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This Week in LGBT Alaska
From Alaska GLBT News (subscribe):
Fairbanks
Homer
- Bac’untry Bruthers at the Saltry in Halibut Cove on Friday 7/18 at 6 p.m. and at the Down East Saloon next Thursday 7/24 at 10 p.m.
Anchorage
- “Spank Your Bottom” 7/19, 9 p.m. Mr. Alaska Leather Fundraiser for The Last Frontier Men’s Club. Held at Mad Myrna’s. $5
- Transgender Support Group 7/20, 4 – 6p.m. at the GLCCA.
- Emperor and Empress Interview Meeting 7/21, 6:30 p.m. in Mad Myrna’s Ballroom.
See also the list of GLBT Recurring Events.
Pride and Politics in Anchorage Parade and Festival
Three political candidates participated in the Anchorage PrideFest 2008 Parade and Festival on the Park Strip, adding a strong political presence to this year’s LGBT Pride.
Supporters of Mark Begich, Diane Benson, and Ethan Berkowitz marched down 9th Avenue in the Celebrating Diversity Parade, along with the Anchorage Democrats, the ACLU of Alaska, and a variety of LGBT and gay-friendly social and community groups.
Mark Begich walked with his supporters at the beginning of the parade, then left to attend the Statehood Celebration. He returned later with his son, and read the city proclamation establishing the third Saturday in June as Gay Pride Day. Begich, a democrat running for US Senate against Sen. Ted Stevens, has attended PrideFest every year since becoming mayor.
During the Festival, Diana Benson talked with PrideFest attendees, but did not march in the Parade or speak on stage. Benson, a progressive running for the US House of Representatives, supported Out North when it’s funding was challenged by the Assembly several years ago, and supports gay marriage.
Ethan Berkowitz did not attend PrideFest, but sent a press release of his endorsement by the Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation’s largest LGBT rights organizations. Berkowitz, also running for the US House of Representatives, supported same-sex partner benefits as a state legislator, and includes sexual orientation and partner benefits in his civil rights statement.
In addition to the candidate contingents, two allies showed their support for LGBT equality by participating in PrideFest.
The Anchorage Democrats marched in the Parade behind a banner stating “Equal Civil Rights for ALL People.” The Anchorage Democrats also had a booth at the Festival, registering voters and providing material about the candidates, including Begich, Benson, Berkowitz, and Representative Les Gara, a member of the State House who is up for re-election.
Tiffany McClain, the LGBT Public Policy Coordinator for the ACLU of Alaska, led a group of marchers wearing yellow “Get Busy. Get Equal” t-shirts from the LGBT Project of the national ACLU and green foam statue of liberty crowns. The ACLU of Alaska was a sponsor of PrideFest again this year.
No republican candidates or signs were seen at the Parade or Festival, and no anti-gay protestors were present this year.
CowGal Val and Ravenhurst: Lesbian and Gay Bloggers Who Lived in Alaska (But Don’t Now)
CowGal Val and Ravenhurst are two blogs by LGBT people who used to live in Alaska.
CowGal Val is written by Valerie and Deborah, a lesbian couple from Anchorage who are now living in Portland, Oregon.
In early June, Valerie was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. Val and Deborah created the blog to keep “friends and family all the heck over the place in the loop about Val, Deborah, lung cancer, and our community’s capacity for amazing generosity of spirit.”
In addition to treatment updates, they post about their dog, their friends, learning from cancer, and enjoying daily life. When Val began chemotherapy, they posted video of shaving her head and wrote about the experience of being bald.
If you know Valerie and Deborah, or even if you don’t know them personally, drop by CowGal Val and leave a note of encouragement. A message from someone who cares can brighten a dark chemo day.
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Ravenhurst is written by Richard, a 56 year old gay widower who lived in Fairbanks for 19 years and now lives on a five acre ranch near Paradise, California. He writes about gay news, politics, and his life in rural California, including his participation as a friend and witness in the first gay and lesbian marriages in the county.
