Tag Archives: Kentucky

The case of a Kentucky lesbian accused of murder has the potential to upend that state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. A legal debate over whether one member of a same-sex couple has spousal privilege that would shield her from testifying against her partner is at the heart of a capital murder case in politically conservative Kentucky. Geneva Case, 49, …

A Kentucky gay couple has become the first to file a federal lawsuit against that state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Louisville’s WLKY has a brief item: Louisville attorneys Shannon Fauver and Dawn Elliot filed a 19-page federal lawsuit Friday morning, challenging Kentucky’s constitutional ban on same sex marriage. The plaintiffs in the suit are Gregory Bourke and Michael Deleon who …

The New York Times is wondering what Ken Mehlman’s legacy will be regarding LGBT rights. Mr. Mehlman, 46, remains the hyper-intense, guarded strategist he was in his Bush days, with the same habit of looking past people instead of meeting their eyes. He shuns most interviews and still deflects personal questions, as he did back when rumors about his sexuality …

A two year-old Kentucky girl has been shot and killed by her five year-old brother, who was playing with a gun sold as “My First Rifle.” Cumberland County Coroner Gary White told the Lexington Herald-Leader the family had not realized a shell was left inside the gun. The boy picked up the gun from where it was kept in the …

NOTE: What a silly typo that was. Don’t text and blog!

“It took a House and Senate override to do it, but Kentucky can finally celebrate the enactment of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The bill, whose sponsor was a state Democrat, cruised to the simple majority it needed to overturn Governor Steve Beshear’s veto. Under the law, men and women of faith can no longer be threatened for acting out …

Background on the bill is here.

The rest of her message came via several follow-up tweets.

Both chambers of the Kentucky legislature last night voted overwhelmingly to override Gov. Steve Beshear’s veto of the Religious Freedom Act, which allows state residents to disobey civil rights laws on the basis of “sincerely held religious beliefs.” The House’s 79-15 vote sent House Bill 279 to the Senate, which voted 32-6 to override the measure.  The one-paragraph bill that …

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D) today vetoed the so-called Religious Freedom Act, which would permit just about any discrimination against LGBT people (or anybody else) on the basis of  “sincerely held religious beliefs.”  Beshear has posted a statement on his official website: I have significant concerns that this bill will cause serious unintentional consequences that could threaten public safety, health …

The Kentucky Religious Freedom Act, which activists claim would allow citizens to disobey LGBT anti-discrimination laws, was passed 9-2 yesterday by the state Senate Judiciary Committee. Opponents say it could let business owners and other individuals defy state and local civil-rights laws, including those in four Kentucky cities that prohibit anti-gay discrimination. Without those civil-rights protections, we fear the worst,” …

Source.

Details.

Yesterday an openly gay Kentucky pastor and his partner were arrested for refusing to leave a Louisville city clerk’s office after being denied a marriage license. The two started by peacefully demonstrating outside of Metro Hall with a small group of people in the afternoon. Blanchard, who is a minister at Highland Baptist Church, then walked into the County Clerk’s …

The tiny Kentucky mining town of Vicco, population 334, has approved broad anti-discrimination protections for LGBT residents. The ACLU of Kentucky reports: Today the Fairness Coalition joined the Appalachian town of Vicco, Kentucky as they approved the state’s first lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) anti-discrimination Fairness ordinance in a decade. The measure, which prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations …

Earlier this year anti-gay groups raised a stink when a Kentucky gay pride group filed a complaint because their t-shirt order had been refused by a local printing company. Get ready for more screaming. The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission has sided with the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization in its discrimination complaint against T-shirt printer Hands On Originals, …

A Kentucky public high school teacher has been reprimanded and forced to apologize after writing “You can’t be a Democrat & go to heaven” on her classroom’s white board. According to Superintendent Doug Bennett, the accused teacher, Kendra Baker, heard the statement from a student then proceeded to write it on her board. The statement was not a part of …

Actress and activist Ashley Judd may be considering a 2014 run for the U.S. Senate. Actress Ashley Judd, said to be mulling a campaign against U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., refused to rule out a run against him in 2014 in a one-sentence statement to The Courier-Journal. “I cherish Kentucky, heart and soul, and while I’m very honored by the …

The two men charged in the federal government’s first-ever federal anti-gay hate crime case were acquitted yesterday by a Kentucky jury. Prosecutors had argued that Anthony Ray Jenkins and his cousin David Jason Jenkins attacked 29-year-old Kevin Pennington at a rural state park because of Pennington’s sexual orientation, violating a hate crime law that was expanded in 2009 to cover …