Logo of Kentucky Equality Federation.

April 12, 2012 will forever be a day to remember in the history of the gay and lesbian community especially for Kentuckians. Two Eastern Kentucky men are the first in the nation to be charged under the section of the federal hate-crimes law that makes it illegal to attack people based on their sexual orientation, said U.S. Attorney Kerry B. Harvey.

The push however to get the case to a federal level came from Kentucky Equality Federation, and advocacy and public advocate non-profit.

“The bigger picture here is that the U.S. attorney’s office is sending a message that you don’t try to hurt someone and you don’t injure them because of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Jordan Palmer, president of the Kentucky Equality Federation, a civil-rights group that lobbied the Department of Justice to intervene in the case. (reported by the The Associated Press)

After multiple disputes with Harlan County Commonwealth Attorney Henry Johnson, Kentucky Equality Federation officially requested the case be federalized on August 24, 2011.  Thanks to Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer and Southeastern Kentucky Regional Director Will Taylor, Kentucky will be the first state the federal hate crimes law will be used.

History of Recent Hate Crimes in Harlan County

Tracking press releases issued by Kentucky Equality Federation, as well as considerable media coverage, Jordan Palmer the president of Kentucky’s largest advocacy group was apparently unhappy with the Commonwealth’s Attorney.

On April 04, 2011 Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer orders Assistant Southern Kentucky Regional Director Will Taylor to begin an investigation into a hate crime involving Kevin Pennington after Kentucky Equality Federation’s Discrimination, Hate Crimes and School Bullying Committee was notified when someone called their toll-free number (877) KEF-5775.

On August 22, 2011 Kentucky Equality Federation condemns the brutal attack of a lesbian couple and their children in Harlan County, questions the integrity of the presiding Judge, and urges the Kentucky Chief Justice John T. Minton, Jr. to remove the Judge from the bench and begin an investigation into his conduct.

On August 24, 2011, Kentucky Equality Federation after continued frustration with Harlan County Commonwealth’s Attorney Henry Johnson, Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer officially requests federal intervention stating:

As you are aware, Kentucky Equality Federation received a hate crime complaint from the County of Harlan, a subdivision of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

The victims in this complaint believe this to be a hate crime as outlined in our press release dated August 22, 2011 (http://community.kyequality.org/2011/08/kentucky-equality-federation-condemns.html) that you received a copy of and we have corresponded by email.

Though the Commonwealth has a hate crime law, which has been used in Judicial Circuits throughout the Commonwealth, we are not aware of it ever being used in Southern or Southeastern Kentucky.

Southeastern Kentucky communities are primarily rural communities with municipal populations less than 10,000 citizens. Kentucky Equality Federation and its legal representation have witnessed before the manner in which these courts operates because Judges as well as the County and Commonwealth’s Attorney are elected to office and not appointed by the Governor or Chief Justice of the Commonwealth. As such, the Judges, County and Commonwealth’s Attorney must keep the bulk of the population happy with their service to the Commonwealth or they risk not being re-elected to office and taking a stand to protect victims of hate crimes, especially members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex community is politically dangerous to them, thus, justice rarely prevails.

Kentucky Equality Federation was contacted by the victims of this case to act as their public advocate because they do not believe justice will prevail. In addition, the victims have reported they have already been informed of alleged ex parte meetings taking place in reference to this case in which the prosecutor was not involved or invited.

Kentucky Equality Federation, at the request of the victims hereby requests the United States Department of Justice move to this case to federal court where neither prosecutors nor Judges are elected to office. This case clearly falls within the hate crimes legislation signed by U.S. President Obama.

On August 26, 2011, Kevin Pennington communicated with Assistant Southern Kentucky Regional Director Will Taylor who refers Mr. Pennington to the Office of the President.

On September 02, 2011, Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer reorganizes the Southern Kentucky Region, creating a “special operating region” for Southeastern Kentucky.

On September 19, 2011, Kevin Pennington contacts Kentucky Equality Federation for help with his pleas for action from the Harlan County Commonwealth’s Attorney going unanswered.  Until this point, Kevin Pennington was afraid to contact Kentucky Equality Federation with local officials telling him that Kentucky Equality Federation could do nothing to help him. (Kentucky Guardian™ is sure they are eating those words now)

On September 19, 2011 Kentucky Equality Federation reported: Kentucky Equality Federation continues to communicate with officials from the U.S. Department of Justice, including Walter Atkinson, Senior Conciliation Specialist for Region IV with the Community Relations Service, Robin Dull, with the Civil Enforcement Section, and Bobbi Bernstein, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Section, Civil Rights Division.  We now have two (2) hate crimes in the same county of the Commonwealth.

On September 20, 2011 Kentucky Equality Federation issued a media blackout. Neither the Turner nor the Pennington family may speak to any reporter because of ongoing investigations.

David Jason Jenkins and Anthony Ray Jenkins in federal custody.

