August 29, 2013 Frankfort's Board of Commissioners passed LGBT anti-discrimination protections with a vote of 3-2, making Kentucky's Capital the fifth city in the commonwealth with a Fairness law. After nearly an hour of public comment and two repeated and failed amendments from Commissioner Lynn Bowers to amend "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" definitions, Commissioner Katie Flynn Hedden moved to call the ordinance to a vote, which Commissioner Tommy Haynes seconded. Commissioners Haynes and Hedden cast "yes" votes alongside Mayor Bill May; Commissioner Robert Roach alone expressed outright opposition to the law, while Commissioner Lynn Bowers offered a lengthy explanation of her down vote, citing chiefly her failed desire to broaden definitions within the ordinance. The law prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on someone's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity and establishes a seven-member Human Rights Commission, which will assist in discrimination complaint intake, enforcement, and public education.
The action makes Kentucky's capital the fifth city in the state with LGBT anti-discrimination protections, joining Covington, Lexington, Louisville, and the Appalachian town of Vicco, whose passage of a similar law in January earned it the title of "smallest city in America" with LGBT Fairness and a feature spot on The Colbert Report, where many of the town's 334 residents were shown supporting the ordinance.
For the first time ever, more than a quarter of Kentucky's residents live in a city with LGBT anti-discrimination Fairness protections. A statewide anti-discrimination Fairness law has been proposed in Kentucky's General Assembly for more than fifteen years without debate, despite 83% support for such protections among voters.
Since the introduction of Frankfort's ordinance, hundreds of local supporters became actively involved in the grassroots Frankfort Fairness movement, with more than 1,000 of the city's 25,000 residents becoming online members. Similar grassroots movements are afoot in a number of other Kentucky cities, including Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Morehead, Shelbyville, and Berea, where residents expect passage of a Fairness law by year's end. Smaller movements have begun in nearly a dozen other cities across the commonwealth.
