LEO Weekly June 8, 2022 by leoweekly

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Your Guide To Kentuckiana Pride

The Growth Of Pride Across Kentucky

LMPD’S 2020 PROTEST PLANS WARNED OF HUMAN SHIELDS, COP IMPERSONATORS | PAGE 6

Members Of The LGBTQ Community Write Letters To Their Younger Selves

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EDITOR’S NOTE

GOP BRINGS CULTURE WARS TO GOVERNOR’S RACE By Scott Recker | leo@leoweekly.com AFTER the volatile arguments about restrictions and mandates that dominated the pandemic, Kentucky Republicans were always going to make the 2023 gubernatorial race one big messy and emotional tirade against Gov. Andy Beshear. But, when state Rep. Savannah Maddox from Dry Ridge ofﬁcially entered the race on Monday, it became pretty clear a dominant Republican strategy is going to be straight-up crashing and burning every issue directly into fearmongering, buzzwords and opportunistic, divisive culture wars. “We remember Beshear’s lockdowns and mandates,” Maddox says in her ﬁrst campaign ad. “We wonder how this could have happened in America. It’s not leadership, it’s tyranny.” The ad accuses the governor of damaging the economy, keeping kids away from classrooms and infringing “on the right to practice our Christian faith.” There’s no mention of the deadly virus that led to the shutdowns. Not one. Because, for her purpose, there’s no sense in making people remember reason — it’s just more effective to capitalize on fear, because that’s the playbook. Maddox, who sits at the far-right wing of state Republicans, groups herself into the “liberty” movement, one of the newest

sprouts of the Tea Party tree that recently caused a few upsets of longterm Republican incumbents during the primary election in May in Northern Kentucky. The “liberty” sect of the Republicans came into the limelight during the COVID shutdown, the same time when Maddox was at her most controversial. In May of 2020, Kentucky Democrats called on Republican leaders to censure Maddox after she riled up a crowd — which included 3 Percenters — who were angry with the governor in front of the Capitol. Democrats argued that Maddox’s actions intensified the actions of the protesters, who, on a later day, hung an effigy of Beshear from a tree. She also caught some heat after posing with a man who flashed a white supremacist hand gesture in their photo. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the other high-

profile candidate on the early Republican ticket for governor, is set to bring the same sort of battle to Beshear, although in a more subtle way. In 2020, Cameron sued Beshear over COVID19 measures and whether or not the governor overstepped his executive authority. “Andy Beshear is not uniting Kentucky,” Cameron said in his first campaign ad. “This governor does not reflect our values.” Cameron, a Mitch McConnell protege, comes from the school of being careful with your words and aggressive with your power plays. It’s an interesting juxtaposition, Cameron and Maddox, because it seems like the GOP is hedging its bets. The plan is to clearly paint Beshear as a power-hungry extremist, but they’re going to beta test in the primary who they want their artist to be, an unpredictable mad-dog candidate in Maddox that can inflame and distort, or a more smooth and manipulative candidate in Cameron,

who has more poise and charm. Either way, the attacks are incoming, but their information war is going to be uphill. According to a Morning Consult poll in April, Beshear is the most popular Democratic governor in America, with 59% of registered voters in Kentucky approve of Beshear’s job performance while 36% disapprove. Plus, it’s hard to think back on the early stages of the pandemic or the aftermath of the tornado damage in Western Kentucky, and not recall Beshear’s sincerity and dedication. On the economic front, there’s the historic battery park investments and wildly low unemployment rate. And anyone calling a Beshear a “radical liberal” doesn’t have their ﬁnger on the pulse of the political spectrum. At this point, they’re just seeing what faulty narratives can stick. •

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

VIEWS

PICK YOUR BRICK — PRIDE’S STILL A RIOT By Chris Hartman | leo@leoweekly.com

LGBTQ PRIDE has exploded like a resplendent for at least another decade. But the U.S. Supreme Court had other plans. In 2013 rainbow all across Kentucky and the whole they approved federal marriage recognition, U.S. You can’t scroll six inches without hitand, two short years later, the freedom to ting a rainbow rendition of a corporate logo. marry for LGBTQ couples all across the There are more than 20 Pride events around U.S. And suddenly support for same-sex our commonwealth. Twenty-three Kentucky marriage spiked. communities have passed local Fairness Opponents were incensed. Baffled. Ordinances to prohibit LGBTQ discriminaScrambling. LGBTQ marriage had been tion. We’ve had marriage equality for nearly their most reliable wedge issue for more seven years. National polls show support than a decade. What were they to divide our and acceptance for our LGBTQ community nation with now? at the highest ever, including in virtually Conservative conferences festered with every major religious group. feverish debate to find a solution. So why does the fight for LGBTQ rights Broad opposition to marriage relied feel harder than ever? Why are we seeing heavily on people’s ignorance of LGBTQ some of the most regressive anti-LGBTQ people and their relationships. As more attacks — particularly against trans kids? Americans came out, as more mothers, How did we get here? fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles had Simply put, progress breeds pushback. to confront the issue at home — and had I yearn for the glory days of the Obama to accept an LGBTQ family member they years, when hope truly did spring eternal for loved — that opposition eroded. so many social justice issues. But looking Polls showed that most Americans now back now, the turning points in our moveknew someone who was lesbian, gay or ment appear in sharp relief. bisexual. But they still didn’t know someThe freedom to marry had seemed like a one who was transgender. With ignorance, distant dream for so long. For years, it was fear can most easily be deployed. Lies can the widest wedge among political issues. most easily be told — and weaponized. President George W. Bush’s campaign National anti-LGBTQ hate groups piveffectively used it to catapult him to reelecoted with a swiftness. By early 2015 they tion in 2004, placing the issue on the ballot sent their first round of anti-trans bills to in key swing states. Kentucky got caught up state-based groups in the mix as well. like Kentucky’s Voters in our comAt fırst, efforts Family Foundation. monwealth codified backfıred by focusing At first, efforts LGBTQ marriage backfi red by focusdiscrimination in exclusively on ing exclusively on our constitution by a vote of 75% to 25%. bathrooms. Kentucky bathrooms. Kentucky defeated one Nearly a decade defeated one of of the first anti-trans later, LGBTQ marbathroom bills in the riage was still a toxic the fırst anti-trans nation in 2015. The issue in our state. pushback against bathroom bills in the By 2013, only two North Carolina’s statewide officials nation in 2015. The bathroom bill in publicly supported 2016 was severe. same-sex marriage pushback against But polls showed the — then-Auditor North Carolina’s strategy was workAdam Edelen and ing. So opponents Lt. Governor Jerry bathroom bill in 2016 persisted until they Abramson. Voters found a battlefront as still overwhelmingly was severe. American as apple opposed it by 65%, pie — sports. with 54% opposition Suddenly, every conservative under the from state Democrats. sun pretended to cared about women’s sports Left to the voters in our state and nation, — for the first time ever. When Florida fell marriage equality wasn’t to be a reality

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

Chris Hartman.

to an anti-trans sports bill last year, we knew we were in trouble. Our neighbors went next — Tennessee and West Virginia, which was Kentucky’s canary in the coal mine. Our friends at Fairness West Virginia had killed every anti-LGBTQ bill in their state legislature just like we had for years. But an anti-trans sports bill eked through. That’s when I knew our time was up. We’d been building difﬁcult, meaningful relationships with Kentucky Republicans for years to successfully stop anti-LGBTQ laws for nearly a decade. But the national strategy against trans kids had gained too much momentum, and this year Kentucky passed its ﬁrst anti-LGBTQ laws in recent memory — the same anti-trans sports ban that had been peddled to our peers. These are the challenges we will face for the next several years. In states where conservatives won the anti-trans sports bill, they’ve already moved on to more restrictive

measures — denying trans kids healthcare, banning LGBTQ books in school libraries and promoting “conversion therapy.” These bills are coming here too. And we’ve got to be ready. Celebrate Pride, but prepare to fight. Never forget the first Pride was a riot — with bottles and bricks thrown by Black and Brown trans and queer people against an oppressive system. Pick your brick. Our lives depend on it. • You can join the Fairness Campaign’s fight for LGBTQ rights in Kentucky at fairness.org. Chris Hartman is the executive director of the Fairness Campaign, a Kentucky LGBTQ advocacy organization founded in 1991.

VIEWS

THE MIDWESTERNIST

NIGHTMARES By Dan Canon | leo@leoweekly.com

I MISSED YOU in bed last night. If you had been there I would have shifted as I always do, so that your head could fit on my lap as I type, situating the weight of my arm along the back of your neck so that you know I am there, but not pressing on you too hard. It was a long day of sitting in front of a low-grade tractor beam, pulled a millimeter at a time into the world’s biggest pile of shit, images of infant corpses and burning hospitals juxtaposed with advertisements for PhD programs on foreign continents, mailorder diabetes medication, and discount ammunition, until I’m all the way in it, trying to dig a tunnel to the other side but finding it useless, so I give up. The radiation from the screen burns my eyes so I close them for a moment and pick up a guitar, but I can’t remember any chord changes, or any lyrics, and it doesn’t matter because my hands won’t move. I look down at them and see hundreds of pencil lines drawn in crisscross patterns from my fingertips to my forearms, and as I look closer, I see that they are not lines at all but Gordian worms who, having been seen, begin crawling. I brush them away and realize that I’m exposed, out in an open field, and I know that snipers will pick me off if they catch me in the sun, so I scramble for the nearest house. Inside it smells like shaved wood and industrial cleaners, it’s familiar but I haven’t been there all semester, fuck! I’m going to fail this stupid class, and I didn’t even know I was signed up for it, and so I won’t graduate, and so I won’t get a job, and so I might as well just leave. I empty my locker and get in the car and you are waiting there for me, crouched down in the passenger seat; I mash my forehead into yours and stroke your hair and start the engine. In a few minutes we’re on the highway, a little drunk and driving too fast with all three kids in the backseat, or maybe one was missing. We skid out of control and plow through the guardrail, sailing into the Ohio River. I can get my window open and swim to safety but the rest of you are stuck and I’m trying to figure out how to get to you before the car sinks too deep. Do I have something to cut the seatbelts with? Can I open the back end and pull the little ones

out, at least one? How will I explain what happened? But then everything is okay, the children are in their beds and your frame makes its usual cursive ‘m’ under the blanket next to me. I reach for your waist and remember that today is the last day of freedom, that I’m going to prison for a long time, maybe forever, and it’s a misunderstanding but I have to report to the warden with a toothbrush and a book, only one book, so we cry together and we cry with the kids and we cry with everyone we know, and I grab the only book I can take, written in a language I don’t recognize, and the goddamn thing is covered with mud and wasps. I throw it down and run, and now I don’t remember what I’m running after or why, but you are with me, and someone is trying to kill us. We duck down a long corridor and snake through alleys behind mossy brick buildings, taking steps like injured cats, knowing that if we are

heard we are dead, because everyone is in on this plot. I begin to wonder if you are even you anymore. Then we crawl into an old warehouse through a broken stained-glass window and we are safe again, forever; the breathing slows, the pulse returns to normal, the blood warms in the veins, it will always be like this. Do you remember any of it? Of course not. I try to tell you we’ve made it, how we fought and survived together, and my teeth fall out. I spit them on the nightstand and check my phone, then put a hand on the baby’s chest to make sure she’s still breathing. She is. Anyway I hope you are home soon, I’ll leave a small light on because it’s very dark and I don’t want you to stumble. • Dan Canon is a civil rights lawyer and law professor. His book “Pleading Out: How Plea Bargaining Creates a Permanent Criminal Class” is available for preorder wherever you get your books.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

NEWS & ANALYSIS

LOUISVILLE POLICE 2020 PROTEST PLAN WARNED OF WHEELCHAIRBOUND HUMAN SHIELDS, OFFICER IMPERSONATION By Josh Wood | jwood@leoweekly.com

THE WORST, BEST & MOST ABSURD ROSE: JCPS TEACHERS GET A RAISE Public school teachers are overworked and underpaid and tasked with one of the most important jobs in our society. It’s not what they truly deserve (especially at a time of rampant inflation), but JCPS teachers will be getting a 4% pay raise, the largest salary bump in 15 years. ROSE: LOUISVILLE CENTER STAGE IN NEW HARLOW VIDEO Everybody knows Jack Harlow loves his hometown. But his latest music video for “Churchill Downs” was a love letter to the city, with shots of the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory, barges on the Ohio River, Thunder Over Louisville, and, of course, Churchill Downs. While Harlow’s new album has gotten some less than stellar reviews (Pitchfork said it was “among the most insipid, vacuous statements in recent pop history”) his “Churchill Downs” music video gets praise from us.

