Gone To Frankfort

I'm in Kentucky's state capital and three hours into an all day summit meeting that commenced at 9 AM EST.



We're discussing legislative strategies for the 2010 Kentucky General Assembly session which has already started, defensive strategies against anti-GLBT laws the right wing yahoos will be trying to pass and other issues of interest to the progressive coalition in the state.


Should be an interesting day before it ends at 5 PM, and yeah, I made sure I got my beauty sleep.

PETA's Feathers Ruffled Over Chicken Statue Permit Delay

Yum Brands, Inc. is the parent company for Kentucky Fried Chicken and is headquartered here in Louisville Metro.

That means that we've been getting visits on the regular by the boys and girls from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

In addition to picketing various KFC locations and Yum Brand, Inc. headquarters, they even showed up to picket Sunday services at the massive Southeast Christian Church, where some of the Yum Brands execs worship.

PETA asserts that KFC's chicken processing methods are cruel and harmful to our future Original Recipe pieces. Even if that's true, PETA as usual has done their usual stellar job in alienating supporters and pissing people off to the point in which many of us who are sympathetic to the cause stopped caring what PETA had to say a long time ago.

PETA's in Da Ville threatening to sue the city over their stalled request to erect for three months a five and a half foot tall statue of a bloodied chicken on crutches.

PETA wants to put it downtown on the corner of Fourth and Market Streets. The statue was created by New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss and reads at its base 'KFC Cripples Chickens'

Martina Bernstein, PETA’s litigation attorney, wrote a letter to James Mims December 17 stating metro government’s denial of a permit for the display is bogus and doesn’t “survive even the mildest scrutiny.”

“Accordingly, PETA respectfully requests that you exercise your authority to reverse the (Department of Codes and Regulations’) decision on the grounds that it is baseless and order the department to issue the requested permit forthwith.”

James Mims, the director of the Department of Codes and Regulations, wrote a December 28 letter saying PETA did not pay its $25 application fee and gave the city no “site map” of the proposed location of the statue.

“All I want to do is make sure that whatever we’re doing in the way of permitting this object recognizes required exits and entrances into buildings, doesn’t disrupt emergency services, allows for passable pedestrian areas in front of the buildings, and does not create a hazard that would impede pedestrian travel.”

He also stated in a Courier-Journal interview that PETA’s application was never denied and the application will be processed as soon as they receive the site map required by city ordinance.

PETA claims it has already done so, and the city is just stonewalling them.

PETA applied for a similar permit in July, but no decision was made because the city instituted a moratorium on temporary structures in public rights of way until new rules could be written.

Those new requirements say groups putting up a temporary structure must get adjacent property owners’ permission before the display can be approved by the city.

KFC spokeswoman Laurie Schalow told The Courier-Journal that that the request was a "despicable publicity stunt that we hope the city will have the good sense to disapprove."

At any rate, if and when it goes up, I'll be making a beeline once again for the closest KFC and have a picnic with a bucket of original recipe in front of the statue in question.

2010 Battle Of The Bluegrass

The sports rivalries between the University of Louisville Cardinals and the University of Kentucky Wildcats are always intense, bitterly contested affairs.

But it is basketball which fans the passionate flames of the Kentucky and Louisville faithful, and this date has been circled on the calendar ever since the basketball schedules for both schools were released.

It's a rivalry that is so big that it divides friends and families. The Louisville Courier-Journal and Lexington Herald-Leader not only print special sections in the paper but devotes space on their webpages just to cover it.

I'm no stranger to big rivalry games. I grew up watching the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies Thanksgiving Day football hatefest. But this is a rivalry that makes the UT-Texas A&M one look wimpy in comparison.

I even get a taste of the rivalry here in the house. Wildcat fan Dawn and Cardinal fan Polar will be driving the 70 miles down I-64 east to take in the action at Rupp while wearing their respective school colors.

I like both teams and I'm neutral about which team I support as a Texan in exile. But this week the recruiting pitches from fans on both sides trying to get me to join Cats Nation or Cards Nation have been more intense than usual.

Televisions all across the state and a capacity Rupp Arena crowd will be on hand for the latest renewal of the Battle of the Bluegrass. The Number 3 ranked and 14-0 Wildcats will host the 10-3 Cards in Lexington. Kentucky has a 26-14 all time series lead but Louisville has won the last two games.

