A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013

Sara’s News Roundup 12/26/10

Christian Gay & Trans Resources

The Christmas season is a good time to highlight resources for LGBT Christians and people with Christian friends and family members. The Gay Christian Network, SoulForce and the Parents Reconciling Network are a few of the online resources that were recently recommended by Alaskans.

The Gay Christian Network

“I wish that you guys could post a link to The Gay Christian Network. [They have] amazing YouTube videos on helping people who are gay come to terms with their spirituality,” wrote Mark Allred of Alaska Native Lutheran Church in Anchorage.

Mark encourages watching all 7 videos, but he thinks the one embedded below is the most useful. Watch Gay Christian Answers, episode 4: “Aren’t we designed for heterosexuality?”

MCC Anchorage
Matthew Moak at Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) of Anchorage also recommends The Gay Christian Network, along with several other resources. Of course, MCC itself is a great resource.

• What the Bible Says – and Doesn’t Say – about Homosexuality (pdf) is an important resource from SoulForce, a group that “works to end the religious and political oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning people.”
• Homosexuality And The Bible is a list of articles and websites by Christian Gays, a group that provides “the resources for any who wish to understand the ACCURATE interpretation of the Original Scriptures with regard to homosexuality.”
• SisterFriends Together “is an outreach ministry of Grace Unfolding Ministries, and we exist to provide a safe and welcoming online faith community for lesbian, bisexual, questioning and transgender women.” They can also be found at ChristianLesbians, their previous name.
• The Gay Christian Network is “a nonprofit ministry serving Christians who happen to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, and those who care about them.”
• Coming Out as a Transgender Person is a workbook created by MCC Transgender Ministries, which “provides opportunities for spiritual development for transgender people and their families and friends.”

Parents Reconciling Network

PRN is an organization of United Methodist parents of GLBT children. Rev. Johnathan of Church Life Alaska mentioned a new transgender resource from PRN in last week’s Alaska GLBT News. The information came from Sara Boesser, who compiles the weekly LGBT News Roundup posted here on Bent Alaska.

New Resource: Our Transgender And Intersex Children

What causes a person’s sexual orientation is unknown. Causes for people being transgender or intersex are not fully understood. A huge variety of factors are at work in making each individual the person that they are and there is no one reason that causes people to be transgender. It has nothing to do with anything you did or did not do, nor anything your child did or did not do.

Families love their children and want what is best for them. You cannot change your child. However, you can change your response to your child. Your specific response can improve your child’s health and happiness. Your consistent parenting and unconditional love does have a central and enduring influence on your child’s life. Here are some parenting guidelines, shown by research, to improve the physical and mental health of LGBT children.

LGBT-friendly church groups

Most denominations have an LGBT or LGBT-friendly wing, and many of these movements have web sites with resource pages. A good list of national LGBT-friendly church groups can be found HERE. This does not imply that the local Alaska congregations are LGBT-friendly, unfortunately, but the online resources can be useful.

The Resource page on the Open and Affirming (ONA) site of the United Church of Christ (UCC) was suggested by a reader named Matt. He belonged to an ONA church before moving to Alaska, although he is not involved with the UCC in Alaska. None of the Alaska UCC’s are listed as Open and Affirming on the Coalition’s site, and I don’t know if the local congregations are LGBT-friendly or not. But the national ONA site includes resources for gay and trans Christians.

A list of Alaska’s LGBT-friendly churches and religious groups is posted HERE.

Do you know a good online LGBT-positive Christian resource that we didn’t mention? Please leave the name and link in a comment below this list.

Video: President Obama signs DADT Repeal Act of 2010

“This is a good day,” President Obama said on Wednesday to a grateful audience of approximately 500 people, including administration officials, congressmembers, former servicemembers and repeal advocates who worked 17 years to end the military’s discriminatory Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

This is a very good day!

Watch the President’s speech and the bill signing ceremony:

A full transcript with the speeches of both the President and Vice President is posted on the White House website, and an article with photos is posted on the White House Blog.

In an interview with The Advocate, Obama said, “My strong sense is [implementation] is a matter of months… Absolutely not years.”

Goodbye DADT, and good riddance!

Sara’s News Roundup 12/22/10

SantaLand Diaries elf tale by David Sedaris, a benefit at Out North

On the day after Christmas, Out North is presenting “The SantaLand Diaries” written by award-winning gay author David Sedaris and performed by Ben Brown of Juneau. Out North recently lost a major funding grant, and this show is a benefit so they can continue fulfilling their mission of Art for Everyone, No Exceptions.

You think you’ve had enough of Christmas shopping, piped-in holiday music, disgruntled Santas, crying children and occasional crying.

Take your holiday headache to Out North and have your yule attitude readjusted with “The SantaLand Diaries.” Juneau-based actor Ben Brown performs David Sedaris’ hilarious autobiographical tale about his stint as an elf in the annual holiday display at Macy’s Department Store in New York City. Just as Sedaris took consolation in the fact that some of the other elves were TV extras on “One Life to Live,” maybe you can take consolation in the fact that you’re enjoying a great play, not out in the shopping mayhem still.

The SantaLand Diaries plays at 7 p.m. Sunday, December 26th at Out North (3800 DeBarr Road). Tickets are $10 at the door, $8 online. For more information, visit www.outnorth.org.”

“The SantaLand Diaries” is a benefit show for Out North this year, and we greatly appreciate Ben’s generosity. We look forward to spending the evening with you, and invite you to bring your friends.

