Fairness Campaign Newsletter August 2009

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ugust Actober O 6 2009
Kentucky State Fair-ness
As we continue our efforts to achieve a statewide Fairness law and other LGBT-friendly legislation in Frankfort, it is immensely important that we build further support throughout the state. While progressive movements based in Louisville and Lexington are important elements of our legislative strategy, we need Kentuckians from every county to speak out for Fairness if we hope to change the minds of legislators who hail from more rural parts of the Commonwealth. The Kentucky State Fair is the largest gathering of individuals from all over our Commonwealth, and it is one of the best places for the Fairness Campaign to identify supporters from legislative districts outside the metropolitan areas. For 17 years now, the Campaign has joined Kentucky Fairness Alliance at the Fair to identify supporters and collect data from all across our state. Filling a volunteer shift at our fair booth is an easy and fun way to support Fairness this August. The Kentucky State Fair runs Thursday, August 20 through Sunday, August 30, and we need help covering shifts each day in the morning (9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.), afternoon (1:30 - 5:30 p.m.), and evening (5:30 - 9:30pm). We encourage everyone to sign up for a shift at the Fairness booth and get free admission to the Fair! And why not bring a group of friends to volunteer with you. Join our friends and allies such as Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Central Presbyterian Church, Louisville Youth Group, ACLU, KY Jobs with Justice, Third Lutheran Church and Kentucky Fairness Alliance who have taken full days at the Fair in the past. You can sign up for your shift by e-mailing [email protected] or calling 893-0788. We’ll look forward to seeing you at the fair!

PLAN TO ATTEND
★ Fairness Community Building Committee - Aug. 6 & 13, 6:30 pm, help plan Fairness' involvement in the Kentucky State Fair to reach out to LGBT individuals and allies across the state, at the Fairness office. ★ State Fair Volunteer Training - Aug. 18, 6 pm, get briefed on working our booth at the Kentucky State Fair at the Fairness office. (Volunteers can also pick up their fair admission tickets.) ★ Kentucky State Fair - Aug. 20-30, reach out to supporters from across the state at the Fairness booth! Sign up for a volunteer shift by e-mailing Kyle@ Fairness.org or calling 893-0788. ★ LGBT Book Club - Aug. 23, 7 pm, a discussion of Augusten Burroughs' New York Times bestseller Running with Scissors, at the Fairness office. ★ Carla Wallace's Lawn Party - Sept. 6, 5-8 pm, celebrating and benefiting longtime justice allies Fairness Campaign, Kentucky Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression and the Braden Center. ★ Louisville AIDS Walk - Sept. 13, registration at 1 pm, The Belvedere, 5th & Main Streets. LouisvilleAidsWalk.org ★ UofL Pride Week - Sept. 2125, featuring Pride cookout, theatre performances and keynote address with reality TV star Calpernia Adams and Andrea James. ★ Volunteer Meetups - every Tuesday, 6-8 pm, work on a variety of Fairness Campaign volunteer projects while meeting staff and other volunteers. ★ Louisville Youth Group – support and social group for LGBTQ youth 14 to 21, weekly meetings. 499-4427.

