Attend Ordinance Hearing #4, Tues. 6/23
PRIDEFEST Saturday
This Week in LGBT Alaska 6/19/09 - PRIDEFEST Saturday!
Juneau
SEAGLA Social Fridays (6-8 p.m.) for GLBT people and our friends over 21, at The Imperial Bar, downtown.
Gay Pride Picnic Celebration at Skater's Cabin 6/20, 2-7 p.m. SEAGLA
National HIV Testing Week 6/23-6/27 Four A's is offering free HIV testing June 23-27 at various locations around Juneau.
Mat-Su Valley
Come to Anchorage PrideFest on Saturday, June 20. 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. Harmony Choir meets at the Center on Thursdays, 6:30 p.m.
Homer
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 6/19-6/21 at 8 p.m. Live performance starring Atz Lee Kilcher as Hedwig, with a 5-piece band, at the Best Western Bidarka Inn. A benefit for Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic. Opening night $50, other shows $15.
Anchorage
Mr/Ms/Miss Gay Anchorage 2009-2010 competition, 6/19 at 8 p.m. Mad Myrna's. $3
Midnight Soapscum at Out North, Fridays & Saturdays 6/19-7/18, 10:30 p.m.
Diversity Parade and Festival on the Park Strip, Saturday, June 20.
An Evening of Musical Entertainment 6/20, 8 p.m. Kevin Holtz with GMK and Company. Mad Myrna's. $10.
10th Annual Allie's Slave for a Date Auction, 6/20, 9 p.m. $5 at the Kodiak Bar.
Coffee Date showing at the Museum 6/20 & 6/21, 6 p.m.
Pride Week Reception: Celebrating Marriage 6/21, 2 p.m.-2 a.m. at Bernie's Bungalow. Hosts: 2-3pm Identity, 3-4pm The Imperial Court of All Alaska, 4-5pm GLSEN.
National HIV Testing Week 6/20-6/27 Four A's is offering free HIV testing.
Pride Weekend Worship with MCC Anchorage 6/21, 2 p.m. Music, scripture, and message titled "Fear N Faith."
Free BBQ at the Kodiak 6/21, 8 p.m. with Speed Dating and Kissing Booths.
Transgender Support Group, Sundays 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the GLCCA.
Anchorage Frontrunners, Tuesdays, 6 p.m.
Equality Works Optimistic on Gaining Equal Protection
Midnight Soapscum and Big Fat Gay Wedding at Out North
The Music and Poetry of Celebration 09
Photos from Ordinance Hearing #3
Ordinance Hearing #2: Religious Rule has it's Day in Court
Ordinance Hearing Open Thread - June 16
2nd Hearing Today: Who Should Determine the Laws of Anchorage?
Hearings on Tues. & Wed., Buckley Brigade formed to Welcome and Protect
Palin Snubs PrideFest, Wasilla Fundies Protest Gays
PrideFest Asks Palin to Declare Gay Pride Month in Alaska
June 4, 2009Governor Sarah Palin
State of AlaskaP.O. Box 110001
Juneau, AK 99811-0001RE: Gay Pride Month ProclamationDear Governor Palin:Identity, Inc. is an Alaska 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that, in addition to providing a number of services to the LGBT community in Anchorage, has also hosted Anchorage PrideFest each June for more than 20 years. Each year the Celebrating Diversity Parade and Festival on the Park Strip are big hits, drawing visitors, residents and eager participants. Throughout the city people feel a sense of pride and joy at being able to express the great diversity found here in Anchorage and the entire state of Alaska.This year our theme is "The Last Queer Frontier" in honor of the state of Alaska that has and continues to be home to so many people who have done amazing things for the LGBT community, and also to bring attention to how the community has grown in its level of confidence despite various trials. It also pays respect to our Governor and the administration which has chosen to be progressive and accepting despite the many difficulties of taking the right stand.The Pride Festival and Parade are scheduled for June 20, 2009. As you know, President Barack Obama has recently signed and announced a proclamation declaring June LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender) Pride Month. In honor of both his proclamation as the leader of the nation and the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, it would be inspiring to have you show your support. I have enclosed a proclamation declaring June as Gay Pride Month in the State of Alaska that I invite you to personally announce. I would also like to extend the invitation, as always, to join the LGBT community in celebration.If you have any questions about Anchorage PrideFest 2009, please contact me [phone number removed] or via email through the Anchorage PrideFest web site.Sincerely,Identity, Inc.Jasmine StokesPublicity Chair, Anchorage PrideFest 2009
Know Your Status on National HIV Testing Week
This Week in LGBT Alaska 6/12/09
Juneau
SEAGLA Social Fridays (6-8 p.m.) at The Imperial Bar.