Also on September 19, 2011 Kentucky Equality Federation Vice President of Policy & Public Relations Joshua Koch echoed the frustrations of President Palmer, stating: “The Kentucky Equality Federation demands that the Commonwealth of Kentucky defend Pennington, an innocent citizen who was kidnapped, beaten, threatened with rape, and who must now live in fear of his attackers, who are free to do as they please with no sort of restraint or intervention. The integrity of Kentucky’s criminal justice system is now under a microscope and jeopardized by abandoning such a man to the whims of four individuals with a demonstrated propensity toward extreme violence,” stated Kentucky Equality Federation Vice President of Public Relations and Media, Joshua Koch. “Pennington reports that attorneys for the defendants have badgered Pennington to drop charges or accept a summary judgment from the bench rather than seeking a jury trial, Pennington has been prevented from seeking an emergency protection order. Kentucky Equality Federation is the Commonwealth’s largest advocate for equal treatment of all citizens. As our mission statement explains, “Kentucky Equality Federation believes all people are endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness and fulfillment free from oppression, discrimination, school bullying, and hate crimes, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, creed, veteran status, political affiliation, or any other defining characteristic.”

• See notes below for events that occurred on November 09, 2011.

On March 14, 2012 the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kentucky State Police respond to Kentucky Equality Federation’s request for assistance by arresting four people.

On April 12, 2012 a federal grand jury indicted people involved in the case.  However, none of this would have been possible without Kentucky Equality Federation.

Federal Mediation

The exchanges became so heated that the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service held some sort of mediation meeting between the Harlan County Commonwealth’s Attorney and Kentucky Equality Federation officials at an undisclosed located in November as reported by WKYT-TV 27 Newsfirst. Attending for Kentucky Equality Federation was President Jordan Palmer, Southern Kentucky Regional Director Shannon McKinney, Transgender Outreach Director Tyler Watts, and Religious Communities Outreach Director Minister Edith Baker, Ph.D. The names of the representatives from the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the U.S. Department of Justice were not released to the media at the request of both parties.

On November 09, 2011, Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer stated: “This meeting has been planned for months, reaching a date acceptable to everyone was the most difficult part,” stated Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer. “We applaud officials from the Commonwealth and the United States Department of Justice for addressing our concerns. Mr. Walter Atkinson with the United States Department of Justice Community Relations Service has worked very hard to make this meeting possible.”

Conclusion

Obviously, Kentucky Equality Federation has left out due to the nature of the crimes and to prevent hindering a federal investigation. Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer and Southern Kentucky Regional Director Will Taylor maintain their primary responsibility is to protect Mr. Pennington and to pursue justice.

The Kevin Pennington Hate Crime

Pennington suffered injuries to his back, face, neck and ear in the attack at Kingdom Come State Park, a mountaintop park covering more than 1,200 acres of pristine pine-covered wilderness in the mountainous Appalachian region. He was subsequently treated and released from a hospital.

An FBI affidavit said Pennington went for a ride with the two men and two other women, but asked to be taken home after a few minutes. Pennington told investigators that David Jenkins demanded a sexual favor from Pennington, which was refused. Then the man said David Jenkins threatened to violently rape him, according to the affidavit.

The truck stopped in the park because a tree had fallen across the road and Anthony and David Jenkins pulled Pennington out of the truck and attacked him. The women in the truck, Alexis Leann Combs Jenkins and Mable Ashley Jenkins, have been charged with kidnapping and aiding a kidnapping, authorities said.

The men pulled Pennington out of their truck, hit him and kicked him while “making anti-homosexual statements,” according to the FBI affidavit.

“During the attack (the victim) was covering his face and they were all screaming ‘how do you like this faggot?’” the affidavit said.

Additional Stories

Washington Post

Lex18 (exclusive interview)

Lexington Herald-Leader

Louisville Courier-Journal

The Seattle Times

Pedro Julio Serrano, communications manger for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said there has been a “spike in violence against the LGBT people since the ‘80s, when we had a serial killer who killed 27 gay men.”

In 2009, the body of 19-year-old Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado was found decapitated, dismembered, and partially burned by the side of the road near the Puerto Rican town of Cayey. As of 2009, this was called the most horrific hate crime in United States history. (previous story)

Allies and advocates on both the island and the mainland are working to urge the government to do something about the increasing violence against the LGBT community, but with government and religious officials using anti-gay rhetoric, Serrano says it’s hard to get law enforcement to do anything.

“Part of the problem is we have a government that’s been silent on these murders. The president of the Senate has called LGBT people ‘twisted’ and ‘mentally ill’ and that incites violence.” Adding, “also we have religious leaders that have been using language that also incites that violence, and we hold them accountable for these crimes as well.”

Even stars like Ricky Martin, who relatively recently came out as gay, have been asked to “not promote homosexuality.” This request for Martin came from Luis Aponte Martínez, Archbishop Emeritus of San Juan de Puerto Rico.

“Puerto Rico is a place of love, acceptance and inclusion and these few people with hateful rhetoric against LGBT individuals are killing us,” said Serrano. “Even though we are suffering and this is heart wrenching, the love of the families and the people and all the funerals have been filled with hundreds of people—that tells you where PR is, not where the leaders wants us to be.”

Kentucky Equality Federation and StoryCorps partnership. Graphic Credit: Kentucky Equality Federation

Kentucky Equality Federation’s partnership with StoryCorps made the front page of the Lexington Herald-Leader today.

