LGBTQ equality
"When I first came to Kentucky, my employer did not have domestic partner benefits, and we couldn't pay all our medical bills. As a lesbian/member of the LGBTQ community, I am proud to belong to an organization that fights for equality for all Kentuckians."
Meta Mendel-Reyes
Madison County
Resources
Kentucky Commission on Human Rights
Eastern Kentucky Fairness on Facebook
As KFTC has grown, expanding our vision of equality for all Kentuckians has been a labor of love and a transformative internal process. While many members shared this vision of equality for decades, in 2004 our Steering Committee shared a series of deeply emotional conversations, meetings, and personal reflections and eventually adopted language to our platform to include our LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Queer or Questioning) communities. Since then (and well before), our local chapters and statewide members have contributed to a growing movement for fairness, safety and celebration of diversity in Kentucky and beyond.
From offering our staff domestic partner benefits to lobbying our elected officials for fairness ordinances and anti-bullying legislation, KFTC members continue to prioritize our vision for a better Kentucky all Kentuckians deserve. As you can read in our blog feed below, our local chapters have recently prioritized LGBTQ equality through Fairness Ordinance organizing in Berea, safe restroom campaign in central Kentucky, creating LGBTQ support networks in Perry County, and much more.
What is a Fairness Ordinance: A Fairness Ordinance would prohibit discrimination in the workplace, housing, and public accommodations based on sexual orientation or gender identity. We believe that all Kentuckians have a right to live without fear of unjust discrimination, regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity. As written, Kentucky law does not guarantee this right, and must be changed. We support a statewide Fairness law and also Fairness ordinances at a local level until a statewide law is establish.
Morehead closer to a fairness ordinance
In January of this year, the Rowan County KFTC Chapter voted to begin working with the Kentucky Fairness Coalition on a fairness ordinance for the city of Morehead.
After educating themselves on the issue, chapter members met with members of the city council to express their support for fairness and provide useful information from the Kentucky Coalition. At the end of August and beginning of September, the chapter helped organize the impressive turn out for the September 6 city council meeting, where chapter members Annie Adams and Cody Montgomery and Maria Horn, a student representative from Morehead State University’s Gay Straight Alliance, spoke in favor of the legislation.
Beyond DOMA
Bowling Green residents have planned a community-wide discussion on LGBT rights following the Supreme Court’s DOMA and Prop 8 rulings Tuesday, Sept. 10, 5:00-7:00 p.m. (CT) on Western Kentucky University’s campus, Snell Hall 2113 (Lecture Hall).
Fairness ordinance in Morehead
Morehead residents plan to approach their city council on Monday evening to request that the city draft a local Fairness Ordinance to protect all Morehead residents from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
NKY chapter finds success at summer festivals
The Northern Kentucky chapter spent the last three weeks raising awareness at various northern Kentucky festivals, reaching out to citizens on all of the work we do, and encouraging more people to take Action For Justice.
Defining Fairness
WFPL-FM, public radio in Louisville, has produced a national award-winning (the Unity Award) series that looked at the issues facing diverse LGBTQ Louisvillians – race, religion, family, income, disability, and the struggles that fall outside the mainstream narrative of gay rights.
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