The Christmas season is a good time to highlight resources for LGBT Christians and people with Christian friends and family members. The Gay Christian Network, SoulForce and the Parents Reconciling Network are a few of the online resources that were recently recommended by Alaskans.
"I wish that you guys could post a link to The Gay Christian Network. [They have] amazing YouTube videos on helping people who are gay come to terms with their spirituality," wrote Mark Allred of Alaska Native Lutheran Church in Anchorage.
Mark encourages watching all 7 videos, but he thinks the one embedded below is the most useful. Watch Gay Christian Answers, episode 4: "Aren't we designed for heterosexuality?"
Matthew Moak at Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) of Anchorage also recommends The Gay Christian Network, along with several other resources. Of course, MCC itself is a great resource.
Homosexuality And The Bible is a list of articles and websites by Christian Gays, a group that provides "the resources for any who wish to understand the ACCURATE interpretation of the Original Scriptures with regard to homosexuality."
SisterFriends Together "is an outreach ministry of Grace Unfolding Ministries, and we exist to provide a safe and welcoming online faith community for lesbian, bisexual, questioning and transgender women." They can also be found at ChristianLesbians, their previous name.
The Gay Christian Network is "a nonprofit ministry serving Christians who happen to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, and those who care about them."
PRN is an organization of United Methodist parents of GLBT children. Rev. Johnathan of Church Life Alaska mentioned a new transgender resource from PRN in last week's Alaska GLBT News. The information came from Sara Boesser, who compiles the weekly LGBT News Roundup posted here on Bent Alaska.
What causes a person's sexual orientation is unknown. Causes for people being transgender or intersex are not fully understood. A huge variety of factors are at work in making each individual the person that they are and there is no one reason that causes people to be transgender. It has nothing to do with anything you did or did not do, nor anything your child did or did not do.
Families love their children and want what is best for them. You cannot change your child. However, you can change your response to your child. Your specific response can improve your child's health and happiness. Your consistent parenting and unconditional love does have a central and enduring influence on your child's life. Here are some parenting guidelines, shown by research, to improve the physical and mental health of LGBT children.
LGBT-friendly church groups
Most denominations have an LGBT or LGBT-friendly wing, and many of these movements have web sites with resource pages. A good list of national LGBT-friendly church groups can be found HERE. This does not imply that the local Alaska congregations are LGBT-friendly, unfortunately, but the online resources can be useful.
The Resource page on the Open and Affirming (ONA) site of the United Church of Christ (UCC) was suggested by a reader named Matt. He belonged to an ONA church before moving to Alaska, although he is not involved with the UCC in Alaska. None of the Alaska UCC's are listed as Open and Affirming on the Coalition's site, and I don't know if the local congregations are LGBT-friendly or not. But the national ONA site includes resources for gay and trans Christians.
A list of Alaska's LGBT-friendly churches and religious groups is posted HERE.
Do you know a good online LGBT-positive Christian resource that we didn't mention? Please leave the name and link in a comment below this list.
"This is a good day," President Obama said on Wednesday to a grateful audience of approximately 500 people, including administration officials, congressmembers, former servicemembers and repeal advocates who worked 17 years to end the military's discriminatory Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.
This is a very good day!
Watch the President's speech and the bill signing ceremony:
A full transcript with the speeches of both the President and Vice President is posted on the White House website, and an article with photos is posted on the White House Blog.
In an interview with The Advocate, Obama said, "My strong sense is [implementation] is a matter of months… Absolutely not years."
On the day after Christmas, Out North is presenting "The SantaLand Diaries" written by award-winning gay author David Sedaris and performed by Ben Brown of Juneau. Out North recently lost a major funding grant, and this show is a benefit so they can continue fulfilling their mission of Art for Everyone, No Exceptions.
You think you've had enough of Christmas shopping, piped-in holiday music, disgruntled Santas, crying children and occasional crying.
Take your holiday headache to Out North and have your yule attitude readjusted with "The SantaLand Diaries." Juneau-based actor Ben Brown performs David Sedaris' hilarious autobiographical tale about his stint as an elf in the annual holiday display at Macy's Department Store in New York City. Just as Sedaris took consolation in the fact that some of the other elves were TV extras on "One Life to Live," maybe you can take consolation in the fact that you're enjoying a great play, not out in the shopping mayhem still.
The SantaLand Diaries plays at 7 p.m. Sunday, December 26th at Out North (3800 DeBarr Road). Tickets are $10 at the door, $8 online. For more information, visit www.outnorth.org."
"The SantaLand Diaries" is a benefit show for Out North this year, and we greatly appreciate Ben's generosity. We look forward to spending the evening with you, and invite you to bring your friends.
The Grrlzlist shared this message last week from Out North to their supporters:
Thank you for your continued support of the cutting edge work Out North produces. Your donations in the wake of our funding pull has so far raised $25,000 in less than a month! The overwhelming majority of the donations have been less than $200. I know you know how incredible that is. We here are overcome with gratitude - and relief. Thank you for pushing so hard to keep Out North in Anchorage. We still have $55,000 to go to make up the shortfall, but clearly, together we can do this! If you have not donated already, I can assure you that you are backing a winner by supporting Out North right now. Your support now will mean that we can maintain our commitment to the artists and schools we had promised to support in Season 26. And it means that we can continue to bring you work you just can't see in Anchorage, as well as vital inclusivity for ALL people and ALL arts. What happened to us is not an isolated instance. Out North's funding was pulled because the funder did not want to support the kind of work we do here. To them, we went "too far" by programming a musical about marijuana and two films that featured the (award-winning) story of lesbian lives. To us, art is for everyone, no exceptions.
