UL-UK Historic Governor's Cup Hatefest

When I was living in Da Ville, any sporting event between the Universities of Louisville and Kentucky not only drew sellout crowds, but passionate fans on both sides of the Red and Blue line. Those passions intensify when the competition between the Cats and Cards happens on the gridiron or the hardwood.

It's the 2010 edition of the Governor's Cup Game, and since it's in Jefferson County at the newly expanded Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, it's the season opener for both schools.

It's also generating a little more interest than usual because the game not only marks the coaching debuts for UK's Joker Phillips and U of L's Charlie Strong, it's one of the rare times that FBS schools with African-American head football coaches face each other.

One of the interesting collegiate football tidbits is this season, the three FBS programs in the state of Kentucky all have African American head coaches. The other is Willie Taggart at Western Kentucky.

During the almost eight years I lived there, Kentucky and Louisville fans tried to recruit me into their fanbases with the zeal of missionaries, but I stayed neutral because I liked both teams.

Seriously, Kentucky readers, I liked both teams.

The game is not only for bragging rights in the state and recruiting advantage, but possession of the Governor's Cup.

Should be a fun game at The Pizzeria today in front of 55,000 red and blue clad fans.

Louisville Shoutout-Bootsy Style

As the date for Carla Wallace's Lawn Party gets closer, missing all my peeps in Da Ville. Just wanted to post this and let you wonderful people know I'm thinking about y'all.

This is from a 1978 Bootsy's Rubber Band concert in Da Ville which has a Louisville centric version of 'What's The Name Of This Town?' Calicard turned it into a video tribute to his hometown that made me smile when I saw it.

Do I Miss Louisville?

It's been a few months since I left Da Ville to move back to H-town to the cheers of the people living inside Harris County and the sorrow of the folks living inside Jefferson County.

Jefferson County, Kentucky that is, AKA Louisville Metro.

Well, as I'm getting reacclimated to life in Houston, getting reacquainted with old friends and meeting new ones, the flip side is that I miss the friendships and relationships I established during my time in Louisville.

I miss doing some of the things that became traditions for me as well. In a few weeks Carla Wallace's Lawn Party will happen on Labor Day weekend. It's a event that progressive Louisville doesn't miss, especially during an election season.

The same is true for the St. James Court Art Show in October.

I miss the Friday night dinners with Polar and Dawn, those long conversations I used to have with both of them on various occasions, my other roomies nieces Heather and Amanda, and Mama Bear too, AKA Polar's wife.

I also miss 'sliiiiiiding into Edenside' to spend some time with Rev. Sally McClain and my church family there. I loved watching her more than hold her own with the boys as a panelist on The Moral Side of the News show.

You have to be a member of Edenside to get the joke. It came from me DJing for the church during Bardstown Aglow one year.

I miss my sistahgirls Shaha, Angie, Aletha, Chrystal, Dr. Kaila and various people in the GLBT community in the state. I also miss the road trips me Dawn and Polar would do to Lexington and various places in the area.

And it's really going to hit me when the fall campaign heats up and I'm not part of the endorsement interview teams for C-FAIR, on the U of L campus speaking or taking part in various events and the new arena opens up in a few months for the upcoming U of L basketball season..

I could do the same here for the HGLPC, but it's going to take time for me to get replugged in to all the networks and the Houston progressive scene like I was up there and realistically it'll probably be next year or 2012 before I can.

While I had my moments, good, bad and indifferent in Louisville, I did meet a lot of wonderful people, get to know some a lot better, and for 8 years had the pleasure of not hearing my old name for almost a decade. That did wonders for my development as the Phenomenal Transwoman.

And yes, this blog started while I was up there.

So do I miss Da Ville? Yep.

Louisville Conservative Radio Host Calls President 'Half-Breed'

One of the radio stations I steered clear of while I was living there was the Clear Channel owned WHAS-AM.

WHAS 84 is the Louisville radio dial home of Rush, Beck and later Michael Weiner (oops Savage) after kicking a long time popular moderate talker off the air.

The host that stepped in it was conservative talker Mandy Connell, who has the lead in show to OxyContin Man. She replaced the late Francene Cuccinello in that time slot, who passed away unexpectedly back in March.

She made the derogatory comment about the president on Tuesday's show.

She quickly apologized for it Wednesday morning according to the Ville Voice, but the fun has already started in Da Ville.

