A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013

Shh! Friday April 16 is Day of Silence, when students nationwide take a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. At the end of DoS, Alaska students Break the Silence in Anchorage at the Pride Prom, in Fairbanks with a group scream and Drag Show, and in Juneau at an after-party with the Juneau Pride Chorus.

Hundreds of thousands of students of all beliefs, backgrounds and sexual orientations participate in national Day of Silence to encourage schools and classmates to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior. Founded in 1996, DoS has become the largest single student-led action towards creating safer schools for all, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

DoS occurs during Prom season, and same sex prom dates have been in the news more than usual this year. Some gay and lesbian teens in Alaska go to their school prom with a same sex date, but most don’t. They would rather go to an LGBTA prom where they don’t have to worry about the kind of anti-gay bullying that Day of Silence highlights. In Anchorage, students break the silence of DoS with the annual Pride Prom.

Day of Silence is a positive educational experience, but the bigots are in full attack mode. A fake medical group sent anti-gay propaganda to schools around the country to stop DoS. Faux News riled up the tea party protesters by claiming that DoS was wasting tax payer money, although school funds are not spent. Several anti-gay groups tell parents to keep their teens out of school on Day of Silence because they might hear see that many of their peers oppose their anti-gay bigotry. (They’re often the kids who need to see it the most.) On the Monday following DoS, these kids are told to preach at school the dangerous lie that gay kids should be ashamed of themselves and should pray-away-the-gay, or at least pretend to be straight. And, no, they are not silent about pushing an anti-gay religious agenda in the public schools.

If you are participating in DoS, check the Day of Silence blog for information and resources like the DoS cards, Your Rights during Day of Silence, 8 Tips for Facing Opposition, Tips for the Last-Minute Organizer, and Four Truths about the Day of Silence.

What are you going to do to break the silence around anti-LGBT bullying and harassment?

Gay AK: Notes from and for LGBT Alaska

Today, March 20, is National Native (American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian) HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

Good news: The Alaska Hate Crimes Bill (SB 202) passed out of the Senate Judiciary committee, with the gender amendment added. Senators French, Egan & Wielechowski voted with us, Senators McGuire & Coghill voted against. A new version of the bill will be posted with the amendments, and it may be referred to the Finance committee. Thank you for sending messages, POM’s and testimony to Judiciary, and stay tuned for the contact addresses for Finance members.

Alaska PrideFest 2010 is encouraging all groups, in all Alaskan cities, to submit activities scheduled during Pride Week (June 19-27) for publication and promotion on the new Alaska PrideFest web site. Please send time, date, location and a brief description to Gail, PrideFest Planning Co-Chair. We are also seeking parade participants, park-strip vendors, stage entertainers and happy volunteers to help make “2010: A Pride Odyssey” an event to remember.

RAW is calling for Celebration of Change vendors and program ads. Sell your wares: $25 for a table and $25 for a business card ad in the program. They are also looking for more fabulous volunteer crew members to help make this show a success. Celebration of Change is on March 27 at the Wilda Marston Theatre. Tickets are $15, available at Metro and the GLCCA. Volunteer application and vender/ad information at Celebration.

Your Internet searches can raise funds for MCC Anchorage. Go to Good Search and paste “Metropolitan Community Church of Anchorage” for the charity name (the 2nd box.) Then MCCA will get revenue for every search. The second option is to install a non-intrusive toolbar which appears on your web browser so you don’t need to change your homepage. It’s a great way for non-profits to make a bit of change.

Do you know a high school student who should be recognized for advancing LGBT equality in his or her school or community? If so, nominate them to win GLSEN’s 2010 Student Advocate of the Year Award, presented by AT&T. The winner travels all-expenses-paid to New York City to attend GLSEN’s 2010 New York Respect Awards on 5/24, where his or her unique accomplishments as an exemplary student leader will be honored. Login and complete the nomination form by April 2 at the Student Advocate of the Year contest.

Alaska Women Speak Quarterly is a periodical by and for Alaska Women. We are looking for contributions of prose, poetry and art on the Summer 2010 theme of “My-topia.” You know what Utopia is, what’s your -topia? As always, we are in need of donations to keep the presses rolling. Send writings by 5/15 to Alaska Women Speak, and donations to AWS, PO Box 210045, Anchorage 99521. Thanks for your continued support.

Gay AK: Notes from and for LGBT Alaska

Portland-based performer Holcombe Waller presents a 1-hour performance combining excerpts from two song-driven works: “Into the Dark Unknown (The Hope Chest),” a theatrical folk concert combining songs, storytelling and video imagery, and a new work titled “Surfacing,” an silent film with live musical accompaniment that explores the universal themes of love, identity and language arising in the debate for GLBT equality. Watch a video excerpt from “Into the Dark Unknown (The Hope Chest)” and check out Holcombe Waller’s website. Tickets at Out North Theatre 3800 Debarr Road, Anchorage.

Identity Inc. and “QrSA” (queer and straight allies) are pleased to announce that the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Anchorage will be hosting a new bi-monthly Saturday drop-in for youth ages 13 to 19 only. The drop-ins will take place from 12-3pm on the first and third Saturdays of the month. The community center will be open to the general public afterwards, from 3-6pm.

