Outside Covington, Lexington, and Louisville, Kentuckians can be fired for their “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” with no legal recourse.  You might hear from those who don’t support fairness that passing a Statewide Fairness Law is a new concept and not in keeping with Kentucky’s values.  They’re wrong.  Expanding Kentucky’s civil rights code to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” is simply an expansion of existing laws that protect people from being fired for reasons other than job performance.  And, fairness really is a Kentucky value!

In 1999, Kentucky Fairness Alliance (KFA) hired Decision Research to poll Kentuckians on their feelings about protections in the workplace for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals.  74% OF KENTUCKIANS RESPONDING SAID NO TO DISCRIMINATION AND YES TO PROTECTIONS! 

In 2007, Gallup found that the number of AMERICANS SUPPORTING FAIRNESS IN THE WORKPLACE HAS CLIMBED TO AN ALL TIME HIGH OF 89%.  98% of the Fortune 1000 companies prohibit employment discrimination against gay employees; 58% include transgender employees.

Support for employment protections is clear!  Unfortunately, sexual orientation and gender identity are not included in existing federal non-discrimination laws. Twenty states have expanded their non-discrimination laws to include sexual orientation; thirteen of those states include gender identity.

In 2008, Kentucky State Senators Harper-Angel, Neal, Scorsone, and Shaughnessy filed legislation with State Representatives Burch, Marzian, Meeks, Palumbo, Stein, and Westrom to expand employment protections in Kentucky to include sexual orientation and gender identity. That leaves us at least 60 legislators short of the majority we need to pass a law. We need your help!

HOMEWORK: Do you have a personal story of discrimination in the workplace?  Share it with us on the blog by clicking here.  Personal stories are the best way we can share the importance of employment protections with our elected officials.

That’s all for now.  We’ll see you next week when we discuss inclusive hate crime laws.

In fairness,

Your KFA Team.

Sources: www.lgbtmap.org, www.gallup.com, www.thetaskforce.org and www.hrc.org.

The Ampersand symbolizes the solidarity we are building through Friends & Family, and suggests the inclusiveness we are working toward. It reflects the idea that no one individual, legislator, organization, or city can carry all the water for equality. Our success lies in our solidarity.