“The only thing I can do is express my embarrassment that was the phrase that came to mind and apologize for the offensive way I was trying to convey my point about the President’s mixed heritage. It was inappropriate, and truthfully, I was shocked when that tumbled out of my mouth. My only excuse is that when talking for three hours without the opportunity to choose words in advance, sometimes my brain doesn’t do the good or right thing. I am human.”

And so is President Obama, Ms. Connell, but you conservatives conveniently forget that on a regular basis.

The controversy has already stirred up progressive Louisville and hit the pages of the LEO and other local alternative media outlets.

This was what I had to say on the LEO's comment page:

Love the people wallowing in vanilla flavored privilege who are too scared to put their names on their disrespectful comments.

African-Americans and other people of color are sick and tired of white conservative people who comfortably and consistently make bigoted and borderline racist comments, especially those who do so on the radio and television airwaves.

Then y'all have the nerve to get your backs up when we call you on it.

You don't as part of the dominant ethnic group with a long negative history in this regard get to tell my community what we should and should not be upset over.

The local NAACP has already commented on it as well. Haven't seen anything official yet from Chris and the Fairness Campaign.

Louisville NAACP president Raoul Cunningham stated in a LEO interview, “I think it was a very poor choice of words. I know she doesn’t care for Obama or his policies, but to refer to him as a half-breed is disrespectful of the office of president.”“And racially, the term is derogatory in today’s society. It’s just not an acceptable term.”

If you wish to have your say, here's the phone number for WHAS-AM Station Manager Kelly Carls at (502) 479-2222 or send an e-mail: info@whas.com.

A better strategy would be as Raoul Cunningham suggested later in his interview would be to monitor Connell's show more closely. If she repeats the negativity toward POC's, then whack her with boycott pressure on the peeps who advertise on her show.

Polar pointed out to me when I lived there that once upon a time WHAS-AM used to have distinguished moderate voices gracing its airwaves such as legendary UK basketball voice Cawood Ledford, Milton Metz, Wayne Perkey, Joe Elliott, and Gary Burbank.

Now it's just all right wing all the time. Except during UK basketball season.

But stations like WHAS-AM have to be shown that pimping on-air bigotry and race baiting isn't profitable.

TransGriot update: Chris Hartman, the chair of the Fairness Campaign sent out a press release Thursday condemning the comment as “an irresponsible racial slur.”

2010 Fairness Over Louisville

The second annual 'Fairness Over Louisville' event will be taking place on Saturday, July 24 at the Frazier International History Museum downtown.

Special guest speaker this year will be MSNBC News political analyst Contessa Brewer.

The event is hosted by many of my friends and colleagues in the Louisville and Kentucky progressive community such as Michael Aldridge, Brent Beard & Dr. Steve Lebder, Brian Buford, Scott Burchett & Travis Myles, Khalilah Collins, Julia Crittendon, Rev. Aletha Fields & Rev. Y. Loni Floyd, Greg Fischer, Ernie Flores, Brad Hampton, Chris Hartman, Dennie Humphrey & The Monkey Wrench, Tim King & Kevin Noland, Carol Kraemer, Dr. Travis Lay & Ren Scheuerman, Sam Marcosson, David Mills & Tom Trudgeon, Stuart Perelmuter, Gil Reyes, Attica Scott, Dr. Kaila Story, John Tompkins, Jessica Underwood, Carla Wallace, Nick Wilkerson, Dawn Wilson, and Sherry Yeager.

Miss y'all.

But back to the announcement post.

The Frazier International History Museum is located at 829 W. Main in downtown Louisville.

'Fairness Over Louisville' for you TransGriot readers in the Kentuckiana area will start at 8 PM EDT and run until midnight and this event benefits the Fairness Campaign.

Suggested donation is $20, but I don't think they'll mind if you wish to donate more.

Hope it's off the charts successful.

Louisville Civil Rights Warrior George Unseld Passes

In the eight years I lived in Louisville, one of the first civic leaders I had the pleasure of meeting not long after moving there was trailblazing Metro Council member George Unseld.

I was saddened to hear that retired educator and Councilmember Unseld died yesterday at 6:47 PM EDT after falling in his Metro Council office 20 minutes before a scheduled city council meeting.

Giant of a man is a word you can use to describe him physically and literally. The 6'7" Unseld was the older brother of NBA Hall of Famer Wes Unseld. He blazed some trails himself on the court at Seneca High School and the University of Kansas.

He later became the first first African-American coach of a predominately white high school in Kentucky when he assumed the job at his alma mater Seneca High School. he also served the Jefferson County Public Schools as an instructor and Director of Athletics.

