Sunday, 6 October 2013 – 5:19 PM
| Comments Off on A long-overdue Bent Alaska update — October 2013
Bent Alaska’s blog will continue in hiatus indefinitely; but the Bent Alaska Facebook Group on Facebook is thriving — join us! A long-overdue update from Bent Alaska’s editor.
Friday, 2 July 2010 – 8:24 AM
| Comments Off on Watch: Drag Queen Bingo & Alaska Pride Parade (videos)
Thanks to KTVA channel 11 for airing several stories throughout the week of Alaska PrideFest this year. Here are KTVA’s stories on the annual Drag Queen Bingo at Snow City Café, a benefit for AMP; and at Anchorage’s annual Pride parade and festival.
Monday, 28 June 2010 – 6:25 PM
| Comments Off on Make "Housing First" a reality, support Karluk Manor
Four A’s is a member of the Anchorage Coalition on Homelessness and sent the following message in support of the Housing First program. They explain why this program is important to the fight against Homelessness and AIDS in Anchorage, and how we can lend our voices:
HOUSING FIRST
Make It A Reality
A Housing First project is critical to our efforts in eliminating homelessness from our community. RurALCAP is working hard to establish Anchorage’s first large Housing First complex (48 efficiency-style units); Karluk Manor. Without a Housing First project, Anchorage will continue to struggle with the negative community impacts caused by the chronically homeless population.
Four A’s has approximately 15 clients who are chronically homeless who would greatly benefit from this project. These individuals have been unsuccessful in any of the housing programs we have provided over the years. Without housing, these individuals are unable to remain adherent to HIV medications or consistently access support services. Each year we are serving more and more hard-to-serve/house individuals. Without this project, these people will remain homeless.
WE NEED YOUR VOICE NOW!!
To make Karluk Manor a reality, RurALCAP requires a conditional use permit. We need you to voice your support for the project. For more information on Karluk Manor, click here. At the bottom of the page is information regarding Housing First (PDF) and Karluk Manor (PDF).
Click here to voice your support. Without community support, this project will die and we will not have a Housing First project for many years to come. Help us achieve our goal of 100 people providing positive testimony for Karluk Manor. Comments can be as short as “I support Karluk Manor”, to more details outlining why you support the project.
Please join us and countless others in letting our community know the importance of Karluk Manor. The Municipality is putting forth many road blocks that have the potential of “killing” this project. Without your voice, they will win. Share this request with friends and family. We need the city to hear we want Housing First….we want Karluk Manor.
Housing First is permanent housing, as opposed to emergency/transitional housing, and has intensive case management services available. As a result of being permanently housed, the homeless can begin to access medical, mental health, substance abuse treatment, employment and vocational training and life skill resources. Economic studies have shown providing permanent housing for the chronically homeless population significantly reduces the costs of homelessness.
For more information about Housing First, click the links above for the Anchorage Coalition on Homelessness. For information on HIV/AIDS services and resources, visit Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association, aka the Four A’s.
Thursday, 24 June 2010 – 5:23 AM
| Comments Off on Drag Queen Bingo at Snow City tonight
The 3rd annual Drag Queen Bingo is on Thursday June 24 from 6-9 p.m. at Snow City Café in downtown Anchorage, and it’s a fundraiser for the Four A’s Anchorage Mpowerment Project (AMP). This PrideFest event is bigger and better than ever, according to Identity’s The NorthView.
Saturday, 19 June 2010 – 5:24 AM
| Comments Off on Miss MeMe’s Glee-themed promo for HIV Testing Week (video)
This week is National HIV Testing Week, June 21-27, and the Four A’s made a great promo video, “MeMe’s Corner” starring the Imperial Court of All Alaska’s fabulous Miss MeMe in a Glee parody. MeMe knows best and she is lending her name to a very important cause – HIV Testing.
One of many free HIV testing opportunities that week will be at PrideFest on Saturday June 26. The Four A’s and the Municipality of Anchorage will be offering free HIV testing and free gonorrhea and chlamydia testing from 1-5 p.m. Just come visit the Four A’s booth.
There will be a week long series of events offering free HIV testing in both Anchorage and Juneau. It’s important to know your status for the health of yourself and your loved ones. Getting tested is quick and easy. All events will use an oral swab that gives results in 20 minutes.
The Anchorage testing dates and locations are listed below. The Juneau events were posted with the Juneau Pride schedule. Check out Four A’s at www.alaskanaids.org for more information about National HIV Testing Week.
Monday, 14 June 2010 – 10:38 PM
| Comments Off on Juneau adds Film Night to Pride Picnic and Hike
Juneau’s Pride events for June and July include a new LGBT Film Night benefit for Alaskans Together featuring the award-wining film Out in the Silence, along with a Pride Picnic at Skater’s Cabin, a hike at West Glacier, a drag show benefit for Four A’s, and local events for HIV Testing Week.