In print the title is “Sexuality opening up in rural Kentucky.”

I must congratulate the management and staff of the Lexington Herald-Leader for such as wonderful article to shed light on our community, as well as the hard work of Kentucky Equality Federation and StoryCorps.

The Lexington Herald-Leader story about the Kentucky Equality Federation and StoryCorps partnership was complete with amazing pictures, and will shed much needed light on the actual people that are born gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered.

For the first time, people will be able to read actual stories about GLBT people in mass volume (140,000 paid subscribers in addition to readers on their official website, www.kentucky.com).

According to the 1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, the Herald-Leader’s paid circulation is the second largest in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The newspaper has won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing and the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. It has also been a finalist in six other Pulitzer awards over the past 22 years, a record that has been unsurpassed by any mid-sized newspaper in the United States during the same time frame.

When Shannon Ratliff was growing up in Hindman, she didn’t know she was lesbian, but she knew she was different.

Ratliff gravitated to a group of girls and boys who loved each other unconditionally, she says, and as they went their separate ways to jobs or college, they kept in touch. And nearly all of them have come out as gay or lesbian since then.

“It was very tight-lipped,” she said. “They all came out one at a time. We never discussed being gay. We never talked about anything queer at all. We met as straight people.”

After high school, Ratliff, 37, attended Eastern Kentucky University, which she describes as a haven of opportunity for people from the mountains who are at all “different.”

Ratliff will discuss her struggle to find acceptance in a rural, culturally conservative place later this month in the Kentucky Equality Federation’s sessions with the oral-history recording project StoryCorps, which has gathered stories from everyday Americans on a wide array of topics, including haunted memories after 9/11, memory loss and African-American history.

StoryCorps has been to Whitesburg once before and collected numerous interviews surrounding the local coal-mining industry. One of the program’s partners in Lexington is Keeneland Race Course, and organizers hope to gain interviews of track workers and horse people whose voices are often not heard.

Ratliff now works in the university’s human resources department. She is thinking about going back home, temporarily, to work on a book project about being gay in Eastern Kentucky. But she describes her relationship with the mountains as “love-hate.”

“The mountains are … they’re beautiful, and there’s still just so much culture; they’re comforting, protective. And they’re also very isolating,” Ratliff said.

Just being yourself

One of Ratliff’s chosen family members is Tyler Watts, someone she grew up with. Watts is a transgendered man who was born Tammi Watts in Knott County.

He lived for years as a lesbian woman but still never felt comfortable with that identity. He was kicked out of his home during high school, when his parents found out he was secretly dating another girl. Only recently has he decided to begin living as a man. Now he is relying on his friends in Richmond.

Watts says he occasionally goes home to visit and would never consider moving back. He said he’s doing a StoryCorps interview because hiding is exhausting.

He grew up in the mind-set of a boy and didn’t explicitly realize he was a girl until he went to grade school, with separate bathrooms.

“As a child, you don’t realize how things really are, how people think of you, how people look at you. You’re just being yourself, and you don’t really know yourself,” Watts said.

Watts’ parents didn’t return phone messages from the Herald-Leader.

“They’re having trouble. I’m not going to say they’re not supportive, because they are, but it’s not talked about,” he said.

“I miss going to see my grandmother, but now my face has changed, a little bit of my body structure has changed. I’ve had no surgeries yet. I dread what my grandmother would think because she’s really old … . I don’t want the TV or politics to change how she feels about me.

“A part of me thinks she might already know.”

No more hiding

Will Taylor, 26, said he feels more secure being himself in Harlan than he would in a large city where he doesn’t know anyone else.

He said he was “in hiding” until a few years ago but now wants to do a StoryCorps interview because he thinks gay rights will advance more quickly if more people speak up.

“I think it not only gives us a chance to tell our story, it gives us that documentation. It has to do with our struggles and hopes,” Taylor said.

He lives with his parents in Harlan and has worked various jobs, such as truck driving, coal mine security and animal shelter volunteering.

Coming out was easier than he thought.

“I thought at first that it was going to be really bad. When I came out, I just came out and told everybody. The first person I told was my dad,” Taylor said.

“He lit a cigarette, sat there about a minute or two, and then he gave me the speech: ‘We still love you, that doesn’t change.’ ”

Taylor’s parents declined to be interviewed for this story.

He said his mother has struggled more.

“She knows, but we don’t talk about it,” he said.

Living in a small town is a kind of mission for Taylor. He likes that people know who he is.

“You get all these people who are in the closet and scared to come out, they come to you,” he said. “I feel that if I can help one person find themselves and understand who they are, that’s the greatest thing.”

Being normal

It’s not so hard for Julia Oiler Spiegel to live in small-town Kentucky as a lesbian woman. She moved to Erlanger at age 40 after separating from her husband in Memphis. A short time later, she told her family she is lesbian and moved in with her partner. They are raising Spiegel’s 12-year-old son.

Spiegel said she is grateful for the opportunity to speak to StoryCorps because, even though she feels secure living openly in Erlanger, she values the chance to show how “normal” her family is.

Spiegel is a full-time student and works as a caregiver for an autistic child. She volunteers with Kentucky Equality Federation, a gay-rights advocacy organization. She said she is still friends with her soon-to-be ex-husband, and she has been able to help his son from a previous marriage who came out as gay.