The Cats are flying high under new coach John Calipari and super freshman John Wall. Of course the UK fans are supremely confident they will win today's matchup that tips off at 3:30 PM EST. They are also popping their collars after becoming the first NCAA school to win 2000 games last month.

But Rick Pitino's Cards and their fans aren't backing down or caring that UK is a 7 point favorite going into this heavyweight basketball tilt. Anything can and does happen in rivalry games, and this one has had its share of fantastic finishes, great players, unsung heroes, and close games regardless of who was ranked at the time.

As former NFL coach and ESPN analyst Herman Edwards said, "That's why you play the games."

At any rate, it'll be fun to watch.

Today Was A Good Day...Sort Of

Bounced out of the house in tastefully dressed full diva mode to head to the U of L Campus at the behest of my fave Women and Gender Studies professor Dr. Kaila Story.

It was for a panel discussion on transgender rights. In addition to the TransGriot, the other people comprising the panel were U of L's Director of LGBT Services Brian Buford, the Fairness Campaign's Chris Hartman, TECK's Yana Baker, Transformations founder Andrea Tucker and Holly Knight of Sienna

The panel was a 3 PM start in the Chao Auditorium and I arrived there at 2:25 PM. I had plenty of time to chill out, use the restroom, check face and get ready for the discussion that would take place.

After the intros by Dr. Story, we had a lively discussion about what jurisdictions covered trans people, delve into some TDOR history and talk about the shady tactics of the Forces of Intolerance in terms of using bathrooms as a scare tactic. It gave Brian a chance to talk about the gender neutral bathroom they have been rolling out on the U of L campus as well and Chris to talk about upcoming state legislative battles.

I got a chance to talk about the differences in transition for African Americans, in addition to point out a gender transition's zero to femininity nature.

Andrea talked about what it was like to be a U of L student and transition, while Holly brought us up to speed about what Sienna, our local gender group was up to and the new direction she was taking it in.

It was an hour and thirty minutes of positivity, and the good vibes only lasted until I got downtown from the U of L campus and on my bus headed home.

Ironically, during the panel discussion I'd talked about how I handled a transphobe several years ago on a TARC bus.

Well, when I stepped on my connecting bus at 4th and Broadway, three African-American kids, were sitting (where else?) in the back of the bus and started tripping.

Normally, Moni has zero tolerance for ignorance but I decided to channel my inner Gandhi and ignore the ignorant. The fools didn't take the hint and upped the ante of transphobic stupidity.

One of the nekulturny trio runs all the way to the front of the bus, whispers in the female driver's ear, then makes a point of grabbing the crotch of her saggin' pants while making a derogatory RuPaul reference.

It was on like Donkey Kong after that. I told her to quit talking about her daddy, which pissed off the youngling to the point she wanted to fight.

I advised her that would not be a wise move, especially in light of the fact I was already a foot taller than her before you add the other three inches from my black patent leather pumps.

The driver tossed all of the transphobic younglings off the bus. Seems as though these kids had been giving her drama all the way into downtown Louisville from wherever she'd picked them up.

With peace and quiet returned to the bus, I settled in for the ride determined not to let ignorant kids spoil my positive mood. A few minutes later my stop approached and the TARC driver said to me before I got off, "Girl, you look good!"

I returned the compliment and wished her a blessed day as I stepped off the bus, pulled my house keys out of my black Liz Claiborne purse and strutted the three blocks home in the fading twilight.

So yeah, today was a good day after all.

Louisville Area TDOR Events

TransGriot Note: Thanks to Tina Storm for compiling the schedule for the 2009 Louisville TDOR events. I will be leading the November 19 workshop luncheon and discussion.

Thanks once again to More Light and the Women’s Center at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary for being our lead sponsor and gracious host since 2002.


November 10
Movie Night hosted at LPTS Women’s Center 7:00 PM
Normal
Starring Jessica Lang and Oscar nominated Tom Wilkinson

November 12
Transgender 101 Seminar hosted at the Women’s Center 5:00 PM
Speaker to be announced.