Like CowGal Val, Ravenhurst was created in response to a life-changing event. Five months ago, Richard’s life partner and soulmate Steve passed away. Richard began blogging through the grief and just kept going.
Richard was almost evacuated last week because of a fire burning out of control near Paradise. Luckily, Ravenhurst – his homestead and his blog – was spared, and Richard continues to post on life, love, and interesting gay news. Go say Hello from Alaska.
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Do you know other LGBT (ex-)Alaskan bloggers? Send in their links and they will be featured in another post. While you’re here, check out the category Where Are They Now? for news about LGBT people who once lived in Alaska but now live somewhere else.
State House Candidate David Newman Supports Same-Sex Marriage
David Newman is running for State House against Juneau Representative Beth Kerttula. David recently posted a statement:
Repeal Alaska’s Constitutional Amendment Prohibiting Same-Sex MarriageDavid submitted the following article to the Juneau Empire as a My Turn piece on June 11. He just found out that the Empire doesn’t run candidate pieces, so he’s published it here.*******In 1998, Alaska voters approved a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage by a vote of 152,965 to 71,631. This marked the first and only time in Alaska’s history that a constitutional amendment took rights away from a group of people. Yet despite the fact that this amendment passed by a 2-1 vote, it’s a violation of the U.S. Constitution and directly conflicts with the Alaska Constitution, because both documents guarantee citizens equal protection under the law.Ratified in 1868, the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution has been cited numerous times by the U.S. Supreme Court in rulings which eliminated discrimination, including the desegregation of public schools in Brown v. Board of Education, and overturning Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage in Loving v. Virginia. The Loving case, decided in 1967, is relevant in this debate, because the arguments against interracial marriage parallel those against same-sex marriage.In Loving, an African-American woman and a white man were sentenced to one year in jail for living in Virginia as husband and wife. The trial judge suspended their sentence on the condition that they leave Virginia and not return together for 25 years. In his ruling, the judge stated that “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and placed them on separate continents. And, but for the interference with this arrangement, there would be no cause for such marriage. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.” The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Virginia’s law – and the law in 15 other states as well – based in part on the fact that “(m)arriage is one the ‘basic civil rights of man,’ fundamental to our very existence and survival.”Most people would agree that the statements made by the Virginia judge are not only supremely offensive, but ridiculous as well. Yet we should ask ourselves – Are the arguments made today against same-sex marriage really any different than those made against interracial marriage? The reasons for and against same-sex marriage have been made numerous times in the pages of this newspaper [Juneau Empire]; I won’t recite them again. But, I believe there is no difference. The disparate treatment of one group versus everyone else, whether it be based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, or sexual orientation, is discrimination, pure and simple.Not only does Alaska’s amendment violate the U.S. Constitution, but it is in direct conflict with Alaska’s Constitution as well. Article 1, Section 1 of the Alaska Constitution guarantees Alaskans equal rights, opportunities and protection under the law. It also guarantees everyone the right to pursue happiness, which most people believe is one of the basic human rights of a civilized society. This idea was not lost on the Loving court, which stated that “(t)he freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.” Yet our own Constitution contains an amendment that denies same-sex couples the ability to pursue what the U.S. Supreme Court recognized as one of the most vital personal rights – not only the right to marry, but the right to enjoy all the additional benefits that accompany marriage.When those 152,965 people stepped into the voting booth in 1998 and voted to amend Alaska’s Constitution to remove rights from an entire group of people, what were they thinking? Were they motivated by religion, fear, hate, bigotry, ignorance, or something else entirely? I don’t know. What I do know is that we as a people must reject all forms of discrimination, regardless of where it comes from or how it materializes.
No TransAlaska Love for Calpernia Addams
Calpernia Addams, the star of LOGO’s reality dating show TransAmerica Love Story and the subject of the film Soldier’s Girl, lived in Alaska for almost two years as a Navy medic, before returning to Nashville and coming out as transgendered.
Calpernia was stationed on Adak, and later received undergrad credits from the University of Alaska. She also founded a theater company of soldiers, and performed “Steel Magnolias,” “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” and other productions.
