Anchorage city clerk Barbara Gruenstein said that would take until sometime next week for her office to review the signatures, but that supporters only needed 5,871 valid signatures.

But at least one opposition group — the conservative Christian group, Alaska Family Council — is already planning to campaign against the measure, reported the Anchorage Daily News.

The initiative is similar to a city ordinance that was passed by the Anchorage Assembly in 2009 after weeks of public hearings and debate, but then was vetoed by Mayor Dan Sullivan. The fight before the Assembly was long and loud, with hundreds of people, both proponents and opponents, speaking out.

When he vetoed the gay rights ordinance in 2009, Sullivan famously said he was not convinced there is discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation here. On Thursday, Sarah Erkmann, the mayor’s spokeswoman, said this was his reaction to the initiative:

“Mayor Sullivan believes a ballot initiative is appropriate in that it allows all citizens to weigh in on this subject.”

Existing city law makes it illegal to discriminate in hiring, housing and other opportunities on the basis of race, gender, age, religion, marital status or physical or mental disability. The initiative, if it gets to voters and is passed, will add “sexual orientation, or transgender identity” to the list.

Alaska Family Council president Jim Minnery said the council and its legislative arm, Alaska Family Action, will be in the fore of a battle against the initiative.

“I wish we lived in a world where everyone was automatically treated the same regardless of whether we agreed or disagreed with who they are as people,” Storrs said at a press conference in the City Hall lobby. “The reality is a person who works hard and does a good job can be fired simply because they are gay.”

“It’s not clear that there is any widespread discrimination against the gay community,” Minnery said. “What is clearer is that this is a true threat to religious liberties.”

Anchorage Daily News

Trevor Storrs, spokesman for One Anchorage — the group behind the initiative — said One Anchorage volunteers collected signatures from all around town where people gather, from house parties to public areas close to shopping centers.

Storrs also indicated that the group had raised about $90,000 so far for its ballot initiative campaign.

In the lawsuit, filed Monday in Alaska Superior Court, the ACLU challenges Alaska’s Division of Motor Vehicles over what it calls an outdated internal policy.

The lawsuit is being filed on behalf of a transgender woman, K.L., whose U.S. passport and work documents all identify her as a female.

After initially securing a change to the gender on her driver’s license, she was told that her new license would be revoked unless she submitted proof of having surgery.

Medical experts agree that surgery is medically necessary for some with gender identity disorder (GID), but not for everyone. Treatment for GID is individualized, and some can be effectively treated without it, making it unnecessary for the state to confirm whether or not an individual has had surgery before correcting a license. Additionally, such surgery is extremely expensive and potentially dangerous.

ACLU

“It is unfair and unnecessary to require that transgender people undergo prohibitively expensive and drastic surgery in order to have accurate identity documents,” said Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Alaska.

The state supreme court has found that the Alaska Constitution’s privacy clause protects individuals’ right to self-expression and to be free from the disclosure of sensitive personal information and government intrusions on their decisions about medical care, according to the ACLU.

“The surgery requirement not only violates Alaska’s laws, it demonstrates a profound lack of understanding about what it means to be transgender,” said John Knight, staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project.

“Having a driver’s license that doesn’t match my appearance and identity would place me at risk of discrimination and physical harm,” said K.L., who has lived as a woman for two years.

Police identified the victim as 50-year-old James L. Crump of Anchorage. Crump worked as a registered nurse for the city’s Health and Human Services department and was walking in the annual parade, police said.

Police said the driver was Edith Bailey, 70, of Eagle River.

Grand Marshal Doug Frank said he was riding in the black convertible on Sixth Avenue near D Street when Bailey had trouble with the car’s accelerator. It lurched forward, Frank said.

[snip]

“It’s a pure accident,” Frank said. “(The driver) just panicked and kept hitting the accelerator and it kept jumping forward.”

Crump was dragged underneath the car, Frank said.

Police tried unsuccessfully to revive the unidentified victim, according to reports.

The parade was canceled immediately following the incident.

We’d had a reading of the script and everyone was excited about it. It was about a private girls’ school where this nasty little girl decides to spread a rumor that two of her teachers are lesbians. Turns out one is and is actually in love with the one that isn’t.

[Spoiler Alert:] Drama ensues, lesbian teacher kills herself over the rumors and unrequited love in the end. That morning, the principal got on the loudspeaker and announced that the auditions were cancelled and that the drama club would be selecting a new play.

We were all confused and some of us marched down to the his office to find out what was up.

It seems the principal had heard from a few freshman parents that the play was all about lesbians and he decided it wasn’t appropriate. We hemmed and hawed, and the principal told us his decision was “final.”

So I marched over to the library (the librarian loved me and let me hang out in her office and use the phone if I wanted), and I called the ACLU.

The next morning, the officers of the drama club were called down to his office -– “I rented the movie last night and my real problem is that there’s a suicide, so just make sure that happens offstage and you can do the play.”

Dwight Probasco

Cuz ya know, we were thinking it might be fun to have someone shoot themselves center stage. Anyway… I was reminded of this story when I read this little morsel of bigotry straight out of Sarah Palin’s hometown.

Wasilla High School’s Symphonic Jazz Choir had been working on Freddie Mercury’s hit anthem “Bohemian Rhapsody” all year in preparation for a performance at the school’s graduation next month.

