“It is ironic that in a story on the issue of bias against homosexuals the state’s two largest newspapers were practicing bias themselves.”
—Martin Cothran

Family group defends Fletcher hiring policy move, criticizes media bias

LEXINGTON, KY—The Family Foundation expressed its support today for the decision by the Fletcher administration to drop the term “sexual orientation” from the state’s anti-discrimination requirements, and criticized the media for including only criticism of the move in their reports. 

“The only reason gay rights language made it into the executive branch’s employment regulations in the first place was because the Patton administration had managed to avoid public scrutiny,” said Martin Cothran, a spokesman for the group.  The Patton administration had issued an “executive order” in 2003 that placed the language in regulation. 

“Executive orders are supposed to be approved by the legislature,” said Cothran. “What the Patton administration did, however, was to avoid the legislature and include gay rights provisions in executive branch regulations by executive fiat.  That’s not the way the process is supposed to work.  The Fletcher administration is merely rolling back an executive order that was not legitimate in the first place.”

Cothran also criticized the two major newspapers for including only one voice in support of the Fletcher decision in their stories on Wednesday.  “It is ironic that in a story on the issue of bias against homosexuals, the state’s two largest newspapers were practicing bias themselves.”

“The gay rights movement has a penchant for pursuing their initiatives outside of public scrutiny.  What we have here is a case where they were successful at doing that.  Many people did not even know these provisions were in state law until yesterday.  The Fletcher administration needs to be congratulated for bringing this to public attention for the first time.

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Martin Cothran is the senior policy analyst for The Family Foundation, a Kentucky nonprofit educational organization that works in the public policy arena on behalf of the family and the values that make families strong.