Her partner works for the postal service. Her son goes to school with a few other children of gay and lesbian parents. Over Christmas, Spiegel’s partner presented her an engagement ring.

“When everything about you is questioned on a daily basis, it’s kind of hard to trust other people,” Spiegel said. “You just need to be heard. The gay and lesbian communities are misunderstood sometimes. People automatically think it’s all about sex to us, and it’s not. My family is just like every other family.”

Bringing people together

Ratliff’s family grew up in a hollow in Hindman. Her grandmother lived across the street, and her aunts and uncles all nearby.

“There is a beauty in that close bond, and there’s also a level of interdependency that is a bit unhealthy,” she said. When one person is different, it’s suddenly everyone’s business.

She knows she is the subject of gossip and talk back back home. But she also knows she can help others. She said she is grateful for the chance to tell her story through StoryCorps and hopes people back home will listen.

Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer, a Hyden native, said getting people to talk and open up is the goal of the project.

The non-profit StoryCorps has archived interviews of more than 60,000 people nationwide since its start in 2003 and will spend the next two months recording in Whitesburg and Lexington, partnering in part with KEF.

StoryCorps interviews are broadcast on NPR’s Morning Edition, and the conversations are preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

“It’s intended to bring people together,” Palmer said. “It’s an intimate conversation.”

Palmer’s organization takes several calls a week from young people who are bullied or people who are facing violence at home or work because they are different.

That’s something Palmer knows about.

He said he was expelled from his private church-affiliated high school because he was gay and was sent to an “ex-gay” clinic in Lexington.

But after it all, Palmer said, he values his tight-knit family — his mother and siblings — more than a wilder lifestyle in a large city.

“I’ve never had more support than in a small, rural community,” he said.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/04/18/1711521/storycorps-recordings-will-speak.html#ixzz1Jv16pGGT

Governor’s

Republicans appear to have regained the majority of U.S. Governor’s Mansions, gaining an additional 10 in states where the previous chief executive was a Democrat.  Kentucky will not vote on constitutional officers until 2011.

Kentucky Governor's Mansion. Official home of the executive.

Tennessee, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, and Kansas all have gone from Democrat to Republican, according to CNN analysis of exit poll data.

As of late Tuesday night, no Democrat won a election to lead any state with a previous Republican Governor, another blow to the gay community since those executives (unlike the U.S. executive) have line-item veto power.  Those executives can rollback protections for the gay and lesbian community like the Governor of Virginia did just this year. (previous story)

The Old Dominion (Virginia) was the highlight of CBS News late last-night as political analyst Jeff Greenfield said the “Commonwealth of Virginia was setting the tone for the nation hence its nickname, Old Dominion.”

Harry Smith echoed the same statements on The Early Show (CBS).

The National Journal asked, who was the big loser Tuesday?

The easy answer is President Obama and his fellow Democrats on this day of epic GOP victories in the House, the Senate and U.S. statehouses.

But there is a bigger loser: Washington.

The wave of disappointment and disillusionment with Washington that swept Obama into office two years ago never went away. With the unemployment rate hovering near double digits, the president was unable to deliver the change that most Americans could believe in, so voters delivered a message of their own to the incumbent party: Get out.

Kentucky House of Representatives

Republicans gained seven seats in the Kentucky House of Representatives, but Democrats will maintain control, with 58 seats to 42 for the Republicans.  Before last night, the total was 65 Democrats to 35 Republicans.

Longtime gay friendly Representative Charlie Hoffman (D-Georgetown), was defeated by Republican Ryan Quarles, 26, a recent University of Kentucky law school graduate. Quarles beat Hoffman by fewer than 300 votes, according to unofficial results reported by the Herald-Leader.

Republican Donna Mayfield beat Democratic incumbent Don Pasley of Winchester, and Republican Kim King beat Democratic incumbent Kent Stevens of Lawrenceburg.

“It was a bad year to be an incumbent, and it was a really bad year to be a Democrat,” Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo said. “It was a bad year to be an incumbent, and it was a really bad year to be a Democrat,” Stumbo told various news sources.

Gay friendly senior Representatives Mary Lou Marzian (unopposed), Ruth Ann Palumbo, and Tom Burch retained their seats, as did Susan Westrom, and a few other gay friendly lawmakers.

Openly gay candidate Matthew Vanderpool (D) managed to receive a respectable 6,217 votes in Lexington’s conservative 45th House District but was easily defeated by incumbent Stan Lee (R) with 13,135 votes.  Vanderpool would have been the first openly gay person to ever be elected to the Kentucky Legislature.

Kentucky Senate

Republicans increased their majority in the Kentucky Senate. Republicans defeated two Democratic incumbents and a third Republican had a strong lead in the open 34th District seat held by retiring Senate Minority Leader Ed Worley of Richmond.  This effectual reverses seats picked-up by Democrats in special elections. (previous story)

Republicans now hold 22 seats with Democrats holding 15 seats and 1 Independent who caucuses with Republicans.  This puts the Kentucky Senate back to the same basic setup it has held for the past 10 years.

