Citizens unite for equal rights, not special rights
Kentuckians form group concerned about gay-rights expansion
From Kentucky Citizen Digest, January/February, 2000

Opponents of the recent sweep of gay rights city ordinances across the state are continuing their stand by creating a new organization called Equal Rights Not Special Rights.

“Our purpose is to emphasize the reality that we all are entitled to equal rights, but none is entitled to special rights, particularly rights granted to those on the basis of certain sexual habits,” says Melissa Stewart, part-time attorney, part-time stay-at-home mother, and spokesperson for the group.

“We’ve seen a rash of these so-called “fairness” ordinances in Kentucky, and just a little study reveals that it’s simply one part of an overall gay agenda that is being pushed nationally and pushed successfully in our state, I might add,” says Stewart.

The group was formed after a Lexington gay rights ordinance moved from proposal to a 12-3 vote for its final passage in just 13 working days.

The timing of the group’s inception has proved to be beneficial, because a state lawmaker from Lexington, Rep. Kathy Stein, has decided to push a piece of legislation statewide that would mandate many of the same points that the city ordinance put forth.

Others, of course, are diametrically opposed to Stein’s legislation. “We like the idea that Rep. Tom Kerr is suggesting, which is consistent with equal rights for all, but not special rights for any,” says Kent Ostrander, director of The Family Foundation who helped form the new organization.

Kerr proposed that a law be passed that would prohibit a city from granting special rights of any kind by allowing only the General Assembly the authority to decide civil rights issues.

Proponents of that approach point to the nightmare for employers who do business in various areas of the state who would have a patchwork of different ordinances referencing how they deal with employees.

Regardless of their differences, the two sides of this issue — gay rights expansion versus equal rights only — will most likely have to settle for one of three outcomes in the January-March 2000 General Assembly: 1) Stein’s bill passes and gay rights are mandated statewide; 2) Kerr’s idea becomes a bill and passes, undoing the gay rights that various cities have passed; 3) neither of these two bills pass, and the existing legal status quo remains, leaving special gay rights in the cities of Louisville, Lexington and Henderson, as well as in Jefferson County.
 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander, Executive Director Martin Cothran, Senior Associate Policy Analyst