A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013

Anchorage election: Assembly and school board candidates to vote for

Anchorage voters going to the polls Tuesday will see pro-equality assembly members up for re-election in 4 districts, a supportive challenger, and 2 good school board candidates on the ballot, running against a slate of anti-gay candidates endorsed by Mayor Sullivan. Here are Bent Alaska’s recommendations.

Alaskans Together brings Why Marriage Matters to AK

State laws, senator support, UA policies and new campaigns: Alaskans Together has been busy! Their spring newsletter updates us on the recent successes they contributed to and their current efforts, including the Why Marriage Matters project. Here’s the message from Board President Elias Rojas:

Your statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization – Alaskans Together for Equality Inc. — has been hard at work the last several months promoting civil equality throughout the state. It has definitely been a whirlwind of LGBT initiatives in Alaska and across the country over the last several months.

The highlights of our successful involvement and support of ATE over the last several months include:

• The repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law with both Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Begich voting in favor of the repeal.
• The University of Alaska Regents passing a non-discrimination policy change that now includes sexual orientation as a protected class.
• The introduction of the Alaska Hate Crimes bill (SB 11 – Davis) and its successful passage through the Senate Judiciary Committee.
• The introduction of a statewide non-discrimination bill (HB 165 – Kerttula) that would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in our existing state non-discrimination laws.

The last few months have been great in terms of progress towards civil equality for LGBT Alaskans. In addition, ATE is at the tail end of a very successful membership drive and renewal campaign. Your membership keeps us going. If you have yet to become an ATE member for 2011 you can still do so by clicking here. For those of you who became members…thank you…thank you…thank you.

All these successes and continuing efforts could not have been done without your activism and financial support. Our board thanks you for all your support.

ATE is looking forward to continuing to provide you with the latest news and updates that can help you be informed and active in your community and state. As always, if you have any suggestions or would like to get involved please email us at alaskanstogether@gmail.com.

Recently, the ATE board voted to become a partner of the Freedom to Marry national campaign in support of marriage, called “Why Marriage Matters.” It’s a public education campaign that will talk about our rights and tell the story of why gays and lesbians want to get married – to share love and commitment with the person they love. Stay tuned and visit Alaskans Together as we begin rolling out this campaign in the coming months.

Check out Freedom to Marry, and watch the intro clip on Why Marriage Matters:

k.d. lang & Lily Tomlin in Anchorage & Fairbanks 2011-12 concert season

OMG! k.d. lang is coming to Anchorage! Swoon.

Two lesbian icons are on the calendar for the Anchorage Concert Association’s ’11-12 season: k.d.lang opens the season with two concerts in September, and Lily Tomlin performs her one woman comedy show on the last night of March 2012.

The season also includes Broadway shows and an impressive array of music. Subscription tickets are on sale now, and individual tickets for k.d. lang will be on sale in June.

Update: Both k.d. lang and Lily Tomlin are also performing one show each in Fairbanks for the Fairbanks Concert Association’s 2011-2012 season! k.d. croons on Thursday September 15, and Lily will make you laugh on Friday, March 30.

k.d. lang

Friday – Saturday, September 16-17, 2011
7:30pm
Atwood Concert Hall

Four time Grammy Award winner k.d. lang is bringing her perfect pitch to Anchorage. lang launched her career with a blend of country-rock styling and a playful punk-like attitude, but it’s her voice that makes her stand out. 20 years after she burst onto the music scene that flawless, smooth-as-silk voice, continues to impress audiences and critics alike throughout the entertainment world. Don’t miss what promises to be enthralling performance that will touch your soul.

Lily Tomlin

Saturday, March 31, 2012
7:30pm
Atwood Concert Hall

The incomparable Lily Tomlin brings many of her classic characters to life in a one-woman show. One of America’s foremost comediennes, Tomlin continues to venture across an ever-widening range of media starring in television, theater, motion pictures, and even animation. Throughout her extraordinary entertainment career, Tomlin has received numerous awards, including six Emmys, a Tony, a Grammy and winner of the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for Humor in 2003. She continues to be at forefront of American comedy even after more than 30 years in the business.

