A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013

John Berry, government official (LGBT History Month)

John Berry is the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). He is the highest-ranking openly gay federal employee in U.S. history — and has a mountain in Antarctica named after him! Bent Alaska presents his story as part of our celebration of LGBT History Month 2011, with thanks to the Equality Forum.

John Berry

“Each time we act against discrimination, we add a ring of life to the American tree of liberty.”

John Berry (born February 10, 1959 ) is the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). He is the highest-ranking openly gay federal employee in U.S. history.

Born in Rockville, Maryland, Berry is the son of two federal government employees. His father served in the U.S. Marine Corps and his mother worked for the U.S. Census Bureau.

Berry earned his Bachelor of Arts in government from the University of Maryland and a Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University. His first federal government job was as legislative director for U.S. Representative Steny Hoyer. Thereafter, he served as deputy assistant secretary for law enforcement at the U.S. Treasury Department.

After two years as director of government relations at the Smithsonian Institution, Berry was appointed assistant secretary for policy, management and budget at the U.S. Department of the Interior in the Clinton administration.

Prior to joining the Obama administration, Berry pursued his interest in environmental conservation as the director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and subsequently as director of the National Zoo.

In 2009, President Obama appointed Berry to his current position, where he is responsible for recruiting, hiring and benefits policies for 1.9 million federal employees.

With Berry’s appointment came accolades from the LGBT and mainstream communities. “The selection of John Berry is a meaningful step forward for the LGBT community,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Humans Rights Campaign. John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, described Berry as the “perfect choice for the OPM. He’s smart, courageous, and has all the right experience in policy and in politics.”

In 2009, Berry served as the keynote speaker for the International Gay & Lesbian Leadership Conference in San Francisco.

One of the few Americans to stand on both the North and South Poles, Berry’s government career has taken him around the globe and literally to the ends of the earth. There is a mountain in Antarctica named after him: the Berry Bastion.

In December 2010 John Berry recorded a video for the It Gets Better Project. Watch:

For more about John Berry, visit his LGBT History Month page or Wikipedia article.

Photo credit: John Berry, official portrait, 13 April 2009, United States Office of Personnel Management.

Alison Bechdel, cartoonist (LGBT History Month 2011)

Alison Bechdel  is a celebrated cartoonist and author of the long-running comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For. Her groundbreaking graphic memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, was awarded the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book. Bent Alaska presents her story as part of our celebration of LGBT History Month 2011, with thanks to the Equality Forum.

Alison Bechdel

“The [comic] strip is about all kinds of things, not just gay and lesbian issues—births, deaths and everything in-between happen to everyone.”

Alison Bechdel (b. September 10, 1960) is a celebrated cartoonist and author of the long-running comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For. Her groundbreaking graphic memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, was awarded the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book.

A native of central Pennsylvania, Bechdel and her siblings grew up in a small town. Her parents both taught at the local high school and her father, the subject of her first memoir, was the town’s mortician. Bechdel attended Oberlin College, where she graduated with a B.A. in 1981.

Dykes to Watch Out For was published in 1983 and became a syndicated comic strip in 1985. With her signature subtle wit, Bechdel took on the complex and often stereotyped world of lesbian relationships through her comic alter ego, Mo. The strip has become a cult classic.

In the late 1990’s, Bechdel began work on her first graphic memoir about her family, Fun Home. The memoir focuses on her relationship with her father and his death. Time Magazine honored Fun Home as No. 1 of the 10 Best Books of 2006, calling it “a masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds, and their mysterious debts to each other.” The book won a Lambda Book Award, an Eisner Award and the 2006 Publishing Triangle’s Judy Grahn Nonfiction Award. It was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award.

Dykes to Watch Out For continued production for 25 years. In 2008, Bechdel suspended work on the award-winning comic strip to create a graphic memoir about relationships. The same year, Houghton Mifflin published a complete collection of her work, The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For.

Bechdel resides outside of Burlington, Vermont.

Alison Bechdel was interviewed by MiND TV about her bestselling graphic memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Watch:

For more about Alison Bechdel, visit the Dykes to Watch Out For website, the Alison Bechdel page on Amazon.com, her LGBT History Month page, or the Wikipedia article about her.

Photo credit: Alison Bechdel came to Brussels to promote her new autobiographical book Fun Home. She signed her book in the comic store Brüselm 29 Oct 2006. Photo by Tineke on Flickr; used in accordance with Creative Commons license.

Alaska Pride Conference & Youth Summit 2011: October 14-16 in Anchorage

Alaska Pride Conference 2011 and the first-ever Alaska statewide GLBT Youth Summit (Alaska youth 14-18) focusing on youth issues in Alaska will be held October 14-16 in Anchorage.

John Ashbery, poet (LGBT History Month 2011)

John Ashbery is one of the most successful 20th century poets. He has won almost every major American literary award, including the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Bent Alaska presents his story as part of our celebration of LGBT History Month 2011, with thanks to the Equality Forum.

John Ashbery

“My poetry is disjunct, but then so is life.”