Unseld was elected as a alderman in 1999, and served two teems before being elected as one of the charter members of the merged city's Metro Council District 6 in 2002. He was reelected to Louisville's Metro Council in 2004 and 2008.

While at Kansas, he and Gale Sayers were among 130 students arrested for protesting racial discrimination in the fraternity and sorority system at KU.

Unseld also played a leading role in tackling some large issues facing Louisville over the last decade and a half. He called for policies allowing for civilian review of police actions and a living wage for metro government employees.

In 1999 he was one of five co-sponsors to the original Fairness Ordinance passed by the board of aldermen. The Fairness Ordinance bars discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2004 he voted to affirm the ordinance when the Metro Council later re-enacted it to apply to the merged city.

He's had some health issues over the years. He's battled diabetes, a kidney infection, skin cancer, and a drug resistant infection following a knee operation.

But it didn't stop him from interacting with his constituents and progressive Louisville and working hard on behalf of his District 6 constituents.

He was preceded in death in January by his wife and high school sweetheart Jacqueline, who he married in 1994. His 43 year old son Charles Dorsey Unseld passed away in 2009.

George Unseld is a civil rights warrior and another walking slice of Louisville and Kentucky history that has now joined his wife, son and the ancestors.

George, thanks for the wonderful conversations we had at various events every time we ran into each other. You will be missed.

PETA's Probably Hatin' On The New Louisville Arena Name

Just before I bounced from Da Ville, the announcement was made about which of the five finalists had won the fierce competition for the naming rights of the new Louisville Arena.

It's scheduled to open in November with a game against 2010 NCAA championship finalist Butler.

It was Louisville-based Yum Brands who inked a $13.5 million, 10-year naming rights agreement with the University of Louisville. The U of L men's and women's basketball teams will be the primary tenants for the downtown arena.

Yum Brands in September 2006 donated $5 million for the naming rights to the University of Louisville's basketball practice facility.

Yum Brands owns Taco Bell, Long John Silvers, Pizza Hut, and PETA's least favorite fast food franchise, Kentucky Fried Chicken. All will be available in the new arena's food concourses.

The 22,000-seat area will be known as the KFC Yum! Center, and you know PETA's probably got their hate on for the new arena name.

I won't be surprised if PETA show up in Da Ville and try to stage some kind of protest during the Cards opening night game.

Moni's Last Louisville Supper

At this moment I'm probably crying a little bit as I chill at my fave Louisville pizza place and enjoy a last meal with friends.

I fell in love with Impellizzeri's pizza before I moved up here at its old location.

It's also where Polar had his wedding rehearsal dinner back in 2004. They shut down for two years after that, then reopened in a new location on Bardstown Road a few blocks from Eastern Parkway.

The pizza and those garlic breadsticks dripping in butter are still there.

So if I was going to pick a place to have a last meal in town with my Louisville family, that's one of them. It has special significance for me, Polar and Dawn.

Besides, I already hit Kingfish on River Rd. two weeks ago and ate some 'Krispy Kracks' since they pulled out of the Houston market in 2006.

Well, until the next time.

Down And Derby 2010

The sun broke out just before the start of the 2010 Kentucky Derby. I watched jockey Calvin Borel hit the inside rail and guide Super Saver to his third Kentucky Derby win in the last four years.

With that bit of Louisville business concluded, the post Derby partying can being in earnest. The one that Dawn, Polar and I are headed to is Down and Derby Party which kicked off at 8 PM and is running until 4 AM.

Madame Party Animal has to go to church in the morning, so I'm not going to even attempt to hang out until this party shuts down.

The Down and Derby Party is the successor event to another GLBT derby event the Louisville GLBT community used to have at the Olmstead and I attended a few times.

That one had a few more celebrities that used to attend it. The one I hit in 2003 I was walking out of the place when Anna Nicole Smith was walking in. I also had a blast talking to Tammy Faye Bakker and The Lady Chablis.

I even got my copy of the Lady Chablis' book 'Hiding My Candy' autographed.

Despite the lack of celebrity star power (for now) since the event is in its second year, it's still a worthy one to attend. It serves as a fundraiser for two AIDS-related organizations in Louisville — the WINGS Clinic at the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center, and the Louisville AIDS Walk.

They are two organizations near and dear to my heart because I have lost friends and extended family members to AIDS.

The Water Tower is also a cool place to have it as well.

Oh yeah..time to bounce. Polar's here. See y'all at the Water Tower.

