Gay AK Odds & Ends

Recent LGBT Alaska-related items on the web:

Beauty Queen Sissy

"Among closed-minded straights, [sissy] is a devastating insult," says the Advocate Magazine. So they give The Sissy Awards to the "biggest irritants" of the year. The winners of the 2008 award: Sarah Palin and John McCain. The announcement lists the anti-gay positions of the former running mates, including Gov. Palin's refusal to sign the National Coming Out Day proclamation submitted by Alaskans Together. The Advocate points out that "Anita Bryant was also a former beauty queen and ... a TV-ready smile can hide lots of homophobia."

Gay & Lesbian Alaskans Do Our Part

Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Family is a new awareness campaign to encourage LGBT families to consider adopting children. HRC unveiled the effort as part of its "All Children - All Families" initiative.

Gay and lesbian parents are currently raising 4% of the nation's adopted children, about 65,500 kids. The highest number of these families are in New England, the mid-Atlantic and the West Coast - and the highest percentages of gay and lesbian adoptive parents are found in Alaska, California, Massachusetts and New Mexico, according to PageOneQ.

More Gay Tourists in Juneau

RSVP Vacations announced a new all-gay Seattle to Alaska cruise on Holland America's ms Westerdam, on August 23 - 30, 2009. The cruise departs from Seattle and sails to scenic Glacier Bay, with stops in Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan. The Seattle departure means they won't be partying at Myrna's with us in Anchorage, but SEAGLA will have more gay tourists to meet and greet. 

From the Fringe

The Anchorage Daily News posted a Compass editorial by the president of a fringe Alaska Family group, complaining that far right issues, like anti-choice and anti-gay legislation, are not "fringe" issues. He is "willing to fall on the sword" for these causes, but does not consider this "radical." To prove his (il)logic, he compares putting anti-gay discrimination into the U.S. Constitution to ending slavery in the British Empire!