John Ashbery (b. July 28, 1927) is one of the most successful 20th century poets. He has won almost every major American literary award, including the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

Ashbery graduated from Harvard University, where he studied English and served on the editorial board of the Harvard Advocate. He received his master’s degree from Columbia University. After graduating, Ashbery spent three years in publishing before moving to Paris on a Fulbright scholarship.

Returning to the U.S. in 1957, Ashbery attended graduate classes at New York University. Thereafter, he returned to Paris, where he supported himself as an editor. He eventually moved back to the U.S. to become the executive editor of ARTNews magazine.

Ashbery’s success began with frequent publication of his poems in magazines such as Furioso and Poetry New York. While in France, his book Some Trees won the Yale Younger Poet’s Prize. He has won many awards, including the Bollingen Prize and the McArthur Foundation’s “Genius Award.”

His Pulitzer Prize-winning poem “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror,” which also won the National Book Award and the National Critics Circle Award, is unique for its triple prize status. The poem pulls together his favored themes: creating poetry and the influence of visual arts on his work.

Ashbery’s career has been marked by controversy. Response to his poetry ranges from praise for his brilliant expressionism and use of language to condemnation for his work’s nonsensical and elusive nature.

A prolific writer, he has published over 20 books of poetry, beginning with Tourandot and Other Poems. His work has been compared to modernist painters such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. Critics assert that he is trying to translate visual modern art into written language.

Since 1974, he has supported himself through teaching positions, the last of which was as the Charles P. Stevens, Jr. Professor of Language and Literature at Bard College. He lives in upstate New York, where he continues to write poetry.

Here he is reading his poem “”Interesting People of Newfoundland” from Notes from the Air: Selected Later Poems, winner of the 2008 International Griffin Poetry Prize. Watch:

For more about John Ashbery, visit his LGBT History Month page or Wikipedia article.

Photo credit: Poet John Ashbery at the 2010 Brooklyn Book Festival’s gala for the presentation of Best of Brooklyn, Inc’s BoBI Award, 12 September 2010. Photo by David Shankbone, via Wikimedia Commons.

Kye Allums, athlete (LGBT History Month 2011)

Kye Allums, is the first openly transgender athlete to play NCAA Division I college basketball. Bent Alaska presents his story as part of our celebration of LGBT History Month 2011, with thanks to the Equality Forum.

Bent News, 10/1/11: Catholics and LGBT equality

Catholics and LGBT equality and and more in this edition of Bent News.

(Based on @bentalaska 9/30 tweets and Facebook shares, with supplementation.)

Catholics and LGBT equality

• MN Diocese: Catholics for Marriage Equality “not in good standing w/ church.” (via @TPEquality) http://t.co/fMlPXdZb # [ThinkProgress LGBT]
• (In fact, a majority of Catholics favor equality: it’s the church hierarchy that it out of step with the laiety.) #

When that second tweet landed on Bent Alaska’s Facebook wall yesterday, it raised questions with one reader, who asked, “Where does that information come from? In my personal life, I haven’t seen that.”

There have been a number of polls over the past year or two which show that of all faith traditions, Catholics are the most supportive of LGBT equality including legal recognition of same sex relationships through marriage or domestic partnership. Some of the figures from those surveys are included in the Think Progress article linked in the previous tweet, which describes how the Minnesota Catholic Conference (MCC) and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are attempting to weaken Catholics for Marriage Equality MN. Both sides are engaged in a hard-fought campaign over a proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution similar to the one which entered the Alaska Constitution in 1998:  defining marriage as being only between one man and one woman.

“But the Catholic Church is not speaking on behalf of its membership,” Zack Ford of Think Progress writes,

In fact, if supporters of marriage equality were truly not “in good standing” with the Church, the Church would lose over half its membership:

• March, 2011: 53 percent of white Catholics support marriage equality.
• March, 2011: 74 percent of Catholics favor legally recognizing same-sex relationships.
• July, 2011: 59 percent of Catholics support New York’s marriage equality law.
• August, 2010: 63 percent of Rhode Island Catholics support marriage equality.

Follow this links to stories about the studies cited in the Think Progress article.  Detailed information can be found in a March 2011 study from the Public Religion Research Institue, Catholic Attitudes on Gay and Lesbian Issues: A Comprehensive Portrait from Recent Research Analysis.

Another great resource for Catholics who favor LGBT equality is the national organization Catholics for Equality.  They also have a Facebook page.

Other tweets

• Pentagon to allow military chaplains to perform same-sex ceremonies in marriage equality states (via @TPEquality) http://t.co/pFBjn6PF #
• Openly gay Congressman Jared Polis (D–CO) & partner Marlon Reis announce birth of their first child, a baby boy. http://t.co/BjN8AVnD #

Anchorage Town Hall 2 to be held Monday

The first Anchorage LGBTQA Town Hall in August was a resounding success.  Now it’s time for a second one!  Anchorage LGBTQA Town Hall 2 will be held Monday, October 3 at the A Street Event Hall.

