Kentucky Equality Federation today made a comparison most gay rights organizations avoid. The fact the gay community is now fighting the same fight that Interracial couples and the entire Black community once faced – discrimination.

Kentucky Equality Federation has partnered with StoryCorps to highlight the lack of equality in Southern Kentucky.

The Alphabet Center, the new gay-straight alliance at Eastern Kentucky University will post a public forum of fairness and equality in Kentucky tomorrow from 6 pm – 9 pm.

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. Incumbent lawmakers are not sure of the outcome of the November 02, 2010. 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.

The legal battle over same-sex marriage is far from over. Last year, the leaders of major gay rights organizations issued a plea urging people not to make Prop 8 a federal issue. The national and state leaders of these organizations listed their reasons for issuing the plea — the battle must we waged within the states.

Not a single member of Kentucky’s Congressional Delegation has co-sponsored U.S. House Resolution 3567, the Respect for Marriage Act. It was quickly place in Committee, where it has remained buried since October 19, 2009. The Commonwealth’s U.S. House Delegation currently includes Ed Whitfield (R), Brett Guthrie (R), John Yarmuth (D), Geoff Davis (R), Hal Rogers (R), and Ben Chandler (D).

If ever there were a roller-coaster year, 2009 was it. A we await the new year, Kentucky’s exhausted LGBTI civil rights leaders, as well as the thousands of activist, supporters, and allies enjoy some much needed downtime before it all starts again in 2010.

But whether it is the National Organization for Marriage, the Liberty Counsel, the American Family Association, or the Family Foundation of Kentucky, anyone who denies that “American opinion is shifting” inhabits a fool’s paradise. Opposition to gay marriage is shrinking. In 1996, 65 percent took a negative view. Since then, support has fallen by about one percentage point a year. Basically, one (1) out of every eight (8) Americans has gone from opposing the concept to endorsing it.