Viewpoint by Curtis Morrison

I’m sure that, like me, many of my Kentucky activists friends that fight for LGBTQ-rights get frustrated. I do, even though I’m in the progressive oasis of Louisville. I can’t even imagine how hard it is to be a gay teenager in rural parts of our state…we know it’s not easy for them.

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. Here’s excerpts from San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk’s March 10, 1978 “Hope Speech”:

“You see there is a major difference-and it remains a vital difference-between a friend and a gay person, a friend in office and a gay person in office. Gay people have been slandered nationwide. We’ve been tarred and we’ve been brushed with the picture of pornography. In Dade County, we were accused of child molestation. It’s not enough anymore just to have friends represent us. No matter how good that friend may be…

Like every other group, we must be judged by our leaders and by those who are themselves gay, those who are visible. For invisible we remain in limbo-a myth, a person with no parents, no brothers, no sisters, no friends who are straight, no important positions in employment…A gay person in office can set a tone, can command respect no only from the larger community, but from the young people in our own community who need both examples and hope.”

Come Out Fighting: A Century of Essential Writing on Gay and Lesbian Liberation, Nation Books, 2001, p.166)

So yes, we need Representatives in the General Assembly to promote the statewide Fairness Amendment. And we need Representatives to fight Anti-adoption measures like SB-68. And we need Representatives just being darn good legislators, looking out for all Kentuckians, making jobs a priority, and yes balancing our budget- but not by forgetting about the folks that needs us the most.But here’s something else we need and I want you to think about this:

We need Role models.

Here’s our chance: http://www.mikeslatonforkyhouse.com