Happy Pride Month!
Photo by Laura Harris. Lexington, KY. July 3, 1999
Happy Pride Month! 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
This year, we have so much to celebrate at FMA!
This summer, we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of Lexington’s Fairness Ordinance! Passed on July 8, 1999, The Fairness Ordinance added sexual orientation and gender identity as a protected class against discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations. 25 years later, we are reminded that it is still just as important to stand up and fight for LGBTQ+ rights today as it was then.
This fall, we will also be celebrating FMA's 10th Birthday! Since October is also LGBTQ History Month, there will be some exciting programming planned throughout the rest of the year! Make sure to stay tuned and join us as we celebrate pride all year long!
A Packed House!
The Premiere of Under The Southern Cross: The Art and Legacy of Henry L. Faulkner at The Kentucky Theatre was a wonderful success!!! With a nearly sold out house, hundreds of viewers watched Jean Donohue's impeccable film on Henry's international impact as a gay Kentucky artist.
After the film, we danced all night at the Official After Party at The Bar Complex. Thanks to your wonderful support, FMA was able to raise money for our $100K for Henry's 100th fundraising campaign!
A huge thanks to Tom Sawyer Photo & Marketing for photographing the event! Keep an eye out on our Facebook page for the photos in the coming week!
Did you miss the premiere? You now have another chance to catch a viewing of the first feature-length documentary on the life and legacy of Henry Faulkner!
A Pride Month Encore Screening
Under The Southern Cross: The Art and Legacy of Henry L. Faulkner
THU, JUN 27 | Happy Hour @ 7PM | Film @ 8PM
Tickets at kentuckytheatre.org
Celebrate Pride Month with this encore screening of the new and ground-breaking documentary about Lexington artist and gay icon 𝗛𝗲𝗻𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝗮𝘂𝗹𝗸𝗻𝗲𝗿. The Kentucky Theatre will be kicking off the evening with a happy hour at 7PM ($1 off wine, beer, and cocktails), followed by the film at 8PM. See you there!
Upcoming Events
Join us and the Kenton County Public Library as our co-founder, Jonathan Coleman, Ph.D., shares the rich cultural heritage of Kentucky’s LGBTQ community though the stories housed at the Faulkner Morgan Archive.
📅 Thursday, June 13
🕓 6pm to 8pm
🏛️ Kenton County Public Library
📍 Virtual Presentation (Register online here!)
Take advantage of warm summer weather and take part in our self-guided Pride Of Place Walking Tour! Explore Lexington’s downtown while learning about local LGBTQ history 🏳️🌈 Disco is (obviously) our music of choice while we walk. 🪩
We highly recommend, at some point in your tour, grabbing a drink at queer-owned Lussi Brown Coffee Bar and toasting with the mural of Sweet Evening Breeze by Gaia right around the corner at 161 N Limestone 💜
You can download the PDF or request a free physical copy of the tour on our website or grab a copy from VisitLex (both English and Spanish available). If you take the tour, make sure to share your pictures by tagging us and using #FaulknerMorgan and #PrideOfPlace. Happy exploring!
Want to continue and learn more about the legacy of Henry Faulkner? Make sure to join us at Paul Sawyier Public Library for The Life of Henry Faulkner, a presentation by Dr. Jonathan Coleman on how Faulkner’s art, personality, and reputation were framed by his identity as a gay Kentuckian. 🏳️🌈
📅 Tuesday, June 18
🕓 6pm to 7pm
🏛️ Paul Sawyier Public Library
📍 319 Wapping St, Frankfort, KY
👤 Join the Facebook Event!
Come and check out FMA’s booth at the Lexington Pride Festival! We will be showcasing Here, Black, Femme, & Queer, an exhibition on the lives and legacies of Black, femme, & queer people from right here in Kentucky. We have a few newly scanned images that we have recently added as well! We can't wait to see y'all there!
🏳️🌈 Lexington Pride Festival
🧡 Saturday, June 29
🧡 From 11am - 9pm
🧡 @ Central Bank Center
Old Lesbians Film Viewing
Join us for a FREE screening of “Old Lesbians,” a short documentary about queer elders preserving their own herstory! This film showcases the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP), an archive of 800+ life stories recorded across the U.S. (plus a handful abroad). We are so excited to bring this film to Lexington!
💜 Sunday, July 7 @ 4pm
💜 21c Museum Hotel Lexington
💜 Completely FREE!
💜 Join the Facebook Event!
After the screening, there will be a virtual Q&A with director Meghan McDonough and musician Gaye Adegbalola (whose music is featured in the film). Then, following the Q&A, join us for a Happy Hour at Lussi Brown Coffee Bar! ☕️🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ We can’t wait to see you there!
Listen to us on WUKY!
To kick off Pride Month, WUKY's Alan Lytle and Lexington History Museum's Executive Director Mandy Higgins invited FMA to discuss Kentucky's LGBTQ history. We discuss the 25th anniversary of Lexington's successful passage of a Fairness Ordinance, and finish up with a preview of this year's Pride Festival in Lexington.
New FMA Board Member
We are so excited to welcome Amanda Ralston as a new member of the Faulkner Morgan Archive Board of Directors!
Amanda (“Mandy”) Ralston is a queer, neurodivergent serial Founder. She is a 25-year veteran practitioner and has been certified as a behavior analyst since 2002. During her career she has founded two clinics that provided applied behavior analysis services to hundreds of families, schools, and individuals with autism or other developmental or intellectual disabilities. She successfully exited to the 4th largest ABA provider group in 2019.
Mandy has served as a Subject Matter Expert to several international workgroups and panels related to Behavior Analysis, Ethics, Outcomes, and Practice. She is a featured speaker in several mediums globally. She has twice been nominated for Small Businessperson of the Year in 2015 and 2017. She was the recipient of the Autism Innovation Award at the Autism Investor Summit in 2023.
She is a frequently invited speaker for her work in the autism spectrum and “#ItsNotBinary: Avoiding binary thinking in work, life, and social media.”
Her most recent venture is NonBinary Solutions - a data analytics and technology firm making Clinical Decision Support Systems for providers and other constituents of Applied Behavior Analysis and neurodiversity.
Her behavior continues to be shaped by its impact on a world where autism exists, and the field of behavior analysis.
The Paintings of Bill Petrie
FMA has recently acquired a legacy gift from the estate of the late Tom Brown, including a large collection of painting's by Bill Petrie. Petrie was a prolific painter, tobacco farmer, political activist and passionate gay man living in the rural bluegrass of Kentucky. Tom and Bill are both truly missed, and we are honored to care for these materials and carry on their legacies.
Watch In Dreams Awake, produced by Tom Brown, to learn more about this gay Kentucky artist!