An LGBTQ renaissance in Juneau

SEAGLA members get together to march in Juneau’s 2014 July 4th parade. (Photo courtesy James Hoagland)

Juneau’s alliance group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people has been going through a renaissance with new board members and energy. Now, with recent grant funding, SEAGLA hopes to increase visibility and awareness in the capital city and beyond.

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SEAGLA has been around since the early 1980s providing support for the LGBTQ community in Juneau. The name used to be an acronym for Southeast Alaska Gay and Lesbian Alliance, but it’s moved away from that strict definition to be more inclusive.

For years, SEAGLA’s programming consisted of a weekly Friday night social and an annual picnic. Last year, SEAGLA organized a first ever Pride Week in Juneau with several events.

“We did a film festival, a hike, a kickball game, a karaoke night, a big dance and a picnic,” says James Hoagland, one of eight volunteer board members. “All sorts of different kinds of events because we wanted to see who was out there, who our community was and what they needed from us, and we found that they liked all the events and they said, ‘We need more of this and we need to do it even bigger.'”

Kickball was one of several events during SEAGLA’s Pride Week last June. (Photo courtesy James Hoagland)

The annual picnic last year drew about 200 people, the biggest attendance in the organization’s history.

It recently received a $5,000 grant from thePride Foundation, which supports LGBTQ groups in the Northwest. It awarded funds to 56 organizations – three in Alaska. This is the largest grant SEAGLA has ever received.

The money will help expand programming.

“We know that there are hundreds of people out there who just even locally want to get together and do things and build community in all sorts of ways,” Hoagland says.

SEAGLA is meant to be an alliance group for all of Southeast Alaska, but it’s historically served just Juneau. The grant will allow the nonprofit to bridge gaps and offer services to other Southeast communities. Hoagland says individuals in Ketchikan, Haines, Sitka and Skagway have reached out to SEAGLA.

Josh Hemsath with Pride Foundation in Anchorage says the organization gave funding to SEAGLA for this very reason. Anchorage-based Identity Inc. also received a grant to bring students from rural areas to a youth leadership summit at Birchwood Camp.

“The need that we were seeing was how best to address serving individuals, whether they be youth or people who experience geographic isolation because they live in rural and remote communities,” Hemsath says.

Outside of grant funding, Hoagland hopes SEAGLA can grow in other ways.

“It’ll be particularly interesting during the legislative session and figuring out how to plug SEAGLA into the really dynamic political landscape that’s going on right now in Alaska for LGBT people,” Hoagland says.

With the legalization of same-sex marriage, Hoagland says other issues are ripe for change. Representatives Cathy Muñoz, a Republican, and Democrat Andy Josephson have pre-filed bills to add sexual orientation to the state’s anti-discrimination laws. Hoagland says SEAGLA can play a role in education. He says many Alaskans don’t even realize that people can get fired from a job because of sexual orientation.

“They thought that maybe we’re protected under another law or something like that and it’s just not the case and I think that most people understand that that’s just not fair. And just opening up their eyes to the importance of putting that on the books in writing so that we can make sure that people don’t experience a really tragic situation like losing your job just because of the person you love,” Hoagland says.

Hoagland says making a political impact will be a natural outcome of expanding membership and strengthening SEAGLA.

GAY COUPLE'S HOME IN ALASKA TARGETED WITH SIGN READING 'FAGS DIE'

A gay couple living in Anchorage, Alaska had their home and car struck by vandals this week.

Adam Jacobson says that he discovered a frozen soupy substance on the couple's mailbox, an eggshell on the front porch, and a few empty jars in their backyard.

But it was what they found on the windshield of their car that really disturbed them, KTVA reports.

Someone had walked up their driveway to place a sign made up of many smaller signs on the vehicle, which had a swastika on it, and said "FAG FREE ZONE", "White Power", "Fags Die, God Laughs, Homosexuality is Sin", "I Hate You, "Two Men Should Friends! Not Butt Buddies!!!", "Homos are possessed by demons", and "God Hates Fag Enablers".

Jacobson and his husband have lived in their current home for four years. He says that friends and members of the community have been supportive since the incident.

He attributes the hate as a reaction to the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in Alaska, and says the haters are "feeling marginalized and feeling like sort of victims of the progressive moment."

Alaskan Town Considers Becoming First Town In America To Tax Its Churches

Nome, Alaska, is known – when it’s known at all – for being the finish line for the famous Iditarod dogsled race, but apparently there isn’t a lot of money in that. Like many cities across the country, Nome finds itself hard-pressed to make ends meet. After struggling yet again to come up with the money to pay for the town’s humble services, Finance Director Julie Liew proposed an idea that has so far seemed almost impossible in the United States: Why not tax the churches?

