Articles tagged with: I’m From Driftwood
Identity’s Phyllis Rhodes featured by I’m From Driftwood
Identity’s Phyllis Rhodes was interviewed last November by the I’m From Driftwood Story Tour about Identity, LGBT youth from the villages, and creating a “family of choice” in Alaska.
Bent Alaska readers might remember the I’m From Driftwood Story Tour that was in Alaska last November 9-12. 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.
One of the Alaskans the folks from I’m From Driftwood spoke with when they were in Anchorage was Phyllis Rhodes, Executive Director of Identity, Inc. And they posted the video of their interview with her today! I’m From Driftwood writes,
Phyllis Rhodes is simply awesome. She’s the Executive Director of Identity, Anchorage’s LGBT Center, and has a heart of gold. I wish every LGBTQ Alaskan would go pay her a visit because I know they would feel better afterwards. Alaska is lucky to have her.
We completely agree!
Check out some of the other Alaska stories featured by I’m From Driftwood.
Lewis: I’m gay and from Wasilla, Alaska
The second video from Wasilla was uploaded today on I’m From Driftwood!
After coming out, Lewis is met with religious fanatics at school but love and support at home.
Watch Lewis: I’m From Wasilla, AK
Thanks to Lewis for sharing his home and school coming out stories, and a big high five to his parents for being so loving and supportive of their son!
IFD traveled all the way to Alaska to include us in their story tour, collecting “true stories by gay people from all over in an attempt to help LGBTQ teens feel not so alone.”
Read about their great Alaska adventures here, and watch the other I’m From Wasilla video story here.
IFD has posted five written stories from LGBTQ Alaskans, in addition to the 2 videos. They’re all listed on the IFD Alaska page.
If you haven’t submitted a story yet, write one and send it to them. The story guidelines and submission page is here.
Driftwood to Wasilla: Moose Sausage from a Lesbian Hunter in Alaska
“Whenever people ask me about the Tour, I always tell them the surprise hit for me was our journey to Alaska.”
The I’m From Driftwood team visited Alaska in November for their national LGBT story project, and the first video interview from Alaska was recently uploaded. They also have five written stories posted by LGBT Alaskans from Eagle River, Anchorage, Juneau and Kotzebue.
For Nathan Manske, project organizer of I’m From Driftwood, Alaska was a high point of the 50 state tour. When Lambda Literary asked “What was one of the most exciting or moving moments while on the road?” he replied:
Visiting Alaska was very memorable. It felt like a foreign trip on a domestic tour. I really had no idea what to expect from the people or places or community but what I found was that the LGBT community there was very tight-knit and diverse. We collected stories from teens in Wasilla and one from a villager, which is what native Alaskans call themselves. I know it’s feeding the stereotype a little to say it felt like a foreign land, but it did in the best way possible.
A quick little story…we were leaving Wasilla on our last day in Alaska, going back to Anchorage, and I told a new friend we had met who was driving us around that I was bummed I never got to have a moose burger. He explained restaurants can’t serve moose; you actually have to hunt them to eat them. He then told me he has a lesbian hunter friend who usually has some fresh moose in her freezer. He called her up and sure enough…we stopped by her place and she gave us some moose sausage. Moose sausage from a lesbian hunter in Alaska. Memorable indeed.
Nathan also told Windy City about Alaska:
Alaska and Hawaii fell at the midpoint of the trip and were very special points during the tour. “They weren’t easy to get to,” Nate remembered. “But that’s why we thought it was so important for us to go.” Nate reminisced that Hawaii seemed like a bit of a vacation, having been on the road for nearly two months. They hung out at Hula’s (Honolulu’s only gay bar) every day.
While in Alaska, they were recognized by a guy at Mad Myrna’s in Anchorage. He turned out to be an excellent tour guide taking them up to Wasilla, a town notorious for one of its residents: Sarah Palin.
“I felt it was important to get a story from Wasilla to show the LGBT youth there that someone is thinking about them in a positive light,” Nate said, “and to let them represent Wasilla the way they want it to be represented.”
They collected two video stories by young gay men from Wasilla: Cody and Lewis. Bent Alaska posted Cody’s video last week and we look forward to seeing Lewis’ video.
The team also wrote about the trip to Alaska on their IFD tour blog. They blogged about staying at The Copper Whale Inn, a gay-owned B&B in downtown Anchorage, meeting LGBT people at the Gay & Lesbian Community Center and at the bar Mad Myrna’s, spending a few hours in Wasilla, and collecting at least 5 video stories during their visit.
“Alaska was the surprise hit for me on the Tour. They’re a special people, those Alaskans. The LGBT community was very tight-knit. At Mad Myrna’s, there seemed to be an even mix of gays and lesbians. They all seemed to band together and appeared to be the perfect example of a unified queer community. The Alaskan scenery was breathtaking but it was all the people sticking together and creating a warm community that I’ll think of when I think of Alaska.”
Thanks for including Alaska in the I’m From Driftwood project!
Gay teen from Wasilla was assaulted, tires slashed, rejected by parents but looking ahead
Cody had a horrible coming out. His college buddies at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and his brother and parents in Wasilla all reacted badly, only his sister is supportive. But he won’t let them ruin his life.
The “I’m From Driftwood” team interviewed LGBT Alaskans for their national story project, and the first video from Alaska was uploaded on Monday. The story is from Cody James, raised in Wasilla. Watch:
How sad that their son was assaulted and, instead of helping him, they caused him more harm. Hopefully, they will learn to love and support him as the wonderful young gay man that he is.
And what kind of university would allow a student to be harassed for 4 months?
The main perpetrator got a slap on the wrist, 24 hours in jail and some community service hours, Cody told Bent Alaska. The others got off. The city and campus police wouldn’t do anything to stop the bullying, so he fled Fairbanks and moved to Anchorage. When he explained to his family why he left college, they rejected him for being gay.
The University of Alaska, Fairbanks and the Fairbanks police owe Cody an apology, at the very least, and assurance that they will protect other students from being bullied out of an education. [Hint: Get an LGBT-inclusive anti-bullying policy, and enforce it.]
Cody wants to put this bad time behind him and move forward. But he could have called the FBI to investigate the assault under the federal Hate Crimes law passed in 2009. They have the authority to step in when local officers won’t take an anti-gay attack seriously.
Why the FBI? Because we aren’t protected by Alaska’s hate crimes law, and a bill adding LGBT Alaskans is currently stuck in the Finance committee.
Please contact the legislators today and tell them to approve SB 11, the Alaska Hate Crimes bill. We obviously need it.
Thanks to I’m From Driftwood for including Alaska in their story tour and collecting this important story. And thanks to Cody for being brave, finding support and sharing his story. May his life get much better and stay good.
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.
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.
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.