November 17
Movie Night hosted at LPTS Women’s Center 7:00 PM
Transamerica
Two Academy Award nominations Starring Felicity Huffman

November 18
Survivors Prayer Vigil hosted at the Metropolitan Community Church 6:00 PM Prayer Service for transgender murder survivors and the TG Community

November 19
Workshop Luncheon: Panel Discussion hosted at LPTS 12:30 PM
In the Winn Center McAtee A & B

November 19
Transgender Day Of Remembrance Exhibit, Performance and Reception hosted by the Office of LGBT Services in the University of Louisville's Cultural Center.
Events start at 5:30 PM. Performance starts at 6:30 PM with reception at 7:30 PM

November 20
Early Morning Meditation Service hosted at LPTS
8:00 AM in the Caldwell Chapel

November 20
TDOR Memorial Service with reception to follow at LPTS
8:00 PM in the Caldwell Chapel


November 21 - 29
Gallery Exhibit: Transgender Images/Transgender Lives, Rogilio 6:00 - 9:00 PM Pedro Photographic Artist, Mari Mujio Transgender Oral Historian;
At: Clare Hirn Studio, 552 East Market St., Louisville, KY


For directions and updated information please visit: www.siennatg.org or http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=167074236257&index=1


This year's TDOR events are sponsored by More Light and the Women’s Center at LPTS, Transformations, Sienna, Diversity Consultants, Metropolitan Community Church, office of LGBT Services at University of Louisville, and SoTheatrical.

Transgender Rights Forum On U of L Campus Tomorrow

TDOR Week tends to be a busy one for me with requests for my presence at various events escalating during that period. Word to the wise-for those of you who want me at your 2010 TDOR events, get to me early.

For those of you in the Louisville area, you'll get to see the TransGriot, Chris Hartman of the Fairness Campaign and other local GLBT leaders at a Transgender Rights forum tomorrow on the U of L campus.

It will take place in the Ekstrom Library's Chao Auditorium from 3:00-4:15 PM.

I'm honored to be taking part in this discussion and I'm looking forward to seeing some of you peeps tomorrow in what I expect will be an informative and interesting discussion.

And yes, I will be looking fly and in full diva mode for that discussion.

Fairness 10th Anniversary

This weekend those of us in the Louisville GLBT community will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of the passage of our inclusive GLBT protective rights ordinance we call the Fairness Ordinance.

The Fairness Ordinance was passed by the Louisville Board of Aldermen.on October 12, 1999. It was groundbreaking at the time because it not only was the first time a GLBT rights laws passed in a Southern city, it was also inclusive as well. The sad trend at the time was to cut transpeople out of them and pass them for gay and lesbian people only.

Ten years later the sky hasn't fallen in 'Sodom on the Ohio' as our Reicher opponents call the city. Two other Kentucky cities, Lexington and Covington have their own GLBT rights laws on the books as well, and Lexington's passed on a 12-3 vote.

But not everyone in Kentucky has these protections. The task is to pass a statewide law so that all GLBT people within the state can enjoy the same rights as the people residing in Louisville, Lexington and Covington do.

Laramie Project-Ten Years Later In Louisville

I'm bouncing out of the house toward downtown Louisville in an hour to the Pamela Brown Theatre.

My purpose for my night out is to check out the performance of The Laramie Project-Ten Years Later at 8 PM EDT.

Laramie is the hometown of the late Matthew Shepard, whose gruesome 1998 murder galvanized support for hate crimes legislation that has yet to pass Congress.

The Tectonic Theater Project conducted a series of interviews with Laramie residents in the wake of Matthew Shepard's murder in order to better understand the community. Those interviews became the seeds in 2000 for the Laramie Project, one of the most performed plays in America.

Ten years after Matthew Shepard’s death, the Tectonic Theatre Project returned to Laramie to see how the community had changed since the murder.

“One of the things we found when we got there,” shared playwright Moisés Kaufman, “which greatly surprised us, was people in Laramie saying this was not a hate crime.”

“We found the people of Laramie still fighting their own history…their own story,” continued playwright Leigh Fondakowski.

Actors Theatre of Louisville is joining over 100 theatres in all 50 states and across the world premiering a stage reading of the Tectonic Theatre Project’s The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, an epilogue to the original theatre piece.