U.S. House of Representatives

Republicans picked up at least 60 House seats, far more than the 39 they needed for a majority that would elevate John Boehner to House speaker and put Republicans in charge of House committees. Many races remained too close to call.

An energized conservative electorate, fueled by the anti-establishment Tea Party movement that emerged in 2009, helped Republicans win the biggest shift in power since Democrats lost 75 House seats in 1948.

U.S. Senate

Tea Party favorite Rank Paul easily defeated Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway (D) to join Kentucky’s Congressional Delegation to Washington, D.C. for federal funding and grants.

Many U.S. Senate races remain too close to call, but Democrats have been able to maintain control.

Kentucky’s Gay Community

Louisville Fairness Campaign endorsed multiple candidates, while Kentucky Equality Federation stopped endorsing candidates.

However, Kentucky Equality Federation founder and former president Jordan Palmer issued a warning to gay voters and newspapers for pushing Republican agendas with contributors and publishers writing articles “looking forward to punishing Democrats.”  After last nights defeats however, those sames printed or online news sites are claiming “Democrats will listen next time,” believing that the newly elected Tea Party members and new Republican gains can be easily reversed as early as 2012.

With such huge losses to conservatives, the gay military ban will remain in place, with no gay friendly legislation passing either the U.S. or Kentucky Houses or Senates.

One popular Kentucky blogger, Hillbilly Report tears into the Kentucky Democratic Party (story), while another targeted “Kentucky’s Republican Democratic Party Chairman.” (story)

Kentucky’s First Gay Mayor

Lexington voters elected Jim Gray, the first openly gay mayor in the Commonwealth.  Lexington is Kentucky’s second largest city.  What is surprising is that people across the United States seem surprised that Gray won, even though Lexington has ranked in the Top 10 on multiple occasions for “gay friendly” cities to live.

With public corruption in Kentucky at an all time high and negative revenues that predate the Cold War, everyone says they have the answer.

Front and center stage during the election is the issue of gay marriage, an issue Democrats hoped would not surface again until after the election. According to national polls, it isn’t safe to support U.S. President Obama or be an incumbent Democrat this year.

In Whitley County, the home of Kentucky Republican Senate President David L. Williams (who will oppose incumbent Governor Steve Beshear next year), the County Fiscal Court issued a resolution urging the Kentucky Legislature to force the federal government’s hand to pass a national constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.  (previous story)

As an apparent counter action to the resolution passed by the Whitley County Fiscal Court in August, the former president of the Kentucky Equality Federation (now listed as “public advocate” for the organization) has decided to push the issue with change.org by creating an online petition in support for same-sex marriage.

The action is listed “in honor of” their recently deceased former volunteer Kimball Roy who co-founded part of Kentucky Equality Federation and served as assistant secretary and assistant treasurer for the organization.

Election Not Certain

Websites are popping us across the internet called “Yes We Scam,” related to U.S. President Obama (D).  “Yes We Scam” is only one of many right-wing sites appearing across the internet claiming U.S. President Obama is a lair and has weakened the nation.

U.S. President Obama is suffering while another head of state and government, Governor Steve Beshear’s (D) approval ratings remain relatively solid, especially with Kentucky’s gay community after he reinstated a rescinded executive order to protect gay and lesbian people in Kentucky Government in 2008. (previous story)

Representative Mary Lou Marzian, D-Louisville, holds up a photo of her 9-month-old granddaughter Maya Derricks as she explains a resolution encouraging construction of more energy efficient, "green" schools in Kentucky. Marzian has been a major gay rights supporter in Kentucky.

Last year the Honorable (and we use her official style with pride) senior Representative Representative Mary Lou Marzian (D-Louisville) proposed legislation to repeal Kentucky’s 2004 Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships.

Marzian, a powerful figure in the Kentucky House of Representatives stated: “I prefiled this bill [to overturn Kentucky's ban on same-sex marriage] to let our LGBT Kentucky citizens know that there are people in the House of Representative who believe that all Kentuckians deserve justice and equality.” (Representative Marzian on Facebook)

Later this month, the University of Louisville’s Office for LGBT Services will celebrate “gay pride week.” The University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky are routinely targeted by the Family Foundation of Kentucky and the American Family Association of Kentucky.  The goal was been to stop domestic partner benefits at Kentucky’s largest universities.  (previous story)

Kentucky Lawmakers Reluctant To Prefile Bills This Year

This year you will find little to no prefiled legislation in Kentucky, a sign that Kentucky lawmakers are not ready to push any particular agenda.

With the Kentucky Legislature going into session again in less than four months, by mid-September you would normally find a minimum of 20-30 prefiled bills, but not this year. (view)

However, incumbent lawmakers are not sure of the outcome of the November 02, 2010 election and Democrats openly admitted that they “ran away,” or “insulted,” U.S. President Obama just to win their May primaries, and most by slim margins [especially in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York]. (source 1), (source 2), (source 3)

For better or worse, both Kentucky and the nation are moving in different directions and this election will determine who will control both the Kentucky and the U.S. Senate.

