Augusta Council Votes 5-1 for LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance

22nd KY Municipality to Approve Fairness, 1st in Bracken County

(AUGUSTA, Ky. - June 16, 2021) With a 5-1 council vote tonight, the city of Augusta, population 1,204, became the 22nd municipality in Kentucky to approve a Fairness Ordinance, adding sexual orientation and gender identity to discrimination protections in employment, housing, and public accommodations. The ordinance was introduced by Augusta City Councilmember Dana Bach and it makes the picturesque town on the banks of the Ohio River with close ties to the Clooney family the first municipality in Bracken County with LGBTQ protections.

The twenty-two Kentucky municipalities that have approved local Fairness Ordinances include: Louisville (1999), Lexington (1999), Covington (2003), Vicco (2013), Frankfort (2013), Morehead (2013), Danville (2014), Midway (2015), Paducah (2018), Maysville (2018), Henderson (2019), Dayton (2019), Georgetown (2019), Versailles (2019), Bellevue (2019), Highland Heights (2019), Fort Thomas (2020), Woodford County (2020), Cold Spring (2020), Newport (2020), Crescent Springs (2021), and Augusta (2021).

Two additional Kentucky cities have partial Fairness Ordinances that extend some LGBTQ discrimination protections, Ashland (housing protections) and Cynthiana (housing and public accommodations protections).

Despite growing bi-partisan support in the Kentucky General Assembly, a Statewide Fairness Law has never received a vote. Two Statewide Fairness Laws have already been pre-filed for the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly. The U.S. Senate is currently considering the national Equality Act, which passed the House of Representatives, which would extend similar LGBTQ discrimination protections across the country.

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.