This year’s PrideFest theme will be “Alaska Pride 2010: A Pride Odyssey” and we have a new website: www.alaskapride.org. The old website is still active and current, and we will complete the transition after this year’s PrideFest so you can still find all the PrideFest information at www.anchoragepride.com. We are also excited to have full state wide representation – we have planners from Fairbanks and sponsors from Juneau – and this year will certainly be an exciting PrideFest. Check out the new website to see this year’s logo!

The Last Frontier Men’s Club is pleased to announce their new title holders: Alaska Cub – Shane, Mr. Bear Alaska – Kirt, Ms. Alaska Leather – Sarah, Mr. Alaska Leather – Tom. Congratulations to the new title holders! (pictured right.) Thanks to all the contestants, and to everyone who attended Arctic Heat Weekend and supports the Bear and Leather Community and TLFMC. We would like to invite men over the age of 21 to get involved in our gay men’s social club, The Last Frontier Men’s Club.

Washington is now the sixth place in the nation where same-sex marriages can take place. Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont also issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Gay-rights advocates hailed the day as a milestone for equal rights as same-sex marriage became legal in the nation’s capital. The law survived Congressional attempts to block it, and US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected a request from marriage opponents to put the new law on hold. The first D.C. same sex marriages took place on Tuesday, March 9.

Alaska’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities (and our fabulous straight allies) will demonstrate our PRIDE for 10 colorful days in June as we celebrate Anchorage PrideFest 2010. Our theme is 2010 A PRIDE ODYSSEY.

Anchorage PrideFest 2010 will take place June 18-27. During this ten-day period, various non-profit, social, and business organizations will host special events at venues around Anchorage. A highlight of PrideFest is always the Celebrating Diversity Parade which will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday June 26 through the heart of downtown Anchorage, where we hope to see a record crowd. After the Parade, please join us for the Festival on the Delaney Park Strip from noon until 6 p.m. The Festival will feature live entertainment, vendors, food, friends, a kiddie carnival, and fun, all under the glorious Anchorage summer sun.

To make this year’s PrideFest a success, we need the support of our entire community… sponsors, donors, parade entries, festival entertainers, vendors, groups who sponsor events, hundreds of volunteers… you name it, we need it. Thank you for making it great each year!!

If you are interested in helping in any way with this year’s PrideFest festivities, please join us at our next planning meeting. You don’t need any skills, just a passion for pride, willingness to work as a team and the expectation to have fun. We are aiming to have as many groups and regions as possible throughout Alaska represented in our planning.

The next meeting is Wednesday, February 24, at 6:30 pm at the Gay & Lesbian Community Center in Anchorage. If you are outside of Anchorage, we can arrange a speaker phone. For more info, send us an e-mail.

Thanks and Happy Pride,

Johnathan Jones and Gail Palmer

Co-Chairs of Anchorage PrideFest 2010

Happy New Year! As we begin another year, we start a new round of annual events for LGBT Alaska:

Lesbian Short Story Contest (Feb. deadline) – Radical Arts for Women rewards women authors in Alaska for fiction with lesbian content.

Arctic Heat (February) – The Last Frontier Men’s Club chooses the next Bear and Leather titleholders.

Celebration of Change (March this year) – RAW’s break-up performance and art show celebrates women, music and the coming of spring.

Femme Fatale (April) – The Imperial Court closes the legislative session in Juneau with a benefit show for Four A’s.

Day of Silence (April 25) & Pride Prom – Alaska’s Gay/Straight Student Alliances wrap up the school year with National Day of Silence and Pride Prom.

Juneau Pride Chorus spring concert (May) – The Juneau Women’s Chorus welcomes spring with an evening of music and food.

Memorial Day Picnic (end of May) – The community Picnic and BBQ celebrate unity and the beginning of summer.

PrideFest & Pride Week (June) – The summer solstice diversity parade and festival displays our Pride in Anchorage, and Juneau holds a Pride Picnic.

Golden Days Parade & Tanana Valley Fair (July) – PFLAG Fairbanks brightens the local parade with a 45 foot rainbow flag and hosts a picnic afterwards, then creates a booth for the Fair.

Coronation (Labor Day weekend) – ICOAA’s late summer extravaganza invests the new Imperial Court of All Alaska and presents scholarships and awards.

Pride Conference (October) – Identity’s back-to-school conference is inspired by National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11.

Alaskans Together annual conference (October) – ATE hosts a statewide annual strategy conference.

World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) – Four 4’s and IAA recognize the battle against AIDS with memorials, celebrations of life, and red ribbons.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles toured four South American nations performing multi-lingual theatrical performances. ‘Simple Gifts’ was one of the highlights:

The gay choral videos posted this week celebrate music and the joy of Christmas. They also bring the message that gays and lesbians are not spiritually lost just because we are open and honest about our love.

In today’s video, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus sings “We’re Not Lost We’re Here” from Naked Man, while soloist and first tenor Cecil O’Neal Johnson tells his story of joining the chorus and becoming whole:

Merry Christmas!

Gloria, the lesbian and gay choir of Dublin, Ireland, performed their Christmas concert in St. Anne’s Catholic Church last week, including a beautiful rendition of “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” that opens with a piano solo:

The Hallelujah Chorus (featuring les freres de St. Francis de la Sissies) performed with great comic timing by the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus:

Continuing with the theme of gay holiday music videos, here is the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus dancing in drag to “Waltz of the Snowflakes” from the Nutcracker ballet: