Georgetown became the 13th Kentucky town to adopt a fairness ordinance with a vote of 5-3. Georgetown has a population of 34,395. LGBTQ residents will now be protected from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
Fairness Campaign director Chris Hartman says, "Georgetown is the latest in a string of Kentucky cities that have recently voted to approve Fairness Ordinances this year, including the Northern Kentucky town of Dayton last month and the Western Kentucky city of Henderson in May."
Grassroots organizers worked for more than four years encouraging councilmembers to support fairness and informing the community of its importance. Two years ago, the Georgetown City Council tabled the issue. Local advocates hosted the town's first Georgetown Pride Community Picnic in 2016 to "raise awareness of LGBTQ discrimination and build support for the local fairness ordinance," according to Hartman. Groups involved in the effort included the Rolling Bluegrass Chapter of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC), Georgetown Fairness, the Fairness Campaign, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky.
Hartman says, "2020 will mark the 20th anniversary of the introduction of a Statewide Fairness Law, which has only ever received two informational hearings in the Kentucky General Assembly. This year, nearly a quarter of state legislators co-sponsored the measure."
Twelve other cities have adopted similar ordinances. The addition of Georgetown means just over 25% of Kentucky's population is now protected from LGBTQ discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodation. Other communities with a fairness ordinance include:
- Louisville (1999)
- Lexington (1999)
- Covington (2003)
- Vicco (2013)
- Frankfort (2013)
- Morehead (2013)
- Danville (2014)
- Midway (2015)
- Paducah (2018)
- Maysville (2018)
- Henderson (2019)
- Dayton (2019)