While in Adak, she helped rescue passengers from a Chinese airplane, according to an entry in her blog diary:
Early morning on April 6th, 1993, when I was still a field combat medic in the Navy and living on a remote Alaskan island (yes, really!), a Chinese airliner encountered some kind of severe turbulence and had to land on the even more remote Alaskan island of Shemya. I was on duty in the emergency room that night, and volunteered to fly the quick hop over to Shemya and start processing the wounded.
The entry describes the medical needs of the Chinese passengers and the efforts to communicate with them, and concludes:
We got everyone stabilized, except for one poor soul who died. Later that day, a big plane from the mainland in Alaska arrived with medical teams to medivac the wounded back to Elmendorf Air Force Base hospital. I made the long trip (7 or 8 hours?) from Shemya to Anchorage with my patients, monitoring IV bags and vitals. It was quite a day for all of us on the Adak medical team.
Calpernia Addams is an actress, author, musician and activist currently living in Hollywood. As a co-founder of Deep Stealth Productions, she works to provide more accurate and positive portrayals of transgendered people, and to give a voice to transgendered actors and entertainers who are frequently relegated to roles which are demeaning stereotypes.
Last weekend, Calpernia was an honorary grand marshal at Atlanta Pride 2008, along with Grand Marshals Shonia Brown and Scott Turner Schofield. Scott, another trans artist with a connection to Alaska, performed his show “Becoming a Man” at Out North Theater earlier this year.
Valerie Miner and Judith Barrington Read at UAA
Two lesbian authors, Judith Barrington and Valerie Miner, are among the sixteen distinguished writers of fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry who will be in Anchorage this month giving free public readings and talks.
On Tuesday, July 15, Judith Barrington reads with Anne Caston. Barrington is a memoirist, poet and teacher who was born in the U.K. and lives in Portland, OR. Her memoir, Lifesaving, won the Lambda Book Award, and her writing guide, Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art, is a bestseller. Her most recent poetry book is Horses and the Human Soul. Her work has been published in many literary journals, and she gives memoir workshops in Europe and America.
On Wednesday, July 16, Valerie Miner reads with Zack Rogow. Miner is the author of 13 novels, collections of short fiction and nonfiction. Her new novel, After Eden, presents urban planner Emily, whose annual return to a Northern California women’s land collective for rest and relaxation in her cabin turns to tragedy when her life partner’s flight goes down in flames. Miner’s work has appeared in many literary journals, and her stories have been dramatized on BBC Radio 4. She is a professor and artist in residence at Stanford University.
The UAA Campus News lists the full schedule of authors and readings.
UAA’s first Northern Renaissance Arts and Science Series is part of a new graduate writing program of the UAA Department of Creative Writing and Literary Arts (CWLA).
The Low-Residency MFA program focuses on writing with a sense of place and exploring the landscape of memory, family, and culture.
The public readings run July 13 through July 22. Readings are scheduled for 7:45 to 9:15 each evening in Room 150 of the Fine Arts Building, on the east side of the UAA campus. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m.
This Week in GLBT Alaska
From Alaska GLBT News (subscribe):
Fairbanks
Golden Days Parade Sign-Making Party for the PFLAG contingent. 7/12, 1:30 – 4 p.m. Shayle.
Homer
Bac’untry Bruthers playing Americana / Roots Music at the Down East Saloon 7/17, 10 p.m., and at the Saltry in Halibut Cove 7/18, 6 p.m.
Palmer
Ever Ready plays rock, country and blues at a Garden Party Benefit for Betty Pierce at the Palmer Train Depot. 7/13, 2-6 p.m.
Anchorage
Laugh Over Matter, The Comedy Hypnosis Show by Jay Her. 7/12, 9 p.m. at Mad Myrna’s. $10
Identity & PFLAG annual Picnic & BBQ 7/17, 5:30-8 p.m. Goose Lake Pavilion.
See also the list of GLBT Recurring Events.