The song had been played at several school events
including the prom and (as is the case for several decades now), no one seemed to have a problem with it. Until now.

It seems Principal Dwight Probasco received some phone calls from some angry parents who deemed the song “inappropriate” because it was written by a gay man.

So, instead of realizing he was the principal of a high school which more than likely taught about Michelangelo, Alexander the Great, Socrates, Lord Byron, Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, Proust, Stein, Leonard Bernstein, Tennessee Williams, Andy Warhol, Leonardo Da Vinci, Melville, Tchaikovsky, Eleanor Roosevelt, Julius Caesar, Hans Christian Anderson, Aristotle, Noel Coward and Cole Porter, he decided to ban the song.

The students were naturally up in arms about this, having been practicing for some time. Choir member Casey Hight went so far as to contact a gay and lesbian organization in Anchorage for some help.

On Monday, reportedly due to fear of the ACLU, Probasco lifted the ban and is allowing an edited version of the song to be performed (to leave out the parts about killing).

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Levi Johnston wants to take off the boxing gloves with the Palins.

Just days after appearing on an episode of Kathy Griffin’s “My Life on the D-List” reality show, where the hilarious comedian went to Alaska to visit her faux boyfriend Levi Johnston, the Playgirl stud is saying he wants to bury the hatchet with the Palin family.

During the episode, Griffin was determined to get into the “Palin Compound” using Levi, and tried several times to make him talk about Sarah, Todd, and Bristol. Johnston went along with it a bit, even driving Griffin by the Palins’ home. But mostly, he remained uncharacteristically quiet, particularly in light of the scathing interview he gave Vanity Fair last year, titled, “Me and Mrs. Palin”, in which he tore into the former Alaska Governer-turned-media magnate and was highly critical of the way she and Todd raised their children.

But now Johnston has told People magazine he wants to improve his relations with the Palin family, particularly Sarah Palin:

“Last year, after Bristol and I broke up, I was unhappy and a little angry,” Johnston said. “Unfortunately, against my better judgment, I publicly said things about the Palins that were not completely true. So to the Palin family in general and to Sarah Palin in particular, please accept my regrets and forgive my youthful indiscretion. I hope one day to restore your trust.”

Sarah Palin has yet to issue a statement in response to Johnston’s apology. It appears to come after he and Bristol Palin both realized they needed to put aside their differences and hostilities for the sake of their child, Tripp. Either that, or he was strong-armed into it.

Bristol Palin spoke of the “need for good co-parenting” in People, which she described as “creating healthy and honest relationships between the parents” (someone’s been reading self-help books). Bristol added, “Tripp one day needs to know the truth and needs to know that even if a mistake is made the honorable thing to do is to own up to it.”

Okey-dokey, then.

From KTUU-TV:

The Imperial Court of All Alaska, an organization supporting the gay community, rebuilt its float with community support after it burned in a suspicious fire early Friday morning.

“Our float is now called ‘Phoenix Rising,’” said Colleen Crinklaw, who helped build both the old and new floats. “Two days ago on Friday morning, our original float was burned in a suspicious fire.”

But like a phoenix rising from its ashes, donations and support made it possible to rebuild the float in one day — “Phoenix Rising” won the Grand Champion trophy at Sunday’s parade.

Photo: Colleen Crinklaw via Anchorage Daily News

Authorities in Anchorage, AK are investigating the cause of an early morning fire on Friday that destroyed a gay pride float intended for a 4th of July parade.

The fire started in a garage and spread to a nearby duplex, according to fire officials. The float was in a car tent in front of the garage; it had previously been used in last weekend’s gay pride parade, and was being readied for the Fourth of July parade.

It’s unclear if the fire was an accident or arson. But KTUU-TV reported that witnesses told fire investigators they saw someone running from the driveway just moments before the garage went up in flames.

The float belonged to the gay rights organization Imperial Court of All Alaska.

A fire department spokeswoman said the fire is being called suspicious and is under investigation.

Photo via the Anchorage Daily News.

The ordinance’s author, Patrick Flynn, says the Assembly would have to start all over if it wants to pass the ordinance because it simply does not have the support.

It would take eight votes to override the mayor’s veto and the ordinance only passed seven votes.

Assembly Chairwoman Debbie Ossiander (pictured), considered the most likely swing vote, said before Tuesday night’s Assembly meeting that she still opposes the measure as passed on Aug. 11.

Flynn says the measure was an attempt to ban discrimination and guarantee equal rights in employment, housing, finance and public accommodations for gays, lesbians and transgender people.

Critics say it would intrude on freedom of religion.

Mayor Dan Sullivan vetoed the anti-discrimination ordinance a week ago. Under city law, the Assembly has 21 days from that time to consider an override.

City leaders passed the measure that bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in areas of employment, housing and credit by a 7 to 4 vote last week. The ordinance exempted religious organizations from the regulations.

“My review shows that there is clearly a lack of quantifiable evidence necessitating this ordinance,” Sullivan said in a statement. “My review also shows that the vast majority of those who communicated their position on the ordinance are in opposition.”

An override of the mayor’s  veto will require 8 votes

The decision was announced in a statement, and the mayor did not grant interviews.