Protesters and police officers faced off with each other during a protest in downtown Louisville in 2020. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON.

A LOUISVILLE METRO POLICE Department emergency response plan that was in use the year the city faced months of demonstrations over the police killing of Breonna Taylor warned ofﬁcers that violent agitators could recruit wheelchair-bound protesters as human shields and that protesters disguised as police could attack others in crowds to fabricate allegations of police brutality. Experts in police responses to protests who viewed the 13-page document, which was obtained by LEO under Kentucky’s open records law, said it showed little regard for First Amendment rights by not clearly distinguishing between peaceful protests and more dangerous situations, by failing to acknowl-

THORNS & ROSES

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

edge the heterogenous nature of protest crowds and by making the assumption that civil disturbances will “usually” turn violent. Such premises represent “discredited mob sociology” that was popular among police departments suppressing dissent in the 1960s, said Paul Passavant, an associate professor at New York’s Hobart and William Smith Colleges and the author of “Policing Protest: The Post-Democratic State and the Figure of Black Insurrection.” “It seems like the Louisville Metro Police Department is still lost in time,” he added. Ed Maguire, a professor of criminology at Arizona State University who specializes in police responses

to protests, agreed that LMPD’s protest plan was outdated. “The document demonstrates little knowledge about crowd psychology and the ways that police can inadvertently escalate matters,” Maguire wrote in an email to LEO. “It outlines a purely tactical response with little thought given to larger strategic considerations like how to de-escalate tensions and prevent civil disturbances.” The plans provide a rare insight into LMPD’s crowd control policy at a time when the department faced widespread allegations of misconduct as its ofﬁcers used pepper balls, tear gas and mass arrests to clear protests that erupted after the police killings of Breonna Taylor in Lou-

THORN: CAMERON SEEKS INCREASED PUNISHMENT FOR LOW-LEVEL SHOPLIFTING According to the Courier Journal, Attorney General Daniel Cameron is asking the Kentucky Supreme Court to reinstate the overturned felony conviction of a woman found guilty of stealing $80.80 of merchandise by cheating a Walmart self-checkout kiosk by swapping bar codes. Instead of being charged with a misdemeanor, the typical charge for stealing $500 or less, she was indicted and found guilty of a charge of unlawful access to a computer, which is a felony punishable by ten years in prison. The Kentucky Court of Appeals threw out the conviction as overly harsh, but Cameron, who is running for governor, feels differently. THORN: SAVANNAH MADDOX IS RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR Dry Ridge state representative Savannah Maddox, known for palling around with right-wing militias and trying to block COVID-19 vaccine requirements, is running for governor, trying to outflank Attorney General Daniel Cameron by running to his right (or as she calls it, as an “authentic Republican”). In her first ad for governor, clocking in at nearly three minutes, she said she was “above all” a Christian, “unabashedly a supporter of President Donald Trump” and railed against the “tyranny” of Governor Andy Beshear. The ad also featured lots of guns, but no diversity.

NEWS & ANALYSIS

isville and George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. Shameka Parrish-Wright, a leader during the 2020 protests who came in second in Louisville’s Democratic mayoral primary last month, said she became emotional reading the document as she recalled the violence that protesters faced. The document, she felt, explained why some ofﬁcers acted the way they did during the protests. “They never saw us as citizens of Louisville, they saw us as enemies. And it’s shameful,” she said.

CIVIL DISTURBANCES ‘USUALLY’ TURN VIOLENT

The opening paragraph of the document describes civil disturbances as more harmful than other types of disasters. “As I read the document, it seems to imply that all protesters are troublemakers or looking to engage in deviant behavior or criminal activity,” said Jennifer Cobbina-Dungy, an associate professor at Michigan State University’s school of criminal justice and the author of the 2019 book “Hands Up Don’t Shoot: Why the Protests in Ferguson and Baltimore Matter, and How They Changed America.” “If the police are viewing all protesters as troublemakers who are out to engage in criminal activity and take advantage of the moment, then what happens is they’re more susceptible towards using more militarized approaches like tear gas and the use of rubber bullets against peaceful protesters, who, it is their constitutional right to protest.” When the crowd is made up of many Black and Brown people, CobbinaDungy said, police suspicion and militarization are already heightened, even further increasing the likelihood that force is used. Passavant, the Hobart and William Smith Colleges professor, said that the document “constructs or frames every exercise of First Amendment rights as potentially illegal, criminal, potentially violent, to be responded to as a civil disturbance or as a riot.” Additionally, he said, the document, which did not draw a clear line between constitutionally allowed protest and unlawful assemblies, was “priming ofﬁcers to be aggressive” and was a “recipe” for First Amendment violations and escalating situations. “Civil disturbances are man-made disasters with tremendous potential for

causing injury to the citizens of Louisville Metro and damage to their property,” it reads. “Unlike other types of disasters, these events have an especially harmful effect on human lives in that they generally occur in times of already heightened social tensions and are often the direct result of these tensions.” According to LMPD’s plan, civil disturbances born out of a reaction to an incident “usually” follow the same pattern. First, an incident that “is perceived negatively by a segment of the community” acts as a catalyst. Then, the document says, “small but very violent groups of people (which may include gangs) take advantage of a situation and begin engaging in seemingly random acts of violence, such as throwing objects, attacking innocent bystanders, or shooting police or other first responders.” LMPD’s mission during civil disturbances — a term used interchangeably with protests in the plan — is to “restore order as rapidly and efficiently as possible.” Experts said the conflation between peaceful protesters and people committing acts of violence is dangerous, making the use of force by police more likely.

HUMAN SHIELDS AND FAKE COPS

The document repeatedly jumped to extreme and seemingly unlikely scenarios officers might encounter during unrest. At one point, the plan raises the possibility of violent agitators recruiting “non-threatening” protesters including people in wheelchairs, women, children and elderly people as human shields. “Protesters may recruit groups of ‘non-threatening’ protesters such as women, children, elderly or physicallyhandicapped in wheelchairs to sit in front of the police defense line providing a safe working zone for others behind them to throw objects at the officers and hinder officers’ attempts to arrest those engaged in criminal activities,” the document reads. In another section of the document, LMPD warns that protesters may disguise themselves as police to attack others in the crowd. “Protesters may also impersonate police, assaulting other protesters resulting in false claims of police misconduct or brutality,” the document says. LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

NEWS & ANALYSIS

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The document added that accusations of misconduct may be used by protesters to “avoid arrest and to gain the sympathy of the media and bystanders.” Additionally, the document says that creating the appearance of police misconduct may be the goal of some protests. While there have been several incidents of people impersonating law enforcement officers at protests across the country in recent years, LEO was unable to identify instances where protesters disguised themselves as police to attack other protesters as described in the LMPD document; If such incidents have occurred, it appears they have occurred rarely. (More documentation exists about the longstanding nationwide practice of undercover police officers infiltrating protest crowds. LMPD’s emergency response plan warned that “activists” could potentially “mark” suspected plainclothes officers with urine, bleach and other substances). LMPD faced widespread accusations of misconduct over its heavy-handed approach to the 2020 protests, including criticisms that the organization used chemical dispersal agents on peaceful crowds. So far, two LMPD officers have been federally charged for misconduct during the protests while other incidents remain under investigation. The department is also under a wide-reaching Department of Justice investigation that deals in part with LMPD’s response to protests and is widely expected to result in LMPD coming under federal consent decree.

UNCLEAR IF POLICY IS STILL IN PLACE

An LMPD spokesperson said nobody was available to speak with LEO about the document. They also declined to answer a question as to whether the emergency response plan had been changed since 2020. Asked for more recent emergency response plans, the spokesperson told LEO to file an open records request; An open records request filed by LEO has not been responded to, despite the passing of the five business day response time mandated by Kentucky’s open records act. According to LMPD’s publiclyavailable Standard Operating Procedures, the emergency response plan chapter is meant to provide “more detailed information and instructions for responding to LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

incidents of civil disturbances/disorderly crowds.” A top-to-bottom review of LMPD by the Chicago ﬁrm Hillard Heintze that was commissioned by the city in 2020 recommended that the police force revise its protest response policies and emergency response plans “to provide greater emphasis on the protection of the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, assembly, and to petition the government.” According to a dashboard on LMPD’s website tracking the department’s progress in meeting the Hillard Heintze recommendations, the revision of those policies is currently “in process.” Since 2020, there have been widespread calls for LMPD to reform from activists, the city and police leadership. In a May 31 press release, the 11-member Civilian Review and Accountability Board established last year to provide additional oversight of the police, said that it would be proactively reviewing LMPD policies and procedures “in light of various reports highlighting areas of concern.” Speaking before Metro Council’s Budget Committee on May 24, LMPD Chief Erika Shields said she wanted to include more civilian specialists in the department to do things like oversee training and audit body-worn camera footage. “Our lesson plans — they’re outdated. They’ve got stuff in it that I’m embarrassed by. Somebody has to audit these lesson plans and professionalize them. And I will submit to you that it shouldn’t be a cop,” she said. Parrish-Wright, the activist and protest leader, said reforming LMPD’s protest policy will take a lot of work and a uniﬁed stance, and that she fears that if protests were to erupt again today that LMPD would turn to the same playbook it did in 2020. “The way we were treated — now it all comes together,” she said. “We thought that they already had a better form of crowd control. And this document shows that it is lacking, that they don’t know how to treat humans who are showing up to protest against their injustice.” •

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LETTERS TO O OU URSELVES MEMBERS OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY WRITE LETTERS TO THEIR YOUNGER SELVES

ON FRIDAY, May 13, JP Davis posted a photo of an assignment from the Christian Academy of Louisville, asking students to write a letter to a hypothetical friend “struggling with homosexuality” to persuade them of “the goodness of God’s design” in a way “that does not approve of any sin.” The Academy has conﬁrmed the assignment’s authenticity and said that it is reviewing it, although the school also reafﬁrmed its belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman and sex should only occur within marriage. Davis responded by writing an inspirational and encouraging letter to a young JP, which LEO Weekly republished on our website. But, for the Pride Issue, we wanted to expand the idea, so we asked several other members of the LGBTQ community to write letters to their younger selves. Here are the responses.