The evening will commence with a live Lincoln Center webcast address from Kaufman, followed by the Actors Theatre’s 2009/2010 Acting Apprentice Company reading of the piece.

The night concludes with a panel discussion led by the Fairness Campaign addressing the importance of Hate Crimes legislation protecting LGBTQ individuals, and what citizens can do to make the passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act a reality.

Birthday girl and C-FAIR Co-chair Dawn Wilson will be taking part in the post performance panel discussion along with Director Michael Legg, Chris Hartman, Director of the Fairness Campaign, Michael Aldridge, Director of the ACLU-KY and a student leader from the University of Louisville.

Should be an enjoyable and informative evening at Actor's Theatre.

Woody's To Face Boycott

One month after Woody's owner David Scott apologized for racist and sexist remarks hurled at U of L professor Dr. Kaila Story and a group of GLBT students at his bar, he once again hurled racist statements at a different group of bar patrons.



This time, the Fairness Campaign, our local GLBT organization will be calling for a boycott at 4 PM Tuesday. It will also be discussed at the Dismantling Racism forum to be held at the Fairness Campaign office at 6 PM Wednesday.

Here's the press release from the Fairness Campaign.

***

On the night of Monday, September 21, just one month after Woody’s Tavern owner David Norton’s public apology for racist and sexist remarks made one year earlier, Mr. Norton launched another tirade of prejudice and hate against customers in his bar. According to witnesses, a bar patron lifted the corner of a pool table to dislodge balls stuck inside, which prompted a yelling spree from Mr. Norton, who ultimately chased every patron out of his establishment. As he ejected them, he yelled after patrons, calling them “trashy faggots,” and then, referring to a group of African American patrons, stated, “Look at their skin color. You know what’s on the tip of my tongue.” Following these incidents, the Fairness Campaign Coordinating Committee has approved a public boycott of Woody’s Bar and Tavern, supported by the organizations listed below.

blkout
commonGround
Fairness Campaign
Jobs With Justice
Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
University of Louisville Office of LGBT Services, Brian Buford, Director
W.E.N.C.H.
WIT (Women In Transition)

“Mr. Norton has now proven that not only was his public apology of a month ago empty, but that he refuses to change,” shared Fairness Campaign Director Chris Hartman. “We, at the Fairness Campaign, believe a stand must be made against this series of injustices, which will undoubtedly persist if Mr. Norton continues to operate his business. We demand Mr. Norton cease ownership and operation of Woody’s Tavern, or, if he will not, that its doors close.”

The Fairness Campaign and its supporters will regularly flyer potential bar patrons and the surrounding community to educate them about the boycott and encourage their participation. A public forum discussing these incidents and the public boycott is scheduled for Wednesday, October 28 at the University of Louisville. The boycott will also be discussed at the Fairness Campaign's monthly "Dismantling Racism" dialogue, Wednesday, October 7, 6PM at the Fairness office.

The Magnolia Bar and Grille, currently owned by Mr. Norton, will not be included in the boycott, as Fairness leaders have received report of its ownership changing this month. If, by the end of October, the Magnolia Bar and Grille ownership has not changed, it will be included in the boycott effort.

2009 St. James Court Art Show

While rolling up 4th Street en route to the University of Louisville and the final on campus Pride 2009 event, I noted that some food carts were setting up on one of the streets near St. James Court and tents were being assembled.

That can only mean one thing. The surest sign that fall has arrived in Louisville is the annual St. James Court Art Show is taking place.

The 53rd edition of the St. James Court Art Show is held in the Old Louisville neighborhood during the first weekend in October. It is considered one of the best juried regional art shows around.

There's a contest to design the poster for the event which Scott Gilbertson won this year.

It's also a great day and event to do some people watching, and I've been attending it off and on since I moved here.

During election years you'll see every politician running for office in the Louisville metro area and their campaign workers scurrying about either passing out stickers or shaking the hands of their constituents.

There's also great art on display and crafts for sale, with some of it being affordably priced in addition to the more expensive collector pieces. There's also a wide variety of food for sale by local and out of town vendors.

It's also my chance to see and chat with my former neighbor and favorite cookie lady Elizabeth Kizito and scarf up a few snickerdoodles for later snack consumption.

