A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013

Imperial Court Float Makes Waves in Anchorage Parades

This Week in LGBT Alaska

Pride and Politics in Anchorage Parade and Festival

CowGal Val and Ravenhurst: Lesbian and Gay Bloggers Who Lived in Alaska (But Don’t Now)

State House Candidate David Newman Supports Same-Sex Marriage

Repeal Alaska’s Constitutional Amendment Prohibiting Same-Sex Marriage

David 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.

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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

Valerie Miner and Judith Barrington Read at UAA

This Week in GLBT Alaska

Human Rights Campaign Backs Berkowitz

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