Statement regarding proposed Fairness Ordinance

Please note this statement is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Public statement to the Daviess County Fiscal Court, Public Forum on the proposed Fairness Ordinance January 30, 2020


My name is Chad Gesser. I am an Associate Professor of Sociology and have been a full time professor for 16 years of the 25 years I’ve been teaching. I’ve also been a small business owner for the past 10 years.

I am here speaking this evening out of a sense of obligation. I have been fortunate for the past 25 years to be able to engage with students in the classroom, mostly introducing them to my field of study: Sociology. For those that do not know, sociology is the study of society. My field of study is built on a body of research and we examine all topics relative to be human, to be in society.

My sense of obligation centers around my areas of specialty, which include culture, inequality, and community. Over the past 20 years inequality has been a central focus of my field of study, particularly in the United States.

I teach a course entitled Inequality in Society. During that class, which lasts about 4 ½ months, we cover in great detail subject matter central to inequality in society. These topics include race, social class, gender, and sexual preference.

At the heart of each of these topics are the topics of prejudices, stereotypes, discrimination, and institutional prejudice and discrimination. On the surface these topics appear emotionally charged. The benefit that I and the students have in the classroom setting is that we are intentionally there to study these topics. As a result, my classes are always thoughtful, detailed, conversive, and frankly rewarding. Students find this class helpful in their understanding of people that may be different than the groups they belong to. Students also gain insight on topics central to inequality.

I would like to share a couple of insights from my professional experience that bear on topics relative to this evening’s public hearing.

First, culture has changed drastically over the past 20 years. As a result, people from different age groups increasingly have difficulty relating to one another. At the same time, community life has also become quite diverse.

For example, according to a 2019 report by the Pew Research Center, in 2004 only 31% of the American public approved of same sex marriage. In 2019 that number grew to 61%. When we look at those that indicate they oppose or approve of gay marriage over the past 16 years, the data actually are flipped flop over time. I bring up this particular point of information because for me, with my students, it stands as one of the most remarkable shifts in public opinion in the modern era. This is also relevant because of age groups. I mentioned this earlier. Many of us in this room grew up in an era where there was non acceptance of members of the LGBTQ community. I’m here to tell you that fact is not my fault, and it’s not your fault. But, culture and the times have changed.

When I cover this material with my students (certainly those of the younger generation) there often is a sense of relief. The students are glad to hear that their acceptance of members of the LGBTQ community is not a behavior that is inconsistent with the acceptance or lack thereof in the country. Young people feel the community does not represent their standards and values of acceptance.

We don’t have to look to national information to chart the acceptance of members of the LGBTQ community. As you know, many Kentucky communities have adopted fairness ordinances prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. These include Louisville (1999), Lexington (1999), Covington (2003), Vicco (2013), Frankfort (2013), Morehead (2013), Danville (2014), Midway (2015), Paducah (2018), and Maysville (2018), Henderson (2019), Dayton (2019), Georgetown (2019), and Versailles (2019). Given the movement of these fairness ordinances, communities that overtly choose not to enact these protections do in fact give voice to prejudice and discrimination at the individual and the policy level. I do believe this is a very important consideration as you reflect upon your decision of this ordinance. What will you be saying to the public, to other communities, to businesses, if you choose not to pass this ordinance?

I now want to speak from a different vantage point. I’m married and have been for 22 years to my lovely and inspiring wife Susan. We are both from Owensboro-Daviess County. We have four children: ages 19, 15, 12, and 5. We are also both practicing Catholics, and our family are members of Sts. Joseph and Paul Parish.

I believe that in part I represent the silent majority. I’m not on either extreme of this “debate.” While I believe in the dignity of each person, regardless of race, gender, social class, and sexual preference, I also understand that your decision is a political one. Politics is not always moral, it’s not always ethical, it’s not always fair. What I do know is that culture has changed. We as a population of people are different now than we were 30 years ago, 20 years ago, even 10 years ago.

Be careful to hear only the extremes, and consider doing what is right not for you but for the good of this community and its future.