KEITH MCGILL

their journey. All my love, Dortha

GREG CORNETT

DORTHA HAGAN

Letter to my younger self. Yes you are fat. Yes you are asthmatic. No you are not athletic, because… see above. However, your heart is huge. You cry a lot, yes but this means you will be incredibly sympathetic. You had to ﬁgure out what would tick people off all the time, which made you a really good student of psychology. Because you were all these things you can reach kids you teach in ways other people cannot. You are smart when it isn’t that cool, but it will be, so stay smart. You learned to read early because it is a solitary activity and it means nobody will bug you. Because you read early you are the narrator in a lot of plays. Which means you’ll be an actor, and eventually an acting teacher. And now you get to do cool stuff like Shakespeare with prisoners, which touches your soul. Now you teach kids who would never speak up how valuable they are whether or not they speak up which gives them the opportunity to speak up. Also remember this stuff. Nobody’s paying as much attention to you as you are paying to you, so when it’s

detrimental, pay less attention to yourself. When it comes to standing up for yourself, pay more attention to yourself. It’s okay to say no. There will be a little guilt. There will be some hurt feelings, but ultimately you will be more relaxed and less resentful. Also, the fact that you remember everyone’s birthdays will prove invaluable for the rest of your life. Facebook notwithstanding.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

To the girl with the lilac hair, I love you and you deserve safety, love, peace and it’s gonna be ok. I know it doesn’t feel like it now. I know you feel you are always one step from the carpet being pulled out. I know that you aren’t sure whether you feel ok in the “straight” world or the “gay” world. You feel like you don’t fit, and like an outsider if you claim bisexuality. It gets so much better. You find your people that accept you no matter what. You find your love and a circle of friends so awesome, safe, and loving that it’s hard to even remember the girl with the lilac hair. I promise it gets better and now you have a queer family and three wonderful kids, one of whom has these same questions and now you have the honor of holding their hand on

Greg, It has been quite a while since we spent time together. The truth is, going back to where you are right now is still painful. You are different than most boys your age. You know that. And so do they. It’s why you regularly endure jokes, harsh words and sometimes even worse treatment from them. But what you don’t yet realize is that you are gay. You were gay when you came into existence, and the time you will spend wishing, praying and trying to force yourself to be different cannot and will not change that reality. You are a small-town middle school kid growing up in the Bible Belt in the 1980s. You don’t know anyone who is out, and the only thing you see in the media about homosexuality relates to panic and death from the AIDS epidemic. So the thought of being gay is not only foreign to you, it seems like a certain end to any hope you have for a happy future. It is simply NOT an option. But I want to fast forward nearly 30 years. You will not only survive, but will thrive. While the path will not be easy, and

there will be hurt and pain along the way, you will eventually accept your identity and even love yourself as an out, gay man. Well I would never want anyone to experience the fear and pain you are enduring, and will endure for years, those experiences also bring good things along the way (the most wonderful of which are your two daughters and eventual grandchildren). So I cannot regret those years for you. Even still, there are things I wish you had known all those years ago. I wish you knew that the things which make you “different“ are actually strengths. The books you love to read as an escape are broadening your horizons. The gentle spirit which some say make you soft is the foundation of love, compassion and empathy that will serve you well in your relationships as an adult. Your love of learning, which earns you the label of “teacher’s pet,” will propel you out of that small town and on to experiences and success that you cannot fathom. And your love of music, fashion and the arts isn’t weird, but simply another facet of a colorful and full life. I wish you knew that your very existence is not a sin or an abomination. The handful of verses in the Bible which are cited against you are misinterpreted and used in ways that go against the Gospel itself. God will not change you, because you were created and you are loved just as you are. And finally, I wish you knew that you will find true joy in life when you accept yourself. As difficult as it will be to come out, the weight you will feel lifted when that decision is made, and the ensuing peace and happiness you will find for the first time in your life, cannot be adequately described in words. So, hang in there, kid! There is nothing wrong with who you are, and it all gets better. I promise.

JENN REDMOND

NOA AUGUST

Dear Jenn, For you, it is 1997 and you are fighting to be who you are against so many others telling you who to be. Your parents not only don’t accept you, and worse: they are actively fighting to change you. Most of your friends are gone and you are trapped in a very small, very religious town in Tennessee. You feel the pull of everyone’s expectations and never feel like you will be enough. But you are in love with a girl and she loves you, too. You fight to be together. You don’t know this now, but you and that girl spend 24 beautiful years together. You both, along with other brave couples, fight Indiana for the right to be married to each other – and you win! You have a child together and he is a bright light in your life. Right now, you feel so scared, so trapped, and like you have only hard choices. You choose yourself and you choose love, and you will look back and be so proud of yourself. And the evolution of who you are continues every day. You learn about pansexuality in your 30s and decide that shoe fits better than any other. You feel safe in your identity. Your son will never know a parent who won’t love him for whoever he becomes and whoever he loves. As a parent, you continue to break generational traumas passed down to give your son a freedom you did not have. You will never stop fighting for those like you and those who need your help. You have so much pride. Life is a roller coaster, and you will ride the ups and downs all while choosing yourself along the way, just as you bravely did at 17 when you left home and forged your own path. Thank you for being so brave and thank you for choosing us. I love you. Sincerely, 41-year-old you

Dear younger me, It’s year 2022 and nope, there are no flying cars yet, you have not saved enough money to escape this planet. And unfortunately you are in fact human, not even a drop of extraterrestrial courses through your veins. You feel alienated, yes, you are a little bit different than the folks around you, but that is one of your best super powers. You are queer! A very flamboyant, nonbinary, gender bending force to be reckoned with, and I am so proud of how far you have come. This queer identity you will grow into is much different than the ways you’ve been shown a person can exist. The good news is that by the time you reach your 30s, you will finally begin to own it. You will flourish in both your identity and expression. You no longer feel the constraints of dressing feminine. You no longer wait until you get home to sneak on the clothes you “borrowed” from your boyfriend. I know the world feels intimidating, but wear the things that bring you joy. Cut your hair while you’re young. Express yourself and put yourself out there! You’re afraid to tell your mom understandably how pretty you actually think women are, but treat yourself with grace. You just want her to feel some peace that you’ll be safe in a world that you’re already other’d in. And that’s valid. Eventually you will find an entire community of folks who have similar likes and dislikes as you. There will be obstacles. While you’ll meet lots of cool, eccentric people just like you, after a while you will realize that no community is without its flaws. You are queer, even within queer spaces. And as you become more familiar with yourself and more labels that can describe you… gender queer, non-binary, autistic, big terms that cohere to form your inter-

sectionality, you will begin to have more understanding of why and just how queer you actually are. Become familiar with bell hooks definition of queer… “…not as being about who you’re having sex with (that can be a dimension of it); but queer as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live.” Queerness is expansive. It means questioning and exploring all facets of life. It’s more than your sexuality it means forming your own definition of what it means to exist, and doing so free from prescribed constraints. One day you won’t have to hide that you don’t feel like a girl or boy. You will be able to dance freely in-between. You’re a work of art, a symphony of the most affectionate, nurturing divine feminine, and lead by the strength, courage, and purposeful drive to overcome challenges, divine masculine. Own that, play with that, and do so unapologetically. You only have this one life. Love, You at 32, Noa August

ALLIE FIREEL

You want to be using some sculpting clay on your hair. I know you already know gel isn’t quite right, old school pomade is too greasy, and hairspray can’t stand up to the constant motion, the energy, vibration, the whole youness of you. You want the matte ﬁnish. Matte means “not shiny.” We’re the kind of person who learns through pain, or slow osmotical repetition, neither of which I can offer you today. But just in case, just in case a word or two here can save a little pain down the road by trimming the amount of time it takes to learn from each mistake... First, it’s not too late. Go do the thing. Whatever it is, go try it, go do it. It’s not too late when you’re 18, or 22, or 35. Go do the

thing. Second, cut down on dreaming, and up your planning. Don’t worry, you’ll still dream, but the universe will not do anything for you, nothing will magically happen. Plan, take the ﬁrst step, take the second step and just keep taking steps. Third, fail. Fail hard, fail often. Fail and love yourself for failing. Yes I know it’s hard. But, I promise it’s not impossible. Fourth, hope is not linked to probability. Hope is not even linked to outcome. Hope won’t necessarily change the world, but hope will change you, and that is worth hoping. And for the record, I do believe that mathematically speaking, walking and living in hope will alter the odds of the world becoming a better place, but the change will be so small you won’t see it. But other people will feel it. I guess I should add — there IS room for you inside the queer community. Actually you. How you already are. It IS where you belong, even if you’re kind of queerness isn’t always recognized, even if the queer community sometimes exiles it’s own members for having complex identities. AF (Yeah, we change our name to something very cool eventually. But I don’t want to spoil the surprise.)

CIRCE

Dearest Circe, I hope you aren’t worrying about what you are wearing to appease the other kids. Twenty-five years from now, your clothes will be more form fitting because you will accept your body for what it is. There will be kinder words to identify you better, instead of “tomboy” or “butch.” You will continue to express yourself in what you wear to please yourself instead of the other kids, because you eventually figure out that you are who you are and people love you. You will eventually have that family you dreamed of because you learn to get rid of the people in your life that think same-sex LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

couples shouldn’t raise children. Then you will ﬁnd yourself telling your child that they are perfectly beautiful as they are, no matter what the other kids think. And someday, they will learn what I am teaching you now. You don’t have to change that you are queer or non-binary or that you are gay, but you can choose who you want to be in your circle. You can choose who your family will be. Those will be the ones who love you for who you truly are. And living this example will nurture your child where you weren’t. You be you, sincerely, Circe

way out to avoid all this pain. It’s tougher than anyone knows. But you’re admirably resilient. Hang in there, not just for the people who need you and love you, but for that future Doug who admires you for not giving up.

JP DAVIS

DOUG LOWRY

NICK WILKERSON

Dear Younger Nick, At 11, you knew you were gay before you knew the word for it. When Walmart and Kroger celebrate gay pride, you will see progress — but grimace all the same. Have more tolerance for those not as open or “public.” You will ﬁnd enough grace to realize everyone has their own journey. But you are correct. Had more been true to themselves, it would have been easier for all. Continue to work for LGBTQ+ rights (you will learn what that means through its various evolutions). Keep focusing on employment, housing, etc. You will see advances, but not as soon, as much, or as easily as you expect. Keep your INTJ personality and distrust of emotions in check. Remember, progress is not a straight line, and justice arrives in God’s time, not yours. But keep toiling. When gay marriage arrives (I know, not your ﬁght), be kind when people ask if you ever thought you would see it in your lifetime. Bite your lip and graciously say no. Mentally you will scream, ‘Hell yes, but a lot earlier and a ton of other stuff besides.’ You and the world will endure a virus and disease no one knows now. You are unscathed physically, but altered by it nonetheless. Celebrate your gay male friends, especially those in grad school. Many — most? — do not see 35.

Your personal life will not always be what you imagine or hope. Ok, most of the time. When charitable, remind yourself all those awkward experiences in your 20s your straight peers dealt with in middle school. Other times, you will be convinced you are a fool. The truth is somewhere in between. Life is gray. And, complicated. I close with my promise I made you decades ago. I’ll never be “that old guy at the bar.”

