A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013

Passover LGBT potluck, a kosher chef challenge

Congregation Beth Sholom in Anchorage is hosting a Passover Potluck on Friday, April 22, for LGBT Jews and their friends and families. This is a Passover Dinner — it is NOT a Seder. Everybody is welcome. You don’t have to be Jewish; you don’t have to be invited by anyone.

Homer: Rockabilly Ball with the queens of Anchorage

What’s buzzin’, cuzzin? The Rockabilly Ball, that’s what!

All cats and daddy-o’s are invited to the Rockabilly Ball, a benefit for Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic, on April 16, 2011 at Alice’s Champagne Palace! So slap on your boss threads, coif your pompadour and join KBFPC for this rockin’ bash!

Don’t be a square, come and dance to the sounds of Iron Mermaid, eat scrumptious morsels from Maura’s Cafe, gawk at the babes from Mad Myrna’s and fork over your bread at the live auction.

Tickets are $25 in advance, available at KBFPC and Two Sisters Bakery, or $30 at the door. For updates, check out the Rockabilly Ball event page on Facebook.

Rockabilly Ball
A benefit for Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic

Saturday, April 16 · 7:00pm – 11:30pm
Tickets: $25 in advance, $30 at the door
Adults Only

Entertainers from Mad Myrna’s
Live Music by Iron Mermaid
Auction of paintings by Steve Collins
Junkyard Auction ~ auctioneer Dave Aplin!
Hors d’œuvres by Maura’s Cafe
Divine drink concoctions by Homer’s best mixologists

Alice’s Champagne Palace
195 E Pioneer Avenue
Homer, Alaska

Juneau: Camp, Hike & Picnic with SEAGLA this summer

The Southeast Alaska Gay & Lesbian Alliance (SEAGLA) has announced the dates of several Juneau events for Summer 2011, including the PRIDE Picnic on July 9th. Put it on the calendar!

Social Fridays
SEAGLA Friday Socials continue to successfully occur each Friday after work from 6 – 8 PM. The group composition changes from week to week, but we always seem to have fun. All community members over 21 and their friends, both men and women, are invited to gather at the Jaded Lounge in the Goldbelt Hotel in downtown Juneau to decompress from the work week and catch up with friends. Come on out, and visit with an old friend or make a new friend today! Please join us this Friday, or another Friday in the future.

Clean up Juneau Day: May 7
Come out and do your part. Along with the rest of the community, PFLAG and SEAGLA will be picking up trash to clean up the most beautiful 2 mile section of highway in the borough, and we need your help! The more people we have the faster it goes. Please gather at 10 AM at the parking lot near Auke Lake. Bags and sanitary gloves will be provided. Wear bright clothes, as our goal includes putting a rainbow of color along the highway, for safety and for the message it conveys about diversity. We normally allow 2 hours, so the event will be over by noon, but generally gets done much quicker, most times by 11:30 AM, so please do not be late!

SEAGLA overnight camping adventure: May 28
Hike on the Auk Nu trail to beautiful John Muir cabin. 3 1/2 miles each way, 1600 elevation gain. Stunning views of Gastineau Channel and Douglas Island through picturesque meadows. Spend the night or hike in and out. Cabin sleeps 6 comfortably. Please RSVP with trip leader. Contact Kerri for more information, or email SEAGLA.

PRIDE Picnic at Sandy Beach: July 9
Specific details will be updated as the event approaches!! Generally, SEAGLA and PFLAG provide some grilled foods and ask people to bring what they would like to drink in non-glass containers, and a dish to share: salad, dessert or whatever appeals to you. If it is rainy, bring firewood too, as we have a shelter with the fireplace. There will be music and other games or activities, there is also a playground for kids. This info will be updated later as the date approaches, so check back to SEAGLA for more details about the summer events.

Summer Hikes
Please know that several hikes are currently being planned. Our friend Kerri has booked several cabins for this summer and will be hosting hikes to those locations. More details will be available on this soon. Also, there will be a gay men’s hike again this year. Details will be posted at SEAGLA when they are finalized, so please check there for updates.

2 Concerts benefit homeless youth in Fairbanks (this weekend)

Did you know there are between 500-800 homeless youth at any given time in Fairbanks, Alaska? About 300 of them are in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District. Help us to help them!

FCA SOAP is holding two concert fundraisers this weekend to benefit homeless, runaway and at-risk youth in Fairbanks. The Concert & Silent Auction for adults 21+ is Friday night at The Pub, and an all-ages We Are Visible concert is Saturday afternoon at the 310 First Avenue Banquet Hall.

For both events, please bring new or gently used clothing for a clothes drive for the youth, and keep in mind that most of the clients are ages 15 to 21 years old.

Also, they’re selling a 14-track benefit album for $10:

WE ARE VISIBLE! is a compilation benefit album with 14 tracks donated by mostly local Fairbanks bands with an ultimate mission of supporting the clients we serve. It will be available at our SOAP Benefit Weekend events, April 8 & 9, 2011. After that, if you’d like a physical copy, please e-mail vista@fcaalaska.org or call 907-374-9913. All proceeds from this album go toward helping each one of our clients recognize his or her value as a human being in a world that seems to change faster with each passing day.

