If ever there were a roller-coaster year, 2009 was it. A we await the new year, Kentucky’s exhausted LGBTI civil rights leaders, as well as the thousands of activist, supporters, and allies enjoy some much needed downtime before it all starts again in 2010.

Major media outlets have largely ignored Darlene Price, as well as Maurice Sweeney, the only black person running for U.S. Senate to represent Kentucky.

Election 2010 could bring additional changes to Kentucky’s political makeup. Democrats have taken additional seats in the Kentucky Senate, and the Commonwealth has two openly gay men running for the Kentucky House of Representatives. One key to victory for gay politicians has been building reputations in their communities as candidates well qualified for the job. Voters who may be uncomfortable with homosexuality in the abstract are often willing to vote for a gay individual they feel they know, political strategists claim.

In an email to members, the anti-gay, very powerful Liberty Counsel outlines its 2010 priorities. Perhaps this email would have been somewhat inspiring had it not been so misguided. It was Liberty Counsel that first sounded the alarm to dismantle California’s same-sex marriage law. Should the legislation filed by Mary Lou Marzian (D-Louisville), a Senior Representative in the Kentucky House of Representatives to repeal Kentucky’s ban on same-sex marriage, civil unions, and “similar institutions,” make it out of a House Committee, we’ll have one heck of a fight on our hands.

I found it bad taste for Oprah Winfrey to host the “White House Christmas” television special. We are in the middle of a major recession; states have no money, people continue to become homeless, jobs continue to shrink, people are starving right here in the United States, and homosexuals may soon be executed in the Republic of Uganda.

Republic of Uganda proposes law to executive homosexuals. The worldwide outrage continues. In a groundbreaking move, a representative of the Pope in the audience read a statement strongly condemning the criminalization of homosexual conduct. A powerful U.S. Representative urged the Republic of Ugandan to ‘come to their senses’ and reject a controversial proposed law that would punish homosexuality with life in prison, without the possibility of parole or pardon.

Earlier this week, Garrard County resident Roger Ayres filed to run against Representative Lonnie Napier (R) in the 36th District because “U.S. President Obama saying the United States is no longer a Christian nation made my blood boil.”

Lexington Vice Mayor Jim Gray, an openly gay politician who has been critical of the Newberry Administration in the past, confirmed today that he is running for Mayor in 2010 against incumbent Jim Newberry.

Opponents of gay marriage are celebrating another decisive vote in the New York Senate, where a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage was defeated 38 to 24 on late Wednesday. Opponents said New York lawmakers heeded the outcome of a Nov. 3 ballot measure in Maine, where voters repealed a gay marriage law before it went into effect.

Viewpoint: I see the Fairness Campaign, Kentucky Fairness Alliance, and the Kentucky Equality Federation tirelessly show up for -fight after fight, and I think- geez, when will this ever end? And I also wonder, what can we really do for today’s gay teenager in Elizabethtown or Paducah? I came across an unexpected answer in my reading tonight.