I was born and raised in Anchorage. I have worked as a civil rights activist and lawyer here for almost 20 years. Forrest Dunbar has been unafraid to stand up for LGBTQI+ rights every step of the way.
In the May 11 mayoral runoff election, Anchorage voters will likely face a choice between Dunbar, a strong advocate for LGBTQI+ rights, and Dave Bronson, a homophobic extremist.Dunbar has demonstrated his support for equality, diversity, and inclusion. He supports the Anchorage ordinance that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, passed by the Anchorage Assembly and upheld at the ballot box by Anchorage voters. He supports equality in the provision of municipal services around the city. He is committed to diversity in city government. He voted to pass the ban on on dangerous antiscientific “conversion therapy,” which is nothing more than torture of LGBTQI+ youth.
Bronson has a long record on equality, diversity and inclusion: He’s against them. He testified to the Alaska Legislature in favor of banning same-sex couples from marriage in 2007. He testified and organized against an inclusive Anchorage Equal Rights ordinance in 2009 and 2015 that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. After the Assembly passed the ordinance, Bronson and his wife filed a petition to repeal the ordinance, which was ultimately rejected by Anchorage voters. He opposed the conversion therapy ban ordinance. He is a founding member of the Alaska Family Council and Alaska Family Action, and publicly expressed his support for Rev. Jerry Prevo of Anchorage Baptist Temple’s split from the National Boy Scouts of America when the Scouts voted to lift a ban on openly gay members. Bronson has repeatedly made public statements equating sin, bestiality, addiction, promiscuity, and being LGBTQI+.
For LGBTQI+ people, equality, diversity, and inclusion can make a life or death difference. It’s not window dressing. These values or their opposites; inequality, supremacy, exclusion, are crucial determinants of whether people can be safe and healthy in our city or face violence, eviction, wrongful termination, shunning, and violence.
Time and again, Forrest Dunbar has always been there as a defender of civil rights for all. A vote for any candidate but Forrest in the May 11 mayoral runoff election would be a step backward for Anchorage.
— Caitlin Shortell
Anchorage
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