Articles tagged with: University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA)
Alaskans celebrate the end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
Alaskan soldiers & Senator Begich reflect on the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, which ended on Tuesday, and the LGBT community celebrates at two local events.
Gay in AK: LGBT in Anchorage and the State — a community panel at UAA Constitution Week 2011
As part of UAA Constitution Week 2011, University of Alaska Anchorage will present a community panel Friday, September 23 which will explore the issue of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights as it relates to the Alaska and United States Constitutions. The panel will feature leaders who have advocated for equal rights in front of Alaska’s courts, the Anchorage Assembly, and the University of Alaska Board of Regents.
UAA celebrates DADT repeal on September 20
It’s not a post-DADT world yet, but it will be after September 20 — and University of Alaska Anchorage will be celebrating! Wear camo and join the UAA students and veterans as we celebrate the end of this discriminatory legislation. We’ll be at the Student Union with pizza and other resources.
Why September 20? It marks 60 days after the formal certification of DADT repeal by President Obama, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — and as passed by Congress, the repeal bill required that wait before DADT could finally end.
Other celebrations will be going on around the country: check Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) for details. If you’re in the service, see SLDN’s new guide to the post-DADT military, Freedom to Serve: The Definitive Guide to LGBT Military Service.
- Date/time: Tuesday, September 20, 2011
12:00 noon to 1:00 PM8am-11am - Location: UAA Student Union, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, AK (see map)
- Further info: See SLDN event page
LGBTQA students ready for a new academic year at University of Alaska campuses
New and returning University students around the state are getting ready for a new academic year, and LGBTQA students are no exception. Students at University of Alaska campuses will be enjoying something they didn’t have this time last year: protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. University of Alaska Regents passed an amendment to UA’s nondiscrimination policy last February 18 after two periods of testimony at University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA).
Choosing Alaska: Great community, but harassment at work is common
Why do you live in Alaska?
We recently posted a letter from a graduate student who grew up in Alaska, went outside for college, and is considering whether or not to return and start a professional career here. The student asked for advice from openly-LGBT Alaskans who returned after college. What is it like to be an out professional in Alaska?
Our readers responded, sharing their reasons for living in Alaska and their experiences as LGBT people here. Some grew up in Alaska, others moved here as adults. Some live in the cities, others in small towns or the Bush. Some are Native, some are not. We’re posting their stories together in a new series called Choosing Alaska.
The first response was from Alaskan Amber who began college outside but returned to study at UAA and work in Anchorage.
# # #
I did not graduate from a university out of state but rather I went out and came back during college. I went to Salem, Oregon to Willamette University my first year. I found a very liberal community with professors who were more concerned with their own research and success than their students no matter what issues or topics their students raised. I found a community of people who were very accepting as long as you agreed with them. I was not ready to confront my family about being gay and I did not want to make myself “look lesbian” as the Gay student club there wanted their members to look. I was essentially shunned for this. I returned to Alaska to go to UAA and I found the opposite here.
Alaska as a whole is more conservative but the community at UAA and the Anchorage LGBTQA community embraced me to the point that I consider many of its members family. They supported me for who I am and did not push me beyond my comfort zone. They did encourage me to expand my comfort zone which allowed me to talk to my biological family after time. I have been working here in Alaska since the day I returned from Oregon.
Every environment I have been in has contained coworkers that were blatantly against the LGBT community. In some of the environments in larger corporations this was revealed in passing statements regarding something on the news or an upcoming event that was discussed in the break room. In the smaller environments, such as the family run law office I worked in for over two years, the coworkers have been much more harsh and rarely addressed if addressed at all for their hatred and inappropriate comments while on the clock. The comments turned into hateful actions toward me in two offices. One office it was immediately addressed and never occurred again. The other office, the aforementioned law office, the coworker’s behavior was only addressed once even though I complained to management multiple times and I finally ended up quitting. She is still employed at the office.
Some environments are totally accepting and there are no issues even if coworkers are hateful. It depends on the management and whether they are both accepting and willing to step in if necessary.
# # #
Thanks, Amber!
What is your experience of being LGBT in Alaska? Leave a comment below, or email us directly at Bent Alaska @ gmail .com (without the spaces), and we will include your response in a follow up post. And if you have another topic you’d like to see on Bent Alaska, please tell us about it!
Judith Barrington, Valerie Miner, & other great writers in UAA annual reading series
Judith Barrington and Valerie Miner are among the writers participating in the Summer 2011 Northern Renaissance Arts & Sciences Reading Series from July 10–19 at UAA. This is the fourth year for the event, which is held annually in conjunction with the Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing of the UAA Department of Creative Writing & Literary Arts (CWLA).
Anthony Romero of ACLU to speak Thursday at UAA
Anthony Romero, national executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Romero will be the featured speaker for Disparate Opportunity in America: The Ongoing Struggle for Equal Rights sponsored by the UAA Justice Center and ACLU of Alaska. The program will focus on recent developments in the continuing challenges faced by minority and underprivileged communities and the work of the ACLU in fighting for equal rights.
“Inlaws & Outlaws”: Love is neither straight or gay — it’s human
There was lots of laughter in Room 101 of UAA’s Rasmuson Hall: the laughter of recognition as we shared in the joy of people whose stories of love we heard at the March 18 screening of “Inlaws & Outlaws.”
“Inlaws & Outlaws” with filmmaker Drew Emery at UAA this Friday
“Inlaws & Outlaws” by Seattle filmmaker Drew Emery is showing at UAA this Friday at 7:00 PM. “Inlaws & Outlaws” weaves together the true stories of couples and singles — both gay and straight — into a collective narrative that is as hilarious as it is heartbreaking, ” getting past all the rhetoric to embrace what we have in common: We love.
Harm at the center
Self-hatred — including, for many of us, internalized homophobia and transphobia — is the harm at the very center of us. Love others as you love yourself, but first: love yourself. Let no one convince you to do otherwise.
