The Kentucky General Assembly is, praise heavens, screeching toward a halt and, as is often the case, it merits praise not so much for what it accomplished but for what it failed to do.
Several states, led by Indiana, have taken the opportunity to shove their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents, known collectively as LGBT, back into the closet, adopting laws utilizing the bogus rationale of protecting other people’s religious beliefs.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, 121 pieces of legislation aimed at limiting the rights of LGBT folks in various ways have been filed in state legislatures thus far this year, with 22 of them providing cover to businesses who claim, based on their religion, they don’t want to serve folks who fail to meet their moral standards.
Indiana, under the pious leadership of Republican Gov. Mike Pence, who has never met a white Christian he doesn’t like (everyone else can drop dead) led the way down this abysmal path, adopting the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in March 2015.
That law, which actually pre-dated the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which guaranteed the right to marry to same-sex couples, provided the Hoosier State with a jump start on all others regarding the overt display of governmental bigotry, essentially permitting business owners from serving gay clientele based on religious beliefs, whatever those beliefs might be.
According to Visit Indiana, the convention and tourism outfit for the city of Indianapolis, the law as of January had already cost the state $60 million in revenue with at least 12 out-of-state groups deciding to take their business elsewhere as a result of its adoption.
The evidence, of course, didn’t keep lawmakers in North Carolina, who seem intent on converting the state into 1959 Mississippi, to adopt their own heinous anti-gay law, convening a special legislative session to perform the task in a manner reminiscent of hitting the McDonald’s drive-thru to pick up a Value Meal.
In a single day the Tar Heel House and Senate approved, and Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signed, a bill prohibiting municipal and county governments from adopting anti-discrimination measures intended to protect LGBT individuals. The state itself has no such protections in place. In so doing, North Carolina joined Arkansas and Tennessee – those other icons of progressive values dating back to the days of Jim Crow – who already have decided it’s okay to pick on folks because of their sexual orientation.
As icing on the cake, lawmakers added a provision prohibiting transgender folks from using public rest rooms in conflict with their equipment, if you catch the drift.
Swift, not positive, reaction
Reaction for the most part was swift and not positive, particularly from a business community that has come to respect and rely on the efforts of its LGBT employees, with some outfits even threatening to pull up stakes. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat, already has made it clear that his office will have nothing to do with defending the law in court.
“Some have called our state an embarrassment,’’ said McCrory, stating the obvious.
“Frankly the real embarrassment is politicians not publicly respecting each other’s positions on complex issues,’’ McCrory said, adding, “North Carolina has been the target of a vicious, nationwide, smear campaign. Disregarding the facts, other politicians from the White House to mayors and city council members, and yes, even our attorney general have initiated and promoted conflict to advance their political agenda even if it means defying the constitution and their oath of office.”
Which brings us to Georgia, yet another state that has never been a particularly welcoming place unless you happen to be white, Christian and straight. In its infinite wisdom, both chambers of the Georgia legislature decided to follow Indiana’s lead, passing “religious liberty’’ legislation aimed at permitting faith-based organizations to deny services and jobs to those associated with the LGBT community.
But in a surprise move, Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, vetoed the measure, under pressure from business leaders, like Coca-Cola and the National Football League, which indicated it wouldn’t look kindly on the state’s desire to host a Super Bowl if the proposal were implemented.
“I do not think we have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based community in Georgia, of which I and my family have been a part of for all of our lives,” Deal said.
Now Kentucky, of course, has displayed its own issues dealing with LGBT folks. It was only last year that Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis touched off a national controversy when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, resulting in the grande dame of bigotry spending a few days in a nearby hoosegow for refusing to comply with a federal court order to do her job. It was settled only after it was decided Davis wouldn’t have to affix her own John Hancock to the nuptial document.
So of course some of the commonwealth’s dullest lawmakers expressed an uncontrollable urge to get in on the hot anti-gay action, led by Sen. Albert Robinson, R-London, a notorious nothing-burger who has been haunting the halls of the Capitol building on-and-off for more than 30 notoriously inept years, most of which have been spent in the free food line at various receptions sponsored by organizations during the legislative session.
