A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013

Coming Out: A Work in Progress in Fairbanks this weekend

Revive the Red Tent Productions would like to invite you to an evening in three parts:

• “A Midnight Clear” by L.B. Hamilton
• “Quintessential Image” by Jane Chambers
• “Tree House” by Heather Warren

Sponsored by PFLAG Fairbanks and the North Star Community Foundation, this exciting night is Revive the Red Tent’s first installment of theatre dedicated to representing the LGBTQ community. Consisting of two one-act plays and a performative reading, the theme of the evening is centered upon the struggle of “coming out.” “A Midnight Clear” and “The Quintessential Image” are traditional one-act plays, in both the audience encounters characters struggling to make sense of their choices. “Tree House”, a piece written by local author, Heather Warren, is a semi-abstracted performance of a short story.

This theatrical production is primarily produced, designed, and performed by members of the local LGBTQ community. Performances will be at Dance Theatre Fairbanks on Nov. 19th and 20th at 8 p.m. Admission is $10.00 (more if you can, less if you can’t) and seating is limited. The show is not recommended for children under the age of 14.

Libby Roderick benefit for PFLAG Fairbanks

Libby Roderick performs a benefit concert for PFLAG Fairbanks on Friday, November 19 at 8:00 PM. A limited number of tickets is available. Proceeds benefit PFLAG activities and the UU welcoming congregation. The concert will be held at the Unitarian Universalist church sanctuary (across the street from the Princess Hotel). The hall holds 150, so seating is limited. The UU is a welcoming congregation. *$32 each* cash or check only. Call 45-PFLAG pflagfairbanks@gmail.com.

URGENT: Call Sens. Begich and Murkowski on DADT now!

A message from Tony Wagner of the Human Rights Campaign, who was in Alaska this past week:

Everyone,

Thank you all for your insight into the LGBT community in Alaska and the political lay of the land. It’s been a pleasure. I wanted to send an update with the latest info regarding DADT repeal and where we stand.

It looks like the leaked information about the positive outcome from the Pentagon’s implementation study is having a good effect on wavering legislators and the possibility of repealing DADT this year is gaining momentum. That said, we still have a long ways to go. Congress will return for their lame duck session starting on Monday and we want to send members, including Sen. Murkowski, a strong message that the National Defense Authorization Act should be debated and passed during the lame duck, with the repeal language intact. So we’re asking folks to call Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Begich on Monday or Tuesday THIS WEEK and deliver this message:

“Hi, my name’s [NAME] and I live in [TOWN]. I support all our servicemembers and they deserve to have the National Defense Authorization Act passed this year with funding for our troops, pay increases and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell included. I urge Sen. Murkowski/Sen. Begich to vote for cloture and final passage of this bill.” 

With so much at stake and so little time to get the job done, this is really an all hands on deck moment. If possible, please send this message to your lists, post to your facebook pages, blogs, etc. The alert pasted below is draft text of a national alert (separated by state) HRC will be launching on Monday. With all of us pitching in and working together, we can have the impact needed to move the ball forward and repeal DADT this year.

Thank you again and I look forward to continuing our work together for advancing equality here in Alaska and around the country.

Best,

Tony Wagner

Western Regional Field Director | Human Rights Campaign
1640 Rhode Island Ave, NW | Washington, DC 20009
202.772.3888 (o) | 202.459.3298 (c)
tony.wagner@hrc.org | www.hrc.org

Here’s the draft of the national alert being issued tomorrow, referred to in Tony’s letter:

The push to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has reached a fever pitch. And this week could make or break it.

Years of work could boil down to what happens this week. The Senate’s “lame duck” session began yesterday – our last, best hope to end the discrimination this year.

When the new Congress shows up in January, the House will be under staunchly anti-LGBT leadership. We have no time to waste.

Today, as we launch full-page newspaper ads across the country, we need tens of thousands of supporters to back up those ads by telling every single senator to end the discrimination NOW!

