East Anchorage Book Club with Andrew Gray Andrew Gray

Jeremy Applegate is the chief of Wage and Hour for the State of Alaska Department of Labor. The goal of today’s episode is to inform workers, particularly seasonal workers who may have never worked in Alaska before, of their rights. Important things to know up front: workers are entitled to a written contract at the start of their employment which specifies how much they will be paid, when they will be paid, and how they will be paid. Most workers in Alaska are entitled to the state minimum wage of $11.73 an hour, and if a worker works more than 8 hours in a single day or more than 40 hours in a single week, most are entitled to overtime payment.
If you believe that your rights as a worker have been violated call: 907-269-4900 Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm or email: statewide.wagehour@alaska.gov or click here. You do not need to speak English to contact this office and make a claim.

Municipal attorney of Bethel Libby Bakalar is today's guest. Libby became famous in Alaska for her blog, One Hot Mess, and then her social media presence as One Hot Mess Alaska. Her outspokenness led to her unlawfully firing by the Dunleavy administration when she was working there as an assistant attorney general. Today, we discuss all of that as well as her complicated feelings about the conflict in Israel as a Jewish woman and descendant of Holocaust survivors.

Today is the final episode in our series on Transgender Rights. I, Rep. Andrew Gray, explain the purpose of this series and broadcast the special order that I gave on the Alaska State House floor on April 17, 2024. It provides an olive branch to folks who may be on the other side with regards to these issues. It is my sincere belief that the vast majority of those opposed to trans rights have not had conversations with trans people, their families, or health care providers. If they had had the talks that I have had over the past ten days, they would not support the anti-trans legislation currently being considered.

The impulse for this Trans Rights series is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows doctors to be sued up to 20 years after performing gender affirming procedures on trans youth.

Alaska has many big problems. The pressing need to increase the funding of our public school system and finding a solution for an imminent energy crisis, for example. But instead of working on these very real, very substantial problems, we are spending the last weeks of session debating whether trans youth exist and have rights. They do exist; they do have rights.

Dr. Marci Bowers is a pelvic and gynecologic surgeon with more than 32 years’ experience. She is the president of WPATH – the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Her gender diverse work has been highlighted through appearances on Oprah, CBS Sunday Morning, Discovery Health and the TLC reality series, “I am Jazz." She was interviewed in 2021 by Leslie Stahl for “60 Minutes.” Dr. Bowers is recognized as one of the 100 most influential LGBT people on the Guardian’s World Pride Power List. She has performed more than 2250 primary Male-to-Female Vaginoplasties and 3900 Gender Affirming Surgeries overall.

This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The impulse for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows doctors to be sued up to 20 years after performing gender affirming procedures on trans youth.

Alaska has many big problems. The pressing need to increase the funding of our public school system and finding a solution for an imminent energy crisis, for example. But instead of working on these very real, very substantial problems, we are spending the last weeks of session debating whether trans youth exist and have rights. They do exist; they do have rights.

Dr. Joshua Safer  is the executive director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York. He is the founding medical director of the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery at Boston University School of Medicine, and he was the inaugural president of the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health (USPATH).  He serves on the Global Education Initiative for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). Dr. Safer was a co-author of the Endocrine Society Guidelines for the medical care of transgender patients.

This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows doctors to be sued up to 20 years after performing gender affirming procedures on trans youth.

Alaska has many big problems. The pressing need to increase the funding of our public school system and finding a solution for an imminent energy crisis, for example. But instead of working on these very real, very substantial problems, we are spending the last weeks of session debating whether trans youth exist and have rights. They do exist; they do have rights.

Becca Bernard is a former environmental lawyer and a Unitarian Universalist community minister based in Anchorage. She is also mom to two children, one of whom is trans.

This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows doctors to be sued up to 20 years after performing gender affirming procedures on trans youth.

Alaska has many big problems. The pressing need to increase the funding of our public school system and finding a solution for an imminent energy crisis, for example. But instead of working on these very real, very substantial problems, we are spending the last weeks of session debating whether trans youth exist and have rights. They do exist; they do have rights.