Bent Alaska | Alaska's LGBTQA blog

Huckabee Endorses Young as "Pro-Family" Despite Outrage from Supporters

Wednesday, 9 July 2008 – 8:49 PM | One Comment

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.

Pride Foundation Fall 2008 Grants Available to Alaskan Non-Profits

Tuesday, 8 July 2008 – 7:37 AM | Comments Off

Pride Foundation, the organization that runs the popular Raffle with a Twist, announced the opening of the Fall 2008 grant cycle.

Organizations helping the LGBT community in Alaska, Seattle/King County, parts of Idaho, Oregon and Washington can apply for funding through Pride Foundation’s Northwest Grants, which are due on August 29, 2008.

Since 1987, Pride Foundation has granted over $7.2 million to organizations helping the Northwest’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Grants are made in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington to 501c(3) nonprofit organizations (or nonprofits with a 501(c) 3 fiscal sponsor) in the following categories: Arts and Recreation; Education, Advocacy, and Outreach; Health and Community Service; HIV/AIDS Service Delivery and Prevention; Lesbian Health; Youth and Family Services.

If you are an organization seeking a grant, please read the Grant Guidelines.

Project or Program Support will be considered for projects/programs that target lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender people, and/or the allied community.

General Operating Support will be considered for those organizations that target services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender people, with an emphasis on small grassroots organizations.

Pride Foundation maintains a commitment to funding:

In a wide range of programmatic areas including education, advocacy, and outreach; HIV/AIDS education and support; arts and recreation; youth and family services; lesbian health; and other health and community services.

A balance of projects among those that serve women, men, and all inclusively. Projects serving communities of color are especially encouraged.

In diverse geographic areas in the Northwest states, both urban and rural. Regional Community grants applications must operate within the geographic area specified in that application.

Minimum Requirements

An organization must have 501(c)3 non-profit tax status or be affiliated with an organization that has 501(c)3 tax status that will assume fiscal responsibility for all funds received and expended.

Projects or programs must directly benefit the lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual community; people affected by HIV/AIDS; and/or their friends and families.

Organizations or projects must operate within one or more of the Northwest states of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

General Restrictions

Grants to individuals cannot be considered.

Maximum Grant Award is $5,000 for Pride Foundation Northwest grants. This amount varies for Pride Regional Community grants.

Pride Foundation grants are not meant to convey a commitment to ongoing funding. A grant in one year does not make it any more likely that an agency will be funded in the future.

Organizations can apply for only one grant and one project per cycle.

Organizations that apply for a grant from Pride Foundation Clark, Pierce and Whatcom-Skagit Regional Communities may also be considered for a grant from the Northwest granting fund. Please note that if you apply for a grant for the same portion of a project/program from these Regional Communities and Northwest Grants, you will not be awarded funds from both. Organizations with projects in other Regional Communities cannot apply to Pride Foundation Northwest Grants.

Mr/Ms/Miss Gay Anchorage 2008

Monday, 7 July 2008 – 8:05 PM | Comments Off

The new 2008-2009 Gay Anchorage title holders were chosen during Pride Week at the Anchorage Pageant, held at Mad Myrna’s. They posed with the current Gay Alaska title holders, who hold their titles until October.

Pictured from left to right: Miss Gay Anchorage – Delicious, Miss Gay Alaska – Ashley, Mr. Gay Anchorage – Steve, Mr. Gay Alaska – Kevin, Ms. Gay Alaska – Leslie (above), and Ms. Gay Anchorage – Stacey (below)

Photos of all the current title holders, the Pageant and other Court events are posted on The Imperial Court of All Alaska (ICOAA) web site.

Congratulations to the new Anchorage title holders!

Alaska Ranks High in Chlamydia, Low in HIV Rates

Sunday, 6 July 2008 – 1:29 PM | One Comment

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) – Alaska continues to rank high nationally in the rate of chlamydia cases but relatively low in the most serious sexually transmitted disease, HIV, according to reports by the state Division of Public Health.

The 2006 figures were compiled by the Centers for Disease Control.

Alaska ranked first or second in chlamydia, 25th in gonorrhea and 28th in syphilis but low in HIV.

“We have a low prevalency rate in the state and we would like to stay that way,” said Mollie Rosier, manager of the Section of Epidemiology’s HIV/STD program.

The most common method of HIV transmission in Alaska was men having sex with men. Other categories included heterosexual contact with a partner known to have HIV, or injection drug use.

Rosier said statistics were divided into two time periods because there were not enough cases for year-to-year analysis: 1982-2002 and 2003-2007.

There were 1,206 known HIV cases in Alaska from 1982 to 2007. Thirty-seven first-known HIV diagnosis cases occurred in 2007. Of the cases reported, 81 percent of people with the disease were males and 58 percent were white.

The chlamydia bulletin said the disease plays a role in facilitating HIV transmission. However, with such a high rate of chlamydia and such a low rate of HIV, it was impossible to tell if chlamydia played a role in contraction of HIV in Alaska, Rosier said.