Call both your senators now – Sen. Lisa Murkowski at (202) 224-6665 and Sen. Mark Begich at (202) 224-3004 – and tell them “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” must end BEFORE you leave and the new Congress takes over.

The last time the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” came up for a vote in the Senate, Sen. John McCain led Republicans in a filibuster of the national defense spending bill that contains the repeal. They blocked it from an up-or-down vote – even though nearly 8 in 10 Americans now favor repealing the law.

Before time runs out, we need Senate Democrats to bring the defense bill to the floor and we need Republicans to stop threatening to derail the entire thing – including critical military equipment and pay raises – just to keep this discriminatory law on the books.

Is it just me, or is it completely absurd that Senate Republicans would hold troops’ funding hostage, just so they can ensure that lesbian and gay soldiers have to keep lying or be fired?

The ads we’re launching today call out this hypocrisy for what it is: bigotry masked as patriotism.

It’s critical that every single senator hears from us today. Even if your senators are already with us on this issue they need to know that their constituents have their backs as they stand up for what’s right.

And no matter where your senators stand, speaking out today sends a bold message: It’s going to take a lot more than a few anti-gay leaders in Congress to make us give up this fight. As long as injustice is written into our laws, we will not rest.

Call Sen. Lisa Murkowski at (202) 224-6665 and Sen. Mark Begich at (202) 224-3004 and tell them to act this week.

Momentum for repeal is high. President Obama has called on the Senate to act during this short session – an important first step of the many needed for him to fulfill the pledge he made in the State of the Union to end this law. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and military chaplains are also speaking out.

Still, repealing this law is no easy task. But if brave men and women are willing to risk their lives while hiding who they are, we must be unafraid to fail – and always, unceasingly, unafraid to fight.

Never giving up,

Joe Solmonese

Sara’s News Roundup 11/14/10

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

1) Frank: ‘Zero chance’ for LGBT bills next year
Washington, Washington Blade, November 8, 2010

2) Sources: Pentagon group finds there is minimal risk to lifting gay ban during war
Washington, D.C., Washington Post, November 11, 2010

3) Coming to grips with an intersex adventure
Brisbane, Australia, Brisbane Times, November 3, 2010

4) My Take: Let’s aim for respect in post-election America
CNN, November 9, 2010

5) Fox Files: Transgender Youth
Kirkwood, MO, Fox2now.cm, November 9, 2010

6) Study: Lesbian Moms Don’t Abuse Kids
Advocate, November 10, 2010

7) An Interview with Charles Robbins, CEO of The Trevor Project
JohnShore.com, September 28, 2010

8) About 12 percent of students identify as gay or bisexual
Providence, Rhode Island, Brown Daily Herald, November 12, 2010

9) Catherine Ryan Hyde’s latest novel deals with transgender issues
San Luis Obispo, Tribune, November 8, 2010

10) Hawaii positioned to pass same-sex civil unions
Honolulu, Hawaii, Washington Post, November 6, 2010

11) Kye Allums and transgender athletes can have surgery and play in NCAA
OutSports.com, November 9, 2010

2) Gay bishop says he is not retiring, just resigning post
Los Angeles, McClatchy-Tribune , November 9, 2010

13) ACLU challenging half-pay for discharged gays
Albuquerque, N.M., 365Gay.com, November 12, 2010

14) Straight spouses advocate same-sex marriage
San Francisco, USA Today, September 14, 2009

15) When your partner comes out as Transsexual
Lesbian Life

16) Express Yourself: A Major New Showcase Of Gay Portraiture
Washington, NPR, November 2010

LGBT veterans and DADT: True stories from I’m from Driftwood

In honor of Veteran’s Day, true stories of military life and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell from I’m from Driftwood.

