The Anchorage Assembly is once again urging residents to get fully on board with promoting all things LGBTQ+ during the month of June.

A resolution to this end was submitted for the June 7 meeting by Assembly members Suzanne LaFrance, Christopher Constant, Randy Sulte, Forrest Dunbar, Kameron Perez-Verdia, Pete Peterson, Austin Quinn-Davidson, Felix Rivera and Meg Zaletel.

While most of the above figures are widely considered to be hard leftists, Randy Sulte was recently elected by conservative residents to counter the leftist majority. The Watchman reached out to Sulte to find out why he is supporting the Pride Month resolution. In a brief email response Sulte said he’s not 100% sure he will keep his name on the resolution, but noted that he does have a family member who identifies with the LGBTQ community.

The proposed resolution calls on Anchorage to celebrate the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York, which were sparked by violent LGBTQ protesters after police raided a gay bar run by local mafia without a liquor license. The resolution also promotes gay pride events around Anchorage.

The proposed resolution directs Anchorage residents to participate in events that promote the LGBTQ lifestyle, including occasions for children.

“The story of Anchorage’s LGBTQ+ communities is America’s story,” the resolution states. “An integral part of our long, ongoing struggle to realize the American promise of equality under the law and equality of opportunity in our society, while protecting and guaranteeing privacy rights.”

The resolution goes on to heap praise on the 2015 Anchorage law that added sexual orientation and gender identity as protected legal classifications that local businesses, non-profits and even religious groups had to follow when making hiring decisions or determining how to run their entities.

Critics of the law warned that it would be used to target individuals and groups with deeply held traditional beliefs about marriage and human sexuality. In fact, the city employed the law in 2018 against the Downtown Hope Center, a faith-based battered women’s shelter that declined to let a biological male, who identified as transgender, sleep in close quarters with women who have suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of men.

After a lengthy lawsuit, the city was ultimately forced to settle with the women’s shelter and pay $100,000 in legal fines. The law, however, is still on the books and enforcement looms for other groups that may hold similar traditional or religious views about marriage and sexuality.

The proposed resolution for the June 7 meeting directs Anchorage residents to participate in upcoming events that promote the LGBTQ lifestyle, including occasions for children. It highlights “Pride-events” listed on the website of Identity Alaska, a radical LGBTQ activist group that has, in the past, organized Drag Queen performances at the Loussac Library for young children. While there are no youth targeted drag shows set for this year, Identity does list an LGBTQ “family friendly” drum circle at the Mountain View Library in which attendees are encouraged to dress in “Pride regalia” as they “laugh, dance, and share our spirits in community through rhythm and drumming.”

Other events listed on the website include adult drag shows, a LGBTQ block party with free HIV testing and an after-party, a PrideFest celebration and a “Rainbow Run” to raise money for a group that promotes homosexuality and the LGBTQ lifestyle to Alaskan youth.

TAKING ACTION

— Click here to read the resolution.

— Click here to contact members of the Anchorage Assembly.

— Click here for information on how to participate in the June 7 Anchorage Assembly meeting.

Click here to support Alaska Watchman reporting.