The First Annual Alaskans Together for Equality LGBT Film Fun-Raiser is on Thursday, June 17 at the Gold Town Nickelodeon Theater, 171 Shattuck Way. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. and the film schedule is below. Come for one segment or stay for the whole evening. Finger foods and refreshments will be available. Bring your checkbook and cash for the donation baskets. Membership in Alaskans Together for Equality, Inc. is available at all levels, from $10 up.
LGBT Film Fun-Raiser Schedule – June 17
6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Dramatic Narrative Shorts
Coming to Terms – College student deals with coming out by phone
The Manual – Sent to psychiatric institution as a boy, Sonny tries to help niece avoid similar treatment
The Call – Lesbian women interact with their sperm donor
Two Encounters – Hidden cameras reveal difference in treatment of blacks and whites in gay bars
7:15 – 8:15 p.m. Main Feature
Out in the Silence – Challenges of coming out and living in small towns and rural America
The film will be followed by an optional discussion in a breakout room led by Juneau Assembly member Jonathan Anderson
8:30 – 9:30 p.m. Humor & Love Shorts
Hi Maya – Mature women strike up relationship in hair salon
Float – Male love in the Bahamas
Hummer – Dinner party brings surprises for women participants
For further information or to help with the event, email Kelli or Marsha.
Watch the trailer for Out in the Silence:
Juneau’s other LGBT events for June and July include the Mendenhall hike, the Pride Picnic, the Friday social, a drag show fundraiser for Four A’s, and free testing during National HIV Testing Week.
Mendenhall Journey: June 19, 2010. Meet at 9:30 AM at the trail head of West Glacier Trail. Round trip is 5-6 hours, distance is 3.4 miles one-way, bring a lunch and water to drink, trail mix would also be wise, good footwear is mandatory. The hike departs promptly at 10 AM. Do not be late! Access directions: take Montana Creek Road from the Mendenhall Loop road, and follow the signs to the campground. Go past the campground entrance, and Skater’s cabin to the parking area at the end of the road. This trail is rated “more difficult” by the Juneau hiking trail guide. There is some rock scrambling/climbing involved to reach the ice caves.
Annual Pride Picnic with SEAGLA and PFLAG: July 17, 2010 at Skater’s Cabin from 4-8PM. Please plan to be there. Bring a salad and whatever you would like to drink, glass is not allowed. Firewood might be good depending on weather. Volunteers are requested to help with set up, breakdown, music, and a BBQ grill. SEAGLA will provide paper plates, cups and plastic ware that we already have. Also we will provide some burgers both meat and non-meat as well as hot dogs, and soft drinks. But if you can bring a salad or bake some cookies or a cake that would be great.
Friday Social: June 18, June 25, 2010. Each Friday after work from 6-8 PM, community members and their friends, both men and women are invited to get together. Drop by the Jaded Lounge in the Goldbelt Hotel, downtown Juneau to unwind from the work week. If you are over 21, you are invited to join us. Please try it out this Friday, or another Friday in the future. Come on out, and make a new friend today! Visit SEAGLA for future locations.
Drag Queen and King show: July 9, 2010 at the Rendezvous Bar. Marguerite the recently appointed Duchess of Juneau is planning a local Drag Queen and King show and recycled flogger making party as a fundraiser for Four A’s, at the Rendezvous Bar on Friday July 9th, and she’s looking for help. Donations of time, supplies, ideas and funds are welcome. Please email Marguerite.
National HIV Testing Week is an annual campaign coordinated by the National Association of People with AIDS to encourage people of all ages to “Take the Test, Take Control.” National HIV Testing Week is June 21-27, 2010. The Four A’s will be providing free testing (Oral Swab, results in 20 minutes) at closed and public locations for the whole week in Juneau. The public locations:
Tuesday, June 22: 7-10 p.m. at Rendezvous
Wednesday, June: 23 11-4 p.m. at Blaze and 4-8 p.m. at Four A’s
Thursday, June 24: 8:30 a.m.– 3:30 p.m. Free blood draws at Juneau Public Health (no appointment necessary) and 8-11 p.m. at Alaskan Bar
Friday, June 25: 4-8 p.m. at Four A’s
Free HIV Testing also available at Four A’s (174 S Franklin Street, #207/Above Heritage Coffee) during business hours, call 586-6089 for an appointment.
Saturday, 5 June 2010 – 7:02 AM
| Comments Off on LaMex for Four A’s, DoB at Pride, Softball, HIV testing & AYP in Fairbanks
Gay AK – Notes from and for LGBT Alaska
Calling all Dykes on Bikes (and other wheeled transport)
We need a leader to organize the entry in the parade this year. Is it you? Are you ready to lead us with flair? Alaska PrideFest 2010: www.alaskapride.org.
