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.
We will be engaged in important strategic planning to determine the future direction of Alaska’s only statewide civil rights group focused on promoting the rights of Alaska’s LGBTQ population. This is an open meeting and all are welcome and encouraged to attend. Lunch will be held on site.
In order to help people from outside of the Anchorage area to be able to participate in the meeting, we are providing a limited number of scholarships to help defray travel expenses. If you would like to apply for a scholarship, please send an email containing your name, contact information, and a brief statement on why you would like to attend the meeting to Joseph Lapp.
ATE will also be making a presentation at the Anchorage Pride Conference on Saturday October 10, and we will be hosting a social and fundraiser after the Conference from 5-7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, 16 September 2009 – 8:59 AM
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Update: It was awesome! Read A Diversity Dinner to Remember for the planned, unplanned and many inspiring moments of the evening. Thank you, John and Heather.
* * *
September is the Mayor’s Diversity Month, beginning just two weeks after Mayor Sullivan vetoed the Anchorage Assembly’s LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance. The main event of Diversity Month is the Mayor’s Dinner.
The evening of food, awards and entertainment was called the Diversity Dinner by Mayor Begich, but Mayor Sullivan changed the name to “Unity” after vetoing Ordinance 64, and invited Lynn Swann, an anti-gay Republican political candidate from outside, to give the keynote address.
The irony of his actions inspired allies John Aronno of Alaska Commons and Heather Aronno of SOSAnchorage.net to plan an alternate diversity dinner, with input from other bloggers and LGBT newsletter editors.
Please join us for a real diversity celebration, on the same night as Sullivan’s “dis-unity” dinner. True Diversity Dinner will be a wonderful evening of pro-diversity entertainment, speakers and awards:
September is our Mayor’s Diversity Month and September 25th is the Diversity Awards banquet at the Hilton in downtown Anchorage. Unfortunately, Mayor Sullivan is uncomfortable with the term “diversity” and has changed the name to the “Unity” Awards Banquet and celebration. The mayor has stated publicly that he does not celebrate the ways in which we are all different, but rather, the ways in which we are the same.
Some of us do not feel celebrated at all, and are organizing a true diversity celebration on the same night, in the spirit of the current administration’s own definition of diversity. We have rented the Snow Goose (September 25th, doors open at 7pm and festivities begin at 7:30). We wish it to be as diverse and multi-cultural as possible and much more fun than whatever will occur at the Hilton. And while the “Unity” Dinner will feature a silent auction and cost the small price of $60 a ticket… Ours will be only $10 (just to cover costs) and is quickly filling up with local performers, awards, and speakers including Assemblywoman Elvi Gray-Jackson, Diane Benson, and Shannyn Moore!
It will be a great night, after what has been a rough summer for many in our Alaskan family, and we hope you can join us. Tickets are available in advance through Borders Books & Music (and hopefully some place in mid-town or downtown, TBA.)
Awards in excellence in the representation, advancement, and advocacy of diversity will be handed out at the True Diversity Dinner. Voting has begun for the 6 award categories HERE on a tab of the main web site for True Diversity Dinner.
In addition to the True Diversity Dinner, there will be one LGBT event on the official Mayor’s Diversity Month calendar: A GLBT Open House at the Community Center.
The Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Anchorage is hosting a Diversity Month Open House with entertainment, door prizes and light refreshments to welcome our GLBT friends and allies. The GLCCA Open House is on Sept. 26, from 5-7 p.m. at 336 E. 5th Ave.
Tuesday, 15 September 2009 – 10:05 AM
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Update: The UAF Gay-Straight Alliance used this event to spark a dialogue about the “ex-gays” and earned the support of the Chancellor and the community. Read about it HERE.
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The huge event banner hanging from the stairs in the UAF Wood Center this week reads: “GAY? LONELY? CONFUSED? Hear Ex-Gay Edward Delgado’s Compelling True Story: “From Sin’s Bondage to Christ’s Freedom!” ‘Straight’ for over 20 years and married to a beautiful wife & has two sons!” The banner also advertises free de-gaying counseling and links to anti-gay websites.
The UAF Campus Bible Ministries is sponsoring the pray-away-the-gay speaker from Exodus International. Delgado is scheduled to speak 14 times in 4 days, on Sept 15-18. He is not one of their regular speakers and is not listed on any Exodus web sites.
Students in the Gay Straight Alliance will hand out information on the truth behind the “ex-gay” lies, and peacefully protest during the speeches. They also want the offensive banner to be removed.
