Articles tagged with: servicemembers & veterans
Homes for Our Troops: “Money from the fundraiser was lost” (Andrew Caleb “Drew” Pritt aka Diedra)
Questions emerged over the weekend about missing funds from a fundraiser held last month to raise money for the charity Homes for Our Troops (HFOT). The fundraiser, dubbed “Home for an Alaskan Hero,” was intended to help complete building of a fully accessible home for Army Sergeant Latseen Benson of Chugiak, who lost his legs to an improvised explosive device (IED) in Iraq in November 2005. Latseen is the son of Alaska politician Diane Benson, an ally of the LGBT community.
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
Drag and variety show nets $3,170 toward an Alaska vet’s home
Editor’s note, 9/20/11: This fundraiser was organized by Andrew Caleb Pritt (aka A. Caleb Pritt, Andrew Pritt, Caleb Pritt, Drew Pritt, Diedra, Diedra Windsor Walker, Diedra Richards, Diedra Richards Ho Jenkins), a former contributor to Bent Alaska, who is also author of this press release. Neither Homes for Our Troops nor the Latseen Benson family received the monies raised at this fundraiser. For further info, see the story Homes for Our Troops: “Money from the fundraiser was lost” (Caleb Pritt) by Mel Green (Bent Alaska, 9/19/11).
Home for an Alaska hero: A fundraiser for Sgt. Latseen Benson
Editor’s note, 9/20/11: This fundraiser was organized by Andrew Caleb Pritt (aka A. Caleb Pritt, Andrew Pritt, Caleb Pritt, Drew Pritt, Diedra, Diedra Windsor Walker, Diedra Richards, Diedra Richards Ho Jenkins), a former contributor to Bent Alaska, who is also author of this press release. Neither Homes for Our Troops nor the Latseen Benson family received the monies raised at this fundraiser. For further info, see the story Homes for Our Troops: “Money from the fundraiser was lost” (Caleb Pritt) by Mel Green (Bent Alaska, 9/19/11).
Freedom to Serve: New guide for LGBT servicemembers in a post-DADT world
It’s not a post-DADT world yet, but it will be after September 20 — and now Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) has prepared a comprehensive new legal guide to laws and policies related to U.S. military service as an LGBT servicemember once Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is finally gone.
DADT repeal certified, & Sen. Begich’s remarks on DADT at Anchorage Pride
Seven months after DADT repeal was signed into law, it’s finally being certified! This seems like a good time to post our video of Sen. Begich’s remarks at Anchorage Pride, and to again thank him and Sen. Murkowski for their votes to end this draconian law.
Remembering those who have lost their lives in service to our country
On Memorial Day, Bent Alaska joins the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and families and friends in remembering and honoring LGBT servicemembers have lost their lives in service to our country.
WikiLeaks suspect Pfc Bradley Manning: Gay soldier frustrated with DADT & Prop 8
In advance of its broadcast tonight of the documentary WikiSecrets about the leak last spring of over a half-million classified documents on WikiLeaks, Frontline has an exhaustive archive of the Facebook postings of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the gay soldier allegedly behind the leaks.
A celebration of Celebration 2011
Since the first Celebration of Change on September 19, 1983 at the Red Ram Motor Lodge, Celebration has arguably been the Anchorage women’s community’s premiere annual social & arts event. Here’s a photographic celebration of this year’s show, the 27th Celebration of Change.
DADT still in effect, as parents of gay soldier killed in Afghanistan post tribute to their son
Corporal Andrew Wilfahrt, a Minnesota native, died on foot patrol in Khandahar, Afghanistan in late February at age 31. He was gay.
Now his parents, Lori and Jeff Wilfahrt, have come forward with a tribute to their son for the Testimony: Take a Stand campaign. Lori and Jeff lament their son’s forced re-closeting when he enlisted, though “people in his unit knew he was gay…and nobody cared.”
