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.
Saturday, 25 September 2010 – 1:15 PM
| Comments Off on Court rules Air Force must reinstated lesbian major
While Congress plays politics with DADT, the courts move steadily toward overturning the ban.
On Friday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton ruled that the Air Force violated the constitutional rights of Maj. Margaret Witt, and ordered that the highly decorated flight nurse be reinstated. During the six-day trial, the military failed to prove that firing her helped to achieve its goals, including unit morale. In fact, the evidence showed that morale suffered only because of her suspension and discharge.
This is the second court ruling this month declaring Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell unconstitutional. On Sept 9, another federal judge ruled that DADT is unconstitutional because it violates the 1st and 5th Amendment rights of gay and lesbian soldiers.
Major Witt was on The Rachel Maddow Show discussing her case a few hours after the ruling:
Friday, 24 September 2010 – 1:53 PM
| Comments Off on McAdams on DADT *update*
Scott McAdams, Mayor of Sitka, former school board member and Alaska’s Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, confirmed that he opposes Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and would have voted for the repeal. In addition, he sent this statement:
“At a time when the U.S. has 50,000 troops on the ground and is still fighting a war in Afghanistan, it’s irresponsible to exclude any skilled, combat-ready troops from service. Individuals who are willing to sacrifice their lives for their country don’t deserve to be discriminated against.” – SCOTT McADAMS
It’s a mild statement, but not bad for a democrat running in an independent/red state. Now we have a real choice for senate. Instead of waiting for the magic opinion polls to tell us who has the best chance of beating Joe Miller – and hoping they’re right – we can unite behind a candidate who will actually vote for equality and fairness.
UPDATE: Check out the newer, stronger McAdams statement on DADT, answer #3 on his questionnaire for Daily Kos, where he is a highlighted Orange to Blue candidate. Guess his campaign got the message that DADT is an easy one.
###
When Lisa didn’t show up for the big senate vote on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell this week, her campaign manager confirmed that she would have voted against the repeal if she’d been there. The GOP voted as a block to prevent DADT from even being debated, just like they’re blocking the other changes we voted for: no honesty for gays and lesbians in the military, no gay families included in immigration reform, no fairness at work, no marriage, no healthcare, no rights.
We called Lisa, filled her voicemail box with messages for the repeal of DADT, gave her a chance to be Alaska’s moderate candidate. She choose partisan politics – for the party that rejected her – over doing what 75% of Americans know is right and fair.
DADT is likely to come up for another vote in the U.S. Senate, either in December or next year.
Scott McAdams knows what is fair, and will vote to protect our troops from discrimination. Please get to know him and spread the word.
Later, Maddow outlines the three best options for moving forward on DADT:
another Senate attempt during the “lame duck” session after the mid-term election,
an executive order from the president ending the policy (or at least stopping the discharges until the Pentagon removes the policy), and/or
The Department of Justice can choose not to appeal the recent court decision that DADT is unconstitutional.
The “don’t appeal” strategy is gaining more support now that the senate repeal is on hold. A New York Times editorial on DADT notes:
President Obama, the House and a majority of senators clearly support an end to “don’t ask, don’t tell,” but that, of course, is insufficient in the upside-down world of today’s Senate, where 40 members can block anything.
[snip]
If the military’s unjust policy is not repealed in the lame-duck session, there is another way out. The Obama administration can choose not to appeal Judge Phillips’s ruling that the policy is unconstitutional, and simply stop ejecting soldiers.
U.S. district court judge Virginia Phillips ruled the 17-year-old law unconstitutional on September 9. The plaintiffs, the Log Cabin Republicans, filed for an end to the enforcement of DADT, and the Department of Justice is scheduled to respond with their own proposal on Thursday.
Democrats in the U.S. House, led by the three openly gay members – Barney Frank (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Jared Polis (D-CO) – wrote a letter to Pres. Obama urging him not to appeal the federal court decision:
We consider this matter a top priority to our service members, the American people and the security of the United States. We acknowledge and appreciate your support and hope that together we can end this dishonorable policy once and for all. We hope that you, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Services, will take this opportunity to restore integrity to our military and decline to appeal Judge Phillips’ ruling.
If DOJ pursues an appeal, Obama’s administration will be defending the constitutionality of DADT and DOMA in court — right smack in the middle of his reelection campaign.
