Fairness Campaign KY (31 Articles with 46,286 total views)

The Fairness Campaign seeks to dismantle oppression and build an inclusive community where all individuals are valued and empowered to reach their full potential.

April, 2023

Fairness Campaign Statement on Veto of SB150

Fairness Campaign Statement on Veto of SB150
We are so grateful Governor Andy Beshear chose to stand with Kentucky kids and their families today by vetoing Senate Bill 150. He has once again solidified his legacy as Kentucky's most pro-equality governor. Labeled the "worst anti-trans bill in the nation," SB150 allows the government to overrule parental rights at every turn. It denies parents the right to provide medically-supported healthcare for their kids. It allows teachers and school administrators to disrespect students by ignoring their names and pronouns, despite a parent's wishes. It bans the discussion of LGBTQ topics in the classroom and forces transgender kids into unsafe restrooms at school. SB150 will only lead to disaster and despair for transgender Kentucky kids and their families. That's why thousands of Kentuckians sent messages opposing SB150 and countless Kentucky doctors showed up in Frankfort to testify against it. We urge state lawmakers to read the governor's veto message, listen to medical professionals, and sustain Governor Beshear's veto
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Fairness Campaign Statement on Veto Override of SB150

Fairness Campaign Statement on Veto Override of SB150
March 29, 2023 - Attributed to Fairness Campaign Executive Director Chris Hartman: While we lost the battle in the legislature, our defeat is temporary. We will not lose in court. And we are winning in so many other ways. Thousands of Kentucky kids came to the Capitol today to make their voices heard against the worst anti-trans bill in the nation. They are our hope for a Kentucky future that is more fair, more just, and more beautifully diverse and accepting than ever before.
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May, 2022

Fairness Campaign Condemns Final Passage & Veto Override of KY Anti-Trans Sports Ban

Fairness Campaign Condemns Final Passage & Veto Override of KY Anti-Trans Sports Ban
(FRANKFORT, Ky. - April 13, 2022) - Today, the Kentucky legislature voted to override Governor Andy Beshear's veto of Senate Bill 83 and enact the measure as law, banning transgender girls from participating in sports alongside their peers from sixth grade through college.
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April, 2022

Fairness Campaign Condemns Anti-Trans Sports Ban

Fairness Campaign Condemns Anti-Trans Sports Ban
(FRANKFORT, Ky. - March 17, 2022) The Fairness Campaign condemns the Kentucky House passage of anti-transgender Senate Bill 83, which seeks to ban transgender girls from playing on sports teams in Kentucky schools that match their gender identities from sixth grade through college.
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KY Governor Andy Beshear Vetoes Transgender Sports Ban

KY Governor Andy Beshear Vetoes Transgender Sports Ban
(FRANKFORT, Ky. - April 6, 2022) - Today, Governor Andy Beshear vetoed Senate Bill 83, a bill that would ban transgender girls and women's participation in sports from sixth grade through college.
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March, 2022

Fairness Celebrates Election of KY's 1st Openly-LGBTQ State Representative Keturah Herron in a Landslide

Fairness Celebrates Election of KY's 1st Openly-LGBTQ State Representative Keturah Herron in a Landslide
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) The Fairness Campaign celebrates the election of Keturah Herron in tonight's Special Election for Kentucky House District 42. Endorsed by the Fairness Campaign's political action committee C-FAIR and the national Victory Fund, Representative-Elect Keturah Herron will become Kentucky's first openly-LGBTQ state representative.
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Human Rights Campaign and the Fairness Campaign Condemns Senate Education Committee for Advancing Anti-Trans Sports Bill

Human Rights Campaign and the Fairness Campaign Condemns Senate Education Committee for Advancing Anti-Trans Sports Bill
Louisville, KY - February 10, 2022 - Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the Fairness Campaign condemn the Kentucky Senate Education Committee for advancing a bill to ban transgender youth from playing sports consistent with their gender identity. With SB 83 one step closer to becoming law, Kentucky is starting down the wrong path: if SB 83 passes into law Kentucky risks joining the ranks of West Virginia, Idaho, Tennessee and Florida, where similar legislation has faced costly lawsuits as well as injunctions.
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August, 2021

Fort Mitchell City Council Votes Unanimously for LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance

