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Greg Bourke he/him Louisville

Use one queer slang word to describe Kentucky!

Queer. It seems cliche but as someone who has been out since 1976, I remember how hateful and condemning this term used to be for anyone who didn’t fit the cis hetero normative criteria. It was a horrible and demeaning insult that was used frequently. Now people don’t bat an eye when they hear this term in Kentucky, the script has been flipped, it is perceived generally as a positive. In one term, for me this symbolizes how far Kentucky has come.

How did you activate and organize your community for equality?

After being removed in 2012 from my position as a scoutmaster for our son’s boy scout troop, I launched a campaign to pressure the Boy Scouts of America to revise its membership policies and eliminate its ban on gay scouts, as well as, gay and lesbian adult scout leaders. Working with Scouts for Equality, GLAAD and change.org, these policies were successfully revised in 2014 and 2015 making scouting now much for inclusive LGBTQ+ people.

In the last 25 years, what is one moment that gave you hope for Kentucky’s fight in equality?

June 26, 2015 when the Supreme Court ruled that marriage equality was a right all Americans deserved under the law. This ruling brought such joy and relief to the LGBTQ+ community and was also heralded by our countless allies as a turning point in the long fight for LGBTQ equality and inclusion. Obviously, other challenges still remain, and new ones have emerged since then, but that was a moment of great hope and accomplishment for so many.

What do you think is next for Kentucky in the fight for Equality?

Trans rights have been under attack for the last several years in Kentucky, particularly by our state legislature. We all need to rally behind the defense of those impacted by this hateful and unnecessary targeting of the trans community.

What are Kentucky’s greatest strengths when it comes to the fight for Queer equality?

Kentucky’s free-spirited people who believe in the freedom and equality we are all guaranteed under the Constitution, Kentucky people, for the most part, believe that all have the right to be their full and true selves, and the government should not be dictating how we can identify and live our lives. One remarkable aspect of Kentucky is how broadly marriage equality is now accepted by Kentuckians, after it was so widely rejected by 75% of voters in passing a constitutional same-sex marriage ban in just 2004.