It didn’t matter which search engine I used. One name kept popping up in the results. Dawn Wilson. This was the mid-1990s. There was no Google then. If you wanted to find anything on the newly developed World Wide Web you either used Lycos, AltaVista or Yahoo. As someone who did not understand why I had conflicts regarding my gender identity I was scouring anything I could to understand the subject of being transgender and during those searches I would see Dawn Wilson come up repeatedly and it always showed her speaking out for some type of activism.
Twenty-five years later, Dawn Wilson is still devoted to activism for Human Rights. I have been very fortunate to work with Dawn on a few occasions and I recently managed to corner her for an interview to talk about her past and hear about projects she is involved in nowadays. If you ever have the opportunity sit and talk with her, you know you are in for a treat. This is not an easy feat considering her busy schedule. Dawn loves to share stories about the people she knows and friends she has worked with.
Dawn is a wonderful and engaging Black transgender woman. Dawn emerged into the world at age 27 after serving in the military in Desert Storm. During the 1990s, being a transgender person was not as understood and accepted as it is now. The challenges and barriers she faced were immense. She did not avoid or shy away from those hurdles, instead she attacked them head on with a passion for activism and compassion. Alongside her lifelong friend Monica Roberts, she fought the battle for trans rights at the top levels of government. In the late 1990s Dawn in a Senator’s office in Washington D.C. lobbying for the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) was not an unusual sight. Dawn told me ”back then you could walk right into their offices,” and walk right in she did. During that time Dawn was also instrumental in helping the Fairness Campaign in Louisville pass Kentucky’s first anti-discrimination Fairness Ordinance. Since that time 20 other cities and counties in Kentucky have followed suit and passed Fairness ordinances that provide LGBTQ+ protections and equal rights.
When I asked Dawn what her first job was she proudly told me that it was at the University of Kentucky and she lets it be known to everyone that she is a proud follower of the Big Blue and that’s how she bleeds. She also worked with Charter Communications in the early 2000s for almost 11 years as a Special projects Manager and in 2010 joined the Louisville Metro Human Rights Commission. That was an appointed position and Dawn was appointed by Mayor Jerry Abramson. Dawn is extremely proud (and rightfully so) that she was reappointed more than the maximum allowable times that you could be reappointed. Dawn recently stepped down just this past year from the HRC.
One of Dawn’s passions surprisingly came about as a result of being injured during a softball game. Dawn hurt her shoulder and was advised not to do anymore softball in fear that she may injure the shoulder permanently. By chance she picked up a copy of Velocity, a weekly free newspaper published by the Courier Journal, and happened to see an article on Fencing. Fast forward a few years. Dawn has won national championships and traveled the world in a sport she loves. Dawn also works with youth at the Louisville Fencing Center teaching them Fencing techniques and helping them to compete. You can hear the absolute passion she has for the sport when she starts talking about it and a true desire to help the youth that she coaches succeed.
There isn’t enough space to even begin to list all of Dawn’s accomplishments or what she has going on. She was involved in planning the Juneteenth activities for the city of Louisville and she is actively planning Transgender Day of Remembrance events which she is particularly passionate about just to mention a few. When you do your searches on Google, don’t be surprised to see the name Dawn Wilson pop up.
Sarah McKinney is a leader in the Louisville transgender community. She is actively involved in the Kentuckiana Transgender Support Network, the Transgender Wellness Coalition, and the Louisville Pride Foundation.