On MLK and Dignity

My family's background in justice was pivotal in both my educational and career trajectory. My graduate studies centered on culture and development. I've been teaching Sociology since 1993 and certainly over that time topics related to race, gender, social class, and sexuality have been at the center. Since 2006 I've taught Inequality in Society, and it is through this work in the classroom with students that my perspectives on inequality have come clearer in focus.

In the fall of 2014 I was approached by colleague Dr. Lewatis McNeal about speaking at the upcoming MLK Day event on our campus. Dr. McNeal was part of a local planning committee for the event. I frankly was stunned. What business does a white male have in giving the keynote address at this prestigious community event? Lewatis and I did know each other but I tend to think he knew something about me that others did not know: that I had an educational background similar to Dr. King, and that I had a unique interest in race and equality. Now, each MLK Day I share through my social media the transcript of Dr. King from Morehouse College, where he majored in Sociology and took the following courses: Introduction to Sociology, Contemporary Social Trends in America, Social Anthropology, Intercultural Relations, Social Institutions, Social Legislation, Statistics, Principles and Methods of Statistics, and a Seminar in Sociology:

Dr. McNeal and I did discuss that in our initial meeting, and I did accept the incredible honor of speaking that January 2015, to commemorate MLK. That invitation and that presentation stands as one of the highlights of my life and career. So much so that each MLK Day I do find myself reflecting even more on his life and how my life and work relates to his.

Below is the presentation I used that day (I've removed two slides from the original because they included links to sources that no longer function):

This year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day I'm stuck in reflection on many things. I would not consider myself an MLK Scholar, but my daughter is an official one at the University of Louisville. She's on scholarship there as a MLK Scholar, and it stands as a huge badge of honor for her, for me, and our family. We were both very excited to be able to visit the MLK Memorial together in March of 2019.

My daughter Jackie and I at the MLK Memorial, Washington, D.C. March 2019

And now, dignity

While I'm a fan of Bob Dylan and his catalog I'm certainly not well versed on his variety of albums and songs. I believe I only became first aware of this song "Dignity" not too long after he performed on MTV's Unplugged in 1994. His pronunciation of the word dignity simply was enough for me to fall in love with the song and its subject matter. I was an early graduate student in sociology in 1994 and was pursuing topics related to dignity.

What Dylan speaks to is the various circumstances where one looks for dignity. Dylan suggests everyone is looking for dignity, even in the most unlikely of places. Dignity is not simplified, and as Dylan attests, sometimes dignity cannot be found. For example:

"Got no place to fade, got no coat

I'm on the rollin' river in a jerkin' boat

Tryin' to read a note somebody wrote

About dignity

Sick man lookin' for the doctor's cure

Lookin' at his hands for the lines that were

And into every masterpiece of literature

For dignity"

As I reflect today on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day I can't help but to think about dignity. King was deeply concerned about dignity. He thought about it, studied it, and it was a deeply spiritual conviction. Dignity is found sprinkled throughout his famous quotes, and certainly it was at the heart of his movement for equal rights.

MLK Memorial, March 2019

In light of the political climate related to topics of equality and rights (both local and national) over the past few years, I found myself in a moment in March 2019 while visiting the Lincoln Memorial. There I thought about Lincoln, and what he would think about the state of politics and our culture. As I stood at the top of the steps, I turned around and reflected on Dr. King's "I have a dream speech," given in front of 250,000 people across the Washington Mall.

Today in 2020, I continue to think regularly about these topics. I continue to teach about them, and I continue to work to live in such a manner as to personally respect the rights of every person. I too find myself thinking about my own dignity. Where do I find dignity? How do I get dignity? Dignity belongs to everyone, even in the smallest of ways. Dignity can take the form of introspection of self, of others, in interaction, in inaction, in culture, and in society.

But doesn't dignity seem lost within modern life? Even the consideration of dignity is complicated. I do think Bob Dylan's "Dignity" is particularly poignant in this regard. It is perhaps through this type of art that this importance in life and living can be accessed.

Dr. King's consideration of dignity took many forms. It took the form of dignity by recognition of the rights of others: through race, social class, creed. And yet access to dignity can exist in so many other contexts of human interaction and form. And the consideration of dignity is not just when it's convenient. It's now, and it's all the time. This underlies the challenge posed to every person by Dr. King. Not only where does one find dignity, but how do our interactions, our culture, and our society provide a context for which others too can have access and find dignity?