“We aren’t looking to stop the speaker, as he does have the right to speak,” writes GSA member Jessi Angelette, “but the banner is uncalled for. Many people from staff to students are offended by it and are working to have the banner removed.”
The GSA will be tabling on the theme “Stop the Hate” on Tuesday from 12 to 2 p.m. in the Wood Center Mall. They asked to table all week, but were told the table space was all booked up. (Who reserved so many tables for this event?) Instead, they will peacefully protest outside on Wed., Thurs. and Friday.
LGBT-supportive students, staff and Fairbanks community members are invited to join the GSA. They will gather each day at the Wood Center before the first speech, around 10 a.m. on Wed. & Friday, and 11 a.m. on Thurs. Several students plan to attend one of the speeches “all rainbowed up.”
People everywhere can help by emailing the following people about taking down the offensive banner: UAF Chancellor Rogers; the Director of UAF’s Office of Equal Opportunity, Earlina Bowden; and the Board of Regents (Cynthia Henry, Chair or the full Board contact list.) In your message to the Board of Regents, please also mention the need to add sexual orientation to the UA system’s anti-discrimination policies.
The American Psychological Association released a report in August saying that pray-away-the-gay therapies do not work and can lead to depression or suicide. Instead, the APA encourages therapists to try other options for helping clients, like support networks, education on gay issues, or switching churches.
In the video below, three former leaders of Exodus International, including co-founder Michael Busse, explain the failure of “ex-gay” counseling methods and give a public apology for the harm they caused to gays and lesbians while working for Exodus:
Monday, 14 September 2009 – 11:42 AM
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The Imperial Court of All Alaska ushered in the reign of the new Emperor and Empress, presented nineteen scholarships and five Community Service Awards — including a group award to the Assembly members who voted “yes” on Ordinance 64 — and performed a series of well-attended shows during Coronation 2009 on Labor Day Weekend.
“We had the best attendance at all functions in years,” writes Emperor XXV Mikey La Choy. “Empress 37 Miss MeMe and Emperor 37 Kevin Holtz have a great year in store for us all, but of course they will need the support of the entire community to make it a success.”
In addition to crowning the new monarchs, Coronation 2009 gave Community Service Awards to these recipients:
Peter Dispirito memorial Award: Adam & Steve: Alex Barros, Teddy Jones, Donald Greene & Jared Krapfl
Wayne Hussey Memorial Award: Holli Yancey
Raymond Jorgenson Memorial Group Award: The 7 brave members of the Anchorage Assembly who voted “Yes” for the equal rights ordinance: Patrick Flynn, Matt Claman, Harriet Drummond, Elvi Gray-Jackson, Sheila Selkregg, Mike Gutierrez & Jennifer Johnston
Shante’ Youth Service Award: Willow Arnell and Mike Mason
Rochelle DeLite Memorial Fairbanks Service Award: Keith Darkchild
The Imperial Court intends to formally present the Raymond Jorgenson Memorial Group Award at an Assembly meeting and personally thank those members who voted in favor of Ordinance 64. The LGBTA community will be invited to the award presentation when a date is finalized.
The 2009 Emperors and Empresses Scholarship Fund awarded a total of $48,500 to 19 students: Alex Barrows, Logan Bartels, James Crump, Rolland Debler, France Desmarattes, Wiliam Ehelebe, Mark Essert, Rachel Furman, John Hirst, Kenneth Jenkins, Wendy Langley, Joshua Lee, Monica Lettner, Colleen McNulty, Juanita Reese, David Robinson, Darren Starr, Emily Tiller and Karl Wade.
Congratulations to Empress 37 Miss MeMe and Emperor 37 Kevin Holtz! We look forward to a wonderful reign.
Thursday, 10 September 2009 – 5:05 AM
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– a guest post by Katie, who works in Anchorage
Yesterday, my co-worker was helping a bunch of new-hires set up their HR information in our electronic system. On the first page with social security number and name is the married or single box. I hate that box. I hate it. She had her information up on the screen for demonstration purposes, and casually said, “Oh, I guess I’m not married any more.” It’s amazing how much this little phrase and that little box have been bugging me ever since then.
My stupid little box says “single.” It doesn’t matter that I have a document hanging on my wall, the first thing you see when you walk in the house, that says I am committed to one person for the rest of my life. It doesn’t matter that my employer would let me offer benefits to her if I wanted to pay taxes on them. My same employer that would let me take out benefits on her still forces me to choose “single” or “married.” I am not married under federal law. I am not single under Vermont law.