And don’t forget that the The I’m From Driftwood Story Tour is in Alaska right now, and will be holding a fundraiser tonight from 7:00 to 9:00 PM at Mad Myrna’s in Anchorage. Even if you can’t make it, you can submit your own true story and/or donate to I’m from Driftwood to assist in IFD’s efforts to help LGBT youth realize they’re not alone.

These are story excerpts; follow the links to read each story in full.

Matt R. from Spring, Texas:

I yelled at my Soldiers to return fire and stepped out of my cover to shoot back. We drove them away with a hail of bullets and somehow, we all managed to make it out without a scratch…. I received an Army Commendation Medal with Valor and a Bronze Star Medal for what I did in Iraq. Externally, I was brave. A hero. Internally, I was a coward. Hidden in the closet.

Matt R. from Colorado Springs, Colorado:

Nick and I sat as close together as we could without raising any eyebrows, chain smoking Marlboro Reds in silence. Occassionally he and I made eye contact and mouthed the words, “I love you,” to each other, after checking for witnesses. Then we went back to our cigarettes and silence. On the outside I showed no emotion, I was just a friend here to see him off because no one from his family made it. I wore sunglasses so no one could look at my swollen, red eyes…. I wanted to tell him just one more time in person, “Come back to me. In one piece. I’ll be here, while you’re there, waiting… For you.” Instead, I smoked and silently mouthed I love you while I held back the tears that I’m not allowed to show the world.

Anonymous from Dearborn, Michigan:

My lieutenant, a five-foot-two Latina, was scaring the crap out of all of us. Between her rank and how she was screaming now, we were all being overpowered.“If you have anything – anything – you want to say to somebody about being of a certain sexual orientation, about being a certain race, religion, gender – I don’t care. If you want to say it – say it to me. Apparently we have someone who likes writing hate mail to shipmates. Whoever you are, know that I will find you and you will be punished. So let this be a lesson to all of you here: if you want to tell a shipmate to Die, Fag, say it to my face first. Because guess what – you’re going to be admitting it to me at Captain’s Mast soon enough.”…

Sometimes, the Navy really does stand for excellence and the fair treatment of all. When it does, it’s because sailors are standing with it.

Ryan B. from Kewanee, Illinois:

I don’t think it’s okay for the gay community to be limited in how open they are in the military, but I do think that, as an unimportant factor in this case, it makes sense not to worry about it. What’s really important is personal development, the reason why I’ve chosen to follow this path in my life, serving as a member of the U.S. Marine Core as a gay teenager.

Hubert Dorsett from Bolger, Texas:

While in Destroyer School at Newport, I met the first man I would love and have a relationship with. He was a playwright from New York City, living near Provincetown, MA, and because of my feelings for him and because I had been the subject of several investigations by Naval Investigative Service, I decided to end my Navy career and resign my commission. In doing so I lost the first man I loved and I gave up a career that I loved, because I really did (and still do) love the Navy and all that it stood for, except of course for the policy on homosexuals.

Peter Yacobellis from New Hyde Park, New York:

This loose acceptance of a possibility that I could be “cured” was probably one of many reasons I pursued a career in the military. I suppose I hoped that the strictly heterosexual environment would “help”. I soon realized, being in an all-male unit, that my same-sex attraction was very real and not going to go away. I knew that I could easily comply with rules against engaging in intimacy that exist for everyone in basic training. But what was becoming clearer was what life would be like after basic training. I realized that after training, other airmen would be allowed to have intimate relationships and that I wouldn’t be able to have one with another male.

Zackariah Gonzales from Boise, Idaho:

It took three years of legal and administrative action, thousands of pages of documents, research and emails and a trip to Washington D.C. before the United States Coast Guard Discharge Review Board came to a final ruling. In 5-0 decision they ruled that the Command had violated provisions of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and did not follow Coast Guard policy on discharge proceedings, my rights under the Uniform Code of Military Justice were violated, I was not afforded adequate legal representation and my discharge was illegal. They ordered that my discharge reason be changed from “homosexual conduct” to “general reasons” they also ordered that I be allowed to reenlist if I choose. The Commandant of the Coast Guard overruled my reinstatement, but let the rest of the decision stand.My name is Zackariah Gonzales, I am from Boise, Idaho, I was fired for being gay from the U.S. Armed Forces and I will not stop telling my story until the ban is lifted.