Moving Back Home

It's something I've known for a few months could possibly happen and I've told a few people, but now it's time to let everybody else in on the secret.

After eight years, the Texan in exile is ending that status. Due to a combination of factors, my time here in Louisville will be coming to a close as I head back to my beloved hometown and the Lone Star State in May.

Some of it is driven by family. My parents and grandmother aren't getting any younger. My niece just turned ten on January 20 and I'd like her to get to know her Aunt Monica a little better.

The imminent sale of the house I was living in was another contributing factor that forced me to decide whether I wanted to live in Louisville for another ten plus years, move to another city or go back home.

When I arrived here in September 2001 I was welcomed with open arms by the Louisville activist community, Edenside Christian Church and my pastor Rev. Sally McClain, U of L, the Fairness/CFAIR family and the wonderful people at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary's Women's Center.

Besides Dawn, Polar and Karen having my back, I've gotten to meet wonderful folks like Dawne Gee, Dr. Kaila Story, Angie Fenton, Carla Wallace, and a long list of local and state politicians. I was the bridesmaid/DJ of a wedding. I've gotten the opportunity to meet wonderful people like Shaha Sharron, Chrystal Russell Hawkins, LynAnne Evans, Sheila O'Bannon, my neighbors Lee and Selena Burchfield, Jaison Gardiner and many others too numerous to list among the people who reside here I'm proud to call my friends.

Despite the circle of supportive friends, associates and allies, the invitation to sit on several civic boards, chances to contribute my talents to making this community and state better and opportunities to expand knowledge of trans issues, I've been unhappy here for the last two years. Much of my unhappiness is centered on my belief that my personal growth has plateaued and stagnated and I'll need to relocate in order to get those growth opportunities.

There's unfinished business back in Houston that I'm ready, more knowledgeable and in a better mental space to tackle. I like big cities and the smorgasbord of entertainment options they have to offer.

Add to that increasing demands for my talents as a speaker and panelist discussing transgender issues from an African flavored perspective and it has become apparent to me that I need to be in a city with more air service options than what I have currently available in Da Ville.

And frankly, after eight years, I just missed home and all things Texan.

So I'm heading back to H-town at an interesting time in the city's history and development. We have our second female mayor in Annise Parker. Metro has broken ground on four new light rail lines that will be completed in 2012, and the new Green Line will terminate six blocks from where I'll be living. A family reunion and my 30 year high school reunion will be taking place a few months after I arrive along with the November elections. Being near my childhood friends and family will be a major plus.

And the 2011 and 2016 NCAA Final Fours will take place in my hometown.

So yep, it's been real Louisville. There have been some positive moments, but it's time for this native Houstonian to head back home.

I will be back to visit and who knows, may end up with a speaking engagement or two up here as well. Besides, you can't get Impellizzeri's pizza anywhere but here.

U of L Makes Several Restrooms Gender Neutral!

TransGriot Note: This news comes courtesy of Brian Buford , head of U of L's Office of LGBT Services.

Vice President for Business Affairs Larry Owsley informed students yesterday that he had converted six restrooms to gender neutral as part of an agreement he made with leaders from commonGround and the Office for LGBT Services last fall. Two new buildings, the Duthie Center and the Center for Predictive Medicine, will also include gender neutral restrooms. "I've committed to including gender neutral restrooms in all new construction," Owsley said.

The new restrooms are on both campuses: Dental school, first floor (two restrooms); Humanities, third floor (two restrooms); and the Law School, second floor near Cox Lounge (two restrooms). They are all single-stall, private restrooms that were updated by changing signs.

Students met with Owsley before Pride Week 2009 to ask for the additional restrooms and explain the importance of safe spaces for people who are gender non-conforming or transgender.

"Bathrooms are often the places where harassment is most encountered. And when someone whose gender expression is even a little bit different from their genetic identity steps into a seemingly exclusive male/female-only space, it sets them up for personal attacks. That gets eliminated with gender-neutral restrooms," said student Evelyn Avery.

Going To Dinner

I'm heading out the door to go to dinner...At the Muhammad Ali Center

Will be hanging out with politicos and progressive Louisville once again at the Fairness ACLU of Kentucky dinner.

Should be a lot of fun and an interesting night watching the various candidates working the room and searching for support in a very tight and crowded mayoral primary on the Democratic side.

And there will probably be a lot of people crowded around whoever is watching the UK-Wake Forest NCAA game as well.

Hey, this is still basketball country!

If anything interesting transpires, you know I'll post about it.

