The Lexington Fairness Awards by Lexington Fairness are a complete joke, and so is the fact that a bigot like Jody Cofer continues to be on the Board of Kentucky Fairness Alliance. Jody, plus the former executive director who now works for the homophobic Lt. Governor (which Kentucky Fairness Alliance sent out an email endorsing) and the endless broken promises make it easy for gay Kentuckians to hate Kentucky Fairness Alliance. But it is not over, we have yet larger ego's at Louisville Fairness Campaign and Kentucky Equality Federation.
Louisville Fairness Campaign issues a press release to try to make the news if someone burps, and Kentucky Equality Federation is so focused on grassroots organizing, they ignore everything else.
We can count on Kentucky Fairness Alliance for never ending social hours to try to take your money (perhaps to pay another executive director who will defect to the enemy camp). The icing on the cake is Craig Cammock who thinks he is something special simply because he started a Facebook group (but this failed to get a higher turnout at this years rally in Frankfort).
To examine the gay community’s self-absorption, look no further than the event celebrated this month that has been commemorated with parades for four decades: the “Stonewall Rebellion.” Why is it that in all that time no gay leader has acknowledged that there were non-gay victims at that event, which we should regret, if not apologize for? Stonewall was sparked by a legitimate bar raid on an unlicensed, Mafia-run drinking establishment. The gay “heroes” threw glass bottles and bricks at police and at one point tried to light the building on fire while people were still inside. Even if one celebrates Stonewall’s repercussions for sparking feelings of gay pride and leading to nationwide community organizing, shouldn’t we acknowledge that our self-esteem doesn’t have to come at the expense of other people’s safety?
To the credit of Louisville Fairness Campaign and Kentucky Equality Federation, they have both made bold efforts to try to work with other organizations, but no one listened.
Gay esteem has innocent victims, and I believe it’s time to balance out gay pride with some gay humility.
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A perfect example of selfishness and arrogance, thank you. You just proved my point.
ReplyDeleteKentucky Equality Federation was investigated, an investigation based on supposition and innuendo. In the end no wrong doing was found on the part of Kentucky Equality Federation and the entire thing was based on the political agenda and selfishness of others.
The initial spirit of this blog post appeared to be 'OK,' to perhaps encourage everyone to examine their roles and how each organization could reach out. As your post progressed however you appear to have lost perspective and began slinging mud at specific individuals and organizations. If you have a problem with any LGBTI rights organization perhaps you should address it directly with them.
ReplyDeleteEach organization involved is passionate about LGBTI civil rights and individual organizations have different ideas of how to achieve equality. We must not allow our frustration to divide us.
It is a mistake to be too quick to ascribe prejudice or other malicious intent to any organization or individual as you have done here.
We are all PASSIONATE about who we are and what we do. Sometimes we can become more passionate about our differences than we are about our common objectives.
United We Stand OR Divided We Fall.
Kentucky Equality Federation
I, for one, am proud of anyone who is willing to work for gay rights in Kentucky. You are saying that these organizations are not perfect? What a shocker.
ReplyDeleteSure, the Stonewall riots "may have been sparked by a mafia-run drinking establishment" but clearly this has become the symbol of the start of the gay rights movement. Part of the reason that this bar (which was not frequented exclusively by gays) was unlicensed was that the city didn't allow establishments that catered exclusively to gays to be licensed (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/opinion/26truscott.html?pagewanted=2&th&emc=th).
Gay humility? I'm spending some time in Iowa, where my dear friends Spencer and Andy just got LEGALLY MARRIED. I congratulate them. It isn't time for humility. It is time for us to gather our wits and work.