Friday, April 8
SOAP Benefit Concert & Silent Auction @ The Pub

Come to The Pub and help us create a better city for our youth!
$5 Students / $8 General Admission — Ages 21+
Silent Auction Starts at 7pm and Music Starts at 9pm

9:00 Danny & The Jampires
9:45 Phineas Gauge
10:30 The Avery Wolves
11:15 Alaska Redd

Silent auction items will be highlighted by some awesome photographs by Krista Heeringa. We’ll have door prize giveaways, as well. For more information, please e-mail vista@fcaalaska.org or call 374-9913.

Many thanks to our other donors: Pro Music, Grassroots Guitar, Music Mart, College Coffeehouse, Gulliver’s Bookstore, Sipping Streams, Forget-Me-Not Bookstore, McCafferty’s, College Town Pizzeria, Mona Vie, UAF Pub, KSUA, and others.

All proceeds benefit Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption’s Street Outreach & Advocacy Program. SOAP is brought to our community through FCA and United Way of the Tanana Valley.

Saturday, April 9
WE ARE VISIBLE: A Benefit Concert for Homeless Youth

Join us for the ALL-AGES version of our concert fundraiser
Saturday, April 9 · 12:00pm – 11:00pm
310 First Ave. Banquet Hall
310 1st Ave, Suite 100
Fairbanks, AK

$5.00 — Fun, Music, Arts, Crafts, Guitar Lessons, $10 Haircuts from noon-2 & 4-6, Soda/Water, Door Prizes, Raffle!! Oh yeah, FUN TOO!

Bands (subject to change):
12pm InVein
1pm Bernie Bousa (of Danny & The Jampires)
2pm Bryan Whitten
3pm Alex Beasley
4pm From The Ashes
5pm Not Enough Flannel
6pm New Teen Paranormal Romance
7pm Eating For Two
8pm Until Death
9pm Alaska Redd
10pm Phineas Gauge
(DJ sets if there’s time)

Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption: We Take Familes to Heart

As a program operated by Fairbanks Counseling & Adoption, the Street Outreach & Advocacy Program (SOAP) reaches out to 10- to 21-year-olds who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless. “Our goal is to protect these youth from abuse, sexual exploitation, assault, and criminal activity due to their lack of money and beneficial resources.”

Hours: Monday – Friday, 9am-6pm
Drop-in Center, 2pm-6pm

-Drop-in Services in downtown Fairbanks, Alaska
-Transportation to resources and shelter
-Survival supplies: food, hygiene, clothes
-Assistance using the Fairbanks justice, business, and social service system
-Mediation and Conflict Resolution
-Counseling Services
-Referrals to community resources
-Independent Living Skills classes
-Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Seasonal Activities

Fetish Ball 2011

What’s better than having a fetish? Having a night devoted entirely to FETISH!

Saturday is Fetish Ball 2011: The Fall of Rome – Caligula’s Revenge. Come in theme, or as your own fetish. Either way, it’s a night you won’t forget. The people are the show!

The Fall of Rome – Caligula’s Revenge is Saturday, April 9 at Mad Myrna’s, beginning at 8pm. Admission is $15.

The Fetish Ball is an annual benefit for the Four A’s during their $1 Million Challenge food bank fundraiser.

Four A’s and the $1 Million Challenge

Four A’s is participating in The Feinstein Foundation’s spring food bank challenge again this year. Your donations to Four A’s this month will help them qualify for a larger amount of the challenge funds.

Femme Fatale 2011 in Juneau: Benefiting the Four A’s

The Drag Queens from Anchorage are back and its better than ever! Femme Fatale takes over Juneau this weekend in three shows to benefit the Four A’s. Don’t miss out! — a different performance each night!

At least 3 allies re-elected to the assembly

Three of the four pro-equality assembly members were re-elected by Anchorage voters on Tuesday, with solid leads over Mayor Sullivan’s conservative challengers.

The preliminary election results show assembly allies Elvi Gray-Jackon, Harriet Drummond and Patrick Flynn being re-elected, while the East Anchorage race between incumbent Mike Gutierrez and challenger Adam Trombley is too close to call. As of this writing, Trombley leads Gutierrez by about 250 votes.

Dave Bronson of the Alaska Family Council was soundly defeated by Assemblywoman Elvi Gray-Jackson, who won with a margin of over 15% of the vote.

Two assembly members who oppose equality – Bill Starr and Chris Birch – were also re-elected.

In the school board races, Gretchen Guess has a good lead over Treg Taylor, while Pat Higgins leads Bob Griffin by 186 votes.

Absentee ballots will be counted on April 15.