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

Dear Doug, Hey Doug! I’m you when you’re much older. I know so much more about you and about God than you do now. Your determination to love God and love others gets you through this. I promise. Keep on keeping on! You already know what scripture says about almost everything, even preaching the main Sunday sermon as youth pastor. You’re sure God loves all of everyone else even when you aren’t sure God loves all of you! You kissed a girl. She kissed you back, but in your heart, you know it’s wrong. You want to one day be a dad but realize honest dating, marriage, pastoring and parenting seems impossible for a Baptist guy. I’m sorry how tough it’s been living without a mother who died unexpectedly. Could she have been the one person to tell? A terrible secret is tough to bear. I’m sorry you can’t be honest with anyone but God. Not even your twin brother knows. You two were born on the same day, ‘born again’ on the same day and even baptized together on the same day. Ironically, you’re bullied, teased and even assaulted by people who call you gay, when you can’t admit even to yourself that you might be! As you read everything you can get your hands on, asking God change you, it makes you wince. Deep down you love you but that’s hard to believe. I’m sorry you were told what might possibly be the absolute best part of who you are is evil. You’ve even considered taking an easy

Dear JP in seventh grade, Hey. I’m you when you’re 39. I’ve learned and grown a lot since seventh grade, and I have something to say to you. I understand why you’re staying in the closet. I’m sorry. I’m sorry your parents live in fear and swim with insecurities. I’m sorry you’re surrounded by a world of people who don’t accept you as yourself. I’m sorry you’re taught you’re going to hell and are a sinner. No matter when you choose to come out, it’s going to be tough, not going to lie. It will not go well with the parents and some of your friends. In fact, it will change your mom forever; it will never be the same between you two. So take the time you need. Soak up all the quality time you need with your mom before you decide to finally live your truth. All the girls that say you’re gay, they actually really love you and just wish you were straight so they can have you. They will be lifelong friends. For a few of the guys who bully you, I’m sorry. Stay strong.They do eventually come around and apologize. The world is a big place; unfortunately, your world right now is small. You’re all being taught the same bullshit, but as you all grow older, travel, learn, expose yourself to others, you see the world more clearly. I’m sorry it sucks for you now. I’m sorry you can’t experience dating, love and sex normally as a young person. I’m sorry you can’t flirt. I’m sorry you can’t hold hands or show affection with a boy. I’m sorry you can’t take your guy crush to dances. I’m sorry you can’t be yourself. I’m sorry adults teach that something is wrong with you. Stay strong. You’ll find out by

being yourself and staying strong, things really work out for you. People respect and love you. I’ve learned that many adults live in fear and insecurity. Many adults don’t know how to think and speak for themselves. Many adults are victims and tools to power and control. You’re a strong spirit, just like Mom. Never change. It won’t be easy. You’ll never understand, at least at 39 years old, some aspects of the world or humans. Still today I walk around most days feeling like I live in a parallel universe. I simply don’t understand humanity sometimes. A lot of folks not living their truth. Keep having empathy. Keep seeking understanding. Keep loving. Trust yourself, your values and your soul. It’s going to be OK, and one day you’ll have the inﬂuence to change hearts and minds. Maybe help save a life. I’m sorry you can’t be you right now. Hang in there; you’ve got lots of people who will need you and will love you. You will make a big difference one day in our world. Love, JP. #stopthehate

ERICA OLIVER

Hi young Erica, it’s me, your older self. I just wanted to tell you to keep being open about yourself. Eventually people will start to come around. Not everyone will and it will be extremely tough. But eventually you will get to a place where you are ﬁnally comfortable with your body and mind. The best part is there will be friends that make you their family. They will love you for who you are and you will love them in return. Life is hard but good. If you want freedom to be who you are it’s up to you to make it happen. There are others like you. Be visible and a good example so others feel safe to also be themselves.

A march on Bowling Green, Kentucky’s City Hall calling for a fairness ordinance during the city’s 2021 Pride celebrations. | PHOTO BY GRACE RAMEY FOR BOWLING GREEN DAILY NEWS.

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By Josh Wood | jwood@leoweekly.com WHEN CHRIS HARTMAN started working with the LGBTQ advocacy organization the Fairness Campaign in 2009, there were just three Pride festivals in Kentucky: A longstanding celebration in Louisville, one in its infancy in Lexington and a brand new event in northern Kentucky. For members of LGBTQ community in much of Kentucky, commemorating Pride meant long drives to those places or heading out of state to cities like Nashville. But in the decade and change since 2009, the landscape has been transformed dramatically. “Now we’re looking at somewhere close to the ballpark of 25 Pride festivals across the Commonwealth, all over the state from Pikeville to Paducah and everywhere in between,” says Hartman, the Fairness Campaign’s executive director. And the proliferation of Pride festivals in the state has moved the needle on acceptance and rights in a part of the country that has remained stubbornly conservative on LGBTQ issues. “Seeing that exponential growth is incredibly heartening when we look at LGBTQ visibility, which leads to acceptance, which leads to, in some areas, progress on things like local fairness ordinances,” Hartman says. Fairness ordinances are pieces of legislation that outlaw discrimination against LGBTQ people in housing, employment and public accommodations. Currently, 23 Kentucky towns and cities have such ordinances in place. Efforts to pass statewide fairness legislation have failed. While local politicians have been suc-

cessful in blocking fairness ordinances from gaining a foothold in some areas, Pride continues to take root in every corner of the Commonwealth.

‘WE GOTTA START SOMEWHERE’

In Harlan, deep in the hills of eastern Kentucky’s Appalachian coal country, Leslie Bledsoe is organizing the conservative area’s ﬁrst-ever Pride event: A march of a few blocks through the town center on June 25. “I know it’s small but we gotta start somewhere,” reads a line in the event’s Facebook description. Bledsoe says in recent years she has watched hate towards LGBTQ people grow in her area, a symptom she believes, of the Trump presidency’s anti-PC rhetoric in a county where he won 85% of the vote in 2020. Not wanting future generations to go through the feelings of exclusion in their hometown that she did, Bledsoe went to the chief of police one day and asked if she could hold a Pride march. “I’m nearing 50 and I have been gay my whole life and lived in Harlan for my whole life. And I’m still not halfway welcome here, even though I’m a respected member of the community,” she says. “I want them [the younger generation] to feel like they have a safe space and that they belong here. They belong wherever they want to be.” Bledsoe says when she goes to Walmart, she usually ends up stuck there for hours, with people she knows coming up to talk to her. One time she decided to wear a Pride shirt and hat; Nobody spoke to her.

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A drag performer lip-syncs to a song during Bowling Green, Kentucky’s 2021 Pride celebrations. | PHOTO BY GRACE RAMEY FOR BOWLING GREEN DAILY NEWS.

That lack of acceptance leads to many LGBTQ people leaving Harlan, or hiding who they are to stay. For Harlan’s first Pride, Bledsoe has opted for a muted event, fearful that something bigger would spark wider backlash. Still, she says, some people attending have expressed fears of violence. Local law enforcement will provide security for the group, she says. “We are just regular people just trying to live and live the best life that we can. Just like anybody else. I just don’t know why it has to be so hard here,” says Bledsoe. In Elizabethtown, 45 miles south of Louisville on I-65, the area’s first ever Pride event, Heartland Pride, took place at a local wedding venue on June 4. Chase Dohn, who organized the event, said that while there are some inclusive spaces in ETown, as a member of the LGBTQ community, “You just are careful of who knows what still.” Ahead of the event, he anticipated around 100 people would show up, which featured a drag show, vendors and a food truck. On the day of Heartland Pride, he didn’t count attendees but said there was a “steady flow of people” throughout the day. Dohn hopes that the event will raise awareness of the LGBTQ community in his town, which, like Harlan, lacks a fairness ordinance. “I think it will help them be aware that there are members in the community that are [LGBTQ],” he says. “I think there’s a lot of denial probably, even though they probably know everybody and talk to them at some point, they may not be aware that that person is gay.”

PRIDE IS PROTEST

In Kentucky’s third-largest city, Bowling Green, Pride is — and has always

been — about protest, says Democratic State Rep. Patti Minter, an organizer of the celebrations. Bowling Green held its first Pride in 2017, spurred on by the continued failure of the local city commission to pass an antidiscrimination fairness ordinance, despite impassioned calls from members of the LGBTQ community and allies. “If people can come out on camera in front of city commissioners who don’t want to give them basic human rights, why can’t we go to a park and celebrate Pride? So we started planning the first Bowling Green Pride festival,” Minter says. For that first Pride, in October 2017, Minter was hoping for 400 people to show up. Instead, 1,500 did. They ran out of face paint and sold out of t-shirts in an hour, Minter says. “People felt proud. And they felt proud to do it in their hometown instead of going to a bigger city,” says Minter. “People loved being able to celebrate who they are, or just come hang out if they’re not ready to be open and out about who they are.” Last year saw the biggest Bowling Green Pride commemoration yet, with between 3,000 and 4,000 people coming, according to Minter. Bowling Green continues to hold its Pride celebrations in October. At the end of the annual pride celebration, participants march on City Hall to demand a fairness ordinance, as Bowling Green remains the largest city in Kentucky without such a law. “We paint the town in rainbows for this one magical day a year. But for us, our Pride is born out of protest,” says Minter. “So the slogan ‘Pride is still protest’ came up a couple of years ago. But for us, it’s never been anything but.” •

Jose Ponce at the 2019 Kentuckiana Pride Festival. | PHOTO BY NIK VECHERY.

By Carolyn Brown | cbrown@leoweekly.com FOR the ﬁrst time in three years, the Kentuckiana Pride Festival And Parade will happen as normal — more or less. The Kentuckiana Pride Festival And Parade is returning to the Big Four Lawn at Waterfront Park on Saturday, June 18, from noon to 10 p.m. The parade will also start at noon on the corner of Campbell Street and Market Street and will end at the festival. The festival programming includes drag shows, musical performances and more. This is the ﬁrst time since 2019 that the festival has happened like a “normal” Pride. The 2020 Pride still happened

in June, as most Pride events usually do, but it was virtual. The 2021 festival happened in person, but in October, after multiple postponements, and with a requirement for guests to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test. The Kids & Family Area didn’t operate as an area — guests were given take-home activity kits instead. Even this year, there will be some differences: Pride will be one day this year, not two, and the parade will be held earlier in the day. Rodney Coffman, the president of the Kentuckiana Pride

Foundation, which runs the event, told LEO that the decision to go back to a pre-pandemic-esque Pride came in part because COVID less of a widespread threat than it had been in the early stages of the pandemic. Still, he and his board members had to plan for the possibility that things might go sideways — which meant, if necessary, hosting another virtual Pride. “We always had in the back of our mind, if we had to switch over [to a virtual event this year], if COVID reared its head again, we would. Knock on wood that it stays the way LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

it is right now and we can have a somewhat normal Pride where people can come and enjoy it,” Coffman said. Ultimately, though, the local LGBTQ community wanted to have an in-person Pride event in June once again. “I’m looking forward to, hopefully, some normalcy. Last year was a lot of restrictions, and, personally, I had friends who came and didn’t have proof of their vaccinations, and I turned them away. It is what I do. I have to do what’s right for the community,” Coffman told LEO. “This year, I’m hoping that more people show up and [that I] see some faces I haven’t seen over the past few years,” he continued. “I’m hoping for normalcy, and I’m looking forward to seeing people enjoying themselves.” Below, we’ve got an FAQ guide to Pride.

There’ll be a number of food trucks and vendors. The festival hasn’t released the full list yet, but the vendor list mentions Green District Salads, Snow Queen and West Sixth Cantina. So far, All Thai’d Up and Lil Cheezers have conﬁrmed their appearances on their respective websites.

Here’s the Stonewall Main Stage lineup: 1:00 p.m. — Dominique Morgan 2:20 p.m. — Most Wanted 3:40 p.m. — Rich Hennessy 4:20 p.m. — Louisville Gay Men’s Chorus 5:00 p.m. — The Kentucky Gentlemen 6:20 p.m. — Daisha McBride 7:40 p.m. — Miki Ratsula 9:00 p.m. — Tove Lo There’ll also be local drag performers on the smaller Equality Stage, plus the Kentuckiana Pride Festival Court.

Tickets are incredibly affordable — general admission tickets are only $5, plus fees. You can also purchase VIP tickets for $125 each (plus fees). You can buy them online or at the festival. All tickets are non-refundable.

A tent lounge with shade and AC, private bathrooms with AC, free snacks and meals, ﬁve drink tickets, unlimited water and soda, a VIP bar, a VIP entrance lane, the ability to leave the festival and come back in, and a private stage viewing area.

The parade will start at the intersection of Campbell Street and Market Street downtown. It’ll turn onto Preston Street before making its way down River Road and ending at the festival. The LMPD has not yet announced the road closures for Pride beyond those streets, but check this story online and the LMPD’s Street Closures page for updates.

Yep, you can. The festival itself will open at noon, the same time the parade will start.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

Absolutely — there’ll even be a designated area for them, which will have cornhole, face painting, plinko, a prize wheel, coloring sheets, pettable support dogs and more. It’ll be open from noon to 5 p.m. Kids under 10 get free admission.

The festival requests that you leave pets (besides service animals) at home.

This list comes directly from the Pride website: Yes: Blankets Lawn chairs Coolers (no alcohol or glass containers, will be searched at the gate) Water, Water, Water. Unopened or empty refillable water bottles are encouraged. No: Advertising, selling, or promoting any third party product (including, but not limited to, food and beverage items) Amplified sound systems Disorderly conduct Fireworks Generators Grills or fryers Kerosene lamps or open flames of any kind Outside Alcoholic beverages Outside food Laser pointers Littering Noisemakers Use of drones Weapons of any kind Scooters/Bikes The festival also notes that “all bags, coolers, backpacks, etc., will be subject to search.”