Louisville AIDS Walk - Where We Stand
First the good news: last year’s Louisville AIDS Walk brought together over 130 teams and a record 6,000 participants and, for the third year in a row, the Walk increased the amount of money raised for local HIV/AIDS services! Since 1993, the Walk has funded direct client services through 13 local HIV/AIDS service organizations. Thanks to significant advancements in medications, the HIV-related death rate has declined 70% since 1995. Now the bad news: the need for the services Louisville AIDS Walk supports continues to increase. Since 2000, the number of people living with AIDS in Jefferson County has increased 71%, yet last year’s AIDS Walk raised 37% less than it did in 2000. The simple fact is we were receiving more financial support when we had far fewer clients to serve. The Walk combats the notion that the AIDS crisis is over. Every 9 1⁄2 minutes, someone in the United States is infected with HIV. Last year the Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced about 56,000 Americans become infected each year. In the U.S., more than 1.1 million people are estimated to be living with the disease today. HIV/AIDS is disproportionately affecting African Americans in our community. According to the CDC, African Americans are 7 times more likely to be infected with HIV/AIDS than Caucasians. 1 in 16 African American males will be diagnosed with HIV at some point in their
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2263 Frankfort Avenue Louisville KY 40206 / phone: 502 893-0788 / email: [email protected]
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Fairness Over Louisville Director’s Note – Coalition Buzz
by Chris Hartman
Since winning the passage of Louisville’s Fairness law a decade ago, the Fairness Campaign has had its focus set firmly on the passage of a statewide Fairness law, protecting all Kentuckians from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Lately, more than ever, the buzz in support of statewide Fairness has intensified, and it seems each day we add allies to the strengthening coalition of individuals and organizations supporting Fairness across the Commonwealth. In July, the Fairness Campaign joined the Kentucky Fairness Alliance, Lexington Fairness, and the ACLU-KY on WFPL’s State of Affairs to announce our official statewide coalition, built on the foundation laid at last year’s statewide Fairness summit. Most recently, the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights joined our ranks, adding their powerful, official voice to our collective efforts. In June, as part of the 40th anniversary commemoration of the historic Stonewall riots, the Commission held the first state agency sponsored hearing on the need for a statewide Fairness law in Kentucky, titled “A Fair Future for Kentucky: A Public Hearing on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination.” This was an unprecedented event for Kentucky, and statewide supporters packed Richmond’s City Hall to standing room only to see former Lexington Mayor Teresa Isaac interview allies and Fairness leaders from across the Commonwealth on the need for a statewide Fairness Director Chris Hartman at Fairness law. March for Economic Human Rights At the hearing, Fairness Campaign co-founder Carla Wallace represented the city of Louisville on the Commission’s panel, and she shared a personal experience I find particularly salient in remembering our work for justice and equality must be in coalition, it must include all people, and that any work we do for justice furthers Fairness for all people. “Growing up, marching for civil rights and for peace,” she recounted, “it felt only natural to me that the struggle for equality must apply to all people. I discovered that my own freedom is impossible in the absence of freedom for all people.” As we forge new ground for Fairness in our coalition work, we must continue to recognize the intersectionality of all forms of oppression, and stand by our allies fighting poverty, racism and gender discrimination as strongly as allies have stood by us. When a local organization committed to empowering poor people, Women In Transition (WIT), literally took over the streets of downtown Louisville in July to demand an end to poverty, Fairness Campaign leaders and supporters joined the nearly 300 individuals to march right alongside in the call for economic justice. And when the Kentucky Social Forum convened in Berea, Kentucky this month, the Fairness Campaign was there as an official sponsor not just to build momentum for statewide Fairness, but to advocate for economic, racial, and gender equality as well. We could never have won Fairness in Louisville alone, and we certainly cannot win statewide equality by an isolated effort either. The fight for freedom in the Commonwealth will require every friend and ally we can find to pressure state legislators (particularly the Senate) to pass an anti-discrimination law, approve hospital visitation rights, and one day marriage equality. It will not be an easy road to victory, but the larger and stronger our coalition becomes, and the more we reach out to support all efforts of justice and equality, the sooner we will see real change come to Frankfort.

(l-r) Fairness Over Louisville hosts Travis Lay, Ernie Flores, Ren Scheuerman, Chris Hartman, Phoenix Lindsey-Hall and Scheri Smith.

In July the Fairness Campaign hosted its first Fairness Over Louisville, a new annual fundraiser founded by Travis Lay and Ren Scheuerman. Held atop the Hyatt Regency’s rotating Spire, over 200 supporters attended the inaugural event, raising over $7,000 for the Fairness Campaign! Special thanks to the Fairness Over Louisville hosts: Greg Abbas, Kat Crawford, Sean Donaldson, Aletha Fields, Fleur de Lez, Ernie Flores, G3, Drew Gard, Chris Hartman, Jacob Isaac, Lauren Heberle, Tim King, Carol Kraemer, Travis Lay, Steve Lebder, Marsh Lindley, Phoenix Lindsey-Hall, Sam Marcosson, Terry Mickler, David Mills, Kevin Noland, Stuart Perelmuter, Gil Reyes, Jeff Rodgers, Elizabeth Sawyer, Ren Scheuerman, Scheri Smith, Dorene Stein, Tom Trudgeon, Carla Wallace & Nick Wilkerson

(l-r) Fairness Campaign Board Member Nick Wilkerson, Julie Smith from Soapnet's Southern Belles: Louisville, Christopher Avery, and Devin Bundrent at Fairness Over Louisville.

