News & Commentary

Governor Bevin Signs onto brief asking the Supreme Court to rule it is legal to fire LGBTQ people

Report Features Original Data Analysis on Marijuana Arrest Rates by Race & Details High Costs of Enforcement

A federal appeals court announced its opinion Friday, August 23, to uphold a lower court ruling awarding $224,000 in attorney’s fees and costs in the case of couples who were refused marriage licenses by Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis. The federal panel agreed with a lower court that the Commonwealth of Kentucky is responsible for paying the award. 

Four Kentucky advocacy groups launched a video calling on the Kentucky Farm Bureau to "stop the hate" ahead of their annual Ham Breakfast at the Kentucky State Fair. The 30-second video features Congressman John Yarmuth, State Representative Attica Scott, and advocates from sponsoring organizations, the ACLU of Kentucky, JCTA (Jefferson County Teachers Association), LSURJ (Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice), and the Fairness Campaign. Activists will protest outside the Kentucky Farm Bureau's annual Ham Breakfast at the State Fair Thursday, August 22 at 7 a.m.

With a unanimous vote of 5-0 August 6, 2019, the Northern Kentucky town of Dayton, population 5,338, became the twelfth city in the Commonwealth with a Fairness Ordinance prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations."Dayton is extremely excited to be able to join the other eleven cities, out of 419 in the Commonwealth, to continue to be the welcoming community we know and love," said Dayton Mayor Ben Baker upon the ordinance's passage. "If any other river cities need help in embracing the Fairness Ordinance, please reach out. We urge our state leaders to adopt these protections—in Kentucky, y'all means all."

On July 30, 2019 the ACLU-KY Legal Program sent a letter to the Public Safety Committee of the Louisville Metro Council detailing our concerns with a proposed "Pedestrian Safety" Ordinance that is under consideration. 

A new Kentucky law gives pregnant workers a clear right to reasonable accommodations when needed to keep them healthy and safe on the job, absent undue hardship on the employer. 

Appeals judges want lower court to take a closer look at reasons why Lexington Fayette Urban-County Government wants to withhold documents

With a vote of three to two on June 25, 2019, the Western Kentucky town of Henderson, population 28,657, became the eleventh city in the state to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. The Fairness Ordinance vote came 20 years after the Henderson City Commission originally passed a Fairness Ordinance, which made it only the third Kentucky city in 1999 with LGBTQ protections alongside Louisville and Lexington. In 2001, a new Henderson City Commission repealed the ordinance and did not consider it again until former Mayor Joan Hoffman brought the issue back up to commission last fall.