Transgender Week Of Awareness On U of L Campus

U of L's Office for LGBT Services and several LGBT student organizations will once again join with the surrounding Louisville community to celebrate Transgender Week of Awareness November 14-20, 2010. The week is an opportunity to celebrate the contributions of transgender people and to remember those who were killed during the year because of their gender identity/expression. Transgender Day of Remembrance is celebrated internationally on November 20 each year.

Community partners that are collaborating with U of L include Sienna, the Women's Center at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the Transgender Education Center (TEC), and Diversity Consultants. Student organizations such as commonGround, BlkOut, Transformations, and T2 are all planning events.

For a full schedule, visit http://louisville.edu/lgbt/news-and-events/transgender-week-of-awareness.ics.

The university has made great strides in the last few years in creating a welcoming, inclusive environment for all people regardless of gender identity or expression. A nondiscrimination policy that includes gender identity, more gender neutral restrooms, nationally-recognized transgender keynote speakers, and two active organizations for trans students are just a few of the milestones from the last few years. Join us for this important celebration!

Dawn Wilson Appointed To KY Commission On Human Rights

Was elated to find out that 2000 IFGE Trinity Award winner Dawn Wilson has been appointed to the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights.

The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights is a state agency that was created in 1960 according to its website, to encourage fair treatment, foster mutual understanding and respect, and discourage discrimination against any racial or ethnic group or its members with its mission being to eradicate discrimination in the Commonwealth of Kentucky through enforcement of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act. 

Dawn's definitely in line and agrees with the commission's vision of a Commonwealth united against discrimination. A Commonwealth united for equality.    She's been fighting for those values for over a decade.



Dawn will serve a one year term on the 11 member commission that starts immediately.

Congratulations to one of our trailblazing leaders!.

A Winning GLBT Team

TransGriot Note: For the purposes of journalistic integrity I did serve for a year as the secretary on the CFAIR board.

The 2010 midterms were not a good night for the liberal progressive side, and we will have to regroup and retool for the next election cycle.

In this post mortem period we'll need to take a look at the things and strategies that worked in this cycle and what didn't.

If I told you there was a GLBT organization that on Tuesday night managed the goals of expanding the number of fair minded judges in their county court system, helped a friendly school board member under attack from the left and right stay on the school board, kept an anti-gay Republican mayoral candidate from being elected, defeated a long time anti-gay nemesis in his city council reelection bid,  kept one house of their state legislature from flipping to Republican control by limiting the damage to just seven defeated Democrats, and they did it in a red state, wouldn't you want to know what the name of that organization was, who was running it, and finally how they did it?

Well, the organization that pulled off all those tasks was CFAIR, the Committee for Fairness and Individual Rights, the political arm of the Louisville, KY based Fairness Campaign.

Not bad for a organization that was once told by the national GL establishment when they appealed for help over two decades ago to pass inclusive GLBT civil rights laws in Louisville and Lexington that they were a 'backwater'  that would never pass anything.


But you have to admit those were daunting tasks facing a GLBT rights political org in a less than ideal election environment for a progressive leaning organization.

And check out this commercial they ran with GOP Louisville mayoral candidate Hal Heiner trying to explain away why he donated $20,000 of his personal funds to support the 2004 anti same gender marriage amendment vote. 

CFAIR is currently run by co-chairs Nick Wilkerson and 2000 IFGE Trinity Award winner Dawn Wilson   

When you ask them the question why they are so successful doing what they do in a red state like Kentucky, they'll say it's because they have a great team of people that do whatever it takes to get the job done.

They did have a few setbacks on Tuesday.    One of their endorsed judicial candidates and a JCPS school board candidate narrowly lost their races.   It was a wash because the opponents of both those candidates also sought the C-FAIR endorsement.     An openly gay man they endorsed for Metro Council lost his race along with three longshot candidates, but overall those folks who received the CFAIR seal of approval were successful.    

The next major projects on the CFAIR horizon?   Prepare for the upcoming critical Kentucky legislative session and continue the work in conjunction with the Statewide Fairness Coalition to pass a statewide Fairness law to cover all GLBT residents of the Bluegrass state not covered by the civic laws now in place in Louisville, Lexington, Covington and Bowling Green.

Upcoming 'Swapping Stories' Event On U of L Campus

TransGriot Note: An interesting announcement of an upcoming event on the U of L campus from Brian Buford that I'd thought I'd share with you and my Kentuckiana TransGriot readers.

Next week we are kicking off an award-winning project we created with the Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM) to explore how people on opposite sides of an issue come together in respect and friendship. It's called "Swapping Stories" and the title refers to the common experience among people who identify as Christian or LGBT (or both!) of telling a story about their lives. If you are LGBT, it's your coming out experience. If you're Christian, it might be your spiritual transformation or testimony. If you identify as both, it could include elements of both stories from your life.

The world tells us that these two groups can never come together unless it's in conflict, arguments, and hurt feelings. But Swapping Stories is all about setting aside agendas and learning to listen to another person's story. This experience demonstrates that we more alike than different. It's social justice and peace making in their truest sense, challenging some of the most basic societal rules and assumptions that have developed from years of misunderstanding.

So how does it work? Here's a brief description:

Students who choose to participate will attend a kick-off session next Thursday, October 28, at 7 p.m. in the Cultural Center. After a short training on the principles of Swapping Stories, you'll be paired up with a lunch partner and we'll give you $10 to spend on a meal together. Your job is to go out to eat, share your stories with one another, and see what happens! It's as easy as that. Your assignment will be to listen without judgment, honor one another's experience, and look for common ground. Everyone will come back together for dinner on November 9 at 8:30 (right after commonGround and BCM meetings conclude that night) to talk about how it went and what we learned.

REAL change happens when we step outside our comfort zone, and I know that for many of us, this is a big step. Come learn more about it at the kick off, and hear from the leaders of both groups who practiced earlier this week, as well as those who swapped stories in 2008. We won a "Spirit of Diversity" award that year for this project, and we expect another successful year!

(One important addition: We are committed to making this a safe, affirming, positive experience for everyone involved and making certain that your identity is respected. If at any point you have concerns, the Office for LGBT Services is here to intervene and help you resolve them. Participation is voluntary and it's always your choice whether to continue or not.)

Swapping Stories Kick Off
Thursday, October 28, 2010
7 p.m.EDT
Cultural Center

First preference for participating will be given to students who are members of the BCM or an LGBT student organization at U of L. Light refreshments will be served!