Our purpose is community building & information sharing in the LGBTQA* community of Anchorage. Unlike our first meeting, we have no restrictions re: blogs/newsies writing about this meeting before, during, after.

The convenors for Town Hall 2 are Mel Green, Mary Elizabeth Rider, Maureen McGlone, Michael Mason, Doug Frank, Sara Gavit, Heather Aronno, John Aronno, and Marcia Barnes. Sara Gavit will facilitate the meeting.

On the agenda:

• An open forum.
• Introducing more of the groups and activities in our community, including: West High GSA, The Family at UAA, Grrlzlist, Bent Alaska, and a preview of Alaska Pride Conference 2011 to be held in mid-October.
• An update on the One Anchorage campaign from Trevor Storrs.
• Should we have more Town Halls? How often? What about? What would you want to discuss?
• Plus, an opportunity to connect & talk with each other.

We look forward to seeing you there!

(*LGBTQA = lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer/questioning, and non-LGBTQ allies).

• Date/time: Monday, October 3, 2011
• Location: A Street Event Hall, 637 A Street, Anchorage, AK (see map)
• RSVPs: We appreciate RSVPs but they’re not required. Spur of the moment decisions to attend are welcome!
• Further info: see Facebook event page or EventBrite event page. We can be reached by email at lgbtqapartnership@gmail.com, or see our Facebook group.

Thank you to Doug of the Kodiak Bar & Grill for allowing us to use this hall!  Do you have an event you’d like to rent the A Street Event Hall for? Contact Doug at 727-1094.

Bent News, 9/30/11: Growing acceptance of gays/lesbians driven by younger generations

Growing acceptance of gays and lesbians,  the upcoming Alaska Pride Conference and GLBT Youth Summit, and and more in this edition of Bent News.

(Based on @bentalaska 9/29 tweets and Facebook shares, with supplementation.)

Younger generations drive growing acceptance of gays/lesbians

• Trend toward acceptance of gays/lesbians is dramatic, says long-term survey. It’s been driven by youth. Youth? You rock! http://t.co/Mk4AMZAh # [Keen News Service]

The General Social Survey (GSS), conducted by NORC at University of Chicago, is a widely used source of information on social trends, second only to the U.S. Census — and it beats out the Census on many LGBT questions. For example, its been asking Americans their opinions about marriage equality since 1988.

The report “Public Attitudes Toward Homosexuality [download in pdf format], which was released on September 28 and is based on the 2010 General Social Survey, finds that Americans have been becoming “dramatically” more accepting of gay men and lesbians, and appears to confirm findings from other recent surveys that greater support of younger generations for basic civil liberties and marriage equality is behind the trend towards acceptance.

There remains “sharp polarization” of public opinion on LGBT issues— a polarization which has shown up in the data since the GSS started in 1972 — but according to Tom W. Smith, the report’s author, “despite the polarization, there is a strong trend towards acceptance.”

Alaska Pride Conference and Youth Summit

• AK’s 1st GLBT statewide Youth Summit (AK youth 14-18) on Oct 14-16. Rural youth encouraged to apply for scholarships! http://t.co/PnT8x65i #
• Want to display your stuff or sell your goods at the 2011 Pride Conference? Apply by Sep 30! — we’ve got the form. http://t.co/mSP4I2K9 #

Other tweets

• As if we needed further proof of DADT’s suckiness — Ann Coulter wants it back. (via @tlrd) http://t.co/VuGaaH5f  #
• Minnesota’s antigay coalition casts itself as underdog but in 5 yrs outspent pro-LGBT groups 5 to 1 per @TPEquality http://t.co/gNgpajUV #
• FBX: still not decided on who to vote for Oct 4? News 13 has posted candidate interviews on video & other info. http://t.co/eCIBZyl3 #
• Gay news sites: Will your favorite still be there next year? (We hope Bent will be. We hope you hope so too.) http://t.co/We5o33T0 #

Escape to Gilligan’s Island this Sunday with the 39th Emperor & Empress

Their Most Imperial Majesties, Denali Emperor Kevin Fawcett-Majors and Aurora Empress MariQuita of the Imperial Court of All alaska, invite every single one of you to:

Investitures of the 39th Reign:
ESCAPE to Gilligan’s Island!

Become a part of Reign 39: Will YOU be the next Prince of the Pribilofs?  Earn your title! Buy your title! Bribe someone for a title! STEAL your title! It’s all in good fun! Costume contest: the winners get….A TITLE!

• Date/time: Sunday, October 2, 2011, 5:30 pm
• Location: Mad Myrna’s, 530 E. 5th Ave. in downtown Anchorage (see map)
• Cost of admission: $5 cover, with ALL proceeds benefiting the Imperial Court of All Alaska!

The Imperial Court of All Alaska (ICOAA) is an Alaska LGBTQA not-for-profit which over its lifetime has raised over a million dollars for scholarships and charity.

Bent News, 9/29/11: Andrew Caleb Pritt makes the Anchorage Daily News

The Anchorage Daily News reports on Caleb Pritt, Wal-Mart adds transgender protections, and more in this edition of Bent News.