Children’s book author Hannah Carmona, who lives in Clarksville, joined a few hundred guests at Hopkinsville’s Pride festival Saturday afternoon and found a supportive audience for her reading from the book “Dazzling Travis: A Story About Being Confident & Original.”
The book tells the story of a young boy who pushes back when others insist he should follow strict gender norms. He likes ballet, basketball and dolls.
“I am who I am! There’s no boy or girl line. In sports or in dress-up, I’ll sparkle and shine,” the book’s central character says.
Carmona read from the book as she stood before an audience gathered at the amphitheater outside the Hopkinsville-Christian County Public Library.
Although her book was written and illustrated for a young audience, the message also had meaning for adults present at the Pride in Park event sponsored by the Hopkinsville-Christian County Human Rights Commission.
June is celebrated as Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising, which followed the June 28, 1969, police raid on Stonewall Inn at Greenwich Village in New York City. The inn’s patrons, including gay men, lesbians, transgender people and drag queens, protested for days and motivated others to join a movement to liberate the LGBTQ community.
Saturday’s gathering in the park alongside the public library was not the first LGBTQ event locally. There have been drag queen shows at Hopkinsville venues, and Hopkinsville Community College students have a Pride gay-straight alliance organization.
However, Pride in the Park was likely the most visible event of its kind to date in Hopkinsville.
Organizers invited individuals to step up to a mic to read poems or book excerpts, as Carmona did. People brought lawn chairs and settled in to visit. A couple of food trucks served lunch, and D.J.’s Famous Lemonade and Hopkinsville Brewing Co. provided drinks. Community organizations, including the local League of Women Voters, were present with informational booths.
Carmona said she appreciated the chance to attend a Pride event close to home rather than dealing with a long drive and traffic to get to Nashville.
“I was so excited there was one close by,” she said.
Carmona is a teaching assistant and previously led children’s theater programs. The inspiration to write often comes from the children she teaches. Some who are bullied tell her about their experiences, and she wants to encourage them. She tells them, “It’s OK to be you.”
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