The 53rd annual edition of the St. James Court Art Show will take place starting today and run until October 4.

I'm definitely going to take some time this weekend to get away from the computer, get some fresh air, people watch, and enjoy the sights, smells and sounds of another art fest weekend.

Fun With Andrea and Calpernia

One of the cool things about the transgender community is when you finally get to talk to people in real time that you have much admiration and respect for.

I'm blessed to have had numerous opportunities to experience that over the years, and another one came tonight thanks to U of L Pride week.

Calpernia and I met and talked during the 2004 SCC. This was the first time that Andrea and I had an opportunity to have a substantive face to face chat.

Andrea and Calpernia were here to deliver the keynote address of the ongoing U of L Pride celebration.

The 2009 edition of U of L Pride Week has had a transgender theme for most of it, and their speech focused on media issues and what their Deep Stealth Productions has done to push the positivity envelope when it comes to the images of transpeople in the media.

In addition to discussing their work and giving tips for how we transpeeps in our locales can become more media savvy when dealing with the press, we were also treated to their short film entitled Transproofed.



These women are doing work in Hollywood which is just as important as the work other trans activists are doing in their various locales educating legislators, academia, and the medical profession about our issues.

Andre Agassi when he was playing tennis had a commercial with the tag line of 'image is everything.' These ladies definitely understand that when it comes to images, Hollywood can make or break a marginalized group in that regard.

I had a blast talking to them last night and I'm looking forward to the next time our paths cross again.

Pride Week 2009 At The University Of Louisville

It's TBLG Pride Week at the University of Louisville!

Yes, I know Pride Week is usually celebrated in June or whenever a Black Pride event is scheduled for a particular locale, but on college campuses you either do it during the fall or spring semesters.

This Pride 2009 celebration on U of L's campus will start tomorrow and run through September 29. It's sponsored by the Commission on Diversity and Racial Equality, Information Technology, the Women's and Gender Studies Department, School of Medicine and the Vice Provost for Diversity.

I'm also participating in it this year. On Tuesday I'll be moderating a discussion on the topic of 'Why Gender Neutral Bathrooms Matter'.

For those of you who wish to see the TransGriot and our esteemed panel in action, it starts at noon at the Ekstrom Library. That event is sponsored by the Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace and Justice.

I sincerely thank them as well for allowing me to be a part of this event

While I'm busy at the Ekstrom Library, Number One', AKA Dawn Wilson will be participating in a September 29 event at U of L's Brandeis School of Law. It's a noon discussion entitled 'Keys to the Door: ENDA, Transgender Identity, and Community'.

It will take place in Room 275, Brandeis School of Law and is hosted by the Law School Diversity Committee and the Lambda Law Caucus.

We'll both be back on campus at 5 PM Thursday night. There's an LGBT Alumni Reception at the University Club that will be hosted by Kentucky Fairness Alliance and Mark England

The Pride Keynote Address will be given by Calpernia Addams and Andrea James in Humanities 100 at 7 PM.

I met Calpernia at the 2004 SCC, got into a long conversation with her about several subjects and have much love for her. I'm not sure if mine and Andrea's paths have crossed either at some SCC, Creating Change, IFGE Conference or another trans community event, but I'm looking forward to seeing both of them.

So if you're in the Louisville metro area, on or near the U of L campus this week, come out and support our GLBT brothers and sisters.

Kentucky Sports Hatefest-U of L vs UK

Today the University of Louisville Cardinals hit I-64 east and travel to Lexington to take on the University of Kentucky Wildcats. They are not only fighting for the Governor's Cup, but state bragging rights, football division.

One of the questions I consistently get asked since I moved here is whether I support U of L or UK.

Many Kentucky natives won't accept my answer that I'm neutral and like both teams. They'll spend whatever time I have in their presence extolling the virtues of the Cats or Cards while dissing the other team with the zeal of missionaries.

When U of L and UK get together to play any sport, people are passionate about it. Friends, families, co-workers and sometimes even spouses divide along Cardinal red or Wildcat blue lines.

No matter what the sport, it's a highly competitive rivalry played by two teams separated by 73 miles of interstate highway and no love lost on either side.

