A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013

Sara’s News Roundup 1/16/11

Recent LGBT news selected by Sara Boesser in Juneau, Alaska.

1) Freedom to Marry Reboots
Washington, Advocate, January 14, 2011

2) Counseling center aimed at LGBT community to host open house
Maryville, Tenn., Daily Times, January 16, 2010

3) Gov. Martin O’Malley begins push for gay marriage
Maryland, State Column, January 13, 2011

4) Court bans media from outing gays
Kampala, Uganda, Hindustan Times, January 3, 2011

5) UCC reverend discusses gender minorities in the Church
Northfield, Minnesota, Carletonian, January 14, 2011

6) ‘Prophet’ claims animal deaths due to ‘Don’t Ask’ repeal
Washington, Washington Blade, January 13, 2011

7) Transgender vets want military access for own
San Francisco, Fox News, January 11, 2011

8) Archdiocese issues no-discrimination admissions policy
Boston, Boston Globe, January 13, 2011

9) Transgender Teen Novel Wins Award
Gayapolis

10) Payroll error gives gay Yale employees New Year’s surprise
New Haven, Conn., Washington Blade, January 13, 2011

11) Gay marriage not on NH GOP agenda
Concord, New Hampshire, Boston Globe, January 12, 2011

12) Catholic Bishop Tobin lashes out at R.I. leaders for pushing gay marriage
Providence, Rhode Island, Providence Journal, January 8, 2011

13) House Republican aims to put brakes on repeal of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’
Washington, The Hill, January 14, 2010

14) Engaging news of Facebook
New York Post, January 15, 2011

15) Gender Identity Ordinances Pass
Hartford, Conn., Hartford Courant, January 11, 2011

Where to Find GLBT Alaska – Annual Events, Revised for 2011

The main annual events held by the LGBT organizations and local communities in Alaska are listed here in calendar order, along with city-wide events that we participate in every year.

Fur Rondy Grand Parade (Feb 26) – The Imperial Court creates a float for the Rondy Parade in downtown Anchorage.

Femme Fatale (mid-April) – The Imperial Court’s Juneau show closes the state legislative session and is a benefit for Four A’s.

Day of Silence (April 15) and Pride Prom (April 23 in Anchorage) – Alaska’s students, teachers and Gay/Straight Alliances (GSA’s) join the National Day of Silence, and break their silence celebrating at Pride Prom.

Celebration of Change (April 23) – Radical Arts for Women’s ‘break-up’ performance celebrates women, music and art in Anchorage.

Juneau Pride Chorus spring concert (April 30) – The concert is a spirited evening of women, song and dance at the Juneau Arts & Culture Center, and the chorus performs at various events during the spring and summer.

LGBT Pride Picnic (May 30, Memorial Day) – The Anchorage Picnic and BBQ celebrate unity in the community and the beginning of summer.

Alaska Pride Week and Festival (3rd week in June) – The summer solstice parade and festival celebrates LGBT Pride in downtown Anchorage, following a week of Pride events.

Northern Exposure (during Pride Week this year) – Alaska’s new gay & straight BDSM/Leather conference returns for a second year.

Juneau Pride Picnic and Glacier Hike (summer) – Juneau celebrates Pride with a GLBT community picnic and glacier hike organized by SEAGLA.

Marching in July 4th Parades – LGBT contingents design floats and march in July 4th parades in Anchorage and Homer.

PFLAG in Golden Days Parade (late July) and Tanana Valley State Fair (August) – PFLAG and the Fairbanks LGBTQA community march in the annual Gold Rush parade, host a Pride Picnic after the parade, and create a booth for the Interior state fair.

Coronation (Labor Day Weekend, Sept.) – An extravaganza of performances in Anchorage invests the new Emperor and Empress of the Imperial Court of All Alaska, and announces community awards and scholarships.

Pride Conference (Saturday near October 11) – Identity’s back-to-school youth conference is inspired by National Coming Out Day, celebrated nationally on October 11.

Alaskans Together annual meeting (Sunday after Pride Conference) – The state-wide LGBT advocacy group holds a strategy meeting each year in Anchorage.

Thanksgiving Community Meal (Thanksgiving Day) – Several gay-owned businesses in Anchorage host a Thanksgiving Day meal for the LGBT community.

World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) – Alaska commemorates World AIDS Day with red ribbons and candlelight vigils sponsored by Four A’s and IAA in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau.

Arctic Heat (Jan. 2012) – The Men’s Club chooses the new Bear and Leather titleholders every other year.

Alaska’s LGBT groups hold many other events and performances, as well as weekly and monthly meetings and events, that the community is invited to attend. Visit the links in the side column of the blog for more lists of Where to find LGBT Alaska.

Avenue Q opening night LGBT social *RSVP required*

UPDATE: The Pre-show Reception is a private event, by invitation only. RSVP required. If you have tickets to see Avenue Q at the PAC, contact Identity for information about the invitations.