AIDS Walk

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New Website!
The Fairness Campaign launched a brand new website in June as part of our Pride Month celebration. Log onto www.Fairness.org to check out our current issues, sign up for our newly-designed email communications, and view up-to-date events, photos and videos! You can also become a friend on Facebook and follow Fairness with Twitter. 2

life, and 1 in 30 African American women will be diagnosed with HIV at some point in their life. African American females in Kentucky have AIDS rates 15 times higher than Caucasian females. In the U.S., more African American children are living with AIDS than children of all other races and ethnicities living with AIDS combined. While African Americans represent 7% of Kentucky’s population, 38% of the new HIV cases diagnosed in 2007 were African American. Our economy may be in recession but HIV is not. Your help is needed now more than ever before. Please support the 17th anniversary Louisville AIDS Walk by signing up online and joining the Fairness Campaign’s Walk Team. Ask your family, friends and co-workers to sponsor you with pledges and then join us Sunday, September 13, 2009 on the Belvedere, as we step out against AIDS. If you are not able to attend, please make a tax-deductible donation online or by mail. For more information visit www.louisvilleaidswalk.org or call 502-5745947. Together we can help support our neighbors living with HIV/AIDS.

New Coordinating Committee Members

Play an Active Role in the Electoral Process with CFAIR
With Mayor Jerry Abramson’s recent announcement not to seek another term as Louisville’s leader, 2010 has become an even more important election year for our whole community. As we gear up for the many important races including contests for seats in the state Senate and House of Representatives, we want to remind you that you can play an important role in the election process through CFAIR! CFAIR – the Committee for Fairness and Individual Rights – led by co-chairs Nick Wilkerson and Dawn Wilson along with a 13 member Board of Directors. It is the statewide political action committee (PAC) of the Fairness Campaign, and while it is a sister organization to the Campaign, it is a separate entity as required by federal and state laws. CFAIR is the group that compiles the voter information cards that many of you use at election time. We send out questionnaires and conduct interviews with candidates seeking endorsements from our community to determine, before we cast our precious votes, which individuals will have our community’s political interests best in mind. We educate our lawmakers, community and other interested parties about LGBT rights issues, and we endorse candidates in local and state legislative contests, school board, gubernatorial and judicial races. However, since we are a statewide PAC we cannot make endorsements in U.S. congressional or senatorial races. It is our mission is to be the political organization on LGBT issues for our community--it is a mission we are proud to execute, and we invite you to join us by emailing [email protected] to get involved and by following our blog at http://cfair. blogspot.com.

New Fairness leaders Maurice "Bojangles" Blanchard, Keith Brooks and Scheri Smith.

