July 2021 Celebrating Diversity Newsletter
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July 2021: #WeFightForJustice Celebrating Diversity Acceptance, Respect, Understanding, Inclusion HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion, in collaboration with the Belknap Office of Diversity and Equity Becoming an Antiracist Community Conversation Wrap by: Nubia Bennett, M.Ed, Program Coordinator, Diversity Education & Inclu- sive Excellence Diversity Education and Inclusive Excellence has conclud- ed it latest book discussion community conversation series entitled “Becoming Antiracist”. This project focused on Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s New York Time’s bestseller How to Be an Antiracist, and was in collaboration with President Neeli Bendapudi’s Office, the Senior Associate Vice President of Diversity and Equity, and the Alumni Office. Together, they hosted 5 virtual community conversations covering topics from the book, with featured guest panelist that included our very own Dr. Kaila Story, Minda Honey of TAUNT Louis- ville, Carla Wallace of Louisville Showing up for Racial Jus- tice, State Representative Attica Scott, Black Market’s Shauntrice Martin and President Bendapudi. Conversation registration topped 100 participants in a single session, re- cordings and social media interactions reached over 2,500 community members and are available to view through the alumni office’s website. While reading was not required to participate in the community conversations, 25 copies of Kendi’s text were given away to select conversation partici- pants, which encourages further engagement with the text and antiracist work wherever they are in their antiracist journey. Through the “How to Be an Antiracist” (HTBA) book discussion project, DEIE seeks to establish shared understanding, and empathy-building, while working to foster a more equitable and inclusive culture at the university and in our commu- nity through the book study that culminates in antiracist action plans along with the community conversation series. The book discussion project is in alignment with President Bendapudi’s plan for the university to become a “premier anti-racist metropolitan research university” and the Cardinal Anti-Racism Agenda. The agenda entails a phased process, which includes action steps across the university to become a “national model of anti-racism” and to ensure that race will not negatively impact anyone’s experience at the University of Louisville. To achieve this goal, we need to move beyond conversations about racism and into antiracist action, but we cannot do so effectively without a shared understanding of what it means to be antiracist and how to take appropriate action as individuals or collectively. Feedback from the conversation series was overwhelmingly positive from alumni, faculty, staff, students, and commu- nity members. Many cited the diversity in the guest panelists, interest in the topic(s), and an increased motivation for an- tiracist action as reasons for attending and engaging with the content. DEIE will likely continue this format with other texts in the future. The book discussion group will end in the fall, and a new book will be selected. If you are interested in par- ticipating in the next cohort, or helping with the next community conversation series, contact the DEIE program coordina- tor, Nubia Bennett. Out of the shadows: Why These People are Uncovering Louisville's Storied LGBTQ History by: Maggie Menderski, Courier JOurnal Growing up, Greg Bourke never saw someone like himself in history books. The shadow-like culture of gay men and the genuine fear the LGBTQ com- munity lived in during the early 20th century didn’t leave a paper trail be- hind. The library at St. Stephen Martyr Catholic School in Louisville didn’t have biographies on successful gay men and people like him weren’t dis- cussed in his classes. There wasn’t an inspirational story in the text about someone who changed the world and came out of life strong, loved and suc- cessful. LGBTQ heroes were left from the pages and mainstream conversa- tions in general. He had to learn his history in other ways. And he has. Since then, Bourke, who eventually became part of the landmark 2015 Supreme Court rul- ing that required states to issue mar- riage licenses to same-sex couples, has even made some history of his own. In honor of Pride Month celebrated each June, I took time to talk with some LGBTQ people in Kentucky who both re- Demonstrators headed from Central Park to the Jefferson County Courthouse during the fifth annual March for member that shadow culture and are now Justice. June 29, 1991. By Paul Schumann / Courier Journal leaving their stories behind for the next generation. I wanted to learn how the people would rally behind and support ployers from firing people for being LGBTQ community interacted with