BU students join the fight for fairness
Hannah Bushong
Issue date: 1/27/10 Section: News
By Hannah Bushong
On January 16th, several members of Bellarmine University's GLASS (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Society) attended a Fairness Summit hosted by the Kentucky Statewide Fairness Coalition in Frankfort, Kentucky. The Fairness Coalition is an alliance of five organizations based in Kentucky focused on protecting the rights of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered) citizens in the state. It is comprised of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, Fairness Campaign, Lexington Fairness, Kentucky Fairness Alliance Foundation, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky Foundation.
The Summit was organized as part of an effort to create new legislative strategy in the fight to end discrimination against members of the LGBT community. Those in attendance were invited to a night of bowling and socializing the Friday night prior to the Summit on Saturday. When the morning came, members of GLASS and others from communities and colleges around the state checked in at Paul Sawyer Public Library in Frankfort.
After a brief breakfast, the Summit attendees sat to hear representatives from each of the organizations that make up the Fairness Coalition. The history of the Coalition was given along with the progress made thus far. There are currently three cities in the state of Kentucky with fairness ordinances protecting community members from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
When the speeches were over, the audience members were to become active participants. The attendees were given the option of four different groups to work with, which included New Ideas/Innovations, Legislative Strategies, Media Representation, and Organization/Local Ordinances. We met with our chosen group long enough to get acquainted with the other participants before breaking for lunch.
Stomachs full and hearts eager the smaller break-out groups reconvened in separate locations. The large room full of a hundred activists had not been conducive to the focused work that was about to ensue. GLASS members sat alongside hardened veterans of the gay rights movement and fresh faces from college campuses across the state in order to pursue social justice. One such veteran present was Dr. Mary Gray, who recently gave a talk at Bellarmine. In the break-out groups we were given more specific instruction on what we could do as citizens in order to effect the change we desired to see.
The break-out groups dismissed after some intense discussion and strategizing and the attendees reunited in the larger room we began in. Participants from each group took front and center to report the progress made in the session they had taken part of so that everyone present could have knowledge of the future of the Coalition and what they too could help with.
Contact information was exchanged within each group in order to keep in touch about what progress had been made on each individual front. Another Summit is being planned for sometime near August to report back on progress and re-evaluate strategies.
On January 16th, several members of Bellarmine University's GLASS (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Society) attended a Fairness Summit hosted by the Kentucky Statewide Fairness Coalition in Frankfort, Kentucky. The Fairness Coalition is an alliance of five organizations based in Kentucky focused on protecting the rights of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered) citizens in the state. It is comprised of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, Fairness Campaign, Lexington Fairness, Kentucky Fairness Alliance Foundation, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky Foundation.
The Summit was organized as part of an effort to create new legislative strategy in the fight to end discrimination against members of the LGBT community. Those in attendance were invited to a night of bowling and socializing the Friday night prior to the Summit on Saturday. When the morning came, members of GLASS and others from communities and colleges around the state checked in at Paul Sawyer Public Library in Frankfort.
After a brief breakfast, the Summit attendees sat to hear representatives from each of the organizations that make up the Fairness Coalition. The history of the Coalition was given along with the progress made thus far. There are currently three cities in the state of Kentucky with fairness ordinances protecting community members from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
When the speeches were over, the audience members were to become active participants. The attendees were given the option of four different groups to work with, which included New Ideas/Innovations, Legislative Strategies, Media Representation, and Organization/Local Ordinances. We met with our chosen group long enough to get acquainted with the other participants before breaking for lunch.
Stomachs full and hearts eager the smaller break-out groups reconvened in separate locations. The large room full of a hundred activists had not been conducive to the focused work that was about to ensue. GLASS members sat alongside hardened veterans of the gay rights movement and fresh faces from college campuses across the state in order to pursue social justice. One such veteran present was Dr. Mary Gray, who recently gave a talk at Bellarmine. In the break-out groups we were given more specific instruction on what we could do as citizens in order to effect the change we desired to see.
The break-out groups dismissed after some intense discussion and strategizing and the attendees reunited in the larger room we began in. Participants from each group took front and center to report the progress made in the session they had taken part of so that everyone present could have knowledge of the future of the Coalition and what they too could help with.
Contact information was exchanged within each group in order to keep in touch about what progress had been made on each individual front. Another Summit is being planned for sometime near August to report back on progress and re-evaluate strategies.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Dorene Stein
posted 2/08/10 @ 6:12 PM EST
Thank you, Hannah, for your fine synopsis of the day.
I was THRILLED to see so many college students participate! You are the next generation; we need ALL
of you!!!
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