August 12, 2022
Ballot Measure to Defund Ketchikan’s Library Over Drag Queen Storytime Certified for Oct. 4 Election

Proposition 2 will ask voters whether to repeal the borough’s “nonareawide library powers.” That would prevent the borough from taxing homeowners outside city limits to fund the library. Those taxes provide about $500,000 in annual funding to the library.

June 24, 2022
Local LGBTQ+ Advocate Receives Award for Work Building Community

The Southeast Alaska LGBTQ+ Alliance will award a local advocate for spaces and support for queer youth with its Mildred Boesser Equal Rights Award on Sunday.

Meryl Connelly-Chew, who works for the National Alliance on Mental Illness- Juneau as a program coordinator, will receive the award for their community-based work around Juneau for LGBTQ+ youth.

June 23, 2022
Signature-gathering to Begin Soon for Initiative to Defund Ketchikan’s Library Over Drag Queen Event

Signature-gathering can begin soon for a proposed ballot initiative that would cut about 40% of Ketchikan’s library funding in response to a drag queen storytime.

The initiative’s sponsor, former Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly Member John Harrington, said at an assembly meeting on Monday that he’d like the library to pledge not to hold similar programs in the future.

June 21, 2022
Juneau Youth Center’s Pride Party Creates a Needed Space for LGBTQ+ Youth

This was the third year that the center has hosted an in-person Youth Pride Party. It’s one of the events that kicks off Pride Month in Juneau. About 65 kids showed up on June 4 with pride flags painted across their faces or draped over their shoulders. There were games and dancing through the rainbow balloon arch at the front door.

June 17, 2022
Ketchikan Assembly to Consider Asking Voters to Cut Library Funding in Response to Drag Queen Event

A former Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly member is asking the borough to cut more than half a million dollars in funding to the community’s library. John Harrington cites the library’s decision to host a drag queen for a children’s storytime in a letter requesting the cut.

June 17, 2022
Parents and Children Turn Out for Ketchikan’s First Drag Queen Storytime

Children of all ages turned out en masse to attend the Ketchikan Public Library’s first-ever drag queen storytime after city leaders declined to cancel the controversial event.

June 16, 2022
Drag Queen Reading at Ketchikan’s City-run Library to go Forward after Council Again Declines to Cancel Event

Ketchikan’s City Council voted 5-2 Thursday to allow a drag queen story reading scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday at the public library to proceed as planned.

June 15, 2022
Canceling Drag Queen Reading at Ketchikan’s Library Could be Illegal, Says City Attorney

Canceling a planned reading by a drag queen at Ketchikan’s public library could be illegal, according to the city’s attorney. In a written opinion, City Attorney Mitch Seaver tells the city council that a proposal to nix the event could open the city to civil rights lawsuits and other penalties. He says it could also run afoul of a local nondiscrimination ordinance, state civil rights law and the U.S. Constitution.

June 10, 2022
Residents, Library Board Weigh in as Ketchikan City Council Considers Canceling Drag Queen Storytime

Ketchikan’s City Council will consider next week whether to cancel an event celebrating Pride Month. Residents spoke out Thursday about the local library’s plans to host a Drag Queen Storytime event.

June 9, 2022
Ketchikan Assembly Restores Funding to Local LGBTQ Group, Overriding Mayor’s Veto

Ketchikan’s Borough Assembly on Monday overrode a mayoral veto and restored a roughly $1,600 grant to a local LGBTQ organization. The controversial funding request for the Ketchikan Pride Alliance was the subject of intense public debate during a heated assembly meeting.

June 3, 2022
Pride Month is Here, Statewide LGBTQ Protections Aren’t

With the legislative session over, and Pride Month beginning, only a handful of Alaska cities have codified protections for LGBTQ+ Alaskans.

June 3, 2022
Ketchikan City Council Declines to Cancel Planned Drag Queen Storytime Event

Ketchikan’s City Council on Thursday declined to cancel a Drag Queen Storytime event planned for later this month at the city-run library after some members of the community expressed concerns about the event celebrating Pride Month.

June 3, 2022
Ketchikan Borough Assembly to Consider Overriding Mayor’s Veto of LGBTQ Nonprofit Funding

Ketchikan’s Borough Assembly is set to consider overriding Mayor Rodney Dial’s veto of funding for a local LGBTQ organization at its regular meeting on Monday. Assembly Members Judith McQuerry and Jaimie Palmer say they’d like to restore a roughly $1,600 grant to the Ketchikan Pride Alliance erased by Dial’s veto pen last month.

May 17, 2022
Ketchikan Borough Mayor Vetoes Funding for LGBTQ Group as Assembly Passes Budgets

Ketchikan’s borough mayor followed through on a promise to veto funding for a local LGBTQ organization included in the borough’s budget.

May 4, 2022
Ketchikan Borough Mayor Vows to Veto Funding for Local LGBTQ Organization

Ketchikan’s borough mayor pledged on Monday to veto a roughly $1,600 grant to a local nonprofit organization focused on providing education and support to LGBTQ people.

April 8, 2022
State Senate Bill Would Require Schools to Post All Curriculum Related to Race, LGBTQ Topics Online

A bill that would require schools to post online all curriculum related to diversity, equity, race, gender and sexuality had its second hearing in the state Senate earlier this week.

March 31, 2022
Jane Hale, Juneau’s Trans Columnist, is Not Afraid of the Spotlight

Since her initial column in February, Jane Hale has taken on a public-facing role as a trans person in Juneau. Hale says trans visibility in Juneau is a work in progress, but, so far, she’s found support.

March 31, 2022
LGBTQ+ equal protection measure advances in the House

House Bill 17 advanced out of the House Judiciary Committee earlier this week, which marks the first time the legislation has ever advanced from committee. The legislation would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes to the state’s anti-discrimination laws.

March 7, 2022
State Legislature Weighs Bill to Prevent Trans Females from Competing Against Cis Females in Sports

A state senator has proposed legislation that would prevent transgender female athletes from competing against other female athletes in school sports.

February 19, 2022
Coming Out: How to Cross a Desert and Coming Out as Myself

Columnist, Jane Hale, comes out as transgender at the age of 69 through a column in the Juneau Empire.

January 5, 2022
With 2022, Comes Baby Ryleigh

Tawney and Issabella Crowley, of Wrangell, sit with their baby girl Ryleigh on Tuesday in the New Beginnings Birthing Center at PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center. The new parents welcomed their first-born to the world at 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Ryleigh was the first baby born in 2022 at PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center.