Sunday, 6 October 2013 – 5:19 PM
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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.
Monday, 1 June 2009 – 6:06 AM
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Metropolitan Community Church of Anchorage and St. Mary’s Episcopal Church are hosting a “Would Jesus Discriminate?” Town Hall meeting and service at 6 p.m on June 5 at St. Mary’s, on the corner of Tudor and Lake Otis. MCC’s Rev. Norman Van Manen will give the keynote address and will be joined by panelist Sara Gavitt of St. Mary’s, and possibly others.
“This is an opportunity to explore Christian Scripture and tradition as we look at the social justice issue of discrimination,” writes Sara Gavit. “The community is being bombarded by a lot of ugly rhetoric right now and our hope is that this service and discussion will be a time of healing, education and understanding.”
Rev. Van Manen was a guest on a local conservative talk show and interviewed by television reporters in support of the proposed Anchorage non-discrimination ordinance.
The Town Hall will tackle one of the biggest challenges facing modern society — including, rather than excluding, people. Members of the local community are invited to participate in an experience based on the model of justice taught by Jesus Christ and other leaders of world religious movements.
The Town Hall grew out of an international campaign developed by MCC in partnership with Faith in America. The “Would Jesus Discriminate?” Campaign that MCC churches have facilitated in Indianapolis, Minneapolis and 57 more cities in the U.S., Australia, Africa and the United Kingdom is an important exercise for Christians and non-Christians.
All are welcome. The Town Hall meeting is free, will begin with a prayer service at 6 p.m. and will include a potluck meal. St. Mary’s Episcopal Church is located at 2222 East Tudor Road in Anchorage.
Visitors, new residents and long-time Alaskans want to know where to find churches and that are inclusive, welcoming, open, affirming or at least LGBT-friendly. Here is our list as of May 2009.
Each time I read something written by Rev. Prevo, I can’t help but equate him with the character Harold Hill from the Music Man.
Melodically, Rev. Prevo takes to the media singing his own version of “Trouble.” Rev. Prevo’s ability to use this musical message filled with fear to control his followers as he attempts to push his “moral agenda” is unfortunate. The tune he sings however is catchy and the beat easy to dance to.
Christians used the Holy Scriptures to condone slavery and to champion against interracial marriages based on their own interpretation of the Scriptures. Rev. Prevo attempts to push his own interpretation of the Scriptures as they relate to homosexuality.
Rev. Prevo is quick to toss out the Clobber Scriptures which he interprets to be damning to homosexuality such as Leviticus 20:13 and yet he refuses to admonish his followers for eating shellfish, which is an abomination (Leviticus 11:10), or to chastise his own male followers who get their hair trimmed, which is expressly forbidden in Leviticus 19.
There were four commandments given to us by Jesus. Love God, love yourself, love your neighbor and love your enemies. Not one of them involves hate.
Oh yes, Rev. Prevo, we’ve got trouble, lots and lots of trouble here in Anchorage. Thankfully the vast majority of us are familiar with not just your song, but also your dance.
According to Jerry Prevo’s letter to the editor in Sunday’s paper, his main problem with the city’s proposed ordinance protecting homosexuals’ civil rights is that it would allow men to dress as women for work. Hmm … isn’t that what Milton Berle did on his TV show in the ’50s? And didn’t Tom Hanks get his start as a cross-dresser in a sitcom? Then, of course, we have J. Edgar Hoover — there was a man who knew how to make a dress pop.
I erupted in laughter upon realizing his main objection to this ordinance is his belief that if passed, gay men would blanket the workplace with skirts, heels and makeup. He also apparently believes it authorizes gays to be sexually promiscuous with pornography during work hours. Tough luck for all those straight guys out there who found their company blocked access to porn on their work computers. If this ordinance passes, they’ll apparently have to find a gay friend who is willing to share his screen.
In all seriousness, am I the only one who read that relatively bizarre letter and thought, as the Bard so eloquently once wrote, “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”
Fear mongering under any guise is a hateful and nasty way to try to hurt someone who is different from you. The Nazis did it with the Jews. America did it after 9/11 with Muslims. The confederate states did it with blacks — it wasn’t all that long ago that a black man looking at a white woman was given a death sentence in many parts of the American south. And now some people are trying to use it on gays in Anchorage under the guise of Christianity.