**

I don’t know if Lily Tomlin has been to Alaska before, but k.d. lang has: parts of her movie Salmonberries were filmed here (it takes place in Kotzebue), and I posted the love song Barefoot on Valentine’s Day last year. Watch it again.

April’s Trash Drag Spectacle in the Valley

Aprils Follies, the Mat-Su Valley spring drag extravaganza, is back by popular demand, this time with two shows: 6 and 9 pm on Saturday, April 2.

“A jammed-packed night of singing, dancing, and live entertainment from performers around Alaska and beyond, including mini fashion shows sponsored by Mila’s Gowns and Alterations and The Younique Boutique. The line up for the night is EPIC, with MC’s April Rains, Daphne DoAll LaChores, and Kristara!”

This is a fundraiser for the West Lakes Fire Fighters, and other charities that will be chosen by the audience.

“A MUST SEE VALLEY TRASH ALASKAN EVENT!!”

Aprils Follies: “A Valley Trash Drag Spectacle”
Time: Saturday, April 2 · 6-8pm and 9-11pm (doors open at 5:30pm and 8:30pm)
Location: The Rock Cafe (the old Mile 49 Cafe)
Parks and Pittman, mile 49 at the BJ Center
Meadow Lakes, AK
Tickets: $15 at the door

The first Aprils Follies in the Valley was in 2009. Read April’s adventures On The Way to the Follies.

DADT still in effect, as parents of gay soldier killed in Afghanistan post tribute to their son

Corporal Andrew Wilfahrt, a Minnesota native, died on foot patrol in Khandahar, Afghanistan in late February at age 31. He was gay.
Now his parents, Lori and Jeff Wilfahrt, have come forward with a tribute to their son for the Testimony: Take a Stand campaign. Lori and Jeff lament their son’s forced re-closeting when he enlisted, though “people in his unit knew he was gay…and nobody cared.”

Gov. Parnell, Choose Respect for All Alaskans

Today is Governor Sean Parnell’s Choose Respect rally against domestic violence, sexual assault and child sexual abuse. It’s an important cause, and members of the LGBT community will be there, some marching with rainbow sashes. But does Parnell respect LGBT Alaskans?

The website for Parnell’s Choose Respect project includes information on the marches, local resources for victims of abuse, and something called the Safe Homes Strong Families proclamation. [The proclamation is in bold, my comments are in italics.]

“The 2010 Public Safety initiative continues our commitment to establish safe homes and build strong families for all Alaskans.”

ALL Alaskans? Since I can personally verify that LGBT people live in Alaska, that means Parnell is committed to promoting safe homes and strong families for LGBT Alaskans.

“This year, we are addressing key elements to end exploitation and harm inflicted upon minors, seniors, and vulnerable adults.”

Gay and especially transgender Alaskans are at high risk for a variety of harms committed against us and we qualify as vulnerable, especially LGBT minors and seniors.

“The initiative proposes tougher punishments for crimes against seniors, harsher punishment for criminals accused of child exploitation, increased investigation of child exploitation cases, and enhanced enforcement for registered sex offenders.”

Parnell is a big fan of harsher punishments for crimes against vulnerable people, so tougher punishments for crimes against LGBT Alaskans is right up his alley! The Alaska Hate Crimes bill (SB 11) is currently stalled in the legislature, but I’m sure it will jump forward and pass quickly when the Governor assures everyone that he supports tougher punishments.

“These efforts, combined with the progress and partnerships we made this last year, draw us closer to shifting the tide against abuse, exploitation, harm, and fear that has gripped our communities.”

LGBT Alaskans know about the harm and fear that grip our community. The fear that we can be fired simply for being gay, the harm caused by public officials when they appoint people who say our very existence should be illegal… Oh, wait. (see below)

“Last year, my administration began a dialogue and awareness effort with the Choose Respect initiative. The Choose Respect initiative included increased funding for shelters,”

Good. In addition to the women and children who flee abusive husbands and need these shelters, some are fleeing abusive partners of the same sex. This should also include increased funding for homeless youth shelters, because abused youth often end up on the streets and LGBT youth are abused and kicked out of their homes at alarming rates.