Other Current National Gay Marriage Controversies

The social media is rife with “gotcha moments.” From Sarah Palin’s “refudiate” comment, to an Iowa GOP politician suggesting that AIDS was God’s punishment for homosexuality, the gaffes on Facebook and Twitter seem to come a mile a minute. Add Montana Tea Party leader Tim Ravndal to the list, who endorsed violence against gay people on his Twitter account. (source)

Rapper 50 Cent also wrote on his Twitter account that he had one of his “homies shoot up a gay wedding,” because blogger Perez Hilton called him a “douche bag.” (source)

This is not the first time Hilton has angered people and brought unwanted negative attention on the gay community. (previous story)

This time however, even the national organization GLAAD is distancing itself from Hilton.

Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White Jr. head of the Whitley County Fiscal Court.

According to the Corbin Times-Tribune (covering Knox, Whitley and Laurel Counties):

Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White Jr. is hoping to spark a national movement in order to pass and ratify an amendment to the United States Constitution establishing marriage as only being recognized as a union between a man and a woman in the United States of America.

White, an attorney, took the first step towards that effort Tuesday evening by asking the Whitley County Fiscal Court to approve a resolution, which asks the Kentucky Legislature to pass legislation demanding a federal constitutional convention for the purpose of passing a constitutional amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Fiscal court members unanimously approved the resolution during their monthly meeting Tuesday night. Copies of it will be sent to the leadership of both the Kentucky House of Representatives and the Kentucky Senate in addition to certain members of Kentucky’s Congressional delegation including U.S. Senators Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning, U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, and Kentucky Representative Dewayne Bunch (82nd District).

“We will begin distributing this resolution to the other counties in Kentucky asking them to pass similar resolutions and to distribute to the legislature of Kentucky asking them to take action at their next regular session,” White said after the resolution’s passage.

White said that he decided to draft the resolution after an Aug. 4 federal court decision striking down Proposition 8, which was California’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

“If it is set as established precedent by some of the higher courts, it would overturn the constitutional amendment here in Kentucky,” White said. “I thought of what could be done so that the people would get the opportunity to vote on this issue at the national level, and not be overturned by the courts.”

“There was a statement made by the San Francisco Mayor when the campaign for Proposition 8 was going on that no matter what the people wanted, this was going to be the law of the land that gay marriage was accepted.”

White said that he is hoping to start a national movement with this effort.

White noted that 45 states do not recognize gay marriage, including Kentucky, and that Kentucky’s traditional marriage amendment passed with a 74 percent majority.

Why does White feel so strongly about this issue?

“I don’t believe in homosexual marriage. It is against my raising and my morals,” White said. “I don’t believe that this should be decided by the courts.

WYMT-TV, the CBS affiliate for Southern Kentucky (covering 24 counties) reported:

It’s an issue that’s sparking a national debate and now an Eastern Kentucky official is hoping to make a statement when it comes to same-sex marriages. “I think it is a complete joke. It’s coming from a judge executive who has no political or executive authority. I think that it’s pathetic,” said Jordan Palmer with Kentucky Equality Federation.

Opponents call the resolution a step in the wrong direction. “It is a step back…if it’s inspired by tradition, or just plain old fashion bigotry. I think we should be teaching our children about diversity because diversity in our commonwealth makes us strong. It does not make us weak,” said Palmer.

Palmer’s complete comments (unedited): “Even if this makes it to the Kentucky Legislature, it would have to pass the constitution amendments Committee (and it would not). However, if the Whitely County Judge Executive believes for one moment that Kentucky Equality Federation, Marriage Equality Kentucky, Louisville’s Fairness Campaign, Kentucky Fairness Alliance, or Lexington Fairness would allow this to go unchallenged, I believe he is mistaken. Kentucky has a lot of good LGBTI organizations, and we are sick of being second class citizens.

If motivated by religion, by tradition or by old-fashioned bigotry, this will shed additional light on the fact that LGBTI people are second-class citizens; we are taxed, yet we can be fired for being gay or lesbian and we do not even have civil unions in the Commonwealth, and all of this is coming from the California trial.”

Jordan Palmer is the founder and former president of Kentucky Equality Federation and is currently serving as public advocate for the organization.

VIDEO

The New Jersey Supreme Court is located beside the New Jersey Capitol in the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex. Photo Credit: Wiki Commons

Seven months after the New Jersey Senate failed to pass a gay marriage law, and nearly a month after the New Jersey Supreme Court refused to hear a gay case, speculation runs rampant through the state and the nation.

Gay couples unsuccessfully sued New Jersey four years ago for the right to marry. They claimed that by creating civil unions, the state did not fulfill a court order to treat them the same as heterosexual couples seeking to marry.   The justices split 3 to 3, one vote shy of the four needed to have the court consider the case.

Justice Virginia Long, who wrote the dissenting opinion, agreed that there was an insufficient record for debating the merits of the claim, but she said that oral arguments would have helped guide the court.

In January, the New Jersey Senate voted 20 to 14 to defeat a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage. Gay rights activists had hoped to get the bill passed because then, Governor Jon Corzine said he would sign the bill into law. However, Governor-elect Chris Christie (now Governor) said he would veto the bill.