Vasquez may respect your ‘lifestyle’ but not your rights

West Anchorage assembly candidate Liz Vasquez was asked at the UAA forum if she supports an LGBT non-discrimination law, and she gave an awkward reply about the Supreme Court, lifestyles, and hate crimes against religious minorities. Here is her complete answer: (transcript is below the video)

Q. Would you support an equal right ordinance extending equal protections to gay, lesbian and transgender persons in Alaska’s workforce, similar to the proposition Mayor Sullivan vetoed in 2009?

A. “Well, first of all, a question like this should be decided by the state supreme court or the United States Supreme Court. There’s an extensive analysis that is done in extended [sic] protected class to any given group and indeed part of the analysis, what socio-economic factors have been of hinderance to this particular group, and the recent Department of Justice, United States Department of Justice studies indicate that 80% of the hate crime is committed against individuals of the Jewish faith, 10% is committed against those individuals of the Muslim faith. So the assembly really is not the forum to consider this very serious issue. I do believe sincerely that people need to respect each others’ lifestyle, as long as people are not hurting other people.”

Wow. Let’s take it apart:

“Well, first of all, a question like this should be decided by the state supreme court or the United States Supreme Court.”

This is a shocking statement coming from a conservative. Alaskans don’t want the federal government telling us what to do about polar bears, health care or education, but somehow we need big government to interfere in the daily lives of our workers and local businesses. Never thought I’d hear a conservative say that.

Look, it’s simple: The Anchorage Assembly doesn’t need permission from the U.S. Supreme Court to make city laws protecting city residents. It doesn’t work that way.

“There’s an extensive analysis that is done in extended [sic] protected class to any given group and indeed part of the analysis, what socio-economic factors have been of hinderance to this particular group, and the recent Department of Justice, United States Department of Justice studies indicate that 80% of the hate crime is committed against individuals of the Jewish faith, 10% is committed against those individuals of the Muslim faith.”

First of all – WTF?? 80% of American hate crimes are not against Jewish people. I’d guess that around half of the hate crimes in America are based on racial prejudice, and that the other half are about equally divided between hate crimes based on anti-LGBT bias and those based on bias against religious minorities. Turns out that I’m (mostly) right. (Thanks to Alaska Commons for the DOJ link, and the audio clip.)

In truth, slightly less than 14% of hate crimes are targeted against Americans because they’re Jewish – a serious problem, but not Nazi Germany.

We’ve cleared up that lie, but the main point here is that she (mis)quoted hate crime statistics against religious groups when asked about protecting workers from being fired for being gay. Either she doesn’t know the difference between job discrimination and being beaten up, or that was her convoluted way of saying that prejudice against religious minorities is important but prejudice against gays isn’t.

“So the assembly really is not the forum to consider this very serious issue.”

The Assembly is exactly the right place to have an Anchorage discussion about protecting Anchorage workers. It’s hard to believe that a candidate running for the assembly would say that the assembly should not consider serious issues.

“I do believe sincerely that people need to respect each others’ lifestyle, as long as people are not hurting other people.”

Ow. This sentence hurts my brain. It’s a people word salad. All she needs is a “you betcha” at the end.

The West Anchorage candidates for assembly are worlds apart on LGBT issues: ally and incumbent Harriet Drummond voted for the non-discrimination ordinance in 2009 and will continue to support equality. Liz won’t.

Please vote for Assemblywoman Harriet Drummond for the West Anchorage assembly seat.

Yes, Anchorage, there WILL be an Election Central this year!

You know I have been lucky to live and work in many states in the political process. But Alaska is unique in the fact that when elections occur, Alaskans of all political persuasions gather with the candidates themselves, supporters, the media, and everyone watches the votes come in. It’s a chance to witness democracy at its finest. This is the gathering known as Election Central.

So I was disturbed when I heard that Mayor Dan “The one we should Ban” Sullivan had not approved funding for the traditional Election Central.

Maybe he wants everyone to adjourn to a certain pub he is part-owner of downtown, so he can make a profit during the evening?

Maybe because he has personally attempted to defeat three members of the Anchorage Assembly with his own candidates, he may have jitters and doesn’t want to face the press as well as three emboldened and perturbed re-elected members of the Assembly, if the votes pile up against his choices.

Maybe he really is a fiscal conservative and feels any displays of democracy are too frivolous?

Who knows… but that’s why I sprang into action. I contacted a local member of our community, Douglas Locke — the owner of Kodiak Bar & Grill, who graciously donated the use of the A Street Event Hall and refreshments. The facility was a Centergy Office, Congregationalist Church, and most recently the Steinway Piano Studio.

It is located between 6th and 7th streets at 637 A Street. See map.

There’s plenty of parking, the facility is ADA-certified, and you can’t miss it with the orange awnings. There will be press, candidates, and a wonderful example of how democracy still works in this nation.

I have no idea at the writing of this post who will win on Tuesday. I don’t care if you are liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, Coffee or Tea… just go vote. And after the polls close, come join your fellow Alaskans at the party.

To make a pun on Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, let me close by saying, Yes Anchorage, there will be an Election Central this year!!!

See the Facebook event page for more information.