Most mail I received in response to last week’s column supported my position, though some did so with clear limits and reservations. Many stated that Jerry Prevo simply did not really represent Christianity. A lot of people said that while they didn’t understand how someone could be gay, and maybe could never support the concept of gay marriage, they didn’t hate gays and felt their civil rights should be protected. All in all, most letters were thoughtful ruminations on what is clearly a difficult issue for many people.
But as always, there were the haters. They were the ones who substituted “ph” for “f” in the spelling of some words in order to get it by any obscenity filter I may have on my e-mail account. Many were little more than rants that made it clear I’d be going to hell to spend eternity with all the gays I was protecting. They quoted the Bible to ensure I understood they were speaking with authority. After reading those letters, I think hell would be a much safer option for me.
Jerry Prevo is entitled to his opinion because this is America. And Jerry Prevo and his following have the right to keep gays out of their church, again because this is America.
For his followers who wrote me in a rage because I support “special” rights for gays and they want to know where their special rights are, I suggest they look at the tax exemptions their church has — not only for the church building itself, but for just about any property it owns. They should check into how this ordinance specifically allows them to follow their beliefs and discriminate against gays if they wish. That’s a special privilege. In fact, probably the greatest specially protected entity in this whole country is its churches. They don’t pay taxes and they won’t have to follow this ordinance.
Contrary to Prevo’s fears, most gay men are not standing in their doorways dressed in drag waiting for the moment they can go to court and try a case in a lovely skirt and blouse ensemble. Most have families, bills and pets and live a stable life. And the more flamboyant part of the gay population no more represents the majority than the drunks, druggies and prostitutes you read about every day in the paper represent typical Alaskans.
This world is already filled with groups who hate each other. Why would anyone claiming to be Christian want to add to that?
While Prevo tries to stir up fears about clothing and collects tax-deductible donations for his anti-gay political agenda, Pastor Ron Hamman from Wasilla isn’t afraid to tell us what he really thinks about gays in his article “Will the Antichrist be a homosexual?”:
“But will the Antichrist be a homosexual? Having seen what the Bible says of sodomy, we have no further to look than the book of Daniel, chapter 11 to find our answer. It says, ‘Neither shall he [Antichrist] regard… the desire of women….'”
He gives a long definition of sodomy, charges that creating words based on scientific evidence is “historical revisionism,” and calls “mankind’s desire of women” the “glue” of Christianity. He decides that “the one called ‘that Wicked’ by Paul” will indeed be a gay man.
He doesn’t stop there. Adding sexual orientation to the non-discrimination policies of Anchorage, Alaska is proof that the Antichrist is coming!
“The time is ripe for such a leader. Indeed, it should not be surprising that the one who is against everything Biblical and Christian should be a partaker of so great a sin; there is no greater way to reject the Creator than to reject your gender and his design for it. And at what other time have we seen such perversion come out of the closets onto our streets, threatening violence if we do not accept their ways?
Is it any wonder that Revelation 13 says that this same Antichrist will make war with the saints of the tribulation, and overcome them? Are they not now readying themselves to make it illegal to “offend” them in any way, calling it hatred to preach against their sin? Is it because they love us? The time is ripe for such a man.”
Rev. Howard Bess, the Palmer preacher who said his book on gay Christians was targeted for censorship by then-mayor Sarah Palin, wrote an editorial in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman on the success of gay rights.
About 35 years ago when I first began facing the fact of the presence of gays in our churches, I became a very lonely advocate for their full acceptance and participation. The accepted opinion was that homosexuals were sick or woefully sinful or both. The majority of Americans have moved a long way from that damning evaluation. American opinion is moving us in the direction of full equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.
Bess describes three reasons why public opinion on gay equality has shifted so far in the 40 years since the Stonewall riots:
“First, gay people slowly but surely have come out of their closets. Gay people have always been around us, in our families, in our communities, in our churches and in our institutions. Our gay family members and friends were invisible to us. The most highly developed skill of a gay person was to remain undetected. No one can point to a single event and say, “It started here,” but there are milestones in the opening of the closet door.