I do not underestimate the importance of the emotional, intellectual, and relationship work of the recognition of dignity. I think it took Martin Luther King, Jr.'s early life experiences and his studies of topics related to dignity for him to then to have found the courage to act out his principles in real time: in interactions, with others, and in society. No, he absolutely was not perfect. And getting access to the subject of dignity is not always a straight shot or linear. But it became to be his effort, his work.

Let's continue to take that intention forward in our personal lives, in our interactions with others. It takes work, it takes time. Keep at it.

Chad Gesser

A brief word about organization of this blog

I became employed in fields related to Sociology in the early 2000s. I produced several documents and was involved in public health planning and evaluation from the early 2000s to 2006. Some of that work was put online as an effort to create more awareness for local and regional constituencies. I look to post some of that work through this blog.

I began blogging in late 2004. I started with The Owensboro Blog and The Sociology Blog. Both blogs will still exist but I've merged both of those blogs (along with a couple of other personal blogs) into this one. Of those posts that have been merged many remain in their original form. I prefer them this way to maintain historical perspective and as a record of that work originating 15 years ago. As a result some posts have missing links and wording consistent with those blogs. As someone that has been involved in social media and social networking since its explosion on the internet scene, I do like to go back in time as a way of sharing with students the early days of web 2.0.

A major benefit of a blog is the ability to organize content by labels and by date. You'll see in this blog I have a label for each blog post to better organize the content for myself and for any readers. 

My intention is to provide a broad array of course content and links to that material through the labeling of posts. I will also organize my perspectives, random content, photography, and all other subject matter by way of labels. At the time of this posting there are over 350 posts with labels. Much of that work was short form posts designed to provide focused material for students.

Lastly, the writing style varies quite a bit throughout these blog posts. This reflects the purpose of posts in the past, how I used several different blogs, and my how my writing may change in future posts. Expect variety as you may peruse through this blog.

Purpose of this blog as of November 2019

I plan to use this blog as a space for many things. It will bring together mid to long form ideas and content relative to my career in Sociology, to teaching, to my family, to my DJ and related work, to new ideas and projects, and as a place for me to breathe life into more random mid to long form content. But ultimately this blog will exist in conjunction with several online services as a way for me to provide a narrative to my life. I do not plan on regular posts. I will use Facebook, Instagram, and perhaps Twitter for that. More long form content though will show up on this blog, but it will be irregular.

When I began dabbling in music production then DJing, my intent was to get myself involved in something that did not have an end goal in mind. It was a creative endeavor with no expectations. It however quickly morphed into something more. However, I’ve been very open and intent on keeping the original purpose of my entertainment work in mind: for creativity, and for fun.

I’m approaching this blog with a very similar intent. I plan to use it to serve as the mid to long form narrative for many things. Developing this portion of my website is not for the intent of monetization. Meaning, I’m not doing this for money. I’m not opposed to that happening, and I could see in places where it could. With the availability of so many wonderful digital services, look at this blog, website, and web presence as something like a modern, rich media book. Yes, I’ve thought about writing a book, but find this approach to be much more editable, with a host of possibilities, and more interesting. I have been using Google and its applications for years. I have a whole trove of content in Google Drive, in Google Photos, and on YouTube. I look to integrate some of that in a more public, digestable form.

The newer content I look to share on this blog will be related to ideas and experiences, and perhaps as a way to flesh out new projects. I also will use this blog as a way to provide deeper sociological analysis of key local, state, national, and perhaps national issues. I want to develop the sociology portion of this blog so as to integrate classroom sociology with public sociology. I’m excited to share with the broader public some of my work and insights on a host of sociologically related content.

I also look to share perspectives on parenting, marriage, creativity, and other topics. Lastly, I look to use this blog as a model for others with similar ideas they’d like to get up off the ground. While I’m both a public and private person, I do like to share my narrative on my own terms. This blog will help to develop my life narrative, in my voice.