Democratic Party Blamed

New Jersey Senator Sandra Cunningham

New Jersey Senator Sandra Cunningham (D-Jersey City), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, urged her fellow senators to support the Freedom of Religion and Equality in Civil Marriage Act. Senator Cunningham compared the fight for marriage equality to the fight for racial equality.

She said if not for the Civil Rights movement the African-American and minorities might be part of the legislature, but in different roles. “We would probably be sweeping the floors instead of sitting here as legislators,” she said. “It’s important for me to stand up and say that everyone has a right and everyone has the right to fight for their life, for the kind of life we all want, the American Dream. Our responsibility here is to protect the rights of New Jersey’s citizens.”

“This should have been a slam dunk,” said Senator Ray Lesniak (D), one of the party’s frustrated power brokers. “The victims this time were the thousands of gay couples across this state, and their children, who just got a slap in the face. The message opponents delivered to them was an ugly one, whether it was inspired by religion, by tradition or by old-fashioned bigotry.”

Senator Lesniak (D) continued: “They are second-class families who cannot join the club. But most of us are victims of this Democratic decade in one way or another, unless you have one of those fat state pensions. Consider property taxes, job losses, the state’s enormous debt, and the ever increasing salaries and benefits that we pay to teachers, firefighters and cops. We face a mess that will take many years to clean up.”

Senator Lesniak (D) continued: “The reason for that is we have not been bold enough, the Democratic Party has lost its moral compass. We have been timid. Think about the crisp leadership Michael Bloomberg has given New York City, and then imagine the opposite. That’s us.”

The Governor’s Wrath and Broad Reach Blamed

The New Jersey Supreme Court doesn’t give interviews, so no one can ask whether the tribunal balked on the gay marriage issue because it was afraid of the reaction of Governor Chris Christie. Christie became the first Republican to win a statewide election in New Jersey in 12 years.

“There won’t be any comment,” says Winnie Comfort, a spokeswoman for the court. “Of course, people are free to speculate. There is nothing we can do about that.”

Comfort made the comments in response to remarks by legislators who raised the issue of whether the court — or, at least, three members — might have been afraid to touch the gay marriage case because Christie can remove them by appointing other justices. The way he did to Justice John Wallace, the court’s only African-American.

Both Senator Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) and Assemblyman John D. McKeon (D-Essex) told The Star-Ledger’s Matt Friedman the decision raised the question of whether Wallace’s ouster led three non-permanent court members to duck the issue. The three judges who don’t have to worry about reappointment — Justices Virginia Long, Jaynee LaVecchia, and Barry Albin dissented from the order. They wanted arguments on the motion to go forward. Coincidence?

“I think the three justices who voted against the motion looked over their shoulders and saw Governor Chris Christie,” says Frank Askin, a Rutgers Law School professor and constitutional scholar in Newark. “There is no question in my mind that fear of what the Governor would do played a part in that decision.”

Michael Drewniak, Governor Christie’s spokesman, declined to answer questions about the decision.

California Prop 8 Case

New Jersey once had a supreme court willing to render significant decisions. Under chiefs like Joseph Weintraub, Richard Hughes, Robert Wilentz, James Zazzali and Deborah Poritz, the state’s highest court was a national leader in individual rights.

It is often in state courts that individual rights are most effectively protected. New Jersey’s decisions on school funding and fair housing — also now endangered — went far beyond what the federal courts would do.

Rutgers Law Professor Carlos Bell, an expert on gay marriage, explains it could lead to an adverse decision by a conservative U.S. Supreme Court:

“That is why most of the other same-sex marriage lawsuits (including New Jersey’s Lewis v. Harris) have been brought in state courts alleging violations of state constitutions. When a case is decided on state constitutional grounds, it cannot be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“It is likely the court will hear the Proposition 8 case. The upside for gay people of a favorable decision is tremendous: It would mean same-sex couples all over the country would have to be afforded the opportunity to marry. But the downside is also great: It would mean a U.S. Supreme Court decision, which would likely stay on the books for a long time, holding gay people are not entitled to marry under the federal constitution.”

New Jersey Senate Debate – Protests and Supporters

Graphic copied from Kentucky Equality Federation, sponsor of the International Day Against Homophobia in Kentucky.

A prenatal pill for congenital adrenal hyperplasia to prevent ambiguous genitalia may reduce the chance that a female with the disorder will be gay. Critics call it engineering for sexual orientation while others are calling it outright genetic engineering.

Each year in the United States, perhaps a few dozen pregnant women learn they are carrying a fetus at risk for a rare disorder known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The condition causes an accumulation of male hormones and can, in females, lead to genitals so masculinized that it can be difficult at birth to determine the baby’s gender.

A hormonal treatment to prevent ambiguous genitalia can now be offered to women who may be carrying such infants. It’s not without health risks, but to its critics those are of small consequence compared with this notable side effect: The treatment might reduce the likelihood that a female with the condition will be homosexual. Further, it seems to increase the chances that she will have what are considered more feminine behavioral traits.

That such a treatment would ever be considered, even to prevent genital abnormalities, has outraged gay and lesbian groups, troubled some doctors and fueled bioethicists’ debate about the nature of human sexuality.

The treatment is a step toward “engineering in the womb for sexual orientation,” said Alice Dreger, a professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at Northwestern University and an outspoken opponent of the treatment.