It's so competitive that Kentuckians have already circled Jan 2, 2010 on the calendar.

What's happening that day you ask? It's the date of the annual U of L-UK basketball clash at Rupp Arena.

The trash talking this year for this season's football clash has come mostly from the UK fans. U of L has slipped from its 2006 Big East championship and BCS bowl winning heights and Cardinal Nation is anxious about it.

Cards fans are even more anxiety ridden going into this noon showdown at Commonwealth Stadium. U of L is not only coming off a 5-7 season after going 6-6 the previous year, they have a lot of question marks on both sides of the ball.

They also watched the Cats spank Miami of Ohio 42-0 in their season opener in Cincinnati.

Cardinal Nation also knows the Cats had a bye week to rest and retool for this game.

The Cards briefly trailed 7-3 in their season opening game at 'The Pizzeria' with Indiana State. They had to fight tooth and nail with the Sycamores before eventually pulling away for the 30-10 win.

UK is a football team on the rise and coming off a third straight bowl appearance. They not only want to keep their two year winning streak alive against U of L, they see themselves as a Top 25 program that can compete and win in the tough SEC East Division and as BCS bowl material.

No matter who wins, both teams when this game is over will have tough challenges to overcome the next week. UK will take on Number 1 ranked Florida in Lexington while the Cards will travel to Salt Lake City to take on Utah.

But for those of us who are neutral, it sure is a lot of fun to watch, no matter what the sport.

Diane Sawyer To Become ABC World News Anchor In 2010

And then there were two.

In some news that will make many peeps in Da Ville happy, Diane Sawyer will be leaving Good Morning America and taking over as the anchor for 'ABC World News' in January 2010.

Current anchor Charles Gibson will be retiring at the end of the year after 35 years with ABC. He took over the ABC World News anchor duties after the 2005 death of longtime anchor Peter Jennings and Bob Woodward was injured while reporting in Iraq.

White Sawyer's ascension to the ABC desk and Katie Couric already ensconsed in the legendary CBS News anchor chair that Walter Cronkite once occupied, that means in 2010 two of the three original television networks as of 2010 will have women sitting at their anchor desks.

NBC still has Brian Williams helming their rating leading NBC Nightly News, with ABC a solid second in the ratings.

No word yet as to what's going to happen with Diane's soon to be former gig at Good Morning America, where Robin Roberts is one of the co-hosts.

Maybe ABC will do the logical thing and slide Robin into the lead chair at GMA.

At any rate, congratulations to Diane Sawyer. She's from Louisville, and the peeps here are ecstatic that she's going to get the ABC News anchor chair.

Dr. Story Gets Public Apology

It's a better late than never story, but yesterday U of L professor Dr. Kaila Story finally received her apology for racist and sexist remarks hurled at her and several U of L students by the owner of a local bar called Woody's.

I have much love for Dr. Story. She's the Assistant Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, with a joint appointment in the Department of Pan-African Studies. She also holds the Audre Lorde Chair in Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

But to bring y'all up to speed on what transpired here in Da Ville, last year Dr. Story along with a group of four Black GLBT friends was visiting the bar which is near the U of L campus.

She and the group were playing pool when two unleashed dogs charged into the room barking. Dr. Story was startled by the unexpected entrance of the dogs and jumped on the pool table.

The owner of the dogs was Woody's owner David Norton. He began berating her, remarking that he didn’t like “big girls” on his pool table.

That triggered an argument that spilled out into the street. Norton followed the group outside while hurling epithets, calling them “cunts,” “bitches,” “niggers” and other racist and sexist slurs.

The incident happened about the same time that a local McDonald's on Market Street hurled anti gay slurs at two white gay patrons.

Predictably the reaction of the local GLBT community was a night and day one. A protest was quickly initiated and the ACLU was called in. It resulted in a $2000 settlement paid to both of the offended persons and sensitivity training for 30 local McDonald's restaurants.

Dr. Story's situation struggled just to get the same level of action and attention since it uncomfortably highlighted the internal racism many Black GLBT people face from other GLBT people.

Norton tried to deny the incident happened, but with the May resolution of the McDonald's incident, new Fairness Campaign director Chris Hartman along with the University of Louisville's Director of LGBT Services Brian Burford revisited what happened at Woody's.