And they think the approval ratings are low now! Stay tuned for the DOJ’s response.
Tuesday, 21 September 2010 – 10:49 AM
| One Comment
The cloture vote on DADT was rejected 56-43 today. We needed 60 votes to end Sen. McCain’s filibuster. Senator Murkowski was busy with her write-in campaign and didn’t bother to vote. The two Democratic senators from Arkansas voted against their party. Seeing that cloture would not pass, Sen. Harry Reid had to vote “no” as well, so that he can reintroduce the bill another time.
UPDATE: The Dispatch reports that Lisa would have voted against the DADT repeal:
Mike Brumas, Murkowski’s Senate spokesman, confirmed that Murkowski would have voted “nay” on the cloture motion… if she had been in D.C.
The next chance to consider the National Defense Authorization Act, with both the DREAM Act and the DADT repeal amendments, will likely be in December after the mid-term elections.
“Today’s vote is a failure of leadership on the part of those who have been duly elected to serve this nation and to put the best interests of the country ahead of partisan politics,” said Alexander Nicholson of Servicemembers United. “It is simply inexcusable that this vote failed today.”
In Alaska, we gave Senator Murkowski a chance to show her support for our troops and for fairness, to establish herself as the moderate candidate before the November election. Instead, she showed her loyalty to the GOP and gave in to the social conservatives who voted her out of office a few weeks ago.
Monday, 20 September 2010 – 9:24 PM
| Comments Off on Will Lisa vote for the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal?
The word from DC is that Senator Murkowski is considering voting for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the military ban against openly serving gays and lesbians. LGR wrote that Murkowski is listening:
Our DC staffer is on the Hill right now, and according to Senator Murkowski’s staff, the Senator is more than willing to listen to the calls. Her official phone number is (202) 224-6665, though the Senate can be reached via (202) 224-3121. LGBT Alaskans should call her and ask for her to vote for the repeal and to start and end debate over this.
By 9 p.m. on Monday, Lisa’s DC voicemail box was full for the day. If it’s full on Tuesday, call her Anchorage office at 907-271-3735, Fairbanks at 907-456-0233 or toll free in Alaska at 1-877-829-6030. Her email contact form is HERE.
Lisa announced a write-in campaign on Friday against the Palin-endorsed Joe Miller and Democrat Scott McAdams. She has only 6 weeks (and a few more for the recount?) as Alaska’s Republican senator – after that, either she will be our write-in senator or she will be unemployed.
Voting for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would be one way for her to declare her independent status in Congress and get back at the GOP leaders who are lining up to support Miller.
The Senate cloture vote on DADT is scheduled for Tuesday. Alaska has an unexpected opportunity to help repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and stop the filibuster. Let’s make the most of it.
Call Senator Murkowski today at (202) 224-6665 or toll free in Alaska at 1-877-829-6030 and ask her to vote for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Saturday, 18 September 2010 – 5:20 AM
| Comments Off on Lady GaGa video to Senate: repeal "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell"
Lady Gaga released a video message urging fans to contact their U.S. senators before Tuesday’s cloture vote on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal.
Her message for her two senators:
“I’m a constituent of the senator and my name is… Lady GaGa. I am calling to ask the senator to vote with Senators Harry Reid and Carl Levin to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and oppose John McCain’s shameless filibuster. We need to do this for our gay and lesbian soldiers and finally repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and leave messages for Senator Murkowski and Senator Begich to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”!
If the voice mail is full, call Sen. Murkowski at 202-224-6665 and call Sen. Begich at 202-224-3004.
Friday, 17 September 2010 – 4:05 AM
| Comments Off on Senate "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" vote on Tuesday – Call Today
The Senate is scheduled to vote on the DADT repeal on Tuesday. Please call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Begich to vote Yes on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal.
Rachel Maddow interviewed Vice President Joe Biden about the DADT repeal. The VP supports repeal and believes they will have the votes to overcome a senate filibuster. Then he explains why they have not halted the discharges while the process is underway.
Watch the Biden interview, then pick up the phone and call our senators!
In announcing the Alaska LGBT Community Survey — I call it AKQ for short — I frequently used the word “we.” “We’ve decided…,” “we’ll use the survey…,” “we aim….”
So just who are “we” — besides, of course, me?