A representative for the event said that the Kentuckiana Pride Foundation will continue to monitor the weather forecasts leading up to the day of the festival, which will continue as long as there is no thunder.

Coffman said that there are protesters at Pride every year, but the organization has a plan for dealing with them: rather than being by the festival’s front gate, as they’ve been in the past, the protesters will have to be on the sidewalk. Some protesters last year went onto the Big Four Bridge with megaphones before community members went up and made loud noise nearby to drown them out. This year, though, the festival will have music playing towards the bridge to prevent that from happening again.

Masks are encouraged for unvaccinated individuals. The festival also strongly encourages people with COVID symptoms or possible recent COVID exposures to stay home.

Eat, drink, shop for local Pride-themed merch and art, watch the musicians, watch the drag performers, take your kids to the Kids & Family Area, chill out with misting fans in the Chill Zone and charge your phone in the Recharge Station. If you’re interested, you can also volunteer, which gets you free admission to the festival and a free t-shirt.

Any available parking garage or spot downtown. We strongly recommend that you walk, bike, take an Uber/Lyft, or take TARC instead, though. The festival will have free on-site bike parking.

As with any other festival: Bring a reﬁllable water bottle and reﬁll it often. Wear comfortable shoes. Use the bathroom before you leave home. Make sure your phone is charged. Prepare to spend money. Share a ride if you can. Don’t drink and drive.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

PHOTO ESSAY

A SNAPSHOT OF FORECASTLE 2022 AFTER a two-year hiatus, Forecastle made a triumphant return to Waterfront Park over Memorial Day weekend, with a joyous crowd welcoming back the major music festival. Other than a bit of rain on Friday, the weather was almost perfect, with much cooler temperatures than previous years, which were held in July. Throughout the weekend, LEO’s three photographers captured the music, the crowd, the atmosphere, festival fashion and everything else that marked the comeback of the vibrant event. Here is just a snapshot of the 98 photos we published. Go to photos.leoweekly.com to see the rest.

Jack Harlow | PHOTO BY NIK VECHERY

Indigo De Souza | PHOTO BY NIK VECHERY

The crowd at Forecastle | PHOTO BY CAROLYN BROWN Antonio Hardy, a member of 502Movement, plays with a kendama. | PHOTO BY CAROLYN BROWN LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

PHOTO ESSAY

Tyler, the Creator | PHOTO BY NIK VECHERY Festival-goers | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON

A woman uses a light-up hula hoop.

The crowd at the Tai Verdes set | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON

| PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON

Festival-goers watch the Memorial Day fireworks. | PHOTO BY KATHRYN HARRINGTON LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

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‘Tag You’re It’ By Joshua Jenkins

Revelry Boutique + Gallery | 742 E. Market St. | revelrygallery.com | Free Louisville artist Joshua Jenkins is having fun. His latest solo show LOCAL ART features his “Guerrilla Block” series inspired by graffiti and street tagging. Each work is multi-layered, with photography, drawings and found imagery collaged together on wood panel or canvas. It’s outdoor art graffiti brought indoors. The opening is Friday, June 10, from 6-9 p.m. —Jo Anne Triplett

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‘Fashion Andy (Girl)’ by Joshua Jenkins. Mixed media collage on canvas.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15

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Longtime friends and fellow altcountry singer-songwriters Ben Nichols (Lucero) and MUSIC Cory Branan are gearing up for a night of down-on-your-luck, heartfelt ballads that cross highways, dive bars and desperate situations. But both of them have the clever phrasing and magnetic charisma to pull off diving straight into some of life’s roughest moments without ever wading into a territory that feels redundant. —Scott Recker

STAFF PICKS

FRIDAY, JUNE 17

SATURDAY, JUNE 18

Louisville Community Grocery | 400 Finzer St. | Search Eventbrite | Free (tickets required) | 4-7 p.m.

Headliners Music Hall | 1386 Lexington Road | headlinerslouisville.com | $18-$20 | 3 p.m.

Juneteenth Block Party Juneteenth commemorates the final communication CELEBRATE of the abolition of slavery in the United States: On June 19, 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and residents were informed that slavery had been abolished. It became a federal holiday last year, though the tradition of celebrating it goes back far, far longer. Louisville Community Grocery is hosting a block party in honor of the holiday, but it’ll be two days before, on Friday afternoon/evening. There’ll be food available for purchase and for free tastings, plus vendors and a community art project. — Carolyn Brown

Plunder Over Louisville

Presented by Never Nervous and the Gore Club, Plunder Over LouMUSIC isville features a wide variety of local rock, punk and metal bands. By the Grace of God, Lung, Bodyhammer, Prayer Line, Shi, Wireworks and Shitfire are all set to play, building a night of heavy sounds and high energy. —Scott Recker

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

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SATURDAY, JUNE 18

Kentuckiana Pride Festival

Big Four Lawn | Waterfront Park | kypride.com | $5 GA/$125 VIP | Noon- 10 p.m. Get your rainbows and all manner of LGBTQ+ flags ready to cut up and kiki on the Waterfront. The festival kicks off with a parade that will maneuver its way through NuLu and down to the festival at the Waterfront. The parade is usually on a Friday. so PRIDE this will be a change of pace, but a good one. See performers Tove Lo, Daisha McBride, Dominique Morgan, Rich Hennessy and more. —LEO

The Kentuckiana Pride Parade makes its way down Market Street in NULU in 2019. | Photo by Nik Vechery

SATURDAY, JUNE 18

Downs A�ter Dark

Churchill Downs | 700 Central Avenue | churchilldowns.com | $14-$96 | Starts at 6 p.m. If you didn’t get enough horse racing at Derby, you can return to Churchill Downs next Saturday for Downs After Dark, a much cheaper option than The Big AFTER DARK Day for people who want to dress up, drink and watch horse racing, with a significant twist — it all happens at night. It’s 18+, but kids are welcome with an adult. — Carolyn Brown

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

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Come Celebrate

SATURDAY, JUNE 18-19

Dino & Dragon Stroll

Kentucky Expo Center | 937 Phillips Lane | Search Main Gate Tickets | Ticket prices vary | 8:30 a.m - 4 p.m. Dino & Dragon Stroll calls itself the only North American tour that lets you walk through and get up close and personal with life-size dinosaurs and dragons. PREHISTORIC Surely seeing a 20-foot tall Brachiosaurus, Mammoths or the 28-foot tall T. Rex will get the kids’ attention. There is a story time, crafts and other fun things to do while learning a bit about these prehistoric creatures. There is even a sensory-friendly time slot at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 18. —LEO

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‘Prompts: A Series Of Short Stories’

Moremen Gallery | 710 W. Main St. | moremengallery.com | Free There’s a connection to be made, but the viewer has to make it. The title of ceramic sculptor Anne Currier’s solo show includes the words “prompts” and “short GALLERY stories.” The design (the “prompt”) features a black and white photograph with an abstract ceramic piece in front of it. What’s the theme, the “short story” referred to in the exhibition title? The former Louisvillian prefers the observer discover a relationship. Art isn’t more personal than that. —Jo Anne Triplett

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STAFF PICKS

THROUGH JUNE 26

‘Sanford Biggers: Codeswitch’

Speed Art Museum | 2035 S. Third St. | speedmuseum.org | Prices vary For Sanford Biggers, quilts are just the beginning. The Harlem-based artist takes existing textiles and remakes them to refer to historical and modern Black culture. CULTURE This solo show features 34 works where he has drawn or painted directly on an existing quilt. Even the exhibition title has multiple meanings. Biggers has a large body of work called the “Codex” series (these quilts come from that series) and the show’s title refers to that. But it also references the idea of code-switching, the practice many African Americans have had to do during interracial communication. —Jo Anne Triplett

‘Negerplastik’ by Sanford Biggers. Antique quilt, assorted textiles, tar, glitter.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

MUSIC

KENTUCKIANA IS GETTING A NEW LIVE MUSIC VENUE, LOSERS 812, WITH TIES TO KNOCKED LOOSE By Carolyn Brown | cbrown@leoweekly.com

IN CONCERT

Losers 812 will open on June 23 in Jeffersonville. | PHOTO BY CAROLYN BROWN

comes from a venue in Nashville known THIS MONTH, Kentuckiana will get a new as Winners and Losers, which is actually rock bar. made of two separate bars that operate in The bar, Losers 812, is slated to open neighboring buildings. They want to make on June 23 in the space that was home to The Barrelhouse on their own Losers into Market (1005 West a Nashville-style The owners want Market St. in Jefferhangout where “you sonville, Indiana.) never know who’s to make Losers 812 gonna stop in, and Co-owners Kevin into a Nashville-style you never know who Kaine and Trey walk on that Landrum told LEO hangout where “you might stage.” that Losers will be dedicated to rock But the name also never know who’s music in all its forms comes from an expegonna stop in, and — country, hardcore, rience that they’d acoustic, dad rock, as customers at you never know who had and everything inBarrelhouse: while between. Once the hanging out on the might walk on that bar is fully up and upstairs deck, they’d stage.” running, it’ll have used TouchTunes to live music seven days play rock songs over a week. the bar’s speakers, but a few people downstairs objected. They Losers will also have a full kitchen with told the bartender that they wanted to hear late-night hours, arcade games, pool tables, more danceable artists instead, so the bara covered area, a rooftop deck and a back tender cut off their TouchTunes service and deck. refused to give them a refund. Kaine and Landrum said that the name

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Full list at LEOWEEKLY.COM/DISTRIBUTION HELLO EVERYONE! My name is Reba, you know, like that famous singer? Or at least I'm told I'm named after some famous singer. They've never bothered to play me her tunes so one can't be totally sure they're not making this stuff up. Oh, oops, I'm getting off track. ANYWAY! Back to what I was originally saying! My name is Reba and I am a one-year-old tabby goddess who's looking for a family that will shower me with all the finer things in life. Toys, warm blankets, scratching poles, cat towers- the whole nine yards. I came to the Kentucky Humane Society when some kind of people found me out roaming the streets. You see I was TRYING to find a home by myself but no one seemed to want to open their doors to a cat as beautiful as me. Oh well, their loss! One thing we need to get clear right off the bat- I do not like other cats or dogs. Cats? They take the attention away from myself, unforgivable. Dogs? What good are they?! Seriously, why would you want those drooling beasts IN YOUR HOUSE?! WHERE YOU SLEEP?! I will never understand these self-proclaimed "dog people". Anyway, as you can imagine, I'm looking for a family with some sense. A family who will have me as their one and only companion. I promise you won't need any other animals because I am the complete and total package. Playful? Check! Hilarious? Check! Protector extraordinaire? Check! Hunter of mice and unwanted pests? Check! Willing to give you a high five or a fist bump anytime you ask? Check, check! Plus I'm like, really cute and I only weigh six pounds. You'll love taking photos of me and showing me off to all your friends and family! If you're looking for a stunning, loving, and loyal friend- you need me! You need Reba! I am spayed, micro-chipped, up-to-date on vaccinations, and ready to win you over with my southern charm. Visit me at the Kentucky Humane Society’s Main Campus, 241 Steedly Drive, or learn more at www.kyhumane.org/cats.