Fort Mitchell City Council Votes Unanimously for LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance
(FORT MITCHELL, Ky - July 19, 2021.) Just a month after Augusta approved Kentucky's twenty-second Fairness Ordinance, the Fort Mitchell City Council voted unanimously tonight to ban discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations against LGBTQ people. The city, population 8,257, joins two other Kenton County communities with local protections, Covington, one of the first Kentucky cities with Fairness in 2003, and Crescent Springs, which approved their ordinance earlier this year.
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July, 2021

Augusta Council Votes 5-1 for LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance

Augusta Council Votes 5-1 for LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance
(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.
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April, 2021

Crescent Springs Votes Unanimously for LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance 21st KY Municipality to Approve Fairness, 2nd in Kenton County

Crescent Springs Votes Unanimously for LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance 21st KY Municipality to Approve Fairness, 2nd in Kenton County
(CRESCENT SPRINGS, Ky. - March 22) With a unanimous council vote tonight, the city of Crescent Springs, population 4,036, became the 21st 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 Crescent Springs Councilman Justin Hartfiel and received no debate at its second reading and vote.
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January, 2021

KY Statewide Fairness Laws Prefiled with Bipartisan Support - HEROES Act would Restore LGBTQ Veterans Benefits

KY Statewide Fairness Laws Prefiled with Bipartisan Support - HEROES Act would Restore LGBTQ Veterans Benefits
LOUISVILLE, Ky.- December 11, 2020 - A slew of pro-LGBTQ bills for the 2021 Kentucky General Assembly were prefiled this week, including the first "Statewide Fairness Law" co-introduced in the State House by a Republican and the "HEROES Act," which would restore state veterans' benefits to some LGBTQ ex-servicemembers.
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October, 2020

Louisville Bans "Conversion Therapy" on LGBTQ Minors, Becomes 2nd KY City to Ban Practice

Louisville Bans
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - September 17, 2020 -- Kentucky's largest city has become the second in the state to ban the discredited and deadly practice of anti-LGBTQ "conversion therapy" on minors by licensed therapists with a bi-partisan Louisville Metro Council vote of 24-1 tonight. Louisville joins twenty states, Washington, D.C., and more than seventy U.S. cities that have banned "conversion therapy" on minors, including the Northern Kentucky city Covington, which became first in the commonwealth to ban the practice earlier this year.
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April, 2020

Covington Becomes 1st KY City to Ban "Conversion Therapy"

Covington Becomes 1st KY City to Ban
(Covington, KY - March 24, 2020) The large Northern Kentucky city of Covington, population 40,455, became the first city in the state to ban the harmful practice of anti-LGBTQ "Conversion Therapy" on youth under the age of 18 with a unanimous vote of 5-0 tonight. The Children's Home of Northern Kentucky spoke in favor of the ordinance at the meeting, which was largely closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders of Northern Kentucky Fairness and Northern Kentucky Pride advocated for the ordinance and helped provide resources and materials to the Board of Commissioners.
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February, 2020

Unanimous Vote Tonight Makes Fort Thomas 17th KY City with LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance

Unanimous Vote Tonight Makes Fort Thomas 17th KY City with LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance
(Fort Thomas, KY n- January 7, 2020) With a unanimous vote of 5-0 by the city council tonight, the Campbell County town of Fort Thomas, population 16,263, became the seventeenth city in the Commonwealth and fifth in Northern Kentucky to approve a Fairness Ordinance prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
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Woodford County Fiscal Court Approves Fairness Ordinance

Woodford County Fiscal Court Approves Fairness Ordinance
(Woodford County, KY - January 14, 2020) With a five to three vote of the fiscal court tonight, Woodford County, population 26,368, became the first Kentucky County in two decades to approve a Fairness Ordinance prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Jefferson County was the last county-wide municipal government to approve the measure in October 1999 before merging with the city of Louisville. Lexington-Fayette County's merged government also approved a Fairness Ordinance in July 1999.
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January, 2020

Unanimous Vote Makes Highland Heights 16th KY City with LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance; 6th to Pass the Law in 2019

Unanimous Vote Makes Highland Heights 16th KY City with LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance; 6th to Pass the Law in 2019
(Highland Heights, KY - December 3, 2019) With a unanimous vote of 6-0 by city council tonight, the Northern Kentucky town of Highland Heights, est. population 7,103 and home of Northern Kentucky University, became the sixteenth city in the Commonwealth with a Fairness Ordinance prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Highland Heights rounds out a record-breaking year for Fairness Ordinances in Kentucky by becoming the sixth city in 2019 to enact the law, double the number of previous record years in 1999 and 2013.
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December, 2019