Eat Good, Do Good at La Mex
On the second Tuesday of each month, both Anchorage LaMex locations (Spenard and Dimond) donate 10% of their proceeds from the entire day to a non-profit. On Tuesday, June 8, The Four A’s will be the lucky recipient of this generous program. Go out to lunch, after work appetizers or plan on taking the family out that night to either location (or, maybe get something to go)! In addition, from about 6-8 p.m., Four A’s staff will be at each location with an information booth so be sure to stop by and say hello.
Women’s Softball in Anchorage
This is where the Grrlz are on Thursdays and the Fireweed Dry Cleaning softball team is the one to watch. Women’s D League, plays Thursday evenings at the Cartee Fields on Pine & DeBarr. 6/10 at 7:35 pm; 6/17 at 9:45; 6/24 at 8:40; 7/8 at 9:45; 7/15 at 8:40; 7/22 at 6:30; 7/29 at 6:30; 8/5 at 7:35. Put their games on your calendar and go support the grrlz!
June 21-27, 2010 – National HIV Testing Week
One of many free HIV testing opportunities that week will be at PrideFest on Saturday June 26th. The Four A’s and the Municipality of Anchorage will be offering free HIV testing and free gonorrhea and chlamydia testing from 1-5 p.m. Just come visit the Four A’s booth. Check out www.alaskanaids.org next week for full details about National HIV Testing Week!
Seeking LGBT groups for free youth-outreach event in Fairbanks
Angry, Young & Poor 2010 is looking for community-based groups to host booths (no fee) at our annual event in Fairbanks. Angry, Young & Poor is an upbeat, awesome event full of positive creativity, local bands, free food, art, activites and more! It’s a free concert from noon to nite on July 17 at the ever-scenic Ester Community Park. All the proceeds from the things we sell (t-shirts with local art, bumper stickers, patches, food) are given to a local charity. Last year we were able to donate $1,000 to the Street Outreach and Advocacy Program which supports homeless and underprivilged youth in Fairbanks, including LGBTQ youth.
AYP is super-inclusive, with a primary goal of helping kids in the Interior find ways of expressing themselves through art and find community support. Booths are hosted from everything from the Environmental Center to local magazines to theatre companies etc. It’s important to get LGBTQ community resources to these kids. Hannah would like to talk with services/groups in the Interior/South-ish that gear towards the younger folks and are in promotion of the caring, supportive community we all try so hard to establish and nurture. If you think you can help, please reply via email to Hannah Hill, Event Disorganizer. Thanks!
SEAGLA Social Fridays (6-8 p.m.) for GLBT people and our friends over 21, at The Imperial Bar.
Fairbanks
SOAP presents “Alice in the Underground” at the Empress Theater thru 5/15, at 7:30. Tickets $20 general/ $15 students, seniors, and military. Free for youth under 18.
Wednesday Social Group, contact Joshua for the location.
Mat-Su Valley
Mat-Su LGBT Community Center in Palmer is open M-F 5-8 p.m. (except 6-8 on Wed.) The social group meets Wednesdays, 5-6 p.m. at Vagabond Blues.
Anchorage
“Helping Transpeople Find Their Voice” on 5/15 at 9 p.m. A great show at Mad Myrna’s to benefit TransAKtion, the Transgendered Alaskan Social Group, and the TransAlaska Pipeline website.
Wednesday, 28 April 2010 – 10:23 PM
| Comments Off on Dining and Singing to fight AIDS in Alaska (Thursday)
Eat good food at Dining Out For Life in Fairbanks and enjoy great singing at the Wizard of Oz Cast and Crew Cabaret in Anchorage to raise funds for people with HIV/AIDS in Alaska. Both events are on Thursday, April 29th.
Dining Out For Life – Fairbanks
Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at select restaurants as a benefit for Interior AIDS Association in Fairbanks. The restaurants are Lu Lu’s Bread and Bagels for breakfast, Ivory Jack’s for lunch from 11am to 5pm, Bobby’s Downtown for dinner, and Lavelle’s Bistro for dinner. Addresses and phone numbers HERE.
“Dining Out For Life: Dine Out, Fight AIDS” is an annual fundraising event where local restaurants donate a portion of proceeds to area AIDS agencies. IAA also participated in Dining Out last year. Over 55 cities in the United States and Canada are involved in DOFL this year.
Follow the Yellow Brick Road – Anchorage
Supporters of Four A’s get a special treat Thursday night: stay up late and Follow the Yellow Brick Road to a cabaret performance by the Wizard of Oz cast and crew! The show begins at 11 p.m. at Mad Myrna’s and the suggested minimum donation is $15 a person. All the proceeds will directly benefit HIV positive individuals and HIV prevention efforts in Alaska. Tickets will be sold only at the door.