Human Rights Campaign Backs Berkowitz
Congressional candidate Ethan Berkowitz has been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation’s largest GLBT rights organizations. In recognition of their endorsement, Berkowitz made the following statement on his civil rights policy:
Civil Rights—Fighting for Freedom and Fairness for All Americans
In 1939, when Hitler invaded Poland, my mother’s mother knew that it was time to leave Europe. The immediate family made it to the United States, but those who stayed behind perished.
I grew up listening to my family’s history, and I know what it’s like to suffer persecution. My grandparents came to America because this is a country where all things are possible, where you should be judged based on who you are, not what you are. The values that unite us — work, family, freedom — are far more powerful than the issues that divide us.
No American should ever feel fear because of what they are. When I represent our state in Washington, D.C., I will fight to ensure that all Americans are treated fairly by their government in their communities, schools, workplaces and homes.
That fairness is part of who we are as Americans. Our nation’s creed holds that all people are created equal.
We all have the right to live free from discrimination, safe in our communities, with opportunity for all. Discrimination on the basis of religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, income level, or status violates our founding principles. Schools in low-income neighborhoods should be as good as the schools in the next neighborhood. Every victim of crime should receive justice, no matter the location or the crime or the victim’s personal circumstance.
I am proud of my record on civil rights. During my ten years in the Alaska State House, I fought to protect the personal liberties enshrined in the state constitution and to defend individual civil rights against the tyranny of the majority. Those positions might not always have been popular, but they are founded in the belief that the rule of law extends constitutional rights to all Americans, and protects minorities against institutional prejudices and bigotry like racism and sexism. That’s why I stood for subsistence rights. That’s why I spoke out for same-sex benefits, and against changes to the state constitution. That’s why I know that a better future for this state and this country means living up to the values of “liberty and justice for all.”
Alaska is the second most ethnically diverse state in the Union (Hawaii is number one). That diversity is a strength for us. I am proud that my daughter goes to elementary school in a Spanish immersion program, and that my wife served on the Tolerance Commission. I am honored to have the support of individuals and groups that represent the many communities that make Alaska and America diverse, strong and great. I’ll work every day to honor that trust and to protect civil rights for all Alaskans.
Another Alaska Legislator Charged with Bribery and Conspiracy in VECO Scandal
A grand jury has indicted state Sen. John Cowdery, R-Anchorage, on bribery and conspiracy counts in an ongoing federal investigation of corruption. The two-count indictment accuses Cowdery of conspiring with executives of VECO Corp. to bribe another unnamed state senator for votes to support oil and gas legislation.
Three former Alaska lawmakers have been convicted in this investigation, and four current lawmakers are indicted.
U.S. Rep. Don Young and U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, both Alaska Republicans, are under scrutiny for their relationships with VECO executives. Neither has been charged and both deny wrongdoing. (Associated Press)
Huckabee Endorses Young as "Pro-Family" Despite Outrage from Supporters
Mike Huckabee’s political action committee has endorsed Rep. Don Young’s re-election in Alaska, saying “Don Young has been a consistent pro-family, pro-life vote in the Congress.”
Huckabee may like Don Young, but his supporters do not. They’re worried that the endorsement of the scandal-ridden Young will tarnish Huckabee’s image:
Given that Don Young has spent $900,000 of campaign funds on legal fees and will lose in the fall if renominated, I can’t go along with this one.I think that endorsing such a clearly controversial subject…and someone with skeletons in their legal closet, does more to hurt your credibility, than to help his.You blew your reputation on this…and a reported 70% of Alaskans disagree with you. For Huckabee to support someone who has a $1M legal bill trying to defend all of his questionable deals, and tried to name one of the “Bridges to Nowhere” after himself, you obviously didn’t do your homework on this one.… while I understand the value of loyalty, endorsing Don Young with his ethical baggage and his addiction to earmarks does not lend itself well either to your message and cause or to the Republican party.
Why didn’t Huckabee endorse Sean Parnell, Young’s challenger for the Republican nomination? Probably because Parnell endorsed Mitt Romney during the primaries, while Young backed Huckabee.
