Legislation passed:

2002: “The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God as set forth in the public speeches and proclamations of American Presidents, including Abraham Lincoln’s historic March 30, 1863, Presidential Proclamation urging Americans to pray and fast during one of the most dangerous hours in American history, and the text of President John F. Kennedy’s November 22, 1963, national security speech which concluded: “For as was written long ago: ‘Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain’.”

2006: “Publicize the findings of the General Assembly stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth by including the provisions of KRS 39A.285(3) in its agency training and educational materials. The executive director shall also be responsible for prominently displaying a permanent plaque at the entrance to the state’s Emergency Operations Center stating the text of KRS 39A.285(3).

However, in 2009 Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate ruled that it violated Section IV of the Kentucky Constitution, as well as the First Amendment to the United States Constitution which ensures protection against the establishment of a state religion.

If you thought the First Amendment to the United States Constitution continues to be a source of hot debate today, it was nearly defeated when Massachusetts and North Carolina refused to ratify it. New Hampshire, Virginia, and New York also objected to some of the language, which was ultimately changed. In addition, Articles III to XII of the First Amendment were completely rejected by the states and did not become part of the U.S. Constitution.

The debate continues in Kentucky, about what role “God” plays in our security and the line of church and state.

In March 2010 the Kentucky House of Representatives passed Resolution 232 imposing Christian principals on the citizens of the Commonwealth; the Resolution was not sent to the Kentucky Senate for concurrence. (previous story)

The current mission statement of the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security reads: “Lead the Commonwealth’s coordination and collaboration efforts with public and private preparedness partners to ensure a Ready and Prepared Kentucky.”

In addition to the Governor and the Attorney General, nearly every Kentucky lawmaker, including Senate President David Williams (R), House Speaker Greg Stumbo (D) and the entire leadership of both houses of the General Assembly, have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in favor of the laws, which require the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security to acknowledge dependence on God for the state’s safety.

The case is now pending before the Kentucky Court of Appeals after Attorney General Jack Conway (D), appealed the 2009 ruling striking down the law.

Conway’s office argued that America’s founders never intended an absolute bar to government religious expression and that the Homeland Security laws echoed such things as the national motto, “In God We Trust.”

In addition, the Courier-Journal reports:

In one brief filed in the case, 96 of the state’s 100 state representatives assert, among other arguments, that the laws are in keeping with historic U.S. Supreme Court cases declaring America to be a “Christian nation.”

A second brief was filed by 35 of the 38 state senators, whose lawyers include former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore — who was removed from office in 2003 for defying a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from his state’s judicial building.

That brief argues for ignoring decades’ of U.S. Supreme Court case law setting up criteria for weighing church-state relations. Instead, it urges the appeals court to interpret the First Amendment’s ban on congressional “establishment of religion” narrowly — as prohibiting only an official national church.

Representative Jim Wayne, a Louisville Democrat and one of only seven legislators who refused to join in briefs defending the laws, said he found them offensive both on governmental and religious grounds.

In addition to Wayne, the only legislators whose names do not appear on the briefs are Senators Perry Clark and Gerald Neal of Louisville and Kathy Stein of Lexington and Representatives Joni Jenkins and Mary Lou Marzian of Louisville and Kelly Flood of Lexington. All are Democrats.

Ultimately, this case is likely to reach the Kentucky Supreme Court.

None of Kentucky’s gay rights groups have objected to their elected officials appealing the decision. Kentucky Equality Federation, Kentucky Fairness Alliance, Marriage Equality Kentucky, Louisville Fairness Campaign, and Lexington Fairness have remained silent.

Regardless of any U.S. Constitutional Amendment, Section IV of the Commonwealth’s Constitution would still seem to apply:

No preference shall ever be given by law to any religious sect, society or denomination; nor to any particular creed, mode of worship or system of ecclesiastical polity; nor shall any person be compelled to attend any place of worship, to contribute to the erection or maintenance of any such place, or to the salary or support of any minister of religion; nor shall any man be compelled to send his child to any school to which he may be conscientiously opposed; and the civil rights, privileges or capacities of no person shall be taken away, or in anywise diminished or enlarged, on account of his belief or disbelief of any religious tenet, dogma or teaching. No human authority shall, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience.

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

House Bill 350 would end the requirement that physicians, nurses, surgeons, etc. receive HIV/AIDS training and education as a condition to maintaining a license to practice in Kentucky.

Kentucky Equality Federation is the only statewide LGBTI advocacy organization to issue action alerts and condemnations of legislation impacting those living with HIV/AIDS.  This is usually a routine practice for statewide organizations such as Equality California, Equality Massachusetts, Georgia Equality and Equality Florida among others.

With Kentucky’s economy in ruins, additional human services are expected to be cut by lawmakers before the end of the 2010 legislative session.  Kentucky allowed its AIDS Drug Assistance Program to expire in 2007 according to the Herald-Leader leaving thousands of Kentuckians that are HIV positive without a means to pay for the expensive treatment medications.

Today, advances in medication can place an HIV patient in an “undetectable” state, meaning the patient’s viral load is so low, it is virtually undetectable.  However, these life saving medications can cost thousands of dollars.

In a harsh statement, Kentucky Equality Federation and the Kentucky HIV/AIDS Advocacy Action Group condemned House Bill 350 as “ethically irresponsible and a crime against anyone living with HIV/AIDS.” (source)

* Should House Bill 350 pass, the unasked question is what’s next?  An end to continuous training and education requirements to identity cancer, infectious mononucleosis, athlete’s foot, tumors, or even H1N1?

The press release is below:

Lexington, KY – Two statewide advocacy groups, Kentucky Equality Federation and the Kentucky HIV/AIDS Advocacy Action Group today condemned House Bill 350 as ethically irresponsible and a crime against anyone living with HIV/AIDS.

House Bill 350 seeks to remove HIV/AIDS training and education requirements for licensed service providers such as physicians, registered nurses, social workers, etc. Both organizations are opposed to the legislation because treatment options change rapidly, making it imperative that all health care professionals know the physical manifestations of HIV/AIDS. It is a matter of getting people in the proper care as soon as possible. This could be the difference in a healthy outcome or multiple misdiagnoses that would end up costing more financially either for the patient themselves or for the taxpayers of Kentucky.

“Treatment options change rapidly, therefore physicians or other clinicians that do not treat HIV/AIDS as a specialty would be hard pressed to know the best treatment options for their patients infected with this disease,” stated Bobby Edelen, president of the Kentucky HIV/AIDS Advocacy Action Group.

To compound the issