‘A beautiful day:’ U.S. Supreme Court says Kentuckians can’t be fired for being LGBTQ
In 1977, a man named Roger Ware circulated a petition calling for legal protections for gay people in Lexington. Because of it, he was beaten up twice in his front yard.
Ware’s petition was part of what has been a decades long push for protections for LGBTQ people in Kentucky — a push for the right not to be fired because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. While that effort grew from petitions to local ordinances, as of Sunday, Kentucky was one of 27 states that did not have statewide protections for employment, housing or public accommodations.
That changed Monday.
In a 6-3 landmark ruling that surprised many in the LGBTQ community, the U.S. Supreme Court said in Bostock v. Clayton County, GA that employers could not fire people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“Because discrimination on the basis of homosexuality or transgender status requires an employer to intentionally treat individual employees differently because of their sex, an employer who intentionally penalizes an employee for being homosexual or transgender also violates Title VII,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion.
The ruling elicited a collective sigh of relief among many in Kentucky’s LGBTQ community who have led the charge on Fairness Ordinances and a statewide fairness law. It also brought a sense of celebration just days after President Donald Trump rescinded health care non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people.
“It is a complete game changer that is going to bring relief,” said Michael Frazier, who has pushed for a Fairness Ordinance in Powell County. “But also a sense that we do matter, that we are significant, that we are worthy.”
Frazier said it especially applies to LGBTQ kids in rural areas who are told they will have to move away from their hometowns to more accepting places.
“Kids around here will see that and I hope it will give them hope that they can live out their dreams without any abridgment to who they are,” Frazier said.
But it was also met with a renewed desire to push for a statewide Fairness Law. Even with Monday’s ruling, many people in Kentucky may still be refused public accommodation and housing on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Chris Hartman, director of the Kentucky Fairness Campaign, let out a big sigh after calling the ruling “miraculous,” noting that it could complicate the effort to ensure other protections for the community.
“Now people will again think that it’s over,” Hartman said. “People will think that LGBTQ folks have full and equal rights. It’s not true. But it’s true now in the workplace.”
Facing 20 years of a stalled statewide fairness law, Hartman and the Kentucky Fairness Campaign had increased pressure on local governments to pass ordinances protecting members of the LGBTQ community from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.
In the past two years, 10 local governments have passed ordinances, doubling the number of local Fairness Ordinances in Kentucky.
Still, around 70 percent of Kentuckians live in areas without discrimination protections. Some people live in areas that are protected, but work in counties where their jobs were not.
“The Bowling Green City Commission has never passed a Fairness Ordinance, even after two attempts to do so,” said Rep. Patti Minter, D-Bowling Green. “Now the Supreme Court has made sure no one can be fired for who they are and who they love. I am absolutely ecstatic over this decision.”
The lack of protection can feel crushing. Joshua Finn, who lives in Bowling Green and performs as a drag queen called Geneva LaDiva, said he was celebrating and felt a sense of relief.
“It is a beautiful day to be alive and be gay in America,” Finn said.
He said he has known many people who were closeted at their job because of fear.
“I’ve closeted myself before just to get a job and it feels really good to know I don’t have to do that anymore,” he said.
Nicholas Breiner, who was fired by Montgomery County Public Schools after he came out as bisexual, said he felt like years of fighting had paid off.
Others talked about how important it is for the next generation of LGBTQ Kentuckians to know they are protected. Jeremy McFarland, a transgender man who grew up in Campbellsville, said he has always felt limited by the fact that transgender people don’t have equal legal protections in many cities and states.
“It was hard to imagine a future for myself,” McFarland said. “I was really aware that I didn’t have the same rights of other people.”
Along with attempts to pass legislation, there will likely be challenges in court, where people will push for rulings that use Gorsuch’s opinion as precedent to expand protections in health care, public accommodations and housing.
“The fight obviously will be in Frankfort and the General Assembly,” said Sam Marcosson, a law professor at the University of Louisville. “But the fight will also be in the court.”
Still, the moment called for celebration — even one limited by restrictions on large groups because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 3:10 PM.