This is not the first time Four A’s has convinced cast members of a Broadway show to perform a cabaret benefit while on tour in Anchorage. Last year, cast members of The Lion King sang a wonderful show called The Lion Sings Tonight, which sold out.
Fetish Ball was a wild success Saturday night, with impressive costumes, sexy games, a packed house, and about $8000 raised for the Four A’s food bank to provide meals for people with AIDS. It also attracted a negative comment on the blog and a snarky poetic response. Sarha, Ms. Alaska Leather, wrote,
Fetish Ball 2010 will go down in history as the biggest fetish fund raiser ever! Thank you to those that attended the planning meetings, participated in setup and tear down, ran game booths, walked the runway and worked so hard to make this happen.
Fetish Ball is an annual theme party hosted by the Anchorage fetish, leather and s/m community. It’s not a specifically gay event, and many heterosexual people attend. Ms. Alaska Leather, one of the event organizers, is married to a man. But gay people have always been involved, it’s a benefit for Four A’s held at Myrna’s, and the event and poster were listed with other GLBTA weekend events last Friday on the blog.
Fetish Ball 2010??? with a medical theme??? And those in the LGBT community wonder why they aren’t openly accepted… lol!
During the ordinance hearings last summer, Bent gained several anonymous trolls. They are attracted like moths to certain topics, such as the UA policy change and transgender issues. Posts that describe discrimination against LGBT people will often get a comment saying that we deserve whatever bad treatment we get. Some of the comments are openly hateful, like this one, for example, and these below the post.
The Fetish Ball comment isn’t as hateful as those, but the string of false assumptions between gays and fetishes and the lack of acceptance or rights was more than I had time to deal with on the weekend. So I posted the comment on Bent’s Facebook wall under the Fetish Ball link and waited to see how the friends would respond.
The first person easily summed up the situation:
Everyone has fetishes. The LGBT community and allies are just more willing to embrace it instead of acting like hypocrites.
Well said. The next person responded with a poem! She’s a transwoman who attended the ordinance hearings and noticed that some of the haters have a trans fetish:
The fundies sneering at me in halls,
for going to the fetish balls,
Are the ones behind restroom doors,
who hit on me to drop my drawers.
Only Baptists have asked me to,
do the things that Baptists rue,
to spread my legs for them to see,
When all I want to do is pee.
Spitting on me when I pass,
Then stand behind to watch my ass,
Brimstone public testimony,
Then privately ask to see my pony.
Sunday mornings go a-churching,
Friday nights ask me for birching,
For churchman insults heaped a-plenty,
Hun, you’re never going to get any.
She added, “I am not particularly appreciative of the behavior expressed towards me by certain orthodox individuals. Perhaps they believe that God doesn’t exist if no one is looking.”
SNAP! I’m glad I’m on her side.
Thanks to the FB friends for answering an ignorant blog comment with insight and creativity. And thanks to all for a great event that raised funds for a good cause.
Femme Fatale 3/26 at The Rendezvous & 3/27 at The Baranof Hotel, doors open at 9, show begins at 10 p.m. Two unique shows to benefit Four A’s in southeast. Tickets $15 each, or $25 for both shows.
SEAGLA Social Fridays (6-8 p.m.) for GLBT people and our friends over 21, at The Imperial Bar.
Fairbanks
Lez Zeppelin all-female tribute band in Fairbanks/Ester on 4/1, 10 p.m. at the Blue Moon.
Wednesday social group. Contact Joshua for location.
Social Networking: “Use 1/2 the time, get 2x’s the attention” 3/30, 7:00p.m. Free workshop with Jay Her at the GLCCA. Please RSVP.
Lez Zeppelin Tribute Band in Girdwood 4/2 and 4/3, 10:00 p.m. at the Sitzmark. Tickets are $17 in advance (call 754-2274) or $20 at the door. Please be over 21 and bring your ID.
The very real consequences of DADT repeal; seeking survivor benefits for same-sex partner of Alaska shooting victim; waiting on SCOTUS decision about whether it will hear Prop 8 case; and other recent LGBTQ news selected by Sara Boesser in Juneau, Alaska.
In this month’s “Ask Lambda Legal” column, Lambda Legal answers a question about the federal government’s longstanding ban against donations of blood from men who have sex with men (MSM).
Alaska Pride Conference 2012 kicks off on October 5 with a First Friday showing at Tref.Punkt Studio of Love is Love, a photographic exhibit of LGBT couples from across the state.
United for marriage: Light the way to justice. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this Tuesday and Wednesday, March 26–27, in two cases about freedom to marry. Please join us on Tuesday, March 26, at the federal courthouse in Anchorage (7th & C) in a circle united for equality.
Pariah, a critically acclaimed film about a 17-year-old African-American woman embracing her lesbian identity, will screen at UAA on Friday, November 2, and will be followed by a discussion on acceptance in honor of Mya Dale. The event is free and open to the public.