The bulletin stated that 4,911 cases of chlamydia were reported in Alaska during 2007, an 8 percent increase over 2006. That was part of a significant increase of chlamydia cases in Alaska since 1996, reaching a rate of 49 cases per 100,000 people on average.

The program’s Donna Cerere prepared the bulletins and said there was no easy or simple answer to why Alaska has such a high rate of chlamydia and gonorrhea. The rise could be a byproduct of a more sensitive test, she said.

Chlamydia and gonorrhea can be treated with antibiotics. However, the more times a woman contracts the disease, the higher the risk of infertility, Cerere said.

Anchorage Pridefest 2008 Slide Show

Saturday, 5 July 2008 – 5:28 AM | Comments Off

This Week in GLBT Alaska

Friday, 4 July 2008 – 9:07 AM | Comments Off

From Alaska GLBT News (subscribe):

Anchorage

First Friday in Anchorage will be on the first SUNDAY this month because of the July 4th Parade and festivities.

Ride the ICOAA Float in the July 4th Parade. Come to the staging area at 8th Avenue and H Street by 10:30 a.m.
MCC July 4th Cook Out 7/4, 2-6 p.m. RSVP to Edie.
MCC Sunday worship speaker this week is Ron Swartz 7/6, 2 p.m.
The Bac’untry Bruthers All Night Dragtime Revue is playing at the Taproot Cafe on 7/8, 7 p.m.
ICOAA General Meeting, Wed 7/9, 6 p.m. at Mad Myrna’s.

Gay Ally Howard Bess Retires From Church, Stays Active in Community

Wednesday, 2 July 2008 – 2:42 PM | 4 Comments

UPDATE: The ABC News clip on Sarah Palin’s support of removing Howard Bess’ “Pastor, I Am Gay” from the Wasilla public library is at: Palmer Pastor’s Gay-Positive Book was on Mayor Palin’s Censor List

Palmer community activist Howard Bess celebrated his 50th year as an ordained American Baptist minister by retiring from his role as pastor of the Church of the Covenant.

Bess is the author of the book “Pastor, I Am Gay” and one of the founders of the Anchorage-based gay rights group Identity Inc. In Palmer, he encouraged the Mat-Su GLBTA community to hold their meetings at the church.

The Anchorage Daily News ran an interview of Howard Bess, including why he became involved in gay issues, the local response to his work on behalf of Alaska’s GLBTA communities, and the wide variety of other social issues that are important to him.

"Rising Star" Director Peter DuBois Honed Skills at Juneau’s Perseverance Theatre

Tuesday, 1 July 2008 – 2:03 PM | Comments Off

Peter DuBois, the openly gay former artistic director of Alaska’s innovative Perseverance Theatre Company and award-winning resident director at New York’s acclaimed Public Theater, became the new Artistic Director of Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company on July 1.

The San Francisco Bay Area Reporter calls DuBois “a rising star in the American theater” and compares his move to Boston with his move to Juneau:

Ben Bohen, his partner of 11 years, will keep their Brooklyn apartment as DuBois sets up another home in Boston for the Huntington job. They plan on commuting, but it won’t be as difficult as when DuBois moved to Alaska to become artistic director of Juneau’s Perseverance Theatre.

“Ben finally came out to visit for the month of December,” said DuBois, “which is one of the hardest months to be there, and he said, ‘OK, I’ll make the leap.’ We lived together there for four years before I got the call from the Public.”

“Even in Alaska, which is an incredibly conservative state, I actually was very consciously keeping myself out [as a gay man] because it’s a part of my identity that I’m really proud of.”

The Huntington Theatre Company‘s profile of DuBois includes his work in Juneau:

Before being recruited to the Public, DuBois was artistic director of Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska. A mid-sized regional company, Perseverance is hailed for distinctive artistic boldness, innovation, and a dedication to its community and its audience. There, DuBois directed revivals of Beckett, Shakespeare, and Chekhov, and introduced modern-day works by Paula Vogel, Suzan-Lori Parks, and others.

The Boston Globe adds:

In a bold move to the furthermost reaches of the United States, DuBois took over where Perseverance founder Molly Smith had left off. It was at Perseverance that he honed his institution-building skills, cutting debt and raising $2.5 million in capital and endowment campaigns to make Perseverance Alaska’s largest producing arts organization. He also brokered a relationship with the University of Alaska Southeast in which Perseverance would assume responsibility for all theater education activities at the college, offering minors to its students.

DuBois ran Perseverance from 1998 to 2003, beginning to make a reputation for himself as an up and coming American artist and institutional leader.

On WBUR, DuBois commented on his plans for the 2008-09 season:

“I’ve developed relationships at the Public and living in Europe and even in Alaska that are relationships that I plan to be bringing to the Huntington Theatre, and I think the programming is going to represent a really diverse range of what theater means.”

Congratulations, Peter!