REBA

Meet our big baby Bridger! Bridger is a one-year-old American Staffordshire Terrier mix who weighs a whopping 71 pounds and has gorgeous grey eyes that almost perfectly match his grey brindle coat. This super handsome guy came to the Kentucky Humane Society from an overcrowded shelter and is now ready to settle down with a family of his own. This sweet and social guy has quickly won over all of our hearts with his playful antics and his love of toys. At his previous shelter, Bridger was in playgroups with other dogs and did very well. He would love to meet any resident dog friends to see if they can be best friends! We have not seen him with cats so we're not sure how he feels about kitty friends. If you're looking for a big love bug to adore forever, come meet Bridger at our Main Campus, 241 Steedly Drive, or learn more at www.kyhumane.org/dogs. Bridger is neutered, micro-chipped, and up-todate on all vaccinations.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

BRIDGER

MUSIC

play Losers this summer, including tribute Landrum’s frustration made him feel like bands for Korn and Limp Bizkit. being a rock fan meant that people saw him Right now, they have a staff of six bar as a “loser” or a “scapegoat” since hipemployees, four security guards and four hop is more universally popular. He loves kitchen staff, but they expect to increase the hip-hop, he clarified, but the incident made number of staff as the bar gets more traffic. him realize that other “outcasted” rock fans (If you’d like to needed a dedicated space to enjoy their The owners hope that work there, they’re hiring kitchen staff music, where rock Losers will become wouldn’t be “taboo.” starting at $15/hour, The owners know with a few caveats: a hotspot for their besides being at a thing or two about least 21, you must what makes a good musician friends to “have experience,” live music venue — visit during tour stops “love rock music,” they’re both musicians “be a LOSER.”) themselves. Lanin Louisville, and they andThe bar’s menu drum is the vocalist options will include in Devil’s Cut, and hope to throw welKaine is the drummer Impossible Burgers, come-home parties in Knocked Loose. chili cheese fries (Kaine, incidentally, with Impossible for local musicians is currently staying in Meat, and a peanut a lakeside getaway in coming back to the city butter and banana Michigan to work on and honey sandwich after their tours fınish. named “The Presnew music with his bandmates, though ley,” after Elvis’s he doesn’t yet have favorite snack. a timeline for when the new music will “We’re just trying to have a good time be out.) The owners hope that Losers will with it,” Landrum said. “It’s a musicianbecome a hotspot for their musician friends friendly bar.” • to visit during tour stops in Louisville, and they hope to throw welcome-home parties for local musicians coming back to the city Here are the bands scheduled for the after their tours finish. opening weekend: By the way: it’s possible, they said, that Devil’s Cut could play a show at Losers, but Thursday, June 23 Knocked Loose won’t be doing so anytime The Emo Band (Full Band Karaoke) soon — largely “for the sake of the bar and the walls that hold the bar up,” Kaine joked, Friday, June 24 referring to the notoriously intense mosh GUERRILLA WARFARE / Elephant pits that Knocked Loose fans are known Room / FoxBat / ISOLATOR for. Kaine and his bandmates will be on tour in Europe from June 16 through July Saturday, June 25 9, meaning that he’ll be gone during the Signal the Revolution / E-FLAT / opening weekend, but he plans to use some Boombox Poets / Edgar Red memorabilia from past Knocked Loose tours as decor for the venue. Beyond that, Kaine Sunday, June 26 and Landrum’s involvement will include Neon Troubadours (90’s Country Set) working behind the bar. (Kaine, incidentally, is also a licensed realtor and the owner of a local candle company; Landrum was the GM of the former Trixie’s Entertainment Complex and manages The Fox Den, which replaced Diamond Pub & Billiards St. Matthews.) They don’t have a capacity estimate for the venue yet — in part because the original Barrelhouse owners never got one — but Landrum and Kaine said that the venue will be comparable to Highlands Taproom, albeit with a larger space for music. So far, there are seven bands booked to

MUSIC

ONE YEAR LATER, MARZZ RETURNS TO LOUISVILLE. THIS TIME HEADLINING HER OWN TOUR. By Erica Rucker | leo@leoweekly.com ONE YEAR AGO, we found out local singer Marzz had been scooped up by Timbaland and whisked off to L.A. to make music. A year later and now Marzz, born Laria McCormick, is headlining her own tour and, also, opening on tour for H.E.R. Big things are happening for this hometown hero and we are joining the cheering section. Go Marzz. We got the chance to do another interview with her recently to see how the last year has treated her. The same beautiful, positive energy from before still radiates when talking to Marzz. It’s the energy she wants to give to her listeners. When she stops in Louisville on Friday, June 17, at Mercury Ballroom, it should be a priority to stop in to her show and return the positivity and the love. LEO: How has life changed since we talked last year? Marzz: OMG, I ain’t gonna lie. It’s been crazy as heck, man. It’s been so fun. I performed at the freaking Soul Train, bruh. And that was just like such a surreal moment, after growing up, watching that all my life, literally coming home from school, literally racing to make sure I catch it, and then just performing and stuff. It was insane. You know what I’m saying? And just releasing my EP, Love Letterz. It’s just been a dream come true. I honestly thought that I’ve been alone for so long and just seeing that people actually, genuinely fuck with me and they’re going through the same shit that I went through, the same stuff that I’m going through. It feels good to have a lot of support and love behind it. So you’re going to be touring with H.E.R and then headlining your own tour. Tell me about that. I found out I was going on tour with H.E.R. You know when you be manifesting stuff, and I was like, ‘Oh no,’ it just came out of the blue. I was like, ‘I’m going to go on tour with Erykah Badu, Jhene Aiko, H.E.R., Brandy or somebody.’ I was playing around. I was like, ‘Bro, I’m gonna go tour with H.E.R.’ I just kept saying it. And then, we had got a phone call, he was like, ‘You wanna go on tour?’ I was like, ‘Hell yeah. Let’s go’

I started crying. I called my mama, my granny. ‘I’m going on tour with H.E.R. I literally just spoke about this. This is crazy. This is blowing my mind.’ This is a dream come true. It’s so crazy and shit, me headlining my own tour. Like what? It’s time to show out and go crazy. I’m super supportive and super grateful that people’s rocking with me. This is literally a dream come true. It’s just something that I love to do daily, that I wake up loving to do. Being able to share my gifts and heal other people and continue to spread love and positivity, I wouldn’t change a thing. You’re at the beginning of a hopefully long career. What advice have you been given? I’m gonna definitely continue doing what I do and just staying in my own lane and worrying about me. I can’t be so focused on what everybody else is doing and really just creating a future for myself and putting myself first. I’m so used to pleasing people and stuff and it’s like, ‘Nah, it’s time to prioritize yourself. You matter too.’ So just going forth and believing in myself and going by faith, for real. Anything can happen, anything is possible. So just keep the faith and just keep going. But at the end of the day, it is your life, you gotta take hold of it and you’re the one that’s in charge of it. You got the power. What do you think helped you find your voice as an artist? Do you still feel like you’re finding your voice or do you feel like there was a moment where it clicked for you and you’re like, ‘This is my voice as an artist?’ I feel like I’m like 50-50 right now. I’m still finding my voice, but I feel like I found my voice in church, honestly. Being a part of the children’s choir, and my auntie always had me being a soloist. I hate hearing myself on videos, singing and stuff, but now that I’m hearing myself back, I’m actually understanding what I can do with my voice. Any new music coming? I actually just dropped my Love Letterz Deluxe, it’s got like four or five new songs on that joint. And I’m super excited and

Marzz is coming home to share the love and positive energy on June 17. | PHOTO BY ELI WIJIRA

proud of them cause it’s really like another take on who I am as a person. I guess my perspective on love is not only bad, but it’s also good. You get healing from it and you just grow overall. You get knocked down real low. All you can do is just grow. •

Marzz is set to perform at Mercury Ballroom on Friday, June 17. The show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $17.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

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FOOD & DRINK

RECOMMENDED

BAVARIAN-INSPIRED COMMON HAUS HALL, A GREAT NEW ARRIVAL By Robin Garr | LouisvilleHotBytes.com THE BELOVED German restaurant Gasthaus closed last month after nearly 30 years of delighting us with delicious schnitzel sauerbraten and more. So, where are we going to go now when we’re hankering for wurst or some ﬂammenkueche or even a giant German pretzel? Good news! A quick trip across the Ohio will bring you to Common Haus Hall, an outstanding recent arrival on the local dining scene. Common Haus Hall is a sibling to New Albany’s Pints & Union, and it’s easy to see the family resemblance between both eateries in concept and style. But where Pints & Union brings the vibe of a British pub and curry house to the table, Common Haus Hall, as the name suggests, evokes a Bavarian bierstube. Be aware, though, that while Common Haus will absolutely satisfy a German-food crave in the space left by Gasthaus, there are signiﬁcant differences. Gasthaus was authentic German, run by a German immigrant family. Common Haus is a German-style eatery and pub run by a

Pork schnitzel, a classic German dish, comes in a variety of styles at Common Haus. It’s available as a full course or, pictured, a Jäger Schnitzel sandwich with a side of seasonal white asparagus. | PHOTOS BY ROBIN GARR.

couple of Hoosier gents who love food and drink. Both Common Haus and Pints & Union spring from the creative mind of restaurateur Joe C. Phillips with Roger Baylor as beer consultant. “We don’t claim to be German or traditional at all,” Phillips said. “We are influenced by Bavarian range foods. We want to bring our version of Bavarian classics along with modern, approachable Indiana-based items as well. We’re focused on old and new, the past and present. Hence, schnitzel sandwiches!” Be that as it may, Common Haus feels an awful lot like a Bavarian bierstube to me. The old three-story brick building just north of the Ohio offers three floors and a stack of decks with views of the Louisville skyline. Pick your floor, settle in with a good German beer and a Bavarian-inspired bite, and you will immediately feel a sense of Gemütlichkeit, the barely translatable German word that encompasses coziness, contentment, warmth and well-being. The main-floor room accomplished that for me. Warm and friendly service, a

Like any good German-style restaurant, Common Haus offers a half-dozen different sausages. This vegan brat, served stadium-style on a good toasted roll, is loaded with kraut and mustard with spätzle on the side. LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

FOOD & DRINK

Sauerkraut balls make a memorable snack: tangy sauerkraut and mashed potatoes clad in a perfectly fried coating come with piquant curry mayo.

Germanic feel in the dim red-brick setting and dark-wood bar, random wall decor a bit more offbeat than the traditional German tchotchkes, culminating in a life-size wooden statue of Francis of Assisi, holding a checkered fedora in his outstretched hand. Despite the casual feel, Common Haus boasts a serious kitchen run by Executive Chef Jonathan Exum, a Culinary Institute of America grad who was executive chef at Jack Fry’s and worked at Wiltshire Pantry

Bakery and Cafe and other local kitchens. This is a serious resume, and it shows in Common Haus’ fare. Exum’s two-page menu covers the Bavarian basics, including shared appetizers($10.50-$17.50), Haus sandwiches ($7.50-$16.50) and house specialties like spaetzle with mushrooms, onions, and white asparagus ($20.50) as well as sauerbraten or a ﬁve-sausage sampler ($28.50). The Common Haus beer list features

about a dozen German and local craft brews on tap and another couple of dozen in cans and bottles. I enjoyed a refreshing, relatively low-alcohol half-liter of Paulaner Pilsner from Munich ($7.25). Sauerkraut Balls ($10.50) got us off to a tasty start. Six golden cubes the size of ping-pong balls of tangy sauerkraut, creamy mashed potatoes and blended Bavarian cheeses were cloaked in a perfectly fried, crunchy bound breading, with a tub of bright-yellow, sinus-clearing curry mayo alongside. Schnitzel — a classic dish of Germany, Austria and Switzerland — is a slab of meat pounded tender and cloaked in a bound fried coating. Common Haus makes a splendid version using pork with six sauce options, all $16.50. Our Jaeger (“hunter”) style schnitzel had been pounded to about 1/3-inch thick, but it was huge. Served on quality brötchen (small bread), the schnitzel was three times as big as the bun. The well-made breading boosted the ﬂavor with a piquant sweet-sour note. A dollop of Jaeger sauce, a rich brown onion and mushroom gravy with a rich ﬂavor married well with the schnitzel. “Stadium-style” grilled sausage ($7.50) is available with choice of a half-dozen

sausages: bratwurst, frankfurter, weisswurst, knockwurst, Hungarian gyulai sausage or vegan brat. We tried the vegan brat ($1 surcharge) and found it a dead ringer for the real thing, especially topped with sauerkraut and spicy beer mustard on a toasted roll. Sandwiches come with beer-battered fries, but we upgraded to two premium sides ($1.50 each). Six long, thin spears of white asparagus were grilled just enough to impart a delicious smoky note that went beautifully with a light, sweet-sour dressing. Haus Spaetzle also offered a good representation of this classic German side: Tiny bits of egg noodle dumplings were tossed in a sweet-sour dressing and sprinkled with chopped herbs. With one beer, dinner for two came to $48.96, plus a $10 tip. •

COMMON HAUS HALL 134 Spring St. Jeffersonville, Ind. (812) 590-1243 commonhaushall.com

! m o l a h S All are welcome here.