itshis- him. Truly embracing who he was gay. Today, the annual Kentuckiana tory and how its presence, or lack thereof, meant threatening his employment, rela- Pride Festival, traditionally held during set the tone for the world we live in to- tionships with people he cared about, Pride Month, welcomes thousands of and his safety.That same-sex marriage day. people and a slew of corporate spon- Much has changed since Bourke came win he was part of was unthinkable in a world where a man could lose his job for sors who gather in support of the out to his friends and family duringone LGBTQ community. painful face-to-face conversation after loving another man just decades before. Much of that fear that dominated another in 1976. Back then, there wasn’t a Twenty years ago, Louisville passed in the early 20th century and that button he could hit online and hope that a Fairness Ordinance that barred em- 2 Bourke knew so well in the 1970s has been replaced with celebration and acceptance. But there's still work to do and much to learn.Even an inclusive culture of celebration and acceptance can’t fully unearth the secrets of the past. As I spoke with people, I learned that Bourke wasn’t the only LGBTQ person seeking out historical sources and aching for a role model and an understanding of the people who led the way for today's LGBTQ community in Louisville. While much progress has been made, there’s still so much to uncover about Kentucky's LGBTQ history. About six years ago, Cate Fosl, a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and the founder of the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice at the University of Louisville, held several “history harvests” throughout the state as part of a grant from the National Park Service and U.S. Department of the Interior. The grant was focused on identifying landmarks, but it also uncovered the state's LGBTQ history and provide historical context for the lives of those who fostered change and paved the way for today's queer community. The final product was the nation’s first statewide LGBTQ Historic Context Narrative, which offers a 125-page overview of the LGBTQ community in Kentucky. The report outlines the big names, moments, movements and places in Kentucky LGBTQ history. The team also garnered two National Register of Historic Place amendments for the site of Kentucky’s first LGBTQ Bar, the Beaux Arts in the Henry Clay Buildingin downtown Louisville, and the longtime LGBTQ gathering spot The Downtowner. Those designations went to two of the better-known inclusive places in town, but the context narrative also honors lesser- known establishments that served as second homes to the community. These were places where the LGBTQ people who visited them could truly be themselves in a way they often couldn't during their work and home lives in the mid-20th centu- ry. Greg Bourke, left, and Michael De Leon, right, were among the Kentucky Plaintiffs in the landmark 2015 Supreme court decision legalizing same-se marriage. By Chris Kenning / Curier Journal 3 Telly Haris, center, known as “Karmella Valentine”, and Dasha Meri Weather participate in the Kentuckiana Pride Parade on Market Street in downtown Louisville. June 25, 2012. By Tyler Bissmeyer / Courier Journal Aunt Nora's was a popular lesbian bar in Pleasure Ridge Park in the 1950s. If drag was your thing, the Regal Queen opened in 1972 at 801 E. Broadway in Smoketown. The Gay Lib House at 1919 Bonnycastle Ave. in the Highlands, too, was founded in the 1970s as a shelter for gay and lesbian people and is believed to be the first non-bar environment in the city specifically for LGBTQ people. The goal of the history harvests was to collect oral histories and artifacts, and it did so with limited success. Fosl had the chance to talk with a lesbian couple, who using the pseudonyms Tracy Knight and Marjorie Jones, went to the Jefferson County Clerk’s office seeking a marriage license on July 6, 1970. When the license was denied, the couple filed suit for the right to marry, and to everyone's surprise, they were granted a hearing. The judge spared the two women no humiliation, though, in the courtroom suggesting the couple were “he-she” and then banishing one of them from the packed courtroom until she changed from her pantsuit into a dress. "I am so in awe of the people who lived these stories, especially the ones back in the 1950s, 60s and 70s," Fosl said. "Even in the 80s we heard a lot of really powerful stories about real repression ... I feel indebted to those people." Some of the project's fact-finding events were well-attended and gathered stories they had no other way of hearing, but Fosl remembers receiving emails from people who were interested in coming but felt as though they’d be outing themselves even by showing up. She knew, too, that the study was more of an introduction into Kentucky's LGBTQ history than a complete project.