How I got to this point

Since its modern inception in the late 1990s, the “blog” has been standard shorthand for an online web log. I’ve had some interest in the internet and web design for quite some time so the launch of a web interface that allowed the user to easily interface with a public or private publication resource was appealing. So I began blogging in 2004 while still part time teaching in Sociology at the collegiate level. At the time my work life centered around using my background in sociology in the fields of public health and education. During those early days I blogged at The Sociology Blog, The Owensboro Blog, and The Gesser Blog. This was a good way for me to practice public sociology, to have a voice addressing dynamics in my local community, and to capture family and personal memories for historical preservation.

We had our second child born in 2004 and two additional children since. I've been fortunate that our life circumstances have allowed me to play a major role in the parenting of our children. After nearly twenty years and with many years still ahead, I feel I have something to offer from my experience of parenting and the magic and wonder I’ve derived from being there and being attentive to the growth of now four children. As of 2019 we have a 19, 15, 12, and 5 year old. Each of their uniqueness has informed me as a young to now middle aged adult.

I feel nothing short of very fortunate to have been able to practice my expertise in Sociology as both a practitioner and educator in my hometown. Prior to my full time work as a professor I was involved in projects related to public health, education, and civic dialogue. These projects include: resurrecting a regional health report card; conducting primary research in adult smoking; serving as lead researcher and coordinator of a regional juvenile justice project; serving as data analyst for a correctional facility program; serving as part of a review team for a quality performance evaluation; providing assessment, evaluation, and planning services to counties in western Kentucky; and working in local projects of dialogue and deliberation. I look forward to sharing some of that work and experience here and on my website.

I began teaching full time in Sociology in the fall of 2006. As of fall 2019, I've taught 18 credit hours each fall and spring semester, and 1 or 2 courses during the summer since I began teaching full time in 2006. Beginning in the spring of 2020 I will reduce my number of courses each semester from 6 to 5. I’m particularly looking to standardize my regular semester schedule in the fall of 2020 when I’ll reduce my face-to-face course load from 5 to 4. I’ll still teach an online course, bringing my regular course load to 15 credit hours. Particularly over the past 15 years I’ve developed quite a bit of Sociology content. My bread and butter are my Introduction to Sociology courses, teaching 5 sections each semester. I also teach one section of either Inequality in Society, Social Interaction, Modern Social Problems, or The Community each semester at Owensboro Community and Technical College. I’ve been an early adopter and user of digital resources and I’m looking forward to sharing some of those ideas and work here and on my website.

I was heavily involved in local theatre and the performing arts from 2004 to 2010. Around 2010 I was inspired to start music production and DJing as a hobby. I had my first public performance soon after jumping into this art form, and what was intended to start as a hobby quickly developed into a small entertainment business. I did not intend to start a local business but it truly has been a remarkable experience. I look forward to sharing some of that on this blog. That work is also maintained at a separate website, www.djprofg.com . As a result I’ve also been fortunate to make enough extra regular income that I feel I’m now able to reduce my teaching load. A big reason I taught 6 courses each semester is simply because we needed the extra income for our family.

My reduction in course load is primarily for the intent of developing some long thought about ideas and projects. One of those ideas is now materializing in the form of this blog, which consolidates much of my blogging since 2004. This blog though is an extension of my website, www.chadgesser.org, which I launched around mid 2019. This blog will serve the work I develop at my website. Remember, I do have ideas for the future.

While I did achieve some popularity in the field of sociology on Twitter, I found my voice reverberating through something of an echo chamber and devoid of a deeper connection. Unfortunately I found my use of Twitter was not as robust in local student and educator circles. I was a little ahead of my time in that regard. In addition, my family life and other personal interests pulled me away from regular Twitter use.

I had high hopes for the interaction that I saw that both Facebook and Twitter could bring. I was and have been a regular user of those services generally since day one. I segued from regular Twitter use around 2015 as I began developing my DJ business. I have once again though found a desire and a need for public sociology and a deeper sharing of meaning of my ideas, perspectives, and projects. This time though I’m wanting to develop this in both a broader and bigger context.

On Sociology: A Change in Christmas

This graph below says something about the change in the celebration of Christmas.  See the report for the Pew Research Center for more information.

