Follow Up: Jan 4 LGBTQ Safety Townhall

Please note, a lot of this information is past date - the purpose of sharing it here is so that all of our information is in one place.

January 19, 2020:

"Hello, Thank you for coming to the meeting we held at the library. On behalf of the organizers, we appreciate your commitment to ensuring our community is a safe and welcoming place for all...

PENDING LEGISLATION CITY OF SOLDOTNA RESOLUTION 2020-006 - We actually have an urgent issue upon us this week. I do apologize for the late notice, as we only heard on Friday. Soldotna City council has written a resolution supporting HB 198 (the one Knopp is cosponsoring as a result of our Jan 4 meeting)! It is on the Agenda for the Wednesday, Jan 22nd City Council meeting, 6 pm, City Hall (177 N Birch St). See the full resolution here:https://www.soldotna.org/home/showdocument?id=12919

Anchorage is working on a similar resolution. If you know anyone in surrounding areas, encourage them to pass the resolution on to their governing bodies. Consider writing a  letter to the editor for local newspapers, posting the information on your facebook page, attending representative townhalls and other public meetings, and otherwise spreading the word. The more cities, tribes, burroughs, school districts, etc supporting the legislation, the harder it will be to defeat in the AK legislature. The same can be applied to the two following points as well.

ALASKA HOUSE BILL 198, AN ACT RELATING TO AGGRAVATING FACTORS CONSIDERED AT SENTENCING - This bill adds "sexual orientation and gender identity: to existing legislation. See the full bill here: http://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Text/31?Hsid=HB0198A&fbclid=IwAR1ZZiKkZ6y3SdtjDoFwwgP2SJwOK5QoCIoIQJ09MZSDdDgjkizwkm7wcJ8

ALASKA SENATE BILL 82 - See the full bill here: http://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Detail/31?Root=SB%20%2082

On a related note: Already this year (2020) many states and municipalities have introduced legislation to limit the rights of  the LGBTQ community, such as barring same sex couples to adopt children in Tennessee. The Human Rights Campaign is a great source to keep up to date on trending legislation nationwide: https://www.hrc.org.

Safe Zone Many Voices is hosting our first ever public Safe Zone Training on February 8 at KPC ResLife. See the facebook event page for more info, and please consider RSVPing if you are attending (it is not required but will help the organizers prepare). https://www.facebook.com/events/2250840535208462/Alliance

Queens Guard Jamie Gilliam is working with the Anchorage Branch of the Queens Guard to set up a Soldotna Branch. Please contact her at Jamieldooleygilliam@gmail.com if you are interested in participating. If you already signed up to receive information about this specifically, expect a follow up email form one of us in the near future.

Soldotna Pride 2020 The next Pride in the Park Planning meeting will take place at 6:30 PM on January 30th at KPC ResLife: https://www.facebook.com/events/2640818912870961/. We have a tentative date for Soldotna Pride in the Park 2020, but we are waiting for our reservation to be confirmed by the Parks Department, after March 1st. Public requests do not get reviewed or approved until after the city schedules all of their dates for the summer, understandably.

LGBT Alliance Meeting The next LGBT Alliance meeting will take place at 7 P.M. on January 28th at KPC Reslife: https://www.facebook.com/events/736054446908460/

Update on Tammie's case We thought you might be interested to know what has happened over the last 2 weeks in regards to Tammie's case. There have been no updates from local LEO, however, Tammie had this to say: "I met with the FBI last week and was informed that they feel there is enough evidence to raise my case to the level of a federal hate crime and are now officially investigating it as such.  There are still few leads but the FBI has a lot more resources to help with the investigation. Cooper Reed from HRC also reached out to me to offer support.  We talked about the new legislation and HRC supports it 100% and are willing to assist however we feel they can. I have also been in contact with Ira Slomski-Pritz, who is the LGBTQ liaison for the Anchorage Mayor.   She is going to help Anchorage City pass a similar resolution in support of HB 198. Lastly, I am hoping to meet with Senator Murkowski in the near future to see if she would be willing to co-sponsor a federal equality bill."

Again, thank you so much for committing to justice and equality for all. Please feel free to forward this email to other LGBTQ and Allys. We would like to make sure our local community is as connected to one another as possible. Stay tuned for future updates and other exciting things in the works!" "Recognize important opportunities when they avail themselves because that's how you  change the world." - Alan Boraas