Record Number of Bi-Partisan KY Senators Introduce Statewide Fairness SB166

New Record 21 House Co-Sponsors Join HB164

(Frankfort, KY - February 12, 2019) Kentucky Senate Minority Floor Leader Morgan McGarvey (D, 19-Louisville) has introduced LGBTQ-inclusive Statewide Fairness Law Senate Bill 166 with a record number of bi-partisan co-sponsors, including Senate Majority Caucus Chair Julie Raque Adams (R-Louisville), Senator Alice Forgy Kerr (R, 12-Lexington), and first-time co-sponsor Senator Julian Carroll (D, 7-Frankfort), former Governor of Kentucky.

A new record 21 co-sponsors have also joined Rep. Mary Lou Marzian's (D, 34-Louisville) Statewide Fairness Law House Bill 164, with the most recent addition of Rep. Dennis Keene (D, 67-Wilder).

Both Statewide Fairness Laws would update the Kentucky Civil Rights Act to add sexual orientation and gender identity among protected classes in employment, housing, and public accommodations discrimination. Kentucky is one of 28 states that have not updated statewide civil rights laws to include LGBTQ people, leaving nearly three-quarters of Kentuckians living in a place where LGBTQ discrimination is still legal.

Ten Kentucky cities have adopted local Fairness Ordinances, covering approximately 27% of the state's population--Louisville (1999), Lexington (1999), Covington (2003), Vicco (2013), Frankfort (2013), Morehead (2013), Danville (2014), Midway (2015), Paducah (2018), and Maysville (2018). More than 250 Kentucky employers, from major corporations to small, locally owned businesses, have joined the Kentucky Competitive Workforce, which supports the Statewide Fairness Law.

LGBTQ supporters from across the Commonwealth will rally in the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort Tuesday, February 26 at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Statewide Fairness Senate Bill 166
Minority Floor Leader Morgan McGarvey (D, 19-Louisville)
Senator Denise Harper Angel (D, 35-Louisville)
Majority Caucus Chair Julie Raque Adams (R, 36-Louisville)
Senator Julian Carroll (D, 7-Frankfort)*
Senator Perry Clark (D, 37-Louisville)
Senator Alice Forgy Kerr (R, 12-Lexington)
Senator Gerald Neal (D, 33-Louisville)
Senator Reginald Thomas (D, 13-Lexington)

Statewide Fairness House Bill 164
Rep. Mary Lou Marzian (D, 34-Louisville)
Rep. Patti Minter (D, 20-Bowling Green)*
Rep. Tina Bojanowski (D, 32-Louisville)*
Rep. Charles Booker (D, 43-Louisville)
Rep. George Brown, Jr. (D, 77-Lexington)
Rep. Tom Burch (D, 30-Louisville)
Rep. McKenzie Cantrell (D, 38-Louisville)
Rep. Kelly Flood (D, 75-Lexington)
Minority Caucus Chair Derrick Graham (D, 57-Frankfort)
Minority Whip Joni Jenkins (D, 44-Louisville)
Rep. Dennis Keene (D, 67-Wilder)
Rep. Nima Kulkarni (D, 40-Louisville)
Rep. Reginald Meeks (D, 42-Louisville)
Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo (D, 76-Lexington)
Rep. Josie Raymond (D, 31-Louisville)*
Rep. Attica Scott (D, 41-Louisville)
Rep. Maria Sorolis (D, 48-Louisville)*
Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson (D, 88-Lexington)*
Rep. Susan Westrom (D, 79-Lexington)
Rep. Buddy Wheatley (D, 65-Covington)
Rep. Lisa Willner (D, 35-Louisville

*Indicates first representative from that district to co-sponsor a Statewide Fairness Law

Founded in 1991, the Fairness Campaign is Kentucky's broad-based community effort dedicated to equal rights for lesbian gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Its primary goal is comprehensive civil rights legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and to dismantle systemic racism.