Burford wrote a letter that was posted to the Fairness Campaign website calling for Norton to apologize. He also noted the lack of GLBT community response vis-a-vis the McDonald's case

“I would’ve liked to have seen some greater response to what happened at Woody’s,” “I wished people would have boycotted. Individuals did, but in terms of an organized effort, there wasn’t one.”

Chris Hartman lamented the lost opportunity as well in the Woody's situation.

“Discrimination is discrimination. Any sort against any people is absolutely unacceptable and we will not allow it to go silently by,” says Hartman, who is now urging Norton to apologize. “It’s deplorable to continue to not offer an apology.”

Hartman also stated in the Fairness press release, “We hope this apology will begin a process of healing and reconciliation,” shared Fairness Campaign Director Chris Hartman. “This incident, however, must continue to shed light on the fact that racism pervades every community in America, including our own LGBTQ community, that any form of discrimination hurts everyone, and that no act of discrimination may go unchallenged.”

Hopefully the apology that finally occurred with the news cameras rolling yesterday will begin to jump start that process of reconciliation.

First Day Of School

Thursday marked the first day of the 2009-2010 school year for JCPS students.

I was aware of it because I have a middle school two miles up the road from the house. There's constant bus traffic up and down the street in the morning starting around 6 AM and later in the afternoon when school lets out.

I also realized that with the start of the new school year, for the next two weeks the Louisville Po-Po's will be patrolling that school zone. They will be passing out expensive reminders to peeps who fail to remember that the school zone speed limits are back in full effect.

It also means that one of the things that induces homesickess for me will be cranking up as well: high school football season.

Texas high school football is the bomb and a major part of Texas culture. It's so awesome that a book and a movie was written about one of the legendary programs in the Lone Star State, the Odessa Permian Panthers.

Attending a predominately Black high school means you not only get the quality football, but you get a slamming halftime show as the bands try to outdo one another in a high energy, high stepping, soulful musical performance guaranteed to get you dancing in the stadium bleachers. Oh yeah, can't forget about the majorettes shaking what their mamas gave them as the drum majors high step all over the field.

It's also cool going to one of the various stadium complexes around the state and knowing that just a few short years from now, some of the kids you're watching today may be playing on an NFL team tomorrow or being inducted in the NFL Hall of Fame.

Here in Kentucky high school football is about as predictable as something stupid coming out of Sarah Palin's mouth. It's either Catholic private schools Louisville Trinity, Louisville St. Xavier or occasionally Lexington Catholic that win the Class 5A title with nauseating regularity. Sometimes Louisville Male, a Lexington area public school or one from another part of the state will crash the party to face off against either Trinity or St. X.

The first day of school makes me wax nostalgic sometimes for my own long gone school days. I remember when it was me walking to school with my brother and our friends carrying my shiny new lunch kit in elementary school, ready and eager to tackle the challenges of a new school year.

I remember my days in junior high meeting the challenge of heightened academic expectations and counting the days until I started high school.

In addition to reminiscing about my disco-era sojourn through those angst and anxiety filled high school years in which I was wrestling with my gender issues, sometimes I can't help but wonder what it would have been like to matriculate throughout my school days on the other side of the gender fence.

To my transpeeps matriculating through the various levels of school right now, keep your head and grades up and get that paper. It'll make your life much easier later.

The first day of school also served as a reminder that my 30 year high school reunion is rapidly approaching and it's one I'm looking forward to. I've already won the 'Most Changed' Award at the 20 year one back in 2000. The only one I'm looking forward to competing for next year is the farthest distance traveled to attend the reunion.

To those kids matriculating through school now, may you have a wonderful, challenging and exciting school year. For those of you who are in your senior year of high school, may it be a memorable one as well.

Louisville Smacked By Record Rain

Know some of you have heard the reports on the Weather Channel about the record rain that's caused some serious flooding in town. We got whacked by a record six inches of rain in one hour earlier this morning as a nasty thunderstorm passed through the area.

While we have a respite from it now, we have another severe thunderstorm headed this way.

The creek that parallels I-64 left its banks up the road from me at Grinstead and Lexington Rd. There was some minor flooding in the basement of our house, but it's been taken care of and contained.