Fitness Center • Indoor/Outdoor Pools • Basketball/Pickleball Courts jcclouisville.org/youbelong (502) 459-0660 LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

CODE

SANFORD BIGGERS

THE SPEED ART MUSEUM PRESENTS

Codeswitch is the first survey of quilt-based works—inspired, in part, by the rich creative legacies of African American quilters—produced by the American interdisciplinary artist Sanford Biggers. The works, part of Biggers’s Codex series, consist of mixed-media paintings and sculptures done directly on or made from antique American quilts. Members see it all for free! Advanced ticket purchase strongly encouraged. Visit speedmuseum.org

Sanford Biggers: Codeswitch was co-organized by Rivers Institute for Contemporary Art & Thought, New Orleans, and the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, and curated by Andrea Andersson (Founding Director and Chief Curator, Rivers Institute) and Sergio Bessa (former Director of Curatorial Programs, Bronx Museum). The exhibition and catalog are made possible by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund: Culpeper Arts & Culture Program, Henry Luce Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Marianne Boesky Gallery, Massimo De Carlo, David Castillo Gallery, Monique Meloche Gallery, Baldwin Gallery, and Yale University Press.

Leading sponsors: Brooke Brown Barzun & Matthew Barzun Stephen Reily and Emily Bingham Contributing sponsors: Hardscuﬄe, Inc. Jeﬀrey and Susan Callen Colin and Woo Speed McNaughton Lopa and Rishabh Mehrotra

Exhibition season sponsored by: Cary Brown and Steven E. Epstein Paul and Deborah Chellgren Arthur J. and Mary Celeste Lerman Charitable Foundation Debra and Ronald Murphy

Image: Sanford Biggers American, b. 1970 Quilt 35 (Vex), 2014 Antique quilt fragments,treated acrylic, and tar on antique quilt.

Exhibition opening sponsor:

Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson

2035 S. 3rd Street Louisville, KY 40208

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

LEESA CROSS SMITH’S “HALF-BLOWN ROSE” PONDERS BETRAYAL AND LETTING EMOTIONS GO WHEREVER THEY WANT By T.E. Lyons | leo@leoweekly.com

Half-Blown Rose by Leesa Cross-Smith (Grand Central Publishing; 385 pgs., $28) SO WHAT if life is sumptuous among creative and (mostly) attentive friends in Paris? Does it mean that the minor annoyances of the day, or the small increments of a changing relationship should get either short shrift or obsessive attention? Neither, says Cross-Smith, Louisville author who’s reliably delivered fiction with contemporary romantic themes and honest considerations reinforced with consideration of characters’ lifestyles and personal choices. Her newest novel offers her growing legion of fans a few changes. For one, Kentucky is only a minor component of the settings this time around. First and foremost: Paris, France—as experienced by a fortysomething woman who’s got a work visa for teaching in the arts, a paid-for apartment, and a need to see how much of a fresh start she wants after suffering deep personal betrayal. On the one hand, this situation is a lark. There’s no other shoe waiting to drop: for a significant portion of this novel practically everything is just shy of wonderful for almost everybody. Cross-Smith enjoys sharing the immersion in la belle vie. Her protagonist, named Vincent Raphaela In “Half-Blown Rose,” the stakes don’t Wilde (just one of many references that’s a seem as high. Vincent is drawn to a postmélange of dreamy and quirky) has promadolescent student who seems to meet her ised herself every need and she’d “let most of her Cross-Smith has given her emotions wishes. “She stretch out, go simultaneously readers a very full banquet wherever they wants Loup to wanted.” leave and to for character interactions. spend the night In CrossBut there aren’t whiplash with her. She Smith’s how he previous book turns of tone, or soap-opera likes always blows “This Close right past her to Okay,” a sudden revelations—and attitude and protagonist this helps to keep the story goes straight went through intimacy. a delicate pas grounded and entertaining. for Not in a forcede doux with ful, creepy an individual way, but in an open way, like a kind family who was demonstrably self-destructive, member or a therapist.” and whose secretive trail gradually revealed So what is the source of conflict around accusations of causing harm to others.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

Leesa Cross Smith celebrates the release of “Half-Blown Rose.” | Photo by Mickie Winters

which to build a tale? Baggage from times past, maybe reduced to acknowledgment of where one is in the arc of a full life. And on the other axis of Cross-Smith’s potent emotional matrix are questions of secrecy, and the slippery ways secrets might hedge toward dishonesty or simply drop into misfortune. Vincent’s husband, whose late-arriving public (written into a bestseller) confession of a major faux pas he’d hidden for decades had provoked his wife’s ﬂight, is an outsider looking in on—but isn’t told about all of—the boho bonhomie in Paris. And then Amsterdam. Then to Auvers-sur-Oise (Van Gogh’s resting place). And then a return to Paris where Vincent learns that her chaotic romantic life is really just another vignette in a roundelay that wouldn’t be out of place that ﬁlm masterpiece The Rules of the Game. And that realization means that at the next turn of the wheel, when it’s time to face

her betrayer, she is in the midst of seeing within herself a new perspective. Not that it’s the final turn among the characters… Cross-Smith has given readers a very full banquet for character interactions. But there aren’t whiplash turns of tone, or soap-opera sudden revelations—and this helps to keep the story grounded and entertaining. There are also reliable guiding stars for those familiar with Cross-Smith’s fiction—sensitive and moving treatment of introverted women and biracial families, joyful sneaking-in of clever bon mots such as musical touchstones. But she is too fine a writer to let them grow stagnant from book to book. Her most experimental touches here—transcripts of text exchanges between the fortysomethings and adult children, excerpts from the husband’s book, etc., might seem a bit languorous but can be expected to win over more readers than those who might’ve preferred traditional narrative. •

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COMIC BOOK REVIEWS! By Felix Whetsel and Krystal Moore

The Stonewall Riots: Making A Stand for LGBTQ Rights Written by Archie Bongiovanni Art by A. Andrews Review by Felix Whetsel

In “The Stonewall Riots,” queer teens Natalia, Jax and Rashad learn through through Ms. Carmen, Natalia’s abuelita, about the historic events of June 28, 1969. After discovering that Ms. Carmen had been in a gay relationship in her youth, the group (plus Ms. Carmen’s pet bird Rocky) travel back in time to witness ﬁrst hand the events leading up the riots that would launch the modern day gay liberation movement. Through the lens of the main characters, we’re introduced to the political atmosphere of the late 1960s. From notable LGBTQ icons that participated in Stonewall like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera and Fred Sargeant, to the network of groups that were on the frontlines of progress, “The Stonewall Riots” is an easy-to-understand look into the history of the struggles of the queer community. It also introduces concepts such as intersectionality and police brutality in a way that is accessible for a burgeoning activist. Finally, it takes a succinct look at pre-Stonewall history, as well as later milestones in the gay rights movement. “The Stonewall Riots” is another in a line called History Comics, a series of books targeted towards 9-12 year olds. Seeing as the nation is currently dealing with an onslaught of legislation targeting queer children, this books works as a timely introduction to the history of the LGBTQ community, and the people who fought to get us where we are now.

WAR

BENDIGO FLETCHER | WOMBO

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GET YOUR

Naughty List #1 and #2

Party Center - Fern Creek • 5623 Bardstown Rd Street Box @ Piccadilly Square • 5318 Bardstown Rd Jay “Lucky” Food Mart #1 • 5050 Billtown Rd Cox’s - J-Town • 3920 Ruckriegel Pkwy

Written by Nick Santora Art by Lee Ferguson Review by Krystal Moore

I think we all agree that “Die Hard” is, in fact, a Christmas movie. But what if Santa Claus were played by Bruce Willis, or say, Chris Hemsworth? That’s what you get with “Naughty List.” This Santa, many years ago, was a happy husband and father, who, as a hobby, decided to use his talents as a wood carver to make toys to cheer and bring comfort to the town’s ill or disowned children. He sees the joy it brings them, and soon his hobby turns into an obsession. When a magical star comes along, our hero ceases to age and is gifted with magical things around him, like flying reindeer to help get the toys to the ones who need them. He gives a job to a local little person — who’s bullied by the townsfolk — and soon, that turns into all the little people coming to him for work. Eventually, his family dies of old age, leaving him behind. It’s a situation that hasn’t made this Santa a jolly old elf. Present day finds our grumpy, muscular Santa and his elves fighting addiction, boredom and all the other things that would come from immortality. And now, something terrible has happened. Someone has stolen the Naughty List and seems to be using it to murder big time criminals! Plus, they don’t know how many toys to make because they don’t know which kids shouldn’t get toys this year! Santa and his head elf Plum must go out into the darker places of the world and try to track down the thief. What an adventure — this is not your Grandma’s Santa Claus!

Republic Bank Bus Stop • 10100 Brookridge Village Blvd

Bearno’s Pizza - Taylorsville • 10212 Taylorsville Rd Louisville Athletic Club - J-Town • 9565 Taylorsville Rd Cox’s - Patti Ln • 2803 Patti Ln

PICK-UP LOCATIONS Third Street Dive • 442 S 3rd St

L.A. Fitness • 4620 Taylorsville Rd Habitat ReStore - Taylorsville • 4044 Taylorsville Rd Feeders Supply - Hikes Point • 3079 Breckenridge Ln

Jeffersonville Public Library • 211 E Court Ave

Street Box @ Heine Bros • 3965 Taylorsville Rd

TAJ Louisville • 807 E Market St

Paul’s Fruit Market - Bon Air • 3704 Taylorsville Rd

Climb Nulu • 1000 E Market St

Jewish Community Center • 3600 Dutchmans Ln

Come Back Inn • 909 Swan St

Street Box @ Marathon Frankfort Ave • 3320 Frankfort Ave

Stopline Bar • 991 Logan St

Boone Shell • 2912 Brownsboro Rd

Logan Street Market • 1001 Logan St

Ntaba Coffee Haus • 2407 Brownsboro Rd

Metro Station Adult Store • 4948 Poplar Level Rd

Beverage World • 2332 Brownsboro Rd

Liquor Barn - Okolona • 3420 W Fern Valley Rd

Kremer’s Smoke Shoppe • 1839 Brownsboro Rd

ClassAct FCU - Fern Valley • 3620 Fern Valley Rd

Big Al’s Beeritaville • 1743, 1715 Mellwood Ave

Hi-View Discount Liquors & Wines • 7916 Fegenbush Ln

Mellwood Arts Center • 1860 Mellwood Ave

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Party Mart - Rudy Ln • 4808 Brownsboro Center

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53 To’s opposite 54 Old-timey reproach 55 Scottish cap 58 Aromatic trees 61 Really bother 63 Jacqueline or Jacques 64 For sure, for short 65 Something a snowboarder catches 66 Last word of ‘‘Ulysses’’ 67 Goal in musical chairs 69 Nick of ‘‘48 Hrs.’’ 70 Beer brand whose name spells an article of apparel backward 72 Knock on the head 74 Carolers’ repertoire 75 ____ dancer 76 Minotaur’s foot 77 Bird known in the U.K. as a diver 79 Draws 82 Red-light district establishment 85 Like some vodkas 87 Fly into a rant 90 Spuds 91 Tall tales 92 Dispensed with 93 N.H.L. team with five championship-winning seasons in the 1980s 94 Praising poetry 96 Ballet sections 99 Play station? 100 Got rid of