Surprisingly, the city’s officials couldn’t come up with a good objection and the proposal moved forward.

According to KNOM:

“You get rid of the sales tax exemption, most of the time these other exemptions aren’t given—we’re a very nice city [to do] it,” Council member Matt Culley said. “When we sit down at budget time, [with] the numbers to look at, if we want to donate that [money back to nonprofits], the money can go all back in … but we have control over it now, as opposed to it going whatever direction that we have it going now.” 

The “direction” they have it going now is that roughly $300,000 is left in the hands of churches and non-profits. It’s a lot of money being left behind for a city that is facing annual deficits and deep cuts to town services. The city is quick to point out that this new plan doesn’t mean that the money would be gone forever, if there is a surplus the money can go back to the organizations. Instead, it would be treated much like how the government treats income tax – collected up front and given back based on need and availability.

Should the ordinance pass, it would represent the first tax on churches of its kind in the United States. Traditionally, religious groups have gotten far-ranging leeway in regards to tax exemptions. So much in fact that a Washington Post investigation in 2013 found that taxpayers spend about $82.5 billion each year to make up for the free rides churches enjoy.

Nobody Owes Sarah or Bristol Palin Any Kind of Apology

By now it’s no secret that the Palin family was involved in some kind of drunk party brawl a few weeks ago, which is something that I only found interesting because of the sheer hypocrisy of it all. A family, most notably Sarah Palin herself, who’s often seen telling millions of Americans the importance of “Christian family values” – involved in a drunken brawl at some Saturday night house party in Alaska.

Well, recently Bristol Palin’s comments to the police following these events were released and she tells a tale of male on female violence and assault that indeed does sound alarming. And following the release of these comments, CNN’s Carol Costello cynically mocked Bristol and what she had to say. Which many found offensive, especially her mother, considering the details of what Bristol claimed were accounts of fairly severe male on female violence, including her stating that she had been dragged on the ground by her feet by a male at the party.

Of course, nobody should ever mock any kind of domestic violence. Though it’s clear from the official police reports that it was Bristol who was one of the most aggressive and violent of the bunch.

But since Costello made these comments, she issued a statement to Politico apologizing for the candor in which she went about reporting on this story. Which I think is more than enough.

Though apparently that hasn’t been enough. Some are calling for a full on-air apology, with even others within the media that I’ve seen floating around the internet suggesting that she be fired.

It’s all ridiculous.

She shouldn’t apologize to anyone. Was what she said a bit tacky? I could see how some could see it that way. But Bristol Palin’s comments in that audio don’t at all go along with official police reports and the vast majority of witness testimony from what happened that night. Which by official police accounts from witness testimony, paints her as someone who was out of control, aggressively and violently attacking the homeowner where the party was being held.

In fact, if you read the official police report it seems most of the entire Palin family was completely out of control.

Remember, Sarah Palin validates much of her core ideology on the premise that she’s “fighting for good, wholesome Christian values.” So I don’t think anyone should apologize for being a bit cynical when official police reports depict the Palin family as a drunken, aggressive group of lunatics attacking people at a party to which they were not invited.

And in all of this talk about Bristol’s comments to the police, it seems as if nobody has pointed out the fact that in the midst of a drunken brawl at nearly midnight, she states that her 5-year-old was with her. Why was a 5-year-old out with a bunch of drunk family members cruising around in a limo at nearly midnight? You’re telling me that’s the place for a 5-year-old child?

Let’s also not forget that Sarah Palin has built a career of her own out of bashing and attacking those with which she disagrees. She has put her family into the national spotlight and made them public figures. She could have faded away in 2008, but she didn’t want to. And now any time she or her family faces public scrutiny, she’s one of the first to publicly whine and complain about those being critical toward them.

Again, this is Sarah Palin, who herself seemed appalled at Costello’s comments, yet is someone who’s called Rush Limbaugh one of her heroes (a man who’s openly a racist and a sexist) and has sung the praises of draft-dodging pedophile Ted Nugent. Two men who have made countless disgusting and slanderous remarks against President Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Then let’s not forget we’ve already seen one on-air personality, Martin Bashir, get fired/resign because of some less than flattering comments he made about Palin’s ignorance.