It’s finally here! Avenue Q is a hilarious, risque and thought-provoking Broadway show with positive gay content, and it’s live at the Anchorage Performing Arts Center on January 21-27, 2011. There’s even a GLBT mixer on opening night, for community members with tickets:

Join the LGBT community before the show for drinks and hors d’oeuvres at the PAC’s Sydney Lawrence Theatre, on Friday January 21 from 6-7:45 p.m. This free event is sponsored by the Concert Association with Mad Myrna’s and South. Come mingle with friends, then enjoy the show.

Bent Alaska first posted about Avenue Q almost a year ago, when the Anchorage Concert Association’s 2010-2011 season was announced. It’s wonderful that Anchorage will get to see this award-winning and gay-inclusive show! My partner and I saw Avenue Q several years ago on vacation in the lower 48 and we loved it. If you haven’t seen it yet, see it now. (And if you saw it years ago, see it again with your Anchorage friends.)
Note: Avenue Q is a show for adults and includes scenes with puppets having sex, drinking, swearing and surfing the web for porn. ACA recommends the show only for ages 15 and up.

Tickets for Avenue Q are available online through Center-Tix HERE. Don’t miss it!

The earlier post included a video of the song If You Were Gay. This time we’ll post the theme song, It Sucks To Be Me, performed by the original Broadway cast:

Mid-Winter Hot Springs Exodus *new date*

UPDATE: The Chena Hot Springs Exodus has been postponed until February 19 due to bad weather and unsafe road conditions. Join the event’s FB page for details.

* * *

Want to meet other LGBT’s from Fairbanks at a fun social event that isn’t a drag show? Haus of Fusion invites the whole community to relax, rejuvenate and make new friends at the Chena Hot Springs Exodus 2011:

Come join us for the first annual Haus of Fusion-sponsored Chena Hot Springs Exodus, a massive outpouring of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Intersexed, Queer and Straight Allies. We’ll take over the hot springs for the day!

The goal of this event is to give the GLBT community something non-drag-show to do, a social event we can all enjoy. This is a time to put aside grudges and make friendships.

THE PLAN: We will meet at 10 a.m. on Saturday, January 22, in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Fairbanks and depart soon after for Chena Hot Springs. Transportation will be caravan-style carpooling. Drivers should have a full tank of gas and a fully charged cell phone. We will be departing the hot springs by about 6 p.m. (Staying overnight is optional.)

WHAT YOU WILL NEED: The day off, swimwear, a towel, $10 for admission to the spring and pool, and money for food and beverages.

Community members are welcome to rent a cabin for the night, but will need their own transportation back to Fairbanks. Overnight rates vary, and include swim passes. See the Chena Hot Springs special rates for Alaska residents.

Aw, sounds devine. Banish the winter blues and meet new people at a community soak. And I’m sure they’ll welcome LGBT’s from Anchorage, if you plan to be near Fairbanks that weekend or want to drop by. Check out the Chena Hot Springs Exodus 2011 FB page for more info and to RSVP.

Snowed Out with AMP

AMP presents a fabulous winter social! EVERYONE in the community is invited – men and women, boys and girls, gays, lesbians, breeders, and everything in between. This will be a fabulous night of DJ’ed music (electro, top 40 hits, and nostalgic slow-dance tunes that recall the awkward days of our youth), dancing, food, and special awards.

Place: Rumrunners

415 E. Street (corner of 4th & E)

Date: January 29, 2011

Time: 7 p.m. – 11 p.m.

Tickets are $5 at the door. All proceeds go to AMP.

Invite your friends! This is going to be FUN.

Please let us take time… this time

by Caleb Pritt

It’s been 8 years and a month since a plane went down in driving snow in Minnesota snuffing out the life of one of the greater progressive pioneers to ever serve this nation. In the ensuing days as we, collectively as a community, coped with the loss of this man, his wife, his daughter, and others on the plane, the Memorial Service which began so majestically and melodically ended in a blaze of partisan political rhetoric. Eight days later, a popular former Vice President of the United States was defeated in a bid to replace this man in the U.S. Senate by a political manipulator. I of course am talking about the death of U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife & daughter, and the quixotic Senate campaign between Walter F. Mondale & Norm Coleman. But what was lost, what has been forgotten in those days is the memory of a former coach, of a man who fought hard but fought with dignity & honor, and a man who dedicated his life to public service. What was lost were the other people on the plane who also had the light of their lives snuffed out. The partisan rhetoric grew to such a crescendo because of the memorial service turning political that there are plausible theories out now, how George W. Bush supposedly ordered the assasination of Paul Wellstone. The irony in the story is that Wellstone was on his way to the funeral of another man who had served Minnestoa admirably in the State Senate, when the accident happened.