Please help support Out North - attend shows, buy season tickets, or donate directly.
Pride Foundation of the Pacific Northwest is strengthening their commitment to Alaska's LGBT community by funding a full time regional staff position and continuing to provide grants for Alaska's LGBT non-profits.
Tiffany McClain, formerly of the ACLU of Alaska, was hired by the Pride Foundation to fill a newly-funded staff position as Regional Development Organizer for Alaska:
From Anchorage to Bozeman, to Eugene to Idaho Falls – Pride Foundation is deeply committed to building and sustaining local leaders and organizations to increase visibility for LGBTQ people across the greater Northwest. Over this past year, staff, volunteers and donors have been working together to determine how to best leverage and increase Pride Foundation's prior work in regional and rural communities. We're so excited to expand our regional commitment.
By investing in full-time staff members in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Western Washington to lead our philanthropic and community development strategies, we know that we can increase our understanding of local issues and work better and even more collaboratively to build the future of equality in the Northwest.
The five Regional Development Organizers start their new positions in January 2011. Here is Tiffany's staff bio. (Learn about the other regional team members here.)
Growing up in St. Louis, MO – a humid, mountain-less city of brick and concrete, where two weeks of Girl Scout camp seemed like the roughest of adventures – I never imagined I'd end up living in Alaska. But I've never felt more at home than I do in Anchorage and am excited that I've been offered the opportunity to engage my passion for social justice and community organizing while living in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Grants from Pride Foundation made possible many of the projects I worked on as the LGBTQ Public Policy Coordinator for the ACLU of Alaska and now I get to support the efforts of other activists, artists, and service-providers who are working to improve the lives of LGBTQ Alaskans. When I'm not working, you can find me outside soaking up Alaska's beauty, daydreaming about my next travel adventure, or hiding from the cold in a nice, warm movie theatre or bookstore.
Congratulations to Tiffany, and thanks to Pride Foundation for funding this local position.
In addition to a staff member for Alaska, Pride Foundation awarded a youth grant to Identity to bring LGBT youth from rural communities to the annual Pride Conference in Anchorage.
Pride Foundation has awarded more than $200,000 in grants to 48 projects that support the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trangender and queer (LGBTQ) community in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Youth-related grants were the largest recipients of funds.
[snip]
This year's youth-related grantees include Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound in Washington, Idaho Safe Schools Coalition, and Identity Inc's Alaska Bush Youth at Pride Conference 2011, a project aimed at connecting LGBTQ youth in remote parts of Alaska to community services and networks of support – addressing the disproportionately high rates of LGBTQ youth suicide in remote Alaska.
These grants are just one way Pride Foundation works to empower and support the next generation of LGBTQ people. Of course, Pride Foundation grants focus on more than just youth. Dozens of grants were also awarded in the areas of 1) Arts & Recreation, 2) Education, Advocacy & Outreach, 3) Health & Community Services, 4) HIV/AIDS Service Delivery & Prevention, and 5) Lesbian Health.
This is the description of Identity's rural youth project grant:
Identity Inc. (Anchorage, AK) www.identityinc.org : $3,500 for travel expenses to insure the attendance of youth from Southeast Alaska, Fairbanks, Kenai Peninsula, and from bush villages at Identity Inc.'s 2011 Pride Conference in Anchorage. The conference will focus on these youth sharing their experiences of being LGBT in their home communities. Youth traveling from remote Alaska will have the opportunity to meet and interact with other LGBT youth and to enhance their personal self-esteem and self-worth. Published suicide data predicts 95% likelihood that a young person between the ages of 12 and 19, who is an Alaska Native, lives in a village, is male and is gay will attempt suicide.
Thanks to Identity and Pride Foundation for addressing this important issue and funding the project.
Alaskans Together for Equality sent a message to their members and supporters following the senate's historic vote to repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy on Saturday. Alaskans Together is the statewide LGBT advocacy group for Alaska.
Just over an hour ago the Senate by a vote of 65 to 31 repealed the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Today's vote allows lesbian, gay and bisexual people the ability to serve openly and honestly in our military. It's a wonderful step forward in our fight for full civil equality. We are extremely pleased to report that both Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Begich voted in favor of the repeal!
Your efforts made a big difference! This repeal couldn't have happened without you and your calls and emails.
Please take a moment in the next few days to call and email both Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Begich and thank them for their vote to repeal DADT. It is great to have two Senators that believe in fairness and equality in our military.
Please thank Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Begich for representing all Alaskans with their vote to repeal DADT today. Our military has become even stronger with today's vote.
Also, be aware there is still work to be done for the implementation of a full repeal of DADT. There is a 60-day waiting period, during which soldiers can still be discharged under the policy. We will post on our blog in the coming days when we have more details.
With all of our continuing efforts we are confident that we will have more victories to celebrate in 2011 on our road to achieving full civil equality in Alaska.
Let's enjoy today's victory.
Also, three Anchorage-based gay service members were interviewed by KTVA about the effects of the DADT policy and why repeal is necessary. The local troops are members of OutServe, a national network of gay and lesbian active-duty service members. (The clip was posted earlier this week, before Congress passed the stand-alone DADT repeal measure.)