Honoring LGBT veterans, and a Veteran’s Day message from Alaskans Together

Today is Veteran’s Day. Throughout the country, Americans are joining together to express their appreciation for the service and sacrifice of American veterans.

Let us include in the number the innumerable gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender veterans who have served us and our nation, all too often only to be “thanked” by being forcibly discharged under the draconian policies of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the discriminatory policies which preceded it.

Thank you, LGBT veterans, for your service. We do not forget you.

This Veterans Day, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is launching a special video to recognize the contributions of our patriots — past and present, LGBT and straight. Watch it now and visit www.sldn.org to find out how you can honor all our service members by helping us repeal the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law.

And now, a message from Alaskans Together:

With the elections behind us and everyone talking about what’s going to happen next year in Congress, it’s easy to forget that the work of the current Congress is not yet finished. The U.S. House voted earlier this year to repeal the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). But we still need the Senate to take action before the year ends.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski has the opportunity to prove again that she represents ALL Alaskans. In 2009, she voted for the NDAA, which included the Matthew Shepard/James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Now, in 2010, she can again vote for that same bill which funds our military and will also repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Tell Sen. Murkowski to take up and pass the NDAA!

In anticipation that the US Senate will revisit this issue during the “lame duck” session of Congress before the end of the year, Alaskans Together For Equality, Inc., the ACLU of Alaska, the Human Rights Campaign and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network are joining forces to mobilize support for the bill, and HRC is sending Regional Field Director Tony Wagner to the state to help coordinate the effort.

Tony arrived on November 9th in Anchorage and will remain in the state until November 16th. While on the ground, he will need the support of all those who believe in equality to apply the needed pressure to convince Sen. Murkowski that passing this legislation this year is the right thing to do. To help us with our efforts, you can email Tony directly at Tony.Wagner@hrc.org or contact Alaskans Together at alaskanstogether@gmail.com.

Tony, board members from Alaskans Together for Equality, Inc. and representatives from the ACLU of Alaska will also be available to meet and speak with equality supporters about our efforts during two meet and greets.

Thursday, November 11th | 5:30 – 7 p.m.
Residence of Pete Pinney | 814 6th Ave. | Fairbanks

Friday, November 12th | 7 – 8 p.m.
Mad Myrna’s | 530 E. 5th Ave. | Anchorage

Please come and welcome Tony to Alaska!

After you call and write your e-mail, please forward this message or tell your friends and family what is at stake and ask them to contact Sen. Lisa Murkowski too.

I’m From Driftwood Story Tour in Alaska November 9-12

The I’m From Driftwood Story Tour will be in Alaska from November 9-12. (That’s Tuesday through Friday this week).

Launched in the Spring of 2009 and inspired by the film “Milk”, I’m From Driftwood collects and shares true lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender stories from all over the world to help LGBT youth realize they’re not alone. This fall, the IFD crew has embarked upon an ambitious 4-month, 50-state Story Tour to collect and share more LGBT stories from the smallest towns and biggest cities across America. IFD believes LGBT people are everywhere and we’re out to prove it.

Nathan and Marquise are hoping to connect with as broad a cross-section of LGBT folks as they can during their short visit. We plan to visit Anchorage and Wasilla.

Stories

Anyone who would like to tell a story to the I’m From Driftwood team may contact Nathan Manske nathan@imfromdriftwood.com / 347-423-4444. Folks should give their name, preferred method of contact (email/phone) and when they’d like to meet up with the crew.