The ability to chemically steer a child’s sexual orientation has become increasingly possible in recent years, with evidence building that homosexuality has biological roots and with advances in the treatment of babies in utero. Prenatal treatment for congenital adrenal hyperplasia is the first to test — unintentionally or not — that potential.

In animal studies, the treatment appears to cause an increased risk of high blood pressure, plus changes in glucose metabolism, brain structure and brain function, leading to memory problems, for example. Long-term studies in humans are lacking.

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

Genetic Engineering

Graphic copied from Kentucky Equality Federation, sponsor of the International Day Against Homophobia in Kentucky.

Being born gay or lesbian is not a sickness or a disease. The United Nations World Health Organization removed it from their list in 1978 thanks to the International Lesbian and Gay Association (“ILGA”) and enormous pressure from medical experts.  This resulted in U.S. states as well as the U.S. Center for Disease Control (“CDC”) and other world governments to do the same.

This finding will eventually have profound long-term impacts on the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. Some doctors and scientists still believe homosexuality is a sickness despite reports from the American Medical Association and other reputable organizations to the contrary.

1. Would you change your sexual orientation with a pill or therapy if you could?
2. Would you have wanted your parents to take that action?
   

U.S. District Judge sides with the California Supreme Court

A federal judge declared California’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional Wednesday, saying that no legitimate state interest justified treating gay and lesbian couples differently from others and that “moral disapproval” was not enough to save the voter-passed Proposition 8.

California “has no interest in differentiating between same-sex and opposite-sex unions,” U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker said in his 136-page ruling.

Octogenarian Phyllis Lyon and her lifelong partner Del Martin were the first same-sex couple to be married in San Franciso City Hall in February 2004 in a private ceremony that opened the floodgates to thousands more weddings and multiple court battles.

Although Martin died four years later, Lyon was able to witness the landmark federal court ruling Wednesday striking down Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages.

The California Supreme Court ruled 4 to 3 that gays and lesbians were entitled to marry under the state Constitution in a historic ruling in May 2008. Voters passed Proposition 8 six months later, amending the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

It is not the end of the fight. You can expect it be appealed up the legal food chain.

Andy Pugno, general counsel for ProtectMarriage.com, the official proponents of Proposition 8, released the following statement today in response to the ruling of U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case:

“Today’s ruling is clearly a disappointment. The judge’s invalidation of the votes of over seven million Californians violates binding legal precedent and short-circuits the democratic process. But this is not the end of our fight to uphold the will of the people for traditional marriage, as we now begin an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“It is disturbing that the trial court, in order to strike down Prop 8, has literally accused the majority of California voters of having ill and discriminatory intent when casting their votes for Prop 8.

“Reversing today’s decision will also serve as a reminder that the role of the courts is to interpret and apply the law only as enacted by the people and their elected representatives, not to impose new social policies.

“And federal precedent is clear that there is no constitutional right to same-sex marriage. To prevail in the end, our opponents have a very difficult task of convincing the U.S. Supreme Court to abandon precedent and invent a new constitutional right.”

Ultimately, Professor Doug NeJaime at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles said, even the four more liberal justices on the U.S. Supreme Court might shy away from a sweeping decision that could overturn same-sex marriage bans across the country. “The U.S. Supreme Court rarely likes to get too far ahead of things,” he said.

Reverend Jim Garlow, pastor of Skyline Church in La Mesa, California, and a leading supporter of Proposition 8 stated: “Given the present makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court at this time, ’one woman, one man’ will stand,” he said.

Even the LGBT community who applauded the opinion, however, said the path ahead for it is not clear or easy. Professor NeJaime said while Judge Walker’s ruling he found “a great opinion,” he was skeptical of the strategy to take a marriage case through the federal courts. Despite Judge Walker’s efforts to set a factual foundation and the traditions of deference, he said, the U.S. Supreme Court is not completely constrained by lower court findings of fact.

Flag of California

The first decision in what is expected to be a long legal battle over California’s same-sex marriage ban will be announced Wednesday afternoon, with both sides planning appeals if they lose.

The California Supreme Court ruled 4 to 3 that gays and lesbians were entitled to marry under the state Constitution in a historic ruling in May 2008. Voters passed Proposition 8 six months later, amending the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

The decision will be posted online between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., Pacific time, and will be written by Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker of Federal District Court here, who oversaw a lengthy trial on the ban — Proposition 8 — this year. Walker, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, heard myriad witnesses testify about the history of marriage, the nature of homosexuality and the degree of power gays and lesbians possess in the political system during the 2 1/2-week trial in January. (previous story)

But on Tuesday, supporters of the ban — who were widely regarded as being on the defensive at many points in the trial — had already filed paperwork indicating that they would appeal, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

The trial, which included testimony from experts on marriage, sociology and politics, was instigated by a lawsuit filed by two gay couples who said that Proposition 8 impinged on their constitutional rights to equal protection and due process. The proposition was passed in 2008 by 52 percent of California voters, and nullified an earlier decision by the state Supreme Court allowing same-sex marriage.

Regardless of the outcome, supporters of gay marriage were planning demonstrations in San Francisco and Los Angeles on Wednesday evening.