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‘‘Duh,’’ in modern slang Pine Like the Radio City Music Hall sign Harvest Something swollen on a pro athlete? Totally fine Alternative to Webster’s, in brief

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1 Home with a pointy roof 2 Worked on Wall Street 3 Bring to a repair shop, say 4 Creative springboard 5 Cereal once advertised by Woody Woodpecker 6 Subject for Laozi 7 Sounds from a lab 8 ‘‘The Art of Fugue’’ composer 9 One’s kin, casually 10 Loosen, in a way 11 Some zeros and ones 12 Bar necessities, at times 13 It has several steps 14 What a dog walker and a strong-willed pooch might vie for? 15 Run easily 16 Makeup of some music libraries 19 Main 20 Huge quantity 21 Lacking color 22 Brief period of work 26 ‘‘Easy . . . everything’s going to be OK’’ 29 Bottle marked with a skull and crossbones 31 Cost for a spot 33 Garden-shed items 34 Caramel-filled candy 35 ‘‘You can leave this to me’’ 36 Declaration by one who’s done playing 38 Benjamin Franklin famously considered it ‘‘a rank coward’’ with ‘‘bad moral character’’ 39 ‘‘Te quiero’’ sentiment 43 Mideast V.I.P. 44 Response to ‘‘No offense’’ 45 The Bee Gees’ Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb? 46 It might gather lint 48 Somersault 52 Adversary

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1 Web site? 6 Browser window 9 Streaming service acquired by Fox in 2020 13 Civil rights grp. once led by M.L.K. 17 Fictional character who says, ‘‘I will take the ring, though I do not know the way’’ 18 Scorpion, for one 20 Wasn’t overturned on appeal 21 Artists sketching pectorals? 23 Stays out all night? 24 Glowing or shining 25 Work rotations 26 French ‘‘I like’’ 27 ‘‘Right on!’’ 28 Spot at a casino 30 Either side of a beaming grin, in a phrase 31 Tony winner McDonald 32 Something to make after you wake 33 Vow to remain mum about hotel guests’ secrets? 37 Hoops org. 40 Possibility 41 Scoffing sound 42 Driver of film 43 Nonbinary people, informally 47 Declined 49 Over-poetical? 50 Modern-day ‘‘carpe diem’’ 51 Early times in verse 52 Small distance covered by a naval armada? 56 First sitting prez to fly in an airplane 57 Words after walk or cash 58 Hyperbolic wait time 59 Like climates where cactuses thrive 60 Pointy part of a charger? 62 Group of followers 64 Willem who played Jesus in ‘‘The Last Temptation of Christ’’ 66 Some pianos and motorcycles 68 2000s Fox teen drama 69 Playwright Simon 70 ‘‘Emotion in motion,’’ per Mae West 71 Thomas ____, British general at Bunker Hill 72 Sweetie 73 Boxer lacking a left hook? 77 One of the boxing Alis 78 Gumbo ingredient 80 :-) alternative 81 Below par 82 Something unleashed in a denial-of-service attack 83 Destination for a return flight 84 Himalayan humanoid

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BY NANCY STARK AND WILL NEDIGER | EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

I C D O E R S A N T P I H O N O P T E S S F E O N U E O C M A N L O Y E P L A T S C I T A S O K

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86 ____ eyes 88 ‘‘I’m a frayed ____’’ (punchline of a classic joke) 89 What brass-band music has? 92 Court 95 Groups of Greeks, informally 97 Watcher of the skies, for short 98 Old ____ (motherland, affectionately) 99 Announced 100 You can count on them 101 Beat in a race 104 Very productive 106 Not even a little off 107 Tree feature in winter? 109 Quaint bathroom sign 110 Galosh 111 Lumberjack’s favorite kind of beer? 112 ‘‘What are the ____?’’ 113 Audience for Cocomelon, the most-viewed YouTube channel in the U.S. 114 Omega’s place 115 Columns with angles

E N B I M O R N I N O N R E T I T H E B A E O K R A N E S T K N O T F R A B A E X A C G E N T O D D S

The New York Times Magazine Crossword

PHOTO BY RACHEL ROBINSON

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SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage | mail@savagelove.net @fakedansavage

JUDGMENT DAY

Q: I’m trying to date again after backto-back negative relationship experiences. Experiences that have made me question my own judgment and ability to set good boundaries. My friends and therapist all pointed out the red ﬂags, but I was apparently blind to them. I love what you’ve said about how there is no “The One” out there for us, only .72s and .83s, and that we have to “round someone up to The One.” But it seems like I’ve been “rounding up” some numbers that were too low. As things stand now, I’ve never felt so mistrustful of people, and I’ve never doubted by own choices so strongly. Basically, my walls have gone up. But I love being in a relationship and I want to be in one again. What things should I be mindful of as I venture back into that world? What’s a good way to be deliberate without moving at a glacial pace? What should I be asking myself as I begin to form new attachments, especially after showing such bad judgment in the recent past? Understandably Nervous Since Upsetting Relationships Expired A: First, let’s put things in perspective: you had two shitty relationships in a row. While that was no doubt unpleasant, UNSURE, and while it’s understandable you might hesitate to put yourself back out there, two shitties in row isn’t evidence your judgment is ﬂawed. Very few of us can say we haven’t had two shitty relationships in a row, if not more. A shitty person is often the common denominator in a string of shitty relationships, but sometimes shitty relationships happen to good people—and sometimes they happen with good people, i.e., a shitty relationship can happen without a shitty person being involved. Still, there’s shitty, and then there’s spectacularly shitty. There are also shitty patterns. If you keep picking the same basic kind of shitty person and/or making the same basic kinds of shitty 38

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

mistakes—such as ignoring red flags, committing too soon, or “working on it” too long—then you need to make changes. And the single most important change you can make—the thing you can do differently as you head back into the dating world— seems obvious to me, my readers, your friends, and your therapist: listen to your friends and your therapist! They saw the red flags, UNSURE, and pointed them out. The problem wasn’t that you couldn’t see those red flags—you’re not blind— but that you looked away and/ or attempted to explain them away. (I’m not blind to the fact that using “blind” to mean “can’t understand or com-

prehend” is ableist, and I promise not to use it like this again.) Anyway, UNSURE, the lesson to learn from these two shitty relationships isn’t, “No more relationships for me! I can’t trust my own judgment!”, but instead, “The next time everyone in my life tells me that the person I’m with is shitty or that we’re shitty for each other, I’ll end it.” To be clear: I’m not telling you to substitute the judgment of your friends and therapist for your own, UNSURE, but to supplement your judgment with theirs—unless

you wanna empower your friends and your therapist to make an arranged marriage for you, in which case you can substitute their judgment for your own. Q: I don’t have a super high sex drive, so I generally have sex once or twice a week and mostly for my husband. He prefers sex at night, but I am generally exhausted and disinterested by that point. However, in the mornings I am often horny. Problem is my husband has a medical condition that makes morning sex uncomfortable for him. I occasionally masturbate in the mornings, but I’d rather be screwing him. Do you

have any suggestions for how I can teach myself to be horny at the end of the day? Sexual Time Zones A: Disco nap—get some sleep early in

the evening, STZ, fuck your husband when he comes to bed, watch some television until you’re ready for bed, then enjoy a bonus wank in the AM after he gets up and leaves. Q: Over the years I have participated in a few threesomes with a friend. We’re not really attracted to each other, so we have mostly focused on our guest stars. We have kissed and groped each other during these sex sessions, though, but otherwise we’ve been pretty hands-off with each other. Here’s the dispute: I say we’ve had sex and I am justiﬁed in adding him to my Body Count, he says just being naked in the same room doesn’t count. What do you think? Mansplain Arithmetic To Homos A: Won’t mansplain, will dansplain: Let’s say you were naked at a warehouse sex party and your friend was naked at that same warehouse sex party, MATH, and you were fucking one guy at one end of that warehouse and your friend was fucking some other guy at the

other end of that same warehouse. That wouldn’t count, MATH, since even if you were naked in the same room, you weren’t having sex with each other. But if you were fucking some dude’s ass while your friend fucked that same dude’s throat—in a warehouse or a bedroom or an RV at Burning Man— then it would count. Threesomes are sex, MATH, and if you and your friend have had threesomes together, then you and your friend have had sex with each other. (While I don’t like to police the language people use when they talk about sex—I support abolishing the language police—I’ve never liked

ETC.

the expression “Body Count.” While using “My Number” to mean your total number of sex partners is boringly literal, reading about literal body counts in the news every day makes me want to keep “Body Counts” out of my sex column.) Q: I’m a gay man in his late 20s living with my boyfriend. We are monogamous but I have a hard time being faithful. I’m in love with my boyfriend, he is caring and sweet, and the sex is good. But sometimes I feel this hunger inside of me. I desire other men. I look around at work or at the gym or when I’m out shopping, and all these other men turn me on. I cheated on my boyfriend once when we were on holiday together. I did it in a clumsy, selfish, and inconsiderate way, and my boyfriend saw me. I felt bad about it and apologized. I want our relationship to work because I love him, and we are such a good team. Please give me some advice on how to control myself, because right now I feel it is almost inevitable that I am going to cheat again and wind up losing the man I love over nothing. Is Needing Love Over Variety Endurable? A: If your boyfriend can forgive you and you can learn to lust after other men without touching them, INLOVE, you can make this monogamy thing work. But don’t kid yourself: however much you love your boyfriend, you’re always gonna wanna fuck other men. And unless your boyfriend is a toaster with a dildo duct taped to it, he’s always gonna wanna fuck other men too. So, maybe instead of having to pretend you don’t find other men attractive—instead of having to lie to each other—you can give each other a little space, i.e., a little erotic autonomy. Be monogamous, yes, but go ahead and flirt with other guys, check hot guys out together, watch and share porn that turns you both on, and then plow all that sexual energy back into your relationship and into each other. But if you wind cheating again… There are two ways to look at the cheating you’ve already done and the

cheating you might do in the future: you’re a terrible person who can’t honor a monogamous commitment, INLOVE, or you’re a good person who shouldn’t be making monogamous commitments. It took me a while to realize that I wasn’t failing at monogamy, INLOVE, but rather monogamy was failing me. When I stopped making monogamous commitments I couldn’t keep, my committed relationship(s) began to thrive. If being in a closed relationship leaves you feeling frustrated and generates conﬂict—internal and relational—and your boyfriend doesn’t want to be in an open relationship, then you two might not be right for each other. Two people who aren’t on the same page where monogamy is concerned and can’t negotiate their way onto the same page, INLOVE, won’t and shouldn’t be together for long. You can still love each other, but as exes and friends, not boyfriends. Q: Can you recommend a good lube, Dan? You see, this Joe Biden guy has been fucking us all in the ass for the last 16 months and it’s starting to hurt. Thank you in advance. Fuck Joe Biden

@leoweekly

A: Just for you, FJB, I’m gonna share my homebrew MAGA lube recipe: two parts ground glass, two parts BenGay, two parts pumicite, two parts IcyHot, and all the “go fuck yourself” you have in the house. Enjoy. questions@savagelove.net Listen to Dan on the Savage Lovecast. Follow Dan on Twitter @ FakeDanSavage. Columns, podcasts, books, merch and more at savage.love.

LEOWEEKLY.COM // JUNE 8, 2022

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Sunday, June 19, 2022 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM EDT

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MC Leitsy & Winslow Dumaine

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Friday, June 24, 2022 7:30 PM - 11:00 PM EDT

The Walnut Street Revue...The Musical “Jumping at the Top Hat” Gathering Place

Jun 25, 2022 5:00pm EDT

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2022 Trustees of Inclusive Equity Awards Gala

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