Bellevue, KY Passes LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance 6-0

Bellevue, KY Passes LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance 6-0
(Bellevue, KY - November 13, 2019) With a unanimous vote of 6-0 tonight, the Northern Kentucky town of Bellevue, population 5,772, became the fifteenth city in the commonwealth with a Fairness Ordinance prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Bellevue continues the record-breaking streak of cities passing Fairness Ordinances this year by becoming the fifth to extend LGBTQ protections in 2019. In both 1999 and 2013, three Kentucky cities passed Fairness Ordinances, which was the previous record for a single year.
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October, 2019

Georgetown, KY Passes LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance 5-3

Georgetown, KY Passes LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance 5-3
(Georgetown, KY - September 9, 2019) With a vote of 5-3 tonight, the Scott County, Kentucky town of Georgetown, population 34,395, became the thirteenth city in the commonwealth with a Fairness Ordinance prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
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Versailles, KY Passes LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance 3-2

Versailles, KY Passes LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance 3-2
(Versailles, KY - October 1, 2019) With a vote of 3-2 tonight, the Woodford County, Kentucky town of Versailles, population 8,568, became the fourteenth city in the commonwealth with a Fairness Ordinance prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. By becoming the fourth city to adopt the measure this year, Versailles makes 2019 a record-breaking year for Fairness Ordinances in Kentucky. In 1999 and 2013 three Kentucky cities passed Fairness Ordinances
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March, 2019

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

Record Number of Bi-Partisan KY Senators Introduce Statewide Fairness SB166
(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.
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February, 2019

Record Number of Co-Sponsors Introduce KY LGBTQ Statewide Fairness Law

Record Number of Co-Sponsors Introduce KY LGBTQ Statewide Fairness Law
(Louisville, KY - Janaury 11, 2019) A record 19 Kentucky House members today introduced Statewide Fairness House Bill 164, which would update state civil rights laws to ban LGBTQ discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Led by Rep. Mary Lou Marzian (34-Louisville), the group of lawmakers is nearly double the size of last year's sponsors, and for the first time, a state representative from outside Kentucky's 10 cities with LGBTQ Fairness Ordinances helped introduce the measure as a lead co-sponsor-Rep. Patti Minter (20-Bowling Green).
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September, 2018

Maysville Passes LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance

Maysville Passes LGBTQ Fairness Ordinance
(Maysville, KY) With a unanimous vote tonight, Maysville (population 8,866) became the tenth Kentucky city to adopt a Fairness Ordinance, prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, protecting all LGBTQ people. Situated on the banks of the Ohio River in northeastern Kentucky, Maysville is the hometown of popular singer and actress Rosemary Clooney and George Clooney's father, Nick Clooney.
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February, 2018

Paducah Passes LGBT Fairness Ordinance; 9th Kentucky City with LGBT Discrimination Protections

Paducah Passes LGBT Fairness Ordinance; 9th Kentucky City with LGBT Discrimination Protections
(Paducah, KY - January 9, 2018) With a vote of 4-1 tonight, Paducah (population 25,145) became the ninth Kentucky city to adopt a Fairness Ordinance, prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. More than 250 residents packed city hall for the vote, which makes Paducah the only city in Western Kentucky with LGBT discrimination protections
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November, 2017

Anti-LGBTQ KY Judge Mitchell Nance Resigns

Anti-LGBTQ KY Judge Mitchell Nance Resigns
(Louisville, KY, October 26, 2017) - Yesterday Kentucky Family Court Judge W. Mitchell Nance notified Governor Matthew G. Bevin and the Commonwealth of Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission of his resignation. In May, Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kentucky, Kentucky's Fairness Campaign, and University of Louisville Law Professor Sam Marcosson filed a complaint against Judge Nance for violating Kentucky's Code of Judicial Conduct by recusing himself from any adoption proceedings involving lesbian, gay, and bisexual people.
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June, 2017

Advocacy Groups File Ethics Complaint Against Kentucky Judge Refusing Adoptions to Same-Sex Couples

