couples the same access to “medically assisted reproduction” as opposite-sex couples. The Church of Norway will be allowed, but not required, to bless the gay and lesbian marriages. Passage of the law makes Norway the sixth country in the world to approve same-sex marriages. Go Norway!

Remember those geography lessons where you filled in information about states and countries on an outline map? Well, get out a new map for the current round in the fight for same-sex marriage.

The chain reaction of change and backlash came fast and furious these past few weeks.

On May 15, the California Supreme Court ruled that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry. In 2005 and again in 2006, the state legislature had voted to legalize same-sex marriage, but the Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the measures.

Same-sex marriage is legal in Canada, Spain, South Africa, The Netherlands, and Belgium. Same-sex civil unions or partnerships are legal in New Zealand, Uruguay, and fourteen European countries, including France, Germany, and the UK.

Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New Hampshire offer civil unions with many of the rights and responsibilities of marriage. Oregon’s domestic partnerships also include a broad set of protections, while partnerships in Maine, Hawaii, Washington, and the District of Columbia offer limited protections for same-sex couples.

A case is pending in the Connecticut Supreme Court on whether civil unions fall short of fulfilling the equal rights of same-sex couples.

Massachusetts allows state residents to marry, but only allows an out-of-state same-sex couple to marry in Massachusetts if the marriage is legal in the couple’s home state. 

On May 29, New York Gov. David Paterson told state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts, Canada and other places where they are legal. Although same-sex couples cannot get married in New York, the state respects all legal out-of-state marriages. Ditto in Rhode Island and New Mexico, although this has not been tested in New Mexico.

On May 30, Talis J. Colberg, the Attorney General of Alaska, joined several conservative anti-gay groups and the Attorneys General of Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah in urging the California Supreme Court to delay its ruling to legalize same-sex marriage in California.

On May 31, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte announced that New Hampshire was withdrawing from the request and will recognize a legal gay marriage from California as a civil union.

On June 2, an initiative that would outlaw gay marriage in California qualified for the November 4 ballot. It was funded by an evangelical billionaire from Orange County and a Colorado-based anti-gay group, Focus on the Family. It would overturn the May 15 ruling that legalizes same-sex marriage in California.

Nine states, including Alaska, have amendments that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Seventeen states, including Michigan, have constitutional amendments that prohibit any type of same-sex spousal rights. The amendments in South Dakota and Nebraska specifically prohibit civil unions and domestic partnerships.

The Michigan Supreme Court recently ruled that their broadly worded amendment prohibits public universities, state agencies and local governments from offering health insurance to partners of gay and lesbian state employees. The Alaska Supreme Court had ruled that the narrower ban requires the state to provide equal partner benefits to gay and lesbian employees.

The Iowa Supreme Court is considering whether the state’s legislative ban on same-sex marriage violates equal rights protections in the state constitution.

On June 3, the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group based in Arizona, filed a lawsuit to stop the state of New York from recognizing same-sex marriages legally performed in Massachusetts, Canada and possibly California.

On June 4, California’s highest court refused to delay its decision to legalize same-sex marriage, clearing the final hurdle for the nation’s most populous state to start marrying gay and lesbian couples on June 17. (AP)

Same-sex couples around the country have four and a half months to get legally married in California, before the California voters decide whether to stop or to continue offering same-sex marriages.

Florida will also vote on an amendment to ban gay marriage. In West Virginia, a group of Republican legislators asked the Governor to place same-sex marriage on the agenda if a special session is called, so they can start the process of a constitutional amendment to ban the marriages.

The Alaska state legislature began a special session this week to discuss the gas pipeline. Raise your hand if you think a ban on the recognition of same-sex marriages will be discussed.

That’s where same-sex marriage stands today. Keep those maps on hand and stay tuned for future updates. 

by E. Ross

Alaska Airlines has updated their Gay Travel site, adding 10% discounts to more LGBT events. 

(For more on the “gay discounts” controversy, and Alaska’s rating on the Corporate Equality Index, see Alaska Still ‘Taking Diversity to the Sky’)

Flying to Seattle in late August or early September?

As a sponsor of the 2008 Gay Softball World Series, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are pleased to offer a 10% discount on air travel to the 2008 Series. This discount is valid for travel from August 15, 2008, to September 9, 2008, between Seattle and all U.S., Canadian, and Mexico cites served by Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air. (08 Series Promotion)

Flying between Seattle or Portland and San Francisco, Los Angeles or Palm Springs in June?

A Juneau lesbian couple and their two sons were included in AK Mom, the Mother’s Day program that aired on the Alaska Public Radio Network (APRN) this year.

My Two Moms: When Woodrow Wilson declared Mother’s Day in 1914, there probably weren’t many two-mom families like the one led by Martha Murray and Jenifer Shapland of Juneau. They’ve been together for almost 23 years and are raising two boys.

The six minute segment can be heard on the APRN archive (starting at 29:50 of the 48 minute podcast.)

I asked Jenifer and Martha to reflect on the show and it’s effects on their family for Blogging for LGBT Families Day.

We chose to do the interview because we are proud of our family. We feel that having positive media coverage helps change attitudes, and offers support to other gay-parent families. 

We were happy with the show, although we would have preferred to be profiled because of some accomplishment and had a side note that we were also a two-mom family. But in the conservative state we live in, being a two-mom family is an accomplishment in and of itself. 

We have received many positive comments about the show. Our friends, family, and acquaintances are all thrilled. I suppose some folks didn’t like it, but had the courtesy not to tell us. 

The effect on our family was positive. It is good for our sons to hear themselves on the radio, and to be reminded how much support there is for new family structures. We have many friends who are two-mom families, and several who are lesbian couples co-parenting with the dads of their kids. 

It’s also good to hear support for families in general. In our individualistic society, it is important for kids (and adults) to remember that the family is the formative unit. It’s where we learn our values, morals, and ideals, where we learn to love. 

We have the support of our friends and families, our community, our churches, our kids’ schools, their friends’ parents, their sports clubs. We really haven’t run into problems anywhere we’ve chosen to go. We avoided Boy Scouts due to their anti-gay stance, but also for their para-military structure. We avoid anti-gay religious groups, but there are many who are welcoming. We don’t work in careers that require us to be closeted, but we have our careers of choice. 

Despite the spate of anti-marriage bills being legislated across the country, the state of Alaska and the state of Washington have both recognized us as a family – our kids are legally ours. We can’t get married, but we’re legally a family! 

It’s great to be parents, and we’re proud of our kids. 

Check out the many posts on Mombian’s Blogging for LGBT Families Day site – they make great reading!

The attorneys general say in court documents filed Thursday that they have an interest in the case because they would have to determine if their states would recognize the marriage of gay residents who wed in California.

They want the court to stay its ruling until after the November election, when voters likely will decide whether to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage. (Associated Press)