History Night: Being Transgender in Indiana

On Wednesday June 10th at 7PM, Indy Pride presents "Living History: Living Proof. Living Truth. (Being Transgender in Indiana)" for the first-ever Circle City IN Pride History Night. Focusing on the transgender community, History Night at Indy Reads Books will feature conversations and readings from C. Michael Woodward, prominent lecturer and author; Marissa Miller, the Program Director for Brothers United; and Executive Director of the Indiana Transgender Wellness Alliance, Jacqueline Patterson. Woodward wrote the titular essay for "Manning Up," a collection by trans men about trans men and has enlightened thousands of people across the country on matters of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE). Michael will read excerpts from his essay before opening the evening up to questions. Marissa Miller is an advocate for enhancing HIV health care and advancing needle exchanges as it relates to the trans community. Miller will be discussing her life experiences, with a focus on the difference between living positive and being positive. “So many people look at being positive as a death sentence, but in reality it has been the sentence that has saved my life and given it purpose.” Jacqueline Patterson's experiences during her transition while employed at Cummins Inc, is one of the reasons why Cummins has the equal protection policies in place that it now has. The lack of resources for gender variant persons in the state of Indiana inspired her to speak publicly about the issues transgender persons experience and connect other trans persons with caring medical professionals. “The rate of transgender suicide, HIV incidence, homelessness, lack of medical providers, discrimination, and hate crimes makes it all the more important to ensure the T in LGBT receives proper awareness everywhere.” This event is being hosted by Chadwick Gillenwater and and Mark A. Lee. Writer and photographer Mark A. Lee has been photographing the LGBT community for the past 30 years. He is working with the Indiana Historical Society to help put together an LGBT History exhibit for the state of Indiana. Chadwick is a children's book author and edu-tainer who has been an extremely active and vital member of the LGBT community, steering the youth-focused #REACH committee/events as well as traveling the country to show children and adults how to express themselves through storytelling and the written word.