Look, Costello probably should have stuck with a straight-line reporting of Bristol’s comments and left it at that. But I don’t blame anyone for being cynical when it comes to this family. And had the official police report actually supported Bristol’s account of what happened, I would be one of the first ones condemning Costello’s mocking of what she had to say. But it didn’t. Instead, the reports and most witness accounts painted Bristol (and much of the Palin family) as a group of out of control drunks who showed up somewhere that they weren’t invited. With Bristol being one of the people who the majority of witnesses said was the most aggressive and out of control of the bunch. Aggressively, and repeatedly, attacking the homeowner.

So while I’m sure Costello will almost certainly have to issue some kind of on-air apology to the Palin family, I don’t think anyone owes them an apology. Not unless the queen of this family, Sarah Palin, starts issuing formal apologies for all the lies, propaganda and borderline slanderous comments she’s made (like mocking a diabetic pregnant woman) about people over the years.

Which is something I’m positive she’ll never do.

Student Who Stood Up To Don Young Says He Was Shocked By Homophobic Remark

An Alaska high school student said he and his classmates were stunned by Rep. Don Young's (R-Alaska) insensitive comments during a school assembly Tuesday and thinks the congressman’s apology was insincere.

Zachary Grier, 17, a senior at Wasilla High School, asked Young during the assembly why he still opposed same-sex marriage, even after a court struck down Alaska's ban on same-sex unions. Young responded by asking Grier, “What do you get when you have two bulls having sex?” When Grier answered that he didn’t know, Young told him: “A whole lot of bull.”

Grier said his principal cut the assembly short after his question. Many teachers later thanked him for pressing Young.

“I was pretty upset,” Grier told The Huffington Post. “I can understand having your own opinion, and that’s fine. But having your own opinion and coming into a room filled with high schoolers and telling them that same-sex marriage is the same as two bulls having sex -- in my opinion, that’s wrong.”

Even more shocking, Grier said, was the way Young talked about suicide less than a week after a high school classmate took his own life. Young told the assembly of about 130 students that suicide was caused by a lack of community support, which angered a close friend of the deceased student. When the student interrupted Young to say that wasn’t true, the congressman called him a “smartass,” Grier said.

“To hear that it was because you weren’t a good friend, I mean that makes someone hurt more than just having that happen,” Grier said. “To hear that it’s your fault after the fact is definitely a heavier blow.”

The leader of the nation's largest suicide prevention organization expressed dismay at Young's comments.

BREAKING NEWS: Vladimir Putin can now see gay marriage from his house!

A federal judge has struck down Alaska’s first-in-the-nation ban on same-sex marriages.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess on Sunday said the ban violates the U.S. constitutional guarantee of due process and equal protection.

With this ruling, the Court hereby DECLARES that Alaska’s same-sex marriage laws are unconstitutional for violating the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court IMMEDIATELY ENJOINS the state of Alaska, including state officers, personnel, agents, government divisions, and other political entities, from enforcing Alaska Constitution Article 1, Section 25 and Alaska Statute Sections 25.05.011 and 25.05.013 to the extent that the laws prohibit otherwise qualified same-sex couples from marriage and refusing to recognize lawful same-sex marriages entered in other states. IT IS SO ORDERED.

The state could appeal to the 9th Circuit Court, where chances of it winning were slim since the federal appeals court already has ruled against Idaho and Nevada, which made similar arguments.

Five same-sex couples had asked the state of Alaska to overturn a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 1998 that defined marriage as being between one man and one woman.

The lawsuit filed in May sought to bar enforcement of Alaska’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. It also called for barring enforcement of any state laws that refuse to recognize gay marriages legally performed in other states or countries or that prevent unmarried gay couples from marrying.

Alaska voters in 1998 approved a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. But in the past year, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that prevented legally married same-sex couples from receiving a range of federal benefits. Federal courts also have since struck down state constitutional bans in a number of states.

The plaintiffs are Matthew Hamby and Christopher Shelden; Christina LaBorde and Susan Tow; Sean Egan and David Robinson; Tracey Wiese and Katrina Cortez; and Courtney Lamb and Stephanie Pearson. Lamb and Pearson are unmarried.

Defendants included Gov. Sean Parnell and Attorney General Michael Geraghty, who earlier this year told The Associated Press he would continue to defend the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, even as federal courts around the country strike down similar bans.