...why I'm seeking to add Facebook friends

After what I felt was a much needed break, I decided today that I indeed wanted to return to Facebook.  Why does this warrant a blog post?  Because I feel the need to at least respond to the previous post as to why I deleted my friends to begin with.

While I deleted all of my Facebook friends in September 2012, I've still been using Facebook to "digest information" from Pages and similar interests.  I posted a couple of status updates during that time, but "Liked" next to zero status updates, and commented only a couple of times on my spouse's Facebook feed.  I sincerely have enjoyed the respite from Facebook, and all the psychological angst (for lack of a better word) that comes with maintaining one's Facebook identity.  I believe my time away will help me to better manage Facebook, and perhaps enable me to better use Facebook to compliment my person.

While I have gained a lot of perspective on the experience of "being away", I've also been able to validate in my mind that communication via Facebook and similar services has become a norm, and continues to change.  I don't sense we are out of the communication revolution, just yet.  At least where I live, getting together physically with others for casual social interaction is now something of a past time.  Instead of investing limited and valuable time with acquaintances and friends, people use Facebook and similar services to mediate that lack of time, but to maintain casual social ties with others.  Any extra personal time is perhaps left with close family and friends.  I understand that.

Thus, I decided to come back to Facebook with a more visible presence.  I miss the interplay, I still would like more out of Facebook and others, but I also understand that these services are now part of the communication ecosystem.

So, I hope you'll have me back...

Chad

Kentucky Convergence Conference 2010

Why I deleted my Facebook friends

Earlier this week I exercised what I call the "nuclear option" on my friends' list on Facebook.  I have not completely stopped using Facebook, but as of this date I have one friend on Facebook: my wife Susan.

This is something I have thought about doing for quite some time.  I suppose the final decision came as a result of the consideration of trust, friendship, and connection that I had, thought I had, and/or that I never really had.

I wanted to write this blog post sooner, much like a lot of blog posts/writings that never get made.  My friend Kevin Brown asked me why I deleted all of my Facebook friends, and he was one of a few that I felt needed further explanation.  Of the 211 friends I deleted, six days after he has been the only one to ask why.

While the intent here is certainly not to be dramatic, you must understand that I've been a believer in the potential of Facebook.  In my sphere of influence I've come to be known as someone at least knowledgeable and perhaps thoughtful about Facebook and social networking in general.  I've done a number of trainings on social networking, and I've recently been asked to organize a panel at a national Sociology conference on teaching and social media.  My approach to Facebook has been both a personal and professional approach.

I've just completed covering the chapter in my Introduction to Sociology class on groups and organizations.  This is a very important chapter in the field and an area of consideration that I always enjoy teaching about and exchanging with students.  In such a short period of time our society has moved from online interaction as being anonymous and almost fantasy like to now a complex interplay of social networks in the physical and online world.

Now I'll cut to the chase.  I've tried to be careful with my nurturing of my Facebook experience.  It became apparent over time though that far too many of my Facebook friends viewed Facebook more as a tool for entertainment than as a tool for nurturing personal connections.  I wanted more from friends than very casual interaction obtained through commenting and liking on status updates.  I like to think that most of my life I've sought deeper connections with others.  I was hopeful that Facebook could support my personal efforts of connecting more meaningful with others.  It just didn't turn out that way.

In the process of deleting my Facebook friends I came to realize there were only about 25 that I had any type of semi regular interaction.  I can see in the not too distant future going back to Facebook and narrowing my experience to those that truly want to connect, interact, and nurture one another.

What I have found in this short time since I've pretty much left Facebook is that I'm more at ease, and frankly I find myself being nicer to others.  I've come to realize my daily use of Facebook came to be a crutch for my need for social interaction.  Now that Facebook is not there, I believe I'm gravitating more to interaction in the physical world.  And I like that.

Thoughts?  Opinions?  Comment below.

Sociology Chat

UPDATE 4/6/20: This projected has ended

Happy to introduce a new little project/endeavor:  it's the Sociology Chat.  This will be a live twitter chat occurring twice on Wednesdays, twice a month.

The first scheduled live chat will occur February 22nd at 9:30am CST and again at 7pm CST.