Article in CLIMBING

[Gretchen]

Man you should have been there. Miguel was soooo scared to approach them! But we finally gave him the push he needed! I think he was more concerned what his wife would have thought if she saw him talking to the two"ladies"!! Apparently theladies heard a rumor that Miguels was a happenin place and wanted in on the action.

[tomdarch]

Believe it or not Kentucky isn't as backwards as Hollywood wants to make us. We wears shoes now. Most people have running water, and those that have their washer and dryer on the front porch probabbly just like doing laundry outside. ... And yes there are folks in this state who are livin' the alternative lifestyle.

Nada and the End Times Tabernacle notwithstanding, I didn't mean to say that KY wasn't 'sophisticated' enough to have men who experience the world as women, but rather that the violent minority (who exist everywhere) who attack 'outsiders' are under control enough for the 'ladies' to make an appearance. Either that or they were serious badasses (plenty of wispy looking trannies have the survival skills to take out guys much bigger than themselves) Obviously 3 to 10% of any human population will naturally be GLBT, but there's a big difference between who you are and being able to be 'out' in a given culture.

Grant it seeing drag queens at Miguels is a rarity (one I would have liked to have layed witness too), it shouldn't seem like a surprise that KY has 'trannies'. Lexington is home to a couple of gay brs, a fairness ordenance, and even an annual drag queen contest. Once upon a time we used to have a morning weather guy who was running his campaign to win drag queen of Lexington on a station computer. Classic. Anyway I'm for changing the state slgan from that lame 'education pays' to 'Kentucky, its not as backwards as you might think'.

In hindsight, I think that my use of "trannies in KY" should have been "trannes in rural KY". It's a bit like the fact that Austin and Texas are different places. I'm not surprised that Lex or Louisville would have out establishments, but I am surprised that Lex has an anti-discrimination ordinance (considering how far the whole state of CO impacted its collective cranium into its colon with its anti-anti-discrimination ammendment!) As for the weather, er, man, more power to him, uh, or her. Get pot legalized in KY (or a non-gender-biased marriage law) and the slogan change might be easier than you think!

[ynot]

I still prefer gun packing hillbillies to gang members. They only shoot people that need it rather than indiscriminent killing like gangs.Just be sqaure with Ky. folks and almost every one of them will return the kindness.You meet alot of memorable characters that way.