Read the decision below:

Alaska Supreme Court Implements Survivor Benefits for Gay Couples

Via press release from Lambda Legal: 

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the same-sex partner of a person killed on the job should have access to the protection of Alaska’s workers’ compensation law. This is a wonderful ruling for same-sex couples in Alaska who have built lives and raised families together but were at risk because they were barred access to a critical safety net created specifically to catch families at moments of crisis,” said Peter Renn, Lambda Legal Staff Attorney. “Like the avalanche of decisions we’re seeing from every corner of this country, the court recognized that loving, committed same-sex couples should have equal access to the law’s protection.” Today’s ruling came in Harris v. Millennium Hotel, a lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal seeking survivor benefits for Deborah Harris, the same-sex partner of Kerry Fadely, who worked at Anchorage’s Millennium Hotel and was shot and killed in 2011 by a disgruntled former employee.

Lambda Legal notes that before today's ruling, same-sex partners were "categorically denied" access to survivor benefits due to the ban on same-sex marriage.

Alaska Files Brief Arguing That 'as a Sovereign State' It Has Right to 'Define and Regulate Marriage'

In an official brief in the May 12 lawsuit Hamby v Parnell filed in the U.S. District Court in Anchorage, Alaska has stated that the five plaintiff couples have had none of their constitutional rights violated and therefore no legal justification for their goal.

Alaska’s Department of Law, arguing on behalf of Gov. Sean Parnell, claim that the lawsuit raises a political question rather than a legal one and that under the amendment “Alaska has the right as a sovereign state to define and regulate marriage.”

In 1998, Alaskan voters passed a constitutional amendment to define marriage as existing only between one man and one woman. Plaintiffs in the May 12 challenge argued that the amendment clashes with a guarantee of due process and equal protection provided by the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit aims to have out-of-state same-sex marriages recognized in Alaska and to provide for same-sex marriage in the state.

Plaintiff Matthew Hamby argue that he and and his husband took a stand because “it's important to us that our family is recognized by the State of Alaska and that we have the same rights and privileges as others."

ALASKA: First Marriage Lawsuit Filed

Via press release: 

In an effort to change Alaska’s definition of marriage, five same-sex couples have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Gov. Sean Parnell and other state officials. The lawsuit claims that an amendment added to the Alaska Constitution in 1998, defining marriage as being between one man and one woman, violates their due process and equal protection under the 14th. 

Four of the plaintiff couples hold marriage licenses from other states that allow same-sex marriage. One couple is seeking the right to marry in Alaska. “Under current Alaska law, a couple who marries in Seattle and returns home to Alaska are married in the eyes of the law when their plane lifts off from SeaTac, but are legal strangers when the flight touches down in Alaska,” said Heather Gardner, one of three Alaska attorneys representing the plaintiffs. 

“No Alaskan is a second class citizen,” she said. “We are taking a stand because marriage should be available to all loving couples,” said Matthew Hamby one of the plaintiffs who married his partner Christopher Shelden last year in Utah. “It’s important to us that our family is recognized by the State of Alaska and that we have the same rights and privileges as others."

North Dakota and Montana are now the only states without marriage equality lawsuits. 

Read the full Alaska filing at Scribd.

Alaska Supreme Court rules same-sex couples have equal property tax rights

Same-sex couples in Alaska are equally entitled to the same state property-tax exemptions for senior citizens and disabled veterans as married couples, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The decision upholds a 2011 Superior Court ruling on a taxation case involving three same-sex Anchorage couples who sued the state and municipality of Anchorage 2010 through the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska. 

Joshua Decker, executive director of ACLU of Alaska, hailed the opinion, saying it shows that discrimination has no place in the state. 

"Simply because you happen to be gay or lesbian, you should not be paying more taxes," he said. "Your tax bill should not turn on who you happen to love." 

A brief statement released by the Alaska Department of Law said the state was still reviewing the opinion. "Because of the potential implications of this case, it will take time to thoroughly evaluate the decision," the statement said. 

The high court reversed the earlier court ruling for one of the couples, saying the senior citizen in the couple had no actual ownership in the property owned by his younger partner. The couple thus was not eligible under state law allowing seniors at least 65 years old and disabled veterans to exclude from their property taxes the first $150,000 of assessed value of primary homes, the court said. 

The court disagreed with the Superior Court's reading of a provision stating that "the reimbursement applies, regardless of whether the property is held in the name of the husband, wife, or both," saying the lower court reasoned that the language extended the exemption to eligible individuals who live with their spouse but do not own the home. 

"We do not read the regulation as making it irrelevant that a senior citizen has no ownership interest at all," Friday's ruling states. "The regulation does make it irrelevant that the property 'is held in the name of the husband, wife, or both.' That language means that the identity of the title holder is not itself determinative, but the regulation does not say that actual ownership is irrelevant." 

