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.
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.
Wednesday, 30 December 2009 – 5:14 AM
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Queer Alaska had a busy year! Here are some of the highs and lows compiled from the blog, the newsletter, and your suggestions on Bent’s Facebook wall:
Best moment: The Anchorage Assembly passed the LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance.
Worst moments: Mayor Sullivan vetoed the nondiscrimination ordinance and Debbie Ossiander refused to override the veto.
Sweet Consequences moment: Ossiander was fired from the chair position on the Assembly.
Best LGBT improvement
State: Fairbanks School District added gender identity to the non-discrimination policy
National: The federal Hate Crimes Act
Worst narrowly avoided disaster: Wayne Anthony Ross becoming Alaska’s Attorney General
Best allies: The 7 Assembly members who voted for the nondiscrimination ordinance, and all the allies who testified, wrote letters, and attended the hearings and protests, standing shoulder to shoulder with us in support of equality and against the forces of hate. Honorable mention to the Fairbanks allies who protested against the ex-gay speaker at UAF.
Worst homophobes: Mayor Sullivan? Debbie Ossiander? Rev. Prevo? Wayne Anthony Ross? Those crazed bigots spitting hellfire and homophobia at the Assembly hearings? So many to choose from.
Best visiting LGBT celebrity: Dan Savage, author of The Slog
Best LGBT movie shown in Alaska: MILK at the Bear Tooth in Anchorage, the Blue Loon in Fairbanks, and the Pioneer Theater in Homer. Honorable mentions: Outrage at the Bear Tooth, and Brother Outsider at the Anchorage Museum.
Best LGBT live theater: Midnight Soapscum at Out North, The Lion Sings Tonight benefit for Four A’s, Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Pier One in Homer and Mad Myrna’s in Anchorage, Sordid Lives at Myrna’s, Dog Sees God at Out North, and Shakespeare’s R&J by Thunder Mountain in Juneau.
Best solo shows: Tim Miller at Out North, and Bryan Emler at MCC.
Biggest events in Anchorage: PrideFest, Coronation, Celebration of Change, and the True Diversity Dinner
Fairbanks: the protests against the ex-gay speaker at UAF, the Fetish Ball, and PFLAG in the Golden Days parade
Juneau: Femme Fatale, the Pride Picnic, and the Pride Chorus concerts
Homer: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and MILK
Mat-Su: April’s Follies
Event most celebrated by LGBT people in different parts of Alaska: July 4th
(The 2008 event with the widest participation by LGBT people around Alaska was the Prop 8 protest.)
The ‘summer of hate’ against the non-discrimination ordinance was the real top story, but the most visited post on Bent Alaska is the humorous letter Wasilla Gays to Levi: We’re here with almost 7,000 hits.
The other Bent post that went viral this year, about Wayne Anthony Ross calling us degenerates, was crossposted on the national blog Pam’s House Blend. Likewise, the only ordinance post from Bent that got national attention, No Dead Queers, was picked up from the Blend diary.
Other top posts were on entertainment (gay man on The Alaska Experiment), homophobia (The Antichrist is Coming, and He’s Gay!), transgender (Kelly’s Story), and Sarah Palin. The lists of LGBT organizations and businesses were top posts again this year, perhaps because so many reporters want to interview queer Alaskans.
All of the top posts on LGBT issues in Fairbanks, Juneau and Homer involve students or schools, although that may be a coincidence. The top MatSu post is Levi, of course.
Kelly’s Story: A Transgender Christian Woman (unavailable, at her request, because her church leaders made her life miserable when they recognized her.)
Two dance floors with DJ’s Missy Gee & Mad Mike. Party stuff and midnight toast, and Lola’s fabulous New Mexico Cuisine. $10 tickets available now or at the door.
This year is over so let’s start off the new year right with another great New Year’s Eve party at Bernie’s Bungalow. DJ Ariel upstairs, Shy Bones, and Unhinged will be playing in the bungalow house. NO COVER. 626 D St.
Ever Ready New Year’s Eve show
Celebrate New Year’s eve with Ever Ready – Teddy, Amelia and Dave – rockin’ at The Eagles, 2020 E. Dowling.
New Year’s Eve in Whittier with LuLu Small & the Grrlzlist
Lulu Small and the Small Band are playing New Year’s Eve with well-known special guest Trish Ham at Whittier’s new luxury hotel The Inn in Whittier, and there’s a special rate for Grrlzlist readers: $150 includes the night at the Inn and dinner (or $100 without dinner) using the Grrlzlist promo code (check your issue of the Grrlzlist for the code). Reservations and more info HERE.
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:
Saturday, 26 December 2009 – 8:25 AM
| Comments Off on San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus: We’re Not Lost We’re Here (video)
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:
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:
Wednesday, 23 December 2009 – 9:00 PM
| Comments Off on Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus: Waltz of the Snowflakes (video)
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:
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.