Two and a half years ago, an hour or so after I had left the headquarters of the Arkansas Democratic Party in downtown Little Rock, an obsessed and mentally disturbed individual charged into the office, barged into the Chairman’s office, and brutally shot & killed a man I had gotten to know, respected, and whom I respectfully called, “My Chairman.” Then the killer went on a crazy high speed chase that ended up in his life ending in a hail of bullets. I, like so many people, numbly sat in the pew at Pulaski Heights Methodist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas days later as we listened to stories, remembered, and then buried Bill Gwatney. Chairman Gwatney was a good man, truly. A man who had compassion for seeing that those who were not considered part of the “in crowd” still got to have a seat at the table and take part in the proceedings. Chairman Gwatney was fair and he was a man of integrity. Yet it disturbed me how the talk in the media turned towards the politics of the moment.

Now, a day and a half after the events in Tuscon, Arizona, I have to say this is not about Sarah Palin, this is not about the Tea Party or Liberals, this is not about gun control, this is not about a new currency, this is not about security for Members of Congress. This is about eighteen people who have had their lives unalterably changed forever. This is about a nine year old girl, elected to her school’s student council, who was taken from us and never given the chance to fulfill her life. This is about an older man, who apparently gave his life shielding his wife. This is about a guy who was engaged to be married and spent his life helping those who were not part of the “in crowd.” This is about a man who had just come from Mass and taught us that just because he was a Federal Judge didn’t mean he couldn’t work with a member of another branch of government, his Congresswoman, to alleviate the overcrowding and backlogging of cases in the Federal Courts. This is about two women who while retired still gave back to their community to the extent one was featured in a local newspaper article just a month ago about how she was taking a lifetime of knowledge and mentoring others.

I am troubled by how we have dived immediately into the politics of this event. THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR POLITICS. There is a time and place for everything and now is not, nor should it even be considered, appropriate or allowable by the media to talk about liberal v. conservative, tea v. coffee parties, or Sarah Palin v. whomever. This is a time for the victims, the survivors, and the heroes. This is a time for the people of this moment.

This time first, in my opinion, is for Christina Green, Dorwin Stoddard, Phyllis Schneck, Dorothy Murray, John Stoll, and Gabe Zimmerman. This is a time to honor them and thank their families and thank God for the joy, the life experiences, the essence that each of them brought to this earth and then to life. Then this is the time to encourage and do all we can to pray for the speedy and safe recoveries of twelve other people that include U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Pray for the doctors and the nurses and the medical personnel as well as their families for the coming days, weeks, months, and yes years of recovery from this moment. Let us honor the heroes who took down and sudued this madman. Let’s spend a week or two commending them for going into the fire… the line of fire to prevent further death and injury.

Once we have exhausted those areas, and I mean fully done justice for those people, then if we have the energy or the stamina left, then we can argue about the influence of Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and Ideological Fights.

And the assassin… I say no attention should be given to this attention-seeking drug user. I am a compassionate person. I believe we all make mistakes… but there’s a line we all cross from troubled to enabling a madman. Do not focus on his drug use, his antics in class, or his inability to enter the U.S. Army. In fact, do not focus on him at all.

Let us take time… take time to reflect, be thankful for those around us, and take time to honor those no longer among us. Politics can come later. But this is not the time for politics.

Sara’s News Roundup 1/9/11

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Alaska’s Barnes & Noble stores join national No Name-Calling project

“Bringing awareness to the seriousness and severity of name-calling, teasing, bullying and cyber bullying is very important to Barnes & Noble. We’re pleased to be partnering with Simon & Schuster and GLSEN for such an important effort,” said Mary Amicucci, vice president of Children’s Books for Barnes & Noble.

“GLSEN is excited to work with Barnes & Noble to bring No Name-Calling Week’s message of respect to youth across the country throughout the month of January,” said Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) Executive Director Eliza Byard. “As the world’s largest bookseller, we applaud Barnes & Noble for embracing this opportunity to raise awareness about the problems of name-calling and bullying.”

Barnes & Noble stores across the country have events planned throughout January to recognize No Name-Calling Month including: All stores will host a national Storytime event on Saturday, January 15 at 11 a.m. The event will include a Storytime reading of the books Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes and One by Kathryn Otoshi, arts and crafts and other activities.

From January 15 through January 23, stores will host Barnes & Noble Educator Appreciation Week. Stores will have No Name-Calling materials available for teachers and educators including book recommendations, tip sheets for organizing No Name-Calling events, lesson plans for elementary and middle school students, classroom posters and buttons, [and] in-store panel discussions with GLSEN local chapters. Exclusive No Name-Calling articles by James Howe and Jodi Picoult will be featured in the January line-up of the More In Store program available on NOOK, the Barnes & Noble eBook Reader.

Barnes & Noble.com will feature a No Name-Calling page. Exclusive video content from bestselling children’s, teen and adult authors will be placed on the site during the month of January… The authors will discuss their thoughts on and experiences with bullying.

Sara’s News Roundup 1/2/11