The Fairness Campaign is excited to welcome three new members to its Coordinating Committee, which helps set the agenda and carry out the mission of the Campaign. Maurice "Bojangles" Blanchard has worked throughout the South in Atlanta, Memphis and New Orleans with grassroots LGBT groups to gain rights through door to door campaigns, community meetings, partnerships, marches and more. Also a member of the SCLC, Bojangles has worked alongside prominent civil rights leaders in efforts to continue progress while also fusing the LGBT community and its particular needs into the movement. He is a devout pacifist and serves on the board of the local chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, working for peaceful and nonviolent conflict resolution throughtout the world as well as here at home. A graduate of the University of Louisville with a degree in Justice Administration, Bojangles is currently a Learning Facilitator with Humana. He has been married to his wonderful husband, Dominique, for 3 years. He will be entering Seminary in the fall to pursue a Master's of Divinity. Keith Brooks is a native of Louisville. After coming to terms with his sexual identity in college, Keith has worked with various student groups and gay-straight organizations in Columbus and Lexington. Keith has also hosted and presented programs to students related to sexual orientation and heterosexism. He currently writes for Queer Louisville (http:// queerlouisville.wordpress.com), a blog aimed at centralizing local GLBTQ resources and events. Keith graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in journalism and art studio. A lot of Keith's spare time is devoted to a project called 37 Languages, a blog about finding the "perfect" language. Scheri Smith is an accomplished communications professional whose career has spanned more than 10 years. Her early roots are in print journalism where she spent the bulk of her career at the Courier-Journal. Today Scheri is focused on taking her communications skills and translating them into good for the community. She is the founder of Fleur de Lez, Louisville’s only social site for Queer women. Scheri works tirelessly to foster the growth of the web site’s base and to raise funds for organizations with similar goals, such as the Fairness Campaign. Current Coordinating Committee members also include: Yana Baker, Kat Crawford, Aletha Fields, Ernie Flores, Brad Hampton, Lauren Heberle, Carol Kraemer, Phoenix LindseyHall, Sam Marcosson, Terry Mickler, K.A. Owens, Jeff Rodgers, Dorene Stein, Meg Stern and Nick Wilkerson.

Get More Involved – Join a Committee
With more new Fairness staff and leaders than ever before, now is the perfect time to join the energy of the Fairness Campaign on one of our standing committees. Whatever your interests and skills are, there is a place for you in the work we do. If you enjoy planning events, the Fundraising or Community Building Committees might be perfect for you! Or if you want to get more deeply involved in political advocacy and community action, the Legislative or Dismantling Racism Committees may be your right fit. Check out the events section of the newsletter for some of our upcoming committee meetings, or call the office at 893-0788 for more information. 3

PRIDE 2009: The Fairness Campaign definitely proved it was proud this year! We launched our brand new t-shirt designed by Jarrett Horvath at the Kentuckiana Pride Parade with over twenty marchers accompanying our incredible Fairness Forward float. Special thanks goes to our Pride Planning Committee: Ernie Flores (chair), Yana Baker, Maurice “Bojangles” Blanchard, Michael Canales, Terry Fultineer, Bret Gaither, Ethan Hawes, Amanda Horton and Dominique Harlon James.

PRESORT STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID LOUISVILLE KY PERMIT #879

2263 Frankfort Avenue Louisville, Kentucky 40206

Join Fairness at the State Fair –
Volunteer at our booth August 20-30!

Reserve Oct. 24 for FAIRNESS X-travaganza
Ten years ago, Louisville became one of the first cities in the South to pass a Fairness ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations. We believe this landmark anniversary warrants a giant celebration! So on October 24 we’re planning a community-wide celebration to commemorate Jefferson County’s historic passage of the Fairness law with Fairness X – an X-travaganza of Fairness house parties culminating in an X-plosive community dance party. Help us plan the festivities or learn more about becoming a Fairness X-travaganza dinner party host by e-mailing [email protected], calling 893-0788, or messaging us on Facebook. com/FairnessCampaign. Reserve Saturday, October 24 for an X-traodinary evening of festive fun in celebration of the Fairness protections we’ve enjoyed in Metro Louisville for an amazing 10 years!

Make a Difference!
JOIN or RENEW your membership today and help continue the work for Fairness! Name: Address: City/Zip: Phone: Email: $25 $50 Other
Please make your check payable to Fairness Campaign, 2263 Frankfort Ave, Louisville, KY 40206.

You're Invited to Carla's Lawn Party
Be part of celebrating a community building tradition at Carla Wallace’s 12th Annual Lawn Party on Sunday, Sept. 6 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. In a continuing tradition that honors the long-standing relationship in the work for equality and justice, the Lawn Party benefits the Fairness Campaign, the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and the Braden Center. Everyone is invited and you should receive an invitation to the event soon. Your RSVP will be greatly appreciated. Please call the Fairness Office for more information at 893-0788 or to receive a formal invitation for a friend. We look forward to seeing you at the Lawn Party.

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