KFTC Blog

This afternoon, over 100 Georgetown College students, faculty, staff, alumni, and allies came out to a powerful rally in support of a non-discrimination policy protecting members of their community who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans-gender.

At a college of just 1,200 students on a Friday just before finals, that's a pretty big deal. 

Throughout the semester, there has been a growing campaign to put pressure on the Georgetown College Board of Trustees since they declined to vote on the policy after the faculty overwhelmingly passed it last year. 

The work has been spearheaded by the Non-Discrimination Work Group on campus, but is supported by many organizations including Kentuckians For the Commonwealth members in Scott County. 

A number of media outlets came today generating stories like this piece from the Herald-Leader. 

You can also find a gallery of other pictures of the rally online here. 

And although the semester is almost over, there's more work to do to pressure the Georgetown College Board of Trustees, including prior to their meeting tomorrow morning. 

Please join us at 8am at East Campus (at the edge of Georgetown College farthest away from downtown or main street - near the Georgetown College football field. ) to hold some signs at Board of Trustees members arrive for their monthly meeting.

Some students are camping out in tents and sleeping bags there over night, but other supporters are invited to join them in the morning.  Can you make it out in solidarity with them?

Also, over 300 people have signed the petition in support of a non-discrimination policy.  If you haven't already, please take two minutes to do it!

Meta Mendel - Reyes is a member of KFTC's Steering Committee and former organizer with the United Farmworkers Union. She teaches at Berea College and is a mentor to students and community members alike. She shared this reflection on the Appalachia's Bright Future conference, held April 19-21, 2013 in Harlan, Kentucky.

"In times of transition, process really matters." - Brendan Smith, ocean farmer

A spirited plenary session is a long way from a coal miner's pitch, but they are connected. The people at the conference believe, against heavy odds, that there is a bright future for Appalachia and for that coal miner putting his faith in a dying industry. The conference on Appalachia's Bright Future envisions a transition to an economy beyond coal that can lift up the region and create a brighter future for the coal miner and environmental activist alike.

Two media events Tuesday helped focus attention on the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act, legislation in Congress that would place an immediate moratorium on new permits while the health impacts of mountaintop removal mining are studied.

Known as the ACHE Act, H.R. 526 was introduced earlier this year by Reps. John Yarmuth of Kentucky and Louise Slaughter of New York, who was born in Harlan County, Kentucky.

“I’ve talked to citizens in the area – towns were 25 percent of the people suffer from some kind of disease, way beyond the national average,” said Yarmuth in an afternoon Congressional briefing. “I’ve talked with teachers whose students color creeks orange.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit today invalidated the 2007 version of the nationwide permit used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to authorize the dumping of coal mining wastes into hundreds of miles of Appalachian headwater streams.

The Corps had justified the using the National Permit (NWP 21) based on the "irrational" claim that burying streams with toxic mining wastes had no significant environmental impact.

“I’m thrilled they overturned this decision; it’s a victory for people in eastern Kentucky," said KFTC member Rick Handshoe, a party in the case whose family land in Floyd County is surrounded by mining. "People who live in eastern Kentucky deal with both the immediate and long-term cumulative impacts of mining everyday. Even when the mining is stopped and the coal company is long gone, we deal with the poisoned water and devastated land for decades afterwards.”