Alaska Senate Minority Leader Hollis French Introduces Legislation to Repeal State's Gay Marriage Ban

Alaska's Senate Minority Leader Hollis French (D-Anchorage) has introduced legislation that would strike down the state's ban on same-sex marriage, the AP reports:

In a statement, French said passage of his constitutional amendment would let Alaska voters "remove this blot on our state constitution."

The proposal was introduced Monday.

To pass, the proposal would need a two-thirds vote in each the Alaska Senate and the House before it could qualify for the ballot...French told reporters he has had some casual conversations with other legislators about his proposal but "felt more morally compelled to file it than out of any sort of a vote-counting exercise." He later called it a civil rights issue.

It's unclear what kind of chances French's proposal has of advancing. Republicans currently control both chambers of the state’s legislature.

A recent PPP poll showed that a majority in Alaska now support same-sex marriage, a 9 point shift over the last year.

The Alaska Senate Democrats posted Hollis's full statement:

“I believe that we as a nation have been engaged in, and are in the middle of, a long march towards marriage equality. The reason is that we all have, in the bottom of our souls, a deep belief in the four cardinal American virtues: freedom, justice, liberty, and equality,” stated Senator French.

If passed by the legislature, Senator French’s resolution would put the constitutional question before the Alaskan voters this fall.

“There are rapid changes happening in the legal landscape on this issue. Last year the US Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Windsor that the Defense of Marriage Act’s ban on same-sex marriages was invalid as to lawfully married same-sex couples. Since then a series of court decisions in Utah, Oklahoma, and Virginia have used the legal reasoning in Winsdor to invalidate state bans on same-sex marriage. The day is not far off when the US Supreme Court rules that state prohibitions on same-sex marriage are inconsistent with freedom, justice, liberty, and equality. Passage of this resolution will allow Alaskan voters to remove this blot on our state constitution through our own action,” said Senator French.

Run Sarah Run!

Sarah Palin may run for the U.S. Senate in Alaska, Politico reports:

“I’ve considered it because people have requested me considering it, but I’m still waiting to see what the lineup will be and hoping that … there will be some new blood, some new energy,” the former governor told Sean Hannity during an appearance on his radio show.

Two Republicans have already announced challenges to Democratic freshman Sen. Mark Begich: Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and 2010 GOP nominee Joe Miller.

“We’d meet with any Alaskan interested in challenging Mark Begich,” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Brad Dayspring told POLITICO, “and Governor Palin is right in that Begich abandoned his campaign promises — most notably by being the deciding vote on ObamaCare — and must be repealed and replaced.”

Senator Lisa Murkowski Endorses Marriage Equality

Today, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced that she supports marriage equality. Murkowski joins two of her Republican colleagues – Senator Rob Portman of Ohio and Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois – in endorsing the right of committed and loving gay and lesbian couples to marry.

Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Chad Griffin released the following statement in response to the news:

“Senator Murkowski’s courageous and principled announcement today sends a clear message that marriage equality must come to all 50 states in this country. As the Supreme Court prepares to rule in two landmark marriage cases this month, a growing bipartisan coalition is standing up for the right of all couples to marry—and there is no turning back that tide.

“We hope other fair-minded conservatives like Senator Murkowski stand up and join her. Alaska may be nicknamed ‘the Last Frontier,’ but we’ve got to make sure that LGBT Alaskans don’t have to wait to find justice.”

Senator Lisa Murkowski joins a growing number of elected and rank-and-file Republicans vocally supporting marriage equality. Earlier this year, a pro-equality amicus brief signed by more than 100 prominent Republicans was submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in the Hollingsworth v. Perry case. And a number of recent polls have shown an emerging Republican coalition for marriage—including a clear majority of conservative youth.

Senator Lisa Murkowski supported both the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Palin Won’t Go Away

In her seemingly never-ending quest to frighten progressives and people with more than two functioning brain cells, Sarah Palin appears to be threatening to run for higher political office at the request of a Tea Party Group.

Despite slowly fading away after it was finally discovered everything Palin touches either turns to sh*t or loses all credibility, the Tea Party Leadership Fund is actively trying to draft the Avon lady to run for Senate in Alaska in 2014. Apparently Sharon Angle and Christine O’ Donnell didn’t cause enough humiliation and disappointment in 2010, so it’s time to bring in the big guns. The fund feels that Palin has a strong chance for victory on account of recent polling showing incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Begich with less than 50 percent of the vote. Big Gulps For Everyone!

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