“… harsher punishment for offenders,”

Again with the ‘harsher punishment’ for crimes against vulnerable Alaskans. He’s really going to love the Alaska Hate Crimes law!

“… increased VPSOs in villages,”

Good to see more funding for the Villages.

“… and hired the state’s first Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Coordinator.”

I hope the person Parnell hired for this position has a more realistic understanding of criminal behavior than his recent choice for the panel that nominates state judges. That appointee believes all sex outside of marriage should be a crime. (Really. See below.)

“The Parnell administration will continue to take action to protect the defenseless and establish safe, strong homes. Together, we can make Alaska safer.”

Yes, Gov. Parnell, together we can protect the defenseless gay and transgender young Alaskans who are kicked out of their family homes by unloving parents and out of housing rentals by bigoted landlords simply because they are LGBT. Together we can help to establish safe, strong homes for gay and lesbian couples and their children, with the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexual couples. Together we can choose respect and take action to make Alaska safer for ALL Alaskans. Yes!

Unfortunately, I don’t think he means that.

Last week, the state senate questioned Don Haase, recent president of the anti-gay Eagle Forum and Parnell’s choice for the panel that nominates state judges. Haase kept off his resume his leadership role in the extreme conservative group, but admitted that he thought sex outside of marriage should be illegal, saying, “I think that would be up to the voters… I can see legitimate reasons to push that as a crime.”

(The judicial panel only has three members of the public, and already has one far right member: Sarah Palin appointed Kathleen Tompkins-Miller, wife of tea party Senate candidate Joe Miller, to the council in 2009.)

Let’s put the pieces together on Don Haase – the person Sean Parnell wants to pick our state judges – and LGBT Alaskans: Leader of the Eagle Forum which pushes a strong anti-gay agenda, worked against the effort to allow same sex marriages in Alaska, worked to take away domestic partnership benefits for same sex partners of state employees, worked against hate crimes protections and non-discrimination laws, and clearly does not support even civil unions. So sex outside of marriage is a crime, and gay and lesbian couples must not be allowed to get married, therefore… consensual sex between two adults of the same gender should be illegal.

This is not the way to choose respect for all Alaskans.

Last year, Parnell flew to Colorado on state money to spend the day with Focus on the Family. He told them about his Choose Respect project and other ideas for Alaska. Why? He doesn’t need their approval to start a sexual assault and child abuse prevention program in Alaska. What would a corporation that sells harmful pray-away-the-gay workshops tell the governor of another state about his domestic violence project?

The hate watch site Good As You writes:

“Focus on the Family dedicates much time to keeping same-sex couples away from adoption, foster care, and a whole host of protections that strengthen LGBT families. And of course they work every day to deny a fair shake to gay kids and/or the kids of gay parents… [They] talk only about the kind of ‘strong family environment’ that’s defined by evangelism and heterosexuality.”

This is not the way to choose respect for all Alaskans.

Back on the Governor’s Choose Respect website, Parnell has strong words for Alaska:

“As a society – as Alaskans – we must change our practice of preserving silence. And, we must promote a culture of respect that will not tolerate this conduct.

The first step to prevention is raising awareness.

On March 31st, … I’ll lead a march from the steps of the capitol to raise awareness and call for a cultural shift. A shift towards honor and respect for all Alaskans.

… I am challenging all Alaskans to step up – to march forward into a new day, when Alaskans live with hope and opportunity, rather than fear and despair. Together, we can make a difference.”

He’ll call for a cultural shift towards honor and respect for all Alaskans… WOW. If only he meant that!

As for today’s Choose Respect marches:

“And you can join me at the point of the spear. We are having the second Choose Respect march here in Anchorage and across Alaska on March 31. Last year, 18 communities rallied; this year I set a goal of 40 communities participating. Think about what it means to be a survivor of domestic violence or rape or child abuse. Imagine what it will mean to see hundreds of people marching together to proclaim ‘Enough, already! We support you. You are not alone. You are not to blame.'”

Governor Parnell, please say that to Alaska’s gay and transgender youth who are abused by their families for being queer.