Robinson is author of Senate Bill 180, which establishes “protected rights’’ and “protected activities’’ in support of businesses and individuals who don’t want to deal with those whose activities violate their consciences. The measure is necessary Robinson insisted, because LGBT people “are trying to force their beliefs down the throats” of those who oppose same-sex marriage.
(There’s a wonderful joke to be made as a result of that statement but this column, legendarily committed to propriety, will humbly decline).
The measure passed the Senate 22-16 but was, fortunately, bottled up in the Democrat-controlled House and appears to be dead – at least for this session.
Robinson is author of Senate Bill 180, which establishes “protected rights’’ and “protected activities’’ in support of businesses and individuals who don’t want to deal with those whose activities violate their consciences. The measure is necessary Robinson insisted, because LGBT people “are trying to force their beliefs down the throats” of those who oppose same-sex marriage
Robinson, unfortunately, was not alone in his effort to turn back the clock. Rep. Joe Fischer, R-Ft. Thomas, offered up House Bill 572, the Matrimonial Freedom Act, a 454-page joke intended to create a new domestic status called “matrimony,’’ separating it from marriage and made available only to your standard, old-time boy-girl type of coupling.
Again, it took the grown-ups in the House – and when have you ever heard our state representatives referred to by that description before – to keep this brilliant idea from coming up for even a moment’s consideration. As a back-up, Fischer went so far as to offer a constitutional amendment to define the parameters of matrimony, just in case you didn’t get the hint the first time around. It suffered a fate similar to HB 572.
And the hit parade didn’t end there. House Bills 14, 17 and 28 basically exempted individuals, officials and institutions with religious objections to same-sex marriage from any requirement to solemnize or issue a license for such marriages. House Bill 31, perhaps known as the Kim Davis bill, removed the responsibility for issuing marriage licenses from the commonwealth’s 120 county clerks lest they be offended by gay people.
And a partridge in a pear tree.
(As of this writing, the Senate is still considering a bill, passed by the upper chamber but amended in the House, to create a single marriage license for male-female and same-sex couples).
None of these proposals, save for the Robinson debacle, saw the light of day, perhaps indicating Kentucky has entered the 20th Century, and may even be nearing the 21st Century, when it comes to LGBT rights.
Fairness ordinances
Now, to be fair (something the column endeavors to avoid at all costs) Kentucky in the past many years has not been as bad in its treatment of LGBT people as many other states. Eight cities – Lexington, Louisville, Covington, Danville, Frankfort, Morehead (so there, Kim), Vicco and Midway have enacted fairness ordinances.
Lexington in particular has assumed something of a live-and-let-live approach since at least the 1970s with the opening of a gay bar on East Main Street and a campaign for gay rights on the University of Kentucky campus dating back at least 40 years. For a while Lexington, at least by reputation, was thought to have the largest gay population in the South outside of Atlanta. And it now has a gay mayor, Jim Gray, who is running for the U.S. Senate against Sen. Rand Paul, R-Bowling Green.
The city even had a LGBT icon – Sweet Evening Breeze, whose given name was James Herndon. Ms. Breeze, to cop what would be a New York Times reference, walked the streets in drag and was generally accepted as a local eccentric.
“He often wore make-up, occasionally performed or appeared on Main St. on Saturdays in drag, and was apparently quite effeminate,’’ wrote one local observer, Jeff Jones. “Long before there was RuPaul, Lexington’s Sweet Evening Breeze was titillating and gaining respect from locals.’’
Ms. Breeze died in Lexington at age 91 in 1983. But her reputation survives, and the battle for equality continues.
Washington correspondent Bill Straub served 11 years as the Frankfort Bureau chief for The Kentucky Post. He also is the former White House/political correspondent for Scripps Howard News Service. He currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, and writes frequently about the federal government and politics. Email him at williamgstraub@gmail.com.