Category Archives: LGBTQA

It’s not “special rights,” it’s not “gay rights” — it’s EQUAL rights. In this case, equal rights for LGBTQ people which, for those of you unfamiliar with our alphabet soup, is interpreted as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, & queer (or questioning) people. And the A is for our terrific allies.

My story of 2009

Not quite ALL about my 2009, because that would take a year to write. This only took several hours. Continue reading

Posted in About writing, Alaska justice system, Alaska politics, Cold, depression, Journal, Long Dark, NaNoWriMo, Ordinance, True Diversity Dinner | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Coming out

In celebration of National Coming Out Day 2009. As Julia O’Malley pointed out after Sullivan vetoed the Anchorage equal rights ordinance, it’s not laws that change people, but personal relationships. Which is why the most important work I’ve done in the struggle for equal rights for LGBTQ people is simply to live my life, openly, as who I am.

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Overheard: Antigay pogroms in Iraq

Gay men are systematically been hunted down and killed in Iraq. Members of the LGBT Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch are trying to help, but more help is needed — from us.

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True Diversity Dinner 1 & 2: Video by Janson Jones

Parts 1 & 2 of video coverage of the September 25, 2009 True Diversity Dinner in Anchorage by Janson Jones of Floridana Alaskiana v2.5. Part 1 includes background on the summer 2009 fight for the Anchorage equal rights ordinance AO 2009-64; part 2 is a montage of Janson’s photos of the dinner.

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Q & A: What happens when you click "Volunteer" at the Alaskans for Parental Rights website?

Q. What happens when you click “Volunteer” at the Alaskans for Parental Rights website? A. You get taken to the “Volunteer” page for the “Yes on 8” website. Yes on 8 is the campaign in California to deny the equal right to marry to same-sex couples. Here’s further evidence of linkages showing how Alaska’s Christianist right is dependent upon financial, organizational, and ideological support from outside the state.

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Posted in Alaska politics, Marriage equality | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

James Dobson’s God is a child abuser, & so is Jerry Prevo’s

Max Blumenthal’s new book Republican Gomorrah talks among other things about corporal punishment in Christianist practices of child discipline — practices taught by Focus on the Family leader James Dobson and, at least in 1985, Anchorage Baptist Temple pastor Jerry Prevo.

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Posted in No Way Way, The incredibly true adventures of Rev. Jerry Prevo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Diversity, unity, family

Mayor Dan Sullivan claims, with his Mayor’s Unity Dinner, to be honoring values we all share, including the importance of family. But his veto last month of the Anchorage equal rights ordinance makes it clear that he only deems some families important — and mine’s not one of them.

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Should white heterosexuals be permitted at a diversity event?

Does being a lesbian make me “diverse”? Does being white and heterosexual make my white heterosexual friends and relatives “not diverse”? Duh. But apparently some people believe you should have diversity credentials to attend a diversity dinner. With a tribute to our allies in the summer 2009 fight for the Anchorage equal rights ordinance.

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No, Debbie, Title VII does NOT prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in employment. Hello?

Wishing doesn’t make it so: despite Anchorage Assembly Chair Debbie Ossiander’s contention that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 covers sexual orientation discrimination, federal case law consistently shows that it does not. Here’s more proof, with a recent 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals case which found that an effeminate gay man in Pennsylvania (but not actually Emmett Honeycutt) laid off from his job had recourse under Title VII for discrimination based on gender role stereotyping, but not for sexual orientation.

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Gay-ins at McGinley’s

Brendan Joel Kelley at the Anchorage Press reports on last Friday’s goings-on at McGinley’s — about which I wrote at the time.  Brendan mentions Michael Mason’s conversation with managing partner Jack Lewis: According to Mason, he plans on returning to … Continue reading

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