The Ky GOP’s new redistricting map continues the party’s war on women

Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) is at times quoted as stating: When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Kentucky because everything happens 20 years after it happens anywhere else.

And that sums up the House Republican obsession to redistrict out every Democratic female legislator.

Currently 31 women serve in the Kentucky House, the highest number ever of women sitting in this chamber, 17 Democrats and 14 Republicans.

In 2009, Kentucky was 45th in the country on the number of women elected with General Assembly having just 15% female legislators, six in the Kentucky Senate and 15 in the Kentucky House.

The 2019 election increased the number of women elected to 31 in the House. What was even more impressive in 2019 was the unprecedented number of new women who ran for office, with more than 50 women running for the one hundred House seats.

That 2019 election moved Kentucky up in the state ranks to 26.8% and 34th in the states. Kentucky was no longer in the bottom 10 or five states.

And that progress will be eroded if the House Republicans have their way with redistricting.

Today, women, 51% of Kentucky’s population, have a bigger a voice in our chambers of government. Critical issues are finally being addressed and legislated in Kentucky’s government, such as childcare, affordable healthcare, education, and female reproductive health.

We women may not have a seat at the table, but our chairs were getting closer — and that is why these good ole boys of the GOP House are attempting to eliminate as many female legislators as possible.

Psychiatrists and therapists must be having a field day analyzing these Republican males and their fear of losing their male dominance.

These GOP males are specifically targeting seventeen Democratic female incumbents, including the top two House Minority leaders and the Vice Chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party. These female legislators have represented their constituents and all of Kentucky with a strong voice and deep sense of what is just for all the citizens of this Commonwealth -- and that makes these male legislators want them gone.

In Jefferson County, two incumbents are being redistricted to be pitted against two other incumbents in the May primary (Rep. Mary Lou Marzian is being paired with Rep. Josie Raymond and Rep. McKenzie Cantrell is being paired with Rep. Lisa Willner). All the other districts with female representatives have been altered to change the demographics of their constituencies, like in Fayette County with Ruth Ann Palumbo, Cherlynn Stevenson and Susan Westrom. (Kelly Flood is retiring.)

The GOP men want their all-boys club back; they do not want to ever hear about again, much less think about, vaginas, cervixes and breast exams.

Despite all the Republican male carnival spin and spouting alternate facts, this partisan move is not just about removing Democratic female legislators, it is a straightforward political strategy to silence ALL Kentucky women in all parties.

Having more women in government encourages even more women to run — and that is the real motive of these GOP leaders, to silence women. And every Kentucky citizen needs to take note and be afraid.

To protest the 2020 redistricting map, contact: David Osborne, Speaker of the Kentucky House, Tel: 502.564.4334, Email: David.Osborne@LRC.KY.gov.

Kentucky native Honi Marleen Goldman is a community activist and organizer, who has spearheaded numerous grassroots movements on women’s rights. This letter was also signed by community activists, Maria A. Fernandez, Amelia Adams, Kate Cunningham and Bobbi Jo Weber.

This story was originally published January 6, 2022 at 8:52 AM.