In 1985-1986, “we” were the volunteers of Identity, Inc. which put together the survey instrument for One in Ten, administered it to LGB respondents throughout the state, tallied up the results, & wrote the report One in Ten: A Profile of Alaska’s Lesbian & Gay Community (1986).
In 1987-1989, “we” were a lot of volunteers & a few people who got some pay (I think), who contacted & interviewed respondents who had experienced violence, harassment, discrimination because they were, or were perceived to be, lesbian or gay (yes, some of our respondents were heterosexual people who were misperceived at being homosexual), who surveyed Anchorage area landlords & employers, & who compiled the information gathered from those efforts & wrote them up in Identity Reports: Sexual Orientation Bias in Alaska (1989).
Right here & now, on September 13, 2010, “we” are three people who met last Thursday & decided to do this. Let me introduce us:
Melissa S. “Mel” Green. I was part of the “we” in both 1985-86 effort that resulted in One in Ten, of which I was principal writer; and in the 1987-1989 effort which resulted in Identity Reports, of which I was coauthor (along with Jay Brause). I’m also have my personal blog, Henkimaa.com, from whence I did a lot of blogging last year about the Anchorage equal rights ordinance AO-64, which passed the Anchorage Assembly only to be vetoed by Mayor Dan Sullivan. I’m also a 20-year staff member at the UAA Justice Center, where I’ve grown even more familiar with social science research, and developed relationships with some of the research faculty who we hope to have help from throughout our work on the current survey.
Shelby Carpenter is the LGBT Public Policy Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska… and I’ll let her tell you more about herself as she has time. [Ed: Read Shelby’s introduction.]
Barbara Soule is a longtime Alaska resident and LGBT community activist who is jumpstarting our outreach to the trans community. I’ll let you her tell you more about herself as she has time, too.
By now, you might be asking, three people?!!! Just three people are going to conduct a high quality research project covering the LGBT population of the entire state of Alaska?!!!
Well, no. Because our very first step is to bring in more people. So right now the three of us are doing a lot of work behind-the-scenes to contact people to form our Community Survey Task Force. The Task Force’s job will be defined more completely as its formed; but as I see it, it’s functions will chiefly be to:
Revise and update the One in Ten survey questionnaire to reflect changes in society that have taken place since 1985, the need for trans-inclusiveness, and new questions/issues that we’d like to address in the survey. (And perhaps additional smaller surveys.)
Continue to conduct outreach to the LGBT and allied community in all areas of the state, both for complete coverage of our community in all its diversity, and in particular to solicit respondents who are willing to be interviewed about instances of discrimination, harassment, violence, or other forms of bias that they have experienced because they are, or were perceived to be, trans, bisexual, gay, or lesbian.
Coordinate distribution and administration of the survey, data entry, and analysis and writing of the report(s) of our findings.
We hope to have our first meeting of the Community Survey Task Force in late September/early October. By the necessities of geography and the inability of most people to be more than one place at one time, it may be that our first meeting can consist of only those people who can easily travel to Southcentral Alaska for an Anchorage-based meeting. But we will be working on how to make sure we can fully involve both organizations and individuals in all parts of the state.
Another task that we’re working on already is beginning our outreach to the trans community. We are committed to making AKQ — again, that’s what I’ve taken to calling the Alaska LGBT Community Survey for short — fully trans-inclusive, not only in the kinds of questions that appear in the survey — but also in participating on the Task Force in questionnaire design, administration, and analysis. All three of us are involved in some aspect of this, with Barbara and I contacting people we know in the Alaska trans community & Shelby working with national-level trans organizations and activists who have conducted research within the trans community throughout the country.
Barbara is also coordinating focus groups for members of the trans community to get input on questionnaire design. We hope to hold the first of these at the Alaska Pride Conference 2010 sponsored by Identity, Inc. to be held October 9 in Anchorage and a second one probably about a week later, also in Anchorage, for those who cannot attend the Pride Conference. We’ll also work on how we can involve transfolk in other areas of the state in our research effort.
As we continue to organize our effort, I hope soon to be able to introduce other people involved in this effort on this blog; better yet, to let them introduce themselves & add their voices to this blog, & to our overall effort to invigorate & strengthen our community statewide & advance our effort for full social and economic justice for LGBT in Alaska & nationally.
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.