Cards Send Out Freedom Hall In Style

Freedom Hall is located on the grounds of the Kentucky Fairgrounds just 5 miles south of downtown Louisville and not far from the U of L Belknap campus.

The building has been the basketball home of the University of Louisville Cardinals since 1956 and seen a lot of sporting history. It has hosted six NCAA Final Fours between 1958-1969, Muhammad Ali fights, NCAA tournament regional finals, conference tournaments and the Kentucky high school state basketball championship from 2001-2003.

With the impending fall opening of the new downtown arena today's game against Syracuse was the last to be played at Freedom Hall.

The Cards have won 82% of the games played in this building, including a January 2004 game I and Polar watched my Cougars play against U of L during the Cards last season in C-USA before they left for the Big East Conference.

He left happy that night, I didn't.

Just as the Cards won their first game in Freedom Hall, an 85-75 win over Notre Dame, they closed out this building in style by beating number one ranked Big East rival Syracuse 78-68 for home win number 683.

It was the second beatdown they have administered to the Orange, Syracuse's first road loss, an emotional 20th win of the season for U of L and may have put the Cards in the NCAA tournament as well.

It didn't come without a struggle. The Cards trailed by eight points at the half, but rode the 4 for 4 three point shooting and 9 of 11 overall of sophomore Kyle Kuric to erase the deficit.

Kuric's career high 22 points ensured that the Cards last game in front of a record Freedom Hall crowd ended with a Cardinal victory.

The new 22,000 seat downtown arena will open this November, and Cards fans are hoping the home wins keep coming in the new building as prodigiously as they did at Freedom Hall.

'Black And Gay In America' Panel Discussion At U of L

I've talked about from time to time how my people need to have a serious inside the family dialogue on GLBT issues.

This Wednesday on the University of Louisville campus, blkout, the campus GLBT group for African descended students will host a panel discussion in conjunction with the Delta Theta chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. as part of their PHIner Womanhood Week.

The topic is 'Being Black and Gay in America' with the keynote speaker being one of my fave U of L professors, Dr. Kaila Story, the Audre Lorde Chair for Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality.

It will take place at the Red Barn on campus and starts at 7 PM.

It should be an interesting and informative discussion, especially with Dr. K being part of it.

The TransGriot will definitely be in the house for that one.

Louisville's 'LGBT Community In The 1980s' Forum To Be Held February 16

Louisville, 1981. The Humana Building was yet to be built. There was no Kentucky Center for the Arts. The Watterson Expressway was still a four-lane nightmare. The airport was an antiquated remnant of the 1950s called Standiford Field.

Old Louisville was still struggling to spiff itself up. Cardinal Boulevard was called Avery Street, and it was only two lanes. The tall apartment building across from the Confederate Monument was called Confederate Towers. Its address was on Confederate Place.

Belknap Campus was half the size it is today. There was no student center. Ekstrom Library was brand new. Where the athletic fields sit today, several low-lying warehouses and factories stood.

In that same year, what was Louisville’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community doing?

Metropolitan Community Church was nearing its 8th anniversary, and there were two small social and support groups. The city had two major gay bars: the Downtowner and the Badlands Territory (to be renamed the Discovery that year). And that’s it. No political groups, no health organizations, no other social or support groups, not even student groups: nothing.

Fast forward to the end of the decade.

In 1989, the LGBT community convinced the old Louisville Board of Aldermen to pass an ordinance banning discrimination against people with AIDS. In 1990, that same community convinced the Board of Aldermen to pass a hate crimes ordinance that included the category of sexual orientation (though not gender identity). In 1991, the Fairness Campaign was launched, initiating eight years of efforts before a local LGBT civil rights ordinance was finally passed.

What happened in Louisville’s LGBT community in the 80s that enabled such a decade of growth and progress in the 90s and beyond? Why the 80s, and not the 70s or the 90s? What lessons did the community learn in the 80s, what challenges? What victories did it have, and what defeats? In short, why was the community so sedate in 1981 and so noisy ten years later?

“Busting Out: Louisville ’s LGBT Community in the 1980s” hopes to answer those and other questions. Seven leaders from that era will participate in a forum to be held at Strickler Hall, Room 102, on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 from 7-9 PM . The public is invited to attend and ask questions.

For more information, contact Brian Buford at the University of Louisville’s Office for LGBT Services (brian.buford@louisville.edu) or David Williams, founder of the Williams-Nichols Archive and Library for LGBT Studies at the University of Louisville, at KyArchives@aol.com.

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.

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.