Fancy Farm, a mtg, and here we come Columbus

Hey, folks:

It’s a busy week, but I want to update all the fairness folks out there. KFA’s leadership gathered this past weekend in western Kentucky for the 128th annual Fancy Farm Picnic. I’ll leave the commentary on the political speeches to all the other bloggers out there. Maybe you should checkout Mark Hebert on his WHAS political blog – it’s a pretty good recap: http://www.beloblog.com/WHAS_Blogs/PoliticalBlogger/2008/08/fancy-farm-first-impressions-b.html. I totally agree that Gov. Beshear won the prize for the day. In slang terms, he went old school. I totally loved it. Sens. McConnell and Bunning read to the crowd; they didn’t stump. I don’t enjoy sitting in 95 degree weather and being read to – I can do that at the house.

The meeting was really good. We’ve got a really good group of Board members. We took care of the regular housekeeping business and spend some time discussing things such as the statewide fairness summit being planned, programming over the next couple months including the shared booth at the KY State Fair with Louisville’s Fairness Campaign, and the Out & About gala on Nov. 7. As for O&A, anyone that is interested in serving as a Star Partner (formerly known as table captains) send me or one of the KFA leaders a shout out. Individuals that are commit to partner in that capacity agree to sell 8 tickets by Oct. 22. In other business at the meeting, we brought on two new Board members. They are Mike Handley of Louisville and Chad Hundley of Lexington.

The 4th quarter Board meeting was scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 8 in Louisville at the law office of Board Vice-Chairperson Travis Myles.

This week started busy and will remain that way through Sunday night. Christina, Travis, and I all head up to Columbus, OH on Thursday for the national Equality Federation Summer Meeting. That is the annual meeting organized by and for statewide lgbt leaders across the country. I serve on the planning committee for that so especially excited. Some of the sessions I’m particularly pumped about are “Connecting the Dots in the Mindset of the Religious Moveable Middle,” “Using Your Data: Mapping and Tracking Tools to Maximize Effectiveness in Strategic Planning, Fundraising, Lobbying, and Organizing,” and “Talking to the Moveable Middle About LGBT Issues.” It wouldn’t be the annual meeting of the Fedheads if we didn’t have a little fun… on Friday evening Equality Ohio is hosting a reception for attendees and we have the opportunity to catch a Clippers game or go to the Ohio State Fair. Hmmm… I may encourage hitting the reception and then going out to eat and skip the heat! hehe. I hear we’ve got to go to Union Station for dinner. On Saturday evening, the National Center for Transgender Equality is hosting a reception for attendees and then we’re meeting up with a former KFA Board member and friend for dinner.

Alright. I’m done writing for now. I’ll probably write more from Columbus.

~Jody