I can imagine what it means – can’t you? – to a young adult standing by himself in downtown Anchorage in late June, his first time at Alaska’s annual LGBT Pride Parade, he came out to his parents and now has to live at the homeless youth shelter, or maybe he hasn’t come out yet because he was beaten by his father for being a ‘sissy’ as a kid and he’s afraid of what his father will do. Or maybe it’s a young women at her first Pride Parade, she was raped by a cousin when he caught her kissing another girl, said if she told anyone then he would tell the girls’ families that they’re dykes. Yes, I can imagine what it would mean to them to see hundreds of people marching together to proclaim “Enough, already! We support you. You are not alone. You are not to blame.”

OK, Gov. Parnell. Put your money where your mouth is. Tell ALL Alaskans who have been abused, including LGBT Alaskans, that you support us and we are not alone. Show all Alaskans, including LGBT Alaskans and those who abuse us, that together we can break the silence and choose respect. Walk the talk: Be a role model for how to choose respect by choosing leaders who respect all Alaskans. Call for a cultural shift towards honor and respect for all Alaskans and encourage the legislature to pass Hate Crimes and non-discrimination bills that include sexual orientation and gender identity. Or start small and proclaim June 2011 as LGBT Pride Month in Alaska. Do it.

Stand at the point of the spear and choose respect for all Alaskans. And mean it.

Choose Respect: LGBTs march against domestic violence and sexual assault on March 31

The Choose Respect Rainbow Group in Fairbanks is joining in to march against domestic violence and sexual assault in Fairbanks on March 31, one of forty communities statewide that are holding Choose Respect marches as part of the Governor’s Choose Respect campaign.

What’s special about the Rainbow Group?  They want to their presence to bring awareness that domestic violence can affect ANYONE, including members of the GLBT community. To that end, Fairbanks marchers will have rainbow sashes that say “We Choose Respect.” If you want a sash, message kara7@hotmail.com so organizers can make sure there are enough. (If anyone wants to coordinate a groups in Anchorage or Juneau, let her know!)

• Date/time: Thursday, March 31, 2011, at noon
• Locations:
  Fairbanks: Golden Heart Plaza (map)
  Anchorage: from the Delaney Park Strip (9th and F) to Town Square Park
  Juneau: from the Capitol Steps to Marine Park
• Further info: See Facebook events page for the Rainbow Group, or the Governor’s Choose Respect page through which you can also find locations for Choose Respect events in other communities throughout Alaska.

Last month Tiffany McClain wrote an article at the Pride Foundation website about domestic and sexual violence between members of the same sex:

Did you know that domestic violence happens in same-sex relationships at about the same rate as in straight relationships?

Have you ever considered how homophobia and the lack of legal protection from discrimination might discourage an LGBTQ victim of domestic violence from getting help for fear of being “outed” or did you know that the most common type of male-to-male rape is the rape of a man who is perceived to be gay by a heterosexual man?

She went on to describe how the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (ANDVSA) in 2008, with a grant from the Pride Foundation, developed a curriculum to help Alaskan direct service workers provide effective care to LGBTQ survivors of domestic violence.

ANDVSA’s pamphlet Outing LGBTQ Intimate Partner Violence details some of the ways that domestic violence plays itself out in our relationships.  Read the pamphlet: become aware. And if you recognize any of the problems listed in the pamphlet in your life, please get help.

And join marchers tomorrow as they call for all Alaskans, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, to CHOOSE RESPECT.

It Gets Better, the book: A “message in a bottle” to LGBT youth

Not all kids have access to YouTube. And so the It Gets Better Project’s message of hope for LGBT youth is now in a book: time, now, to get it into every library.

“Inlaws & Outlaws”: Love is neither straight or gay — it’s human

There was lots of laughter in Room 101 of UAA’s Rasmuson Hall: the laughter of recognition as we shared in the joy of people whose stories of love we heard at the March 18 screening of “Inlaws & Outlaws.”

Alaskan minister preached against homosexuality, now an ally

Murray Richmond, a Presbyterian minister for 17 years (the last 10 years in Alaska) and a hospital chaplain for 3 years, writes about how he changes his mind about homosexuality and marriage equality.