“This year is the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall incident. New York City police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn. A riot broke out. That single incident, more than any other, is the rallying point for gay activism. The celebration of the Stonewall riot is the base for all gay pride celebrations and parades.
“The next milestone, especially for gay Christians, was the publishing of a book in 1972 titled, “The Lord Is My Shepherd, and He Knows I am Gay.” It was written by a Pentecostal minister named Troy Perry. Because of Perry’s efforts there is now a sizable denomination called Metropolitan Community Church that offers a safe church home to gay people who have been turned aside by their churches. Reading Perry’s book was pivotal in shaping my own understanding of the homosexual phenomenon.
“The importance of Phil Donahue cannot be overstated. More than any other person he took the discussion of homosexuality into the public arena. He was a pioneer in the world of television talk shows. He took the discussion of the gay presence among us out of the closet. He took what had been a private concern into the public square.
“At first gay people came out of their closets in a trickle. The trickle became a stream and today is a flood. Twenty years ago the typical gay person came out of the closet in college. Now kids in junior high are joining the ranks of the openly gay population. The closet is nearing extinction.
“The second factor in establishing gay rights has been the battle over the Bible. Forty years ago, Churches of every stripe rejected gay people and especially sexual activities among gay people. The commonly held perspective was that the Bible rejected homosexuals and homosexual activities of all kinds. Then Biblical scholars began their homework. A few scholars starting in the mid-1980s looked more intently at the nine Bible passages that were commonly identified as rejecting homosexual activity. In the 1990s a flood of scholarly books hit the bookstores. I have them all in my personal library. The verdict: Not a single passage in the entire Bible speaks about a loving, committed, intimate relationship between two people of the same sex. The Bible neither endorses nor condemns same-sex relationships. The Bible cannot be used to reject gay people.
“Primarily because of the influence of scholarship, opposition to full acceptance of gay people in mainline Christian churches is melting away. I suspect that 50 years from now, Christians will be as embarrassed about the rejection of gay people as they are now about the denial of equality for women and their support of the horror of black slavery.
“The third influence may be the most important. As gay people moved out of their closets and into a more public presence, they have proven themselves to be good public citizens. Our communities are blessed by teachers, lawyers, business owners, legislators, carpenters, doctors and ministers who just happen to be gay. When we get to know our gay neighbors, denying them their full rights, including the right to marry legally becomes all the more absurd.
“Full acceptance of gay people in our churches and in our American society needs to be affirmed and celebrated. We need to put this dark night of ignorance and discrimination behind us. The 40th anniversary observances of the Stonewall riot are a good time for thoughtful people of good will to walk hand-in-hand with our gay neighbors.”
Wednesday, 7 January 2009 – 11:00 PM
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Rev. Norman Van Manen, the new pastor of MCC Anchorage, is starting a spiritual development and leadership class called Step by Step that will replace the Soul Food program on Thursday evenings.
Step by Step begins on January 8, with fellowship and snacks at 6:30 p.m. and the class at 7 p.m.
Metropolitan Community Church of Anchorage, a GLBT-inclusive church, appointed Rev. Van Manen to the position of Development Pastor immediately following his visit in mid-December.
“We were greatly encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive response to Rev. Van Manen,” wrote Matthew Moak, the Vice-Moderator.
Rev. Van Manen will officially take the helm of MCC Anchorage on February 15th, 2009. The annual congregational meeting, usually held the third week of January, will be postponed until the new pastor is installed.
Published: September 22nd, 2008 10:41 PM
Last Modified: September 22nd, 2008 10:41 PM
One of my earliest memories is being told by the principal of my Christian school that, along with Prince fans and devotees of the rock band Kiss, homosexuals were going to hell.
I was only 6 years old and had never heard of a homosexual, but my principal was happy to spell it out for his elementary school audience: “Homosexuals are men who have sex with men.” By the end of the school day, I was in tears, convinced that my mother’s love for Prince had doomed us both for eternity.