The Grrlzlist shared this message last week from Out North to their supporters:

Thank you for your continued support of the cutting edge work Out North produces. Your donations in the wake of our funding pull has so far raised $25,000 in less than a month! The overwhelming majority of the donations have been less than $200. I know you know how incredible that is. We here are overcome with gratitude – and relief. Thank you for pushing so hard to keep Out North in Anchorage. We still have $55,000 to go to make up the shortfall, but clearly, together we can do this! If you have not donated already, I can assure you that you are backing a winner by supporting Out North right now. Your support now will mean that we can maintain our commitment to the artists and schools we had promised to support in Season 26. And it means that we can continue to bring you work you just can’t see in Anchorage, as well as vital inclusivity for ALL people and ALL arts. What happened to us is not an isolated instance. Out North’s funding was pulled because the funder did not want to support the kind of work we do here. To them, we went “too far” by programming a musical about marijuana and two films that featured the (award-winning) story of lesbian lives. To us, art is for everyone, no exceptions.

Please help support Out North – attend shows, buy season tickets, or donate directly.

New youth grant and Alaska staff from Pride Foundation

Pride Foundation of the Pacific Northwest is strengthening their commitment to Alaska’s LGBT community by funding a full time regional staff position and continuing to provide grants for Alaska’s LGBT non-profits.

Alaskans Together on DADT repeal

Alaskans Together for Equality sent a message to their members and supporters following the senate’s historic vote to repeal the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy on Saturday. Alaskans Together is the statewide LGBT advocacy group for Alaska.

Just over an hour ago the Senate by a vote of 65 to 31 repealed the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Today’s vote allows lesbian, gay and bisexual people the ability to serve openly and honestly in our military. It’s a wonderful step forward in our fight for full civil equality. We are extremely pleased to report that both Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Begich voted in favor of the repeal!

Your efforts made a big difference! This repeal couldn’t have happened without you and your calls and emails.

Please take a moment in the next few days to call and email both Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Begich and thank them for their vote to repeal DADT. It is great to have two Senators that believe in fairness and equality in our military.

Senator Murkowski

Email or Phone: 202.224.6665

Senator Begich

Email or Phone: 202.224.3004

Please thank Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Begich for representing all Alaskans with their vote to repeal DADT today. Our military has become even stronger with today’s vote.

Also, be aware there is still work to be done for the implementation of a full repeal of DADT. There is a 60-day waiting period, during which soldiers can still be discharged under the policy. We will post on our blog in the coming days when we have more details.

With all of our continuing efforts we are confident that we will have more victories to celebrate in 2011 on our road to achieving full civil equality in Alaska.

Let’s enjoy today’s victory.

Congress REPEALS Don’t Ask Don’t Tell!

We did it!

The Senate voted today to repeal the military ban on openly gay and lesbian troops, following the House vote in favor of the repeal earlier this week. Both Senators Begich and Murkowski voted for repeal. Rep. Young voted against it.

Saturday morning (very early for those in Alaska watching the live broadcast), the Senate voted for cloture on the DADT repeal, voting 63-33 where they needed at least 60 votes to avoid a filibuster. The cloture vote was the main hurdle, since repeal itself needed only a simple majority to pass. After a few more hours of debate, they passed the repeal 65-31. Now it goes to the President to be signed and certified.

Please thank both Senators Begich and Murkowski for supporting all of our troops and voting to repeal this discriminatory law.

However, it is not safe for gay and lesbian troops to come out yet, as the policy will not be fully implemented for at least several months. Even after the President signs the bill, service members will remain at risk for investigation and discharge. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will still be the law until 60 days after the Commander-in-Chief, Secretary of Defense, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs certify that repeal can happen.

President Obama on the Senate’s DADT vote:

Today, the Senate has taken an historic step toward ending a policy that undermines our national security while violating the very ideals that our brave men and women in uniform risk their lives to defend. By ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, no longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay. And no longer will many thousands more be asked to live a lie in order to serve the country they love.

As Commander-in-Chief, I am also absolutely convinced that making this change will only underscore the professionalism of our troops as the best led and best trained fighting force the world has ever known. And I join the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the overwhelming majority of service members asked by the Pentagon, in knowing that we can responsibly transition to a new policy while ensuring our military strength and readiness.

I want to thank Majority Leader Reid, Senators Lieberman and Collins and the countless others who have worked so hard to get this done. It is time to close this chapter in our history. It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed. It is time to allow gay and lesbian Americans to serve their country openly. I urge the Senate to send this bill to my desk so that I can sign it into law.

The Senate also voted for cloture on the Dream Act this morning, but the motion failed to get the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. Both senators from Alaska voted in favor.

Sen. Murkowski will vote for DADT repeal

House passes DADT repeal, Rep. Young votes no

The House today passed a stand-alone bill to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” by a vote of 250-175, with 15 Republicans joining 235 Democrats to end the discriminatory policy. Rep. Young voted against repeal. Now the measure goes to the Senate, where advocates will try to bring it up for a vote by the end of next week.

Sen. Begich supports repeal, although he isn’t listed as a co-sponsor. News reports mention Sen. Murkowski as one of 4 senate Republicans who support repeal – but will she actually vote for repeal this time?

Call Senator Murkowski and ask her to vote for the DADT repeal: 202-224-6665 (DC) or 877-829-6030 (AK office).

After the House vote, Senator Snowe (R-Maine) said that she now supports the repeal of DADT. If she will vote for the stand-alone measure, that puts repeal within one or two votes of passing.

Sen. McCain and others opposed to gay and lesbian troops are trying to run the clock down on the session to avoid a vote, but allies are determined to see this pass before the new, more conservative Congress begins work in January.