04/16/2024 | Story by Bil Browning | LGBTQ Nation
The Kentucky General Assembly adjourned this morning, and all ten bills that targeted LGBTQ+ residents failed. Republicans overwhelmingly dominate the legislature.
Attempts to use attacks on the transgender community seem to be losing steam quickly as GOP-led state legislatures across the nation decline measures sponsored by far-right Republicans. Most voters do not support all of the recent laws that target the LGBTQ+ community.
Some of Kentucky’s most atrocious bills would have weakened local nondiscrimination ordinances, restricted drag performances, and allowed doctors to deny care to LGBTQ+ individuals by citing a “moral objection.”
Over the past few years, the state has been at the forefront of attacks on the community, passing a slew of laws that target LGBTQ+ people – especially those who are transgender.
“It’s clear that the anti-LGBTQ agenda is starting to fail, both in Kentucky and across the country—rightfully so,” said Trey Grayson, former two-term Republican Secretary of State of Kentucky and lobbyist for Kentucky Competes, a coalition of LGBTQ-supportive businesses. “As a Christian and Republican, I’m pleased with the conservative lawmakers who voiced their support for local fairness ordinances that protect fairness for LGBTQ Kentuckians—and even more so—those who expressed the need to expand these protections statewide.”
“It’s my hope that our leaders continue on this path of rejecting extremism, advancing equality, and focusing on legislation that will improve the health, well-being, and livelihood of all Kentucky families.”
“Kentucky now joins other states across the South—including Florida, Georgia, and West Virginia—where nearly every single anti-LGBTQ measure introduced in these statehouses was defeated this year,” Chris Hartman, Executive Director of the Fairness Campaign, Kentucky’s LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, said.
“As we celebrate this tremendous feat in the fight for equality, we look forward to building on this momentum to make Kentucky a state of fairness, where every person in our commonwealth can thrive.”