Nathan and Marquise are staying at The Copper Whale Inn which has generously donated rooms for the crew’s stay in Anchorage so folks can also call there (907) 258-7999 from November 9th – 12th.

Event

I’m From Driftwood is a 501(c)(3)-pending organization and is accepting donations to help fund the Tour as well as future projects that will continue their mission of collecting and sharing LGBT stories. Mad Myrna’s will be holding a fundraiser for IFM this Thursday:

Mad Myrna’s Fundraiser
I’m From Driftwood’s 50-State Story Tour
Hosted by Paige, Myrna and Bear
Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010
7-9pm
530 E. 5th Avenue
Anchorage, Alaska 99501

About The Story Tour Crew

* Nathan Manske (creator)
* Marquise Lee (producer, videographer and editor)
* Nick Manske (driver and logistics coordinator)

Previous Hosts and Sponsors

We’ve had a lot of luck working with wonderful people from LGBT community centers, various PFLAG chapters (Omaha, Spokane, Seattle, Grand Forks ND, Alamogordo NM and others) as well as university LGBT Queer Resource Centers such as Spectrum.

We’ve been hosted/sponsored so far by The Salt Lick in Austin, The Olive It Cafe and Demsey’s lounge in Spokane, UnicornBooty.com and Lobby Bar in Seattle, The Center and tHERe lounge in Denver, Rainbow Vista Retirement community and Lents Commons cafe in Portland, Magnet and Lookout Bar in San Francisco and The Abbey and Lifeworks in LA, Equality Hawaii and Hulas in Honolulu and many others.

Sara’s News Roundup 11/7/10

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

1) Democratic Senator pledges to block vote on gay marriage in Iowa
Iowa, 365Gay.com, November 4, 2010

2) Nepal’s First Openly Gay Travel Company Launches on Religious Holiday
Nepal, Fast Company, November 2010.

3) Iowa Judges Sacked Over Gay Marriage Ruling
Des Moines, Iowa, Huffington Post, November 3, 2010

4) Transgender George Washington player a fascinating, inspiring story
Washington, D.C., Rivals.com, November 3, 2010

5) Osmond Talks Teen Suicide on Oprah
Advocate, November 3, 2010

6) Trans Fit
Dallas, Texas, Dallas Voice, 28 October 28, 2010

7) Exit poll: Nearly a third of gays voted for GOP
Yahoo News, November 4, 2010

8) Russian Orthodox Church Pans Parade Decision
Russia, Advocate, November 3, 2010

9) Corvino: Gay is not “unnatural”
365gay.com, November 5, 2010

10) November 20 is Transgender Day of Remembrance
UCC Coalition for LGBT Concerns, November 2010

11) When will it get better?
NCR Today, October 28, 2010

12) Ill. Elects Gay-Friendly Gov.
Illinois, Advocate, November 5, 2010

13) African American gay man wins election to N.C. House
Greensboro/High Point, N.C., Gay Politics, November 2, 2010

14) Cicilline victory gives Congress 4th gay member
Washington, Washington Blade, November 3, 2010

15) Election results put LGBT advocates back on defense
Washington, Washington Blade, November 3, 2010

16) Robinson will step down as bishop of N.H. in 2013
Concord, N.H., Boston Globe, November 7, 2010

17) Gates urges Congress to repeal gay ban now
Melbourne, Australia , Associated Press, November 7, 2010

President Obama on DADT

President Obama discussed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in remarks yesterday morning after his post-election press conference. Video with transcript.

The election is finally over. Well, not quite.

The election is finally over. Or… not quite. With 432 out of 438 precincts reporting, the front-runner in the hotly contested U.S. Senate race is “Write-in Votes” with 41.0% of the vote — nearly 7 points ahead of Tea Party-leaning Republican candidate Joe Miller (34.2%). Democratic candidate Scott McAdams, who consistently polled with the best “favorables” — i.e., people liked him better than either Murkowski or Miller — nonetheless drew only 23.74% of the vote counted so far.