At the time, homosexuality had no relevance to my life, and because after this incident my mother promptly enrolled me in public school, I was spared any additional attempts to prevent me from growing up to be gay. But what about the children whose parents weren’t aware of what their kids were being taught? Or whose parents’ beliefs might have been more in line with that of the principal’s? What about the slightly older child, already aware of his or her attraction to people of the same sex, forced to come of age weighed down by this message of condemnation?
For years, these children remained vulnerable to the harmful teachings of adults who used their authority and their religious standing to promote an anti-gay agenda under the guise of Christian righteousness. It is disheartening to know that some groups continue to promote a philosophy that endangers peoples’ mental health and validates social intolerance.
Over time, the homophobic discourse of Christian fundamentalism has grown more benevolent in tone. Instead of threatening the gates of hell, for example, Focus on the Family’s Love Won Out ministry claims to help people “overcome” their same- sex attractions with “compassion and grace.” They claim to be able to “transform” people’s lives with holistic therapies and counseling.
But just because the tone has changed doesn’t mean that the consequences have disappeared. In a 1998 position statement the American Psychiatric Association cited the numerous potential risks of the “therapies” promoted by these ministries of so-called “transformation,” including depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior. The American Psychological Association, National Association of Social Workers, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have also expressed their concern about the harmful consequences of these ministries on the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning people and their families.
For all their talk of love, the Love Won Out ministry blindly ignores the love and affection that exists between gay and lesbian couples. We are portrayed as emotionally stunted in/piduals with no interest in each other beyond the physical, thereby diminishing public respect for and recognition of our relationships and families.
If you look beneath the “self-help”-styled rhetoric, at the core of their philosophy is the belief that if you’re gay or lesbian, there is something fundamentally wrong with you that needs to be changed. Not only is this belief medically incorrect — psychiatrists dismissed it almost 40 years ago — it also implicitly validates social prejudices that lead to acts of discrimination, harassment and violence. These acts cause far more mental harm to gays and lesbians — and do more harm to our democracy — than allowing law-abiding citizens to live their lives equally, honestly, and without fear — regardless of their sexual orientation.
I work for the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, an organization that protects the right of every citizen to believe in and promote the religion of their choice. Focus on the Family has every right to bring its Love Won Out conference all the way to Anchorage and share its mission with whoever is willing to listen. But our Constitution also grants me the right to urge you — for the sake of your loved ones’ mental well-being and happiness, for the sake of promoting a more democratic and compassionate community, and in the name of love — not to believe a word they say.
Tiffany McClain is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Public Policy Coordinator for ACLU of Alaska in Anchorage.
Wednesday, 10 September 2008 – 10:33 PM
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Howard Bess, author of “Pastor, I am Gay” and former pastor of Church of the Covenant in Palmer, Alaska recalls that his book challenging Christians to re-examine their ideas about and prejudices against gays and lesbians was not well received in nearby Wasilla when it was published in 1995 — the year before Sarah Palin was elected mayor.
Virtually every book store in Wasilla refused to sell it. Bess said he gave two copies to the Wasilla Library, but they quickly disappeared. So he donated more copies.
Sarah Palin was elected mayor of Wasilla with the support of her Assembly of God church, which was pushing for the removal of “Pastor, I am Gay” from local bookstores. On two occasions, Mayor Palin asked the Wasilla library director what she would do if told to remove certain books from the shelves. Three books were mentioned.
The library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, said the books were purchased according to the guidelines and would not be removed. Mayor Palin fired her soon after. A group of local residents protested the firing and Mary Ellen was reinstated, but she left Wasilla two years later and will not speak about the incident now.
In Dec. 1996, reporter Paul Stuart wrote an article about the censorship controversy in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.
“Mary Ellen told me that Palin asked her directly to remove these books from the shelves,” Stuart said. “She refused.” Asked later if one of the books could have been “Pastor, I am Gay,” Stuart said that it was.
“Knowing Sarah’s religious connections and the people involved,” said Howard Bess, “I would be surprised if my book was not one of those at issue.”
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.