Gay Men's Hike 6/14, 9:45 a.m.
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. Harmony Choir meets at the Center on Thursdays, 6:30 p.m.
Anchorage
Anchorage Pride Week 6/13-6/21
Side Street Saturdays, noon in Side Street Cafe.
Gay Memorial Service 6/13, 11 a.m.
Celebration of Change Silver Anniversary show 6/13, 7 p.m.
Sunday worship with MCC Anchorage, 6/14, 2 p.m.
Transgender Support Group, Sundays 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the GLCCA.
Outrage at the Bear Tooth 6/15 at 5:30 & 7:45 p.m.
Anchorage Frontrunners, Tuesdays, 6 p.m.
Pride Week Poetry Parley at Out North 6/17, 7 p.m.
Drag Queen Bingo with Four A's 6/18, 7 p.m.
Ordinance Hearing, Week 2
Adding "Sexual Orientation" to UA Policy Supports the Mission, Attracts Best Applicants
Jessica Angelette, president of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Gay-Straight Alliance, told the university's Board of Regents on Thursday that its current anti-discrimination rules lack explicit bans on discrimination based on "sexual orientation," something she indicated leaves university life scarier for gay students and active supporters of gay rights.Angelette told regents that some students, gay or straight, are harassed after participating in campus events. She said one girl moved out of her dorm room two weeks before classes ended because she was being bullied by her roommate."We ... would like to work with the board to have the amending policy (be) the first step in making all campuses safe for every student," she said.The university system follows some "interdependent partnership" rules that extend benefits for same-sex couples to employees and faculty. But efforts to explicitly mention sexual orientation in the regents' nondiscrimination policy — which bans discrimination based on sex, race and other factors — have fallen short at least twice, according to university records.
"Kudos to UA students for taking the initiative to ask for a change in policy that is long overdue!"Many colleges and universities across the United States already include "sexual orientation" in their nondiscrimination policy, and many are beginning to add "gender identity" as well. The Fairbanks North Star Borough public school district already includes both of these aspects of identity in their nondiscrimination policy. It is important for UA to add both of these to its nondiscrimination policy in order to protect students, staff, and faculty from the very real incidents of harassment that do take place on campus and that Christopher Eshleman's article describes very well. Adding to the UA's nondiscrimination policy is essential in forwarding the university's mission: students, staff, and faculty all need a climate free of harassment in order to do their best work."Moreover, like any other organization situated in a national and international marketplace, UA is competing with comparable organizations for students, staff, and faculty. Accreditation standards require universities to hire faculty with the most advanced degrees in their fields, and in many disciplines, such degrees are not offered in the state of Alaska. UA thus _must_ compete in the national and international marketplace for many of its faculty. As a faculty member who has sat on search committees for job candidates, I recently heard a job candidate express great surprise upon learning that UA does not offer a form of protection from discrimination that elsewhere is considered "standard." The lack of language concerning "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" hurts UA."The University of Alaska system cannot and should not wait for a federal law banning discrimination based on "sexual orientation" and "gender identity". Many universities, colleges, school districts, and businesses already ban these kinds of discrimination because such policies better help them to achieve their mission. UA needs those protections now: to ensure that we can compete most successfully in the national and international marketplace to deliver the best education to the students in Alaska, and to ensure that all of our people can do their best work in a climate free of harassment and discrimination."