On top of the law, there are my personal thoughts of my relationship. In my mind, I have not been single for 12 years. Even if a person starts counting the years from the day we swore our vows to each other in front of our friends and family, then in front of a state judge, I have not been single for 9 years.
The “gay marriage debate” makes a lot of people feel very passionately. The polls and the politicians say that most people feel that me having the status of “married” infringes on THEIR rights. I just don’t understand. Matrimony is a religious word. Marriage is not. “Married” is a status that I stare at, yet feel like I cannot chose from a stupid drop-down menu. So I sit in no-where-land. I sit here, trying not to infringe on someone else’s rights, meanwhile ignoring my own. Do I not have the right to pick something from this stupid drop-down menu that doesn’t make me feel like 12 years don’t matter? Do I not have the right to be married to someone instead of no one?
I know there are hundreds of other financial, political, social, and moral reasons for me to be in on this debate. There are hundreds of reasons I should be out marching for everyone else in my situation. There are hundreds of reasons I should be sitting here fuming, and writing my thoughts down. However, I think it must be a sign, that something so trivial as a stupid drop-down menu makes me feel like I don’t have the same rights as a straight person who “forgot” to change her status from “married” to “single.” The straight person who was only “married” for 3 years, and ended the relationship on a matter of not caring, and her status was changed back to “single” with nothing more than a signature on a line. I had to drive to Vermont to take my vows in front of someone I barely knew, to change my status in the eyes of ONE state’s law. If I want to change my status back, I would have to move to Vermont for a year, before I would be allowed to sign that line. I have no desire to sign that line. I do, however, have the desire to pick something other than “single” from that stupid drop-down menu.
Some friends of ours have marriage licenses and civil unions from every state that has a law on the books. Every time a new state passes a new law, they go there, and swear their vows again. Why? Because the federal government still says that they must choose the “single” category. They have 7 marriage licenses, and 8 Civil Union licenses. 15 licenses, but yet if they lived where we do, the 15 licenses are constitutionally illegal.
I keep telling myself that eventually times will change. Only 30 years ago, the thought of being able to get health insurance through my employer for my partner was considered pretty obscure. In 30 years, we’ve made progress. Not long ago, people of different ethnicities could not get married. The arguments said, “If we allow white people and black people to marry, gay people will want to get married too.” What does that mean? Does that mean that we should back-track? Stop Catholics from marrying Protestants? Stop Japanese people from marrying Irish people? Why is progress toward an equal society bad?
Why do I feel so strongly about a stupid drop-down box?
Think about it. What would you do, if you didn’t feel like you fit into the categories given? The US government forces me to chose a category that I don’t think I belong to. How would you feel?
Until I figure this out, I will continue to hate this stupid drop-down box.
Tuesday, 8 September 2009 – 7:12 AM
| Comments Off on New Press seeks Essays on Queer Alaska
Ex-Alaskan Kim Wyatt and Shelley Zentner from the UK launched Bona Fide Books earlier this year, “a small press that seeks to publish provocative and adventurous literature.” They are seeking submissions for two anthologies of literary essays: Queer in the Last Frontier and Permanent Vacation: Living and Working in Our National Parks.
Queer in the Last Frontier explores the experience of LGBT Alaskans, the challenges and pleasures of being queer in a place that is “isolated, conservative, and impossibly beautiful” for both chechakos and sourdoughs. Permanent Vacation considers the daily life and wider implications of living and working in our national parks, from Denali to the Everglades.
Queer in the Last Frontier
Alaska is a place of extremes, where people go to reinvent themselves. Or perhaps you were born there at a time when it wasn’t safe to be out. What is it like to grow up or remake yourself in a place that is isolated, conservative, and impossibly beautiful? Bona Fide Books seeks literary essays for Queer in the Last Frontier, the first collection to explore the challenges and pleasures of being gay or lesbian in the Great Land. We seek a diversity of experience, from the newly arrived to the old-timer who has seen it all. Send us your stories of prejudice, triumph, and community in the Last Frontier.
Writers will receive $100 for their story and one copy of the collection. Deadline: February 5, 2010. Manuscripts should be typed, double-spaced, and 12 point Times New Roman or Courier font with standard formatting applied; word count is limited to 5,000. Send to Bona Fide Books submissions with “Alaska” and the title of work in the subject line.
Permanent Vacation: Living and Working in Our National Parks
Bona Fide Books is also seeking literary essays about your experience working in our national parks, from Denali to the Everglades, Yellowstone to Yosemite. Some go seeking commune with nature; others to escape. Diverse park experiences are desired. Although we enjoy tree-hugging epiphanies, we also want to read about day-to-day life, and societal, environmental, and existential implications of living in the park. What happened there, and how did it influence your life?