Downtown got the worst of it, but no part of town escaped the rain. The Downtown library branch got hit hard and has two feet of water in it. Some of the hospitals in the downtown area experienced flooding and had to evacuate patients.

Parts of the University of Louisville campus and Churchill Downs are flooded. I-65 at Arthur St, where the freeway dips slightly near the Fairgrounds curve before it climbs to the elevated section that runs through the Old Louisville neighborhood south of downtown to the Kennedy Bridge over the Ohio River was closed for several hours.

Keeping my fingers crossed and tuned in to the local news stations as we get ready for Round Two. Will keep y'all posted as long as my connection to The Net stays up.

Angie Fenton

Another installment in my ongoing series of articles on transgender and non-transgender women who have qualities that I admire.

I first encountered Angie not long after I moved here to Da Ville. I was in love with her feature writing for C-J's Velocity minipaper and began reading it religiously. I was happy for her when the Courier-Journal wisely moved her up to edit their celebrity news column called The Buzz. She also ended up getting some TV time at WAVE 3 in that role as well.

As part of her Velocity duties she was covering the 2003 Derby Bash I attended. Her petite figure was hard to miss in a sexy pink skirted suit and pumps while sporting a stylish pink Derby hat.

Three years later I finally got to meet her in person. Dawn and I were featured in a Louisville Courier-Journal article on trans people she authored. In putting that article together we got to know Angie the person and liked what we saw.

She is a classy, funny, determined and intelligent lady that is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. Dawn and I both were enthusiastically happy to call our friend after the C-J article was done and later published.

Like the TransGriot, she moved to Da Ville. She's had her challenges in life but to paraphrase Maya Angelou, and still she rises to overcome them and thrive.

You can't help but admire someone like her. Every time Angie's terminally cute self tells me she wishes she had my height, I reply I'd like to be her for a minute.

This busy lady is a competitive bodybuilder in addition to teaching at a local college and writing The Dish column for a local paper called the Voice-Tribune.

Angie Fenton is definitely one of the women I'd love to be when I grow up.

A Ladylike Guide To Dressing For The Derby

TransGriot Note: It's Derby Week here in Da Ville. That means parties, galas, parades and the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby horse races on Friday and Saturday.

My fashion diva roommate and longtime Kentuckian Dawn Wilson explains this bit of Kentucky tradition for those of us not from these parts.

Guest post by Dawn Wilson

Is image everything? To many African American transgender women it means everything. Image defines you and your character. Going out is never just about going out and having a good time, it’s about going out and impressing people.

As the celebrities who come here will tell you, the Kentucky Derby and the activities that surround it is the place that one can do that, and it seems as though the list of those who come gets longer every year.

I've had the pleasure of attending more than 15 different parties and assorted Derby gatherings over the last few years, and have been graciously extended invitations for a few this year.

Recently my girlfriends at the LFC fencing club invited me to go Derby dress shopping with them last weekend in preparation for the Derby Week activities. No we didn't have any mint juleps, but a good time was had by all.

If you're one of the lucky people going to the Kentucky Derby this year or even if you just want to dress properly for the occasion when you watch this year's 135th running of the race at home, tradition states that certain rules must be followed.

What are those rules? Fear not, I'm about to tell you. Just follow them and you'll put your best fashion foot forward for Derby Day and fit in like a native.

Choose your hat (ladies only, of course). Hats go with the Derby like the frosting on a birthday cake. It should be large-brimmed, feminine and frilly (think 18th-century France), and worn low on the brow tilted slightly to one side.

The rest of your outfit is designed to complement your hat.

Now the dress. This will support the crowning glory of the outfit – the hat.

Now there is an art to picking and wearing a dress. Maybe that is why many WBT women often prefer wrapping themselves in shapeless jeans and blouses. It’s easy, it’s simple and comfortable, and doesn't require much effort.

But how about being womanly, attractive, and appealing? Why is everybody forgetting about being romantic, gentle, bright and inspiring, or outstanding and memorable?

Beauty and attractiveness are always in fashion. That is the fashion law, especially doing Derby. If you follow those rules to the letter, you won't be ticketed by the Derby fashion police.