Courtesy photos / SEAGLA                                D’Lo, an actor-writer-comedian, will be taking part in the events of the Southeast Alaska LGBTQ+ Alliance’s Pride Week, beginning on Friday.

Courtesy photos / SEAGLA D’Lo, an actor-writer-comedian, will be taking part in the events of the Southeast Alaska LGBTQ+ Alliance’s Pride Week, beginning on Friday.

SEAGLA readies to kick off belated Pride Week

Many of the events are virtual, and all of them are inclusive.

While the coronavirus has dampened or killed off many annual public celebrations, it can’t stop the spirit that fires them.

The Southeast Alaska LGBTQ +Alliance took that to heart as they planned a Pride Week celebration beginning Friday

“We’re excited. We’ve been planning it for a little while now,” said Abi Spofford, a member of SEAGLA’s planning committee..“We just kinda got together and said, we’re gonna make this happen online.”

While Pride typically occurs in June, the events of the 2020, chiefly the coronavirus, have pushed it to August in order to still celebrate justice and inclusivity.

“We honor all those who came before, those who fight for justice — yesterday, today and for tomorrow — including and especially the Black Lives Matter movement. We honor this land — Lingít Aaní and it’s original peoples — the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian — and support their sovereign rights,” said SEAGLA in a news release. “We align our modern Pride movement for LGBTQ+ freedom with the freedom for all oppressed peoples of the world. We recognize the enormous gender and sexual diversity in identities in our community and work to lift up those underrepresented voices to promote greater understanding, awareness and strength. We call ALL people together to celebrate the tremendous talents, courage and uniqueness of the LGBTQ+ community with Juneau Pride 2020.”

[Tlingit and Haida violence against women co-chair picked for federal post]

The week will be marked with numerous, primarily online and accessible through SEAGLA’s Facebook page, but with two exceptions. The first will be an outdoors excursion near the Mendenhall Glacier called Choose Your Own Outdoor Adventure, on Sunday, Aug. 23. The other will be one of the culminating events, the Glitz Drive-In Drag Show, a drive-in event sponsored in part by the Gold Town Nickelodeon and University of Alaska Southeast, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 29.

“We’ve done a pretty good job splitting up the tasks as much as possible. There aren’t a ton of people on the planning committee,” Spofford said. “We put out a survey to see what people were interested in.”

About 10 people, give or take, did the majority of the planning, Spofford said. The online venue has allowed SEAGLA to include more groups than the traditionally bar-centered Pride events have allowed.

“It was important that a lot of the events were family friendly and were available to a wide range of ages. We’re keeping it family friendly,” Spofford said. “As an organization that revolves around inclusivity, in addition to being inclusive to LGBTQ+ people, we want to include non-drinkers and families with kids or younger members.”

Another major event will be the announcement of the winner of this year’s Mildred Boesser Equal Rights Award, named after a loud voice for LGBTQ rights in Alaska who passed in 2015. A number of poets and other artists, including Staceyann Chin, D’lo and Dewayne Perkins will be performing recitations or comedy sets.

The full schedule of events and how to participate in them is available on SEAGLA’s Facebook.

• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or lockett@juneauempire.com.

Dewayne Perks, a screenwriter and comedian, will be taking part in the events of the Southeast Alaska LGBTQ+ Alliance’s Pride Week. Most of this year’s events will take place online,

Dewayne Perks, a screenwriter and comedian, will be taking part in the events of the Southeast Alaska LGBTQ+ Alliance’s Pride Week. Most of this year’s events will take place online,

Staceyann Chin, a poet, will be taking part in the events of the Southeast Alaska LGBTQ+ Alliance’s Pride Week, beginning on Friday, Aug. 21, 2020. (Courtesy photo / SEAGLA)

Staceyann Chin, a poet, will be taking part in the events of the Southeast Alaska LGBTQ+ Alliance’s Pride Week, beginning on Friday, Aug. 21, 2020. (Courtesy photo / SEAGLA)

More in News

The Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Encore docks in Juneau in October, 2022. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)
Ships in Port for the Week of May 28

Here’s what to expect this week.

File Photo
Police calls for Saturday, May 27

This report contains information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Dozens of Juneau teachers, students and residents gather at the steps of the Alaska State Capitol on Jan. 23 in advocacy for an increase in the state’s flat funding via the base student allocation, which hasn’t increased sizeably since 2017 and has failed to keep pace with inflation during the past decade. A one-time funding increase was approved during this year’s legislative session. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire file photo)
What’s next for the most debated bills pending in the Legislature?

Education funding increase, “parental rights” and other proposals will resurface next year.

Emergency lights flash on top of a police car. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)
Police investigate assault in Lemon Creek area

“JPD does not believe there is any danger to the public at large.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Feb. 24, 2022, in Orlando, Fla. DeSantis has filed a declaration of candidacy for president, entering the 2024 race as Donald Trump’s top GOP rival (AP Photo / John Raoux)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launches 2024 GOP presidential campaign to challenge Trump

Decision revealed in FEC filing before an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Police calls for Wednesday, May 23, 2023

This report contains information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

A channel flows through the mud flats along the Seward Highway and Turnagain Arm in Alaska on Oct. 25, 2014. Authorities said, a 20-year-old man from Illinois who was walking Sunday evening, May 21, 2023, on tidal mud flats with friends in an Alaska estuary, got stuck up to his waist in the quicksand-like silt and drowned as the tide came in before frantic rescuers could extract him.  (Bob Hallinen / Anchorage Daily News)
Illinois man gets stuck waist-deep in Alaska mud flats, drowns as tide comes in

“…It’s Mother Nature, and she has no mercy for humanity.”

Most Read