Morehead City Council Unanimously Approves LGBT Fairness!

Eastern KY City 6th in State with Discrimination Protections

(Morehead, KY) Following a three-month process devoid of community opposition, the Morehead City Council unanimously approved an anti-discrimination Fairness ordinance, extending discrimination protections in employment, housing, and public accommodations to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. The Eastern Kentucky city of 6,845, home to Morehead State University, is now the sixth in the commonwealth to extend civil rights protections based on perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.

Through Fairness Coalition efforts, the number of Kentucky cities with LGBT Fairness ordinances has doubled in 2013 alone, adding victories in the Appalachian town of Vicco (January 2013) and our state's capital Frankfort (August 2013) to pre-existing laws in Covington (2003), Lexington (1999), and Louisville (1999).

Begun in September by members of the Rowan County Chapter of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, the grassroots movement to pass a Fairness law in Morehead received unanimous civic support from its introduction, a reflection of current polling which shows 83% of all registered Kentucky voters support simple anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people. Similar grassroots movements span nearly a dozen other Kentucky cities, including Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Owensboro, Shelbyville, and Berea, where the city council has appointed a task force to draft a local Fairness law.

Despite tremendous municipal progress across the commonwealth, Kentucky's General Assembly has yet to hold a hearing on a statewide Fairness law, which has been introduced for more than 15 years. Coalition leaders are hopeful Morehead and other cities' movements will inspire a debate on Rep. Mary Lou Marzian's (D-Louisville) statewide Fairness bill in the House Judiciary Committee in 2014. More than 25 percent of Kentucky residents now live in a city with LGBT Fairness.

Click here to write, or call 1-800-372-7181 to express your Fairness support to your elected Kentucky Senator and Representative!