Advocacy Groups File Ethics Complaint Against Kentucky Judge Refusing Adoptions to Same-Sex Couples
(Louisville, KY, May 16, 2017) - Today Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kentucky, Kentucky's Fairness Campaign, and University of Louisville Law Professor Sam Marcosson filed a complaint against Judge W. Mitchell Nance for violating Kentucky's Code of Judicial Conduct by recusing himself from any adoption proceedings involving lesbian, gay, and bisexual people.  
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Over a Dozen KY Communities to Host LGBTQ Pride Events

Over a Dozen KY Communities to Host LGBTQ Pride Events
(Louisville, KY) More of Kentucky will be celebrating LGBTQ Pride this year than ever before. More than a dozen communities across the commonwealth are set to host LGBTQ Pride Festivals and events, beginning this weekend as the Pride Month of June commences, and running through October with the first-ever Bowing Green Pride and Capital Pride in Frankfort.
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February, 2017

Anti-LGBT 'License to Discriminate' & 'Bathroom Bill' Filed in KY House

Anti-LGBT 'License to Discriminate' & 'Bathroom Bill' Filed in KY House
(Frankfort, KY - January 4, 2017) Two anti-LGBT bills were filed on the first day of the Kentucky General Assembly--a "License to Discriminate" House Bill 105 and anti-transgender "Bathroom Bill" House Bill 106. Both measures were filed by Middlesboro Democrat Representative Rick Nelson. They come on the heels of critical statements from Republican Governor Matt Bevin, who recently eschewed anti-transgender bathroom legislation, calling it "silly" and "unnecessary." Similarly, newly-elected Republican House Speaker Jeff Hoover has repeatedly reiterated his focus on legislation that fosters economic expansion and job growth over anti-LGBT measures.
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September, 2016

Jury Finds Gleaves Guilty of 2nd Degree Manslaughter in Murder of Transgender Victim, Papi Edwards

Jury Finds Gleaves Guilty of 2nd Degree Manslaughter in Murder of Transgender Victim, Papi Edwards
(Louisville, KY - August 11, 2016) After six hours of deliberation, a jury has found Henry Richard Gleaves, II guilty of Second Degree Manslaughter in the shooting death of Papi Edwards, who presented as a transgender female the morning she was shot by Gleaves at the Fern Valley Hotel in Louisville January 9, 2015. The jury had the option to find Gleaves guilty of more serious offenses, including Intentional Murder, First Degree Manslaughter, and First Degree Manslaughter with the Intent to Injure. The jury also found Gleaves guilty of Tampering with Evidence for instructing his then-girlfriend to dispose of his cell phone from jail.
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April, 2016

'License to Discriminate' Passes KY Senate 22-16

'License to Discriminate' Passes KY Senate 22-16
(Frankfort, KY - March 15, 2016) Though both Senate Democrats and Republicans spoke against Kentucky's "License to Discriminate," Senate Bill 180, the measure passed the full chamber with a 22-16 vote. Five Senate Republicans joined all 11 Senate Democrats in opposing the bill, which seeks to subvert LGBT discrimination protections in eight Kentucky cities. Republican Senators voting in opposition include Senator Carroll Gibson, Senator Alice Forgy Kerr, Senator Christian McDaniel, Senator Julie Raque Adams, and Senator Wil Schroder.
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KY Senate Unanimously Approves One Marriage License Form

KY Senate Unanimously Approves One Marriage License Form
(Frankfort, KY - April 1, 2016) This afternoon the Kentucky Senate unanimously approved a single marriage license form, a move in stark contrast to a divisive vote on the same issue several weeks ago. The Senate had previously approved Senate Bill 5, a measure introduced by Senator Stephen West (R-Paris) that would have created separate marriage license forms for gay and straight couples in Kentucky. Senator Morgan McGarvey (D-Louisville) originally proposed an amendment to Senate Bill 5, which would have created a single form, but was rejected after heated debate 23-15.
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March, 2016

'License to Discriminate' Passes KY Senate Committee

'License to Discriminate' Passes KY Senate Committee
(Frankfort, KY - Febrary 25, 2016) A "License to Discriminate" bill that would sanction discrimination against LGBT Kentuckians passed out of the Senate Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection Committee this morning. Senate Bill 180, introduced by Senator Albert Robinson of London, seeks to gut local LGBT Fairness Ordinances passed by eight Kentucky cities. Those cities include Covington, Danville, the State Capital Frankfort, Lexington, Louisville, Midway, Morehead, and the small Appalachian town of Vicco.
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