Writers will receive $100 for their story and one copy of the collection. Submit manuscripts postmarked no later than January 5th, 2010 to Bona Fide Books submissions with “Permanent Vacation” and the title of work in the subject line. Manuscripts should be typed, double-spaced, and 12 point Times New Roman or Courier font with standard formatting applied; word count is limited to 5,000.
Monday, 7 September 2009 – 9:10 AM
| Comments Off on Lay of the Land puts Local Struggle in a National Context
Tim Miller returns to Out North on September 18 & 19 to place “the emotional and political wreckage” of gay rights battles like Ordinance 64 in perspective with his tales of life as a traveling gay activist.
Lay of the Land is Tim Miller’s saucy, sharp-knifed look at the State of the Queer Union during a time of trial. Careening from his sexy misadventures performing in 45 States, to marriage equality street protests, to the electoral assaults on gay folks all over the country, to his life as a grade-school flag monitor, to choking on cheap meat caught in his 10 year old gay boy’s throat, Lay of the Land friskily gets at that feeling of gay folks being perpetually on trial, on the ballot, and on the menu!
And will Tim have something to say about Dan Sullivan’s recent veto of the gay rights ordinance? You betcha!
Bent Alaska asked Tim about bringing Lay of the Land to Anchorage:
Q. How does our local struggle for an anti-discrimination ordinance fit into Lay of the Land?
A. Sullivan’s veto of Ordinance 64 really sucks, especially with “Diversity” month in Anchorage! For us California folks, it really brings up all that toxic Prop 8 stuff. (Hmmm, 8 is the square root of 64!)
I think from 64 to Florida Ammendment 2 to Calif Prop 8 to today’s Referendum 71 in Washington State that would stop WA domestic partnerships before they even start, it is the same basic principle of disrepecting the humanity for gay folks. It has nothing to do with Marriage Equality, as AO 64 and WA R-71 show. They don’t want us to feel welcome in our own homes, our own country!
LAY OF THE LAND is all about the emotional and political wreckage of these post Prop 8/64 moments. When I performed the piece in Florida two months ago, the Prop 8 situation was immediately relatable to what they went through on election day with Amendment 2.
Q. Will you add Alaska to the outline map of America that you use in your show?
A. Sadly, the national lighting company ROSCO doesn’t make a gobo effect with all 50 states. But I have added a great Alaska video section! I do refer to the lighting gobo in the performance and how it is messed up because it is missing Alaska and Hawaii.
Q. Have you visited or performed in Alaska before?
A. I have perfomed in Anchorage once before, at Out North in 2004.
Q. What’s next for you? Are you going to the National Equality March?
A. YES! I will be at the National Equality March. I will get up at 4 a.m. to get there from Carbondale Illinois, where I am performing at Southern Illinois University. I am very excited about all my touring, performances and residencies for the coming year with LAY OF THE LAND. It just premiered in LA in May and I’ve started a national tour. First stops this summer: L.A., Tallahassee, Cleveland Ingenuity Festival and Alaska! “Lay of the Land” indeed!
Miller is a solo performer, performance teacher, co-founder of two performance spaces, and author of the books Shirts & Skin, Body Blows, and 1001 Beds, an anthology of his performances and essays which won a 2007 Lambda Literary Award.
Tim Miller performs Lay of the Land at Out North on Sept 18 & 19, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20, and are available online.
Sunday, 6 September 2009 – 8:39 AM
| Comments Off on Whale Watching Tour & Pride Chorus fundraiser
Bring your family and friends on a whale watching cruise on Sept. 12 and raise funds to send the Juneau Pride Chorus to the Sister Singers Network Festival.
Sister Singers Network is “a cooperative web of feminist choruses and ensembles, composers, arrangers, and individual singers working together to support and enrich the women’s choral movement.” The next festival is the 2010 Choral Festival in Chicago.
The Whale Watching Trip is Saturday, Sept 12, 1-4 p.m. The Allen Marine Catamaran will depart from Auke Bay Public Boat Harbor. Please be on board by 12:45, bring a warm, rainproof jacket to wear on the observation deck, and don’t forget your camera. Finger Foods will be served. Tickets are available from chorus members, or call 780-5230. $40.00 Adults, $20.00 Students (K-8), $100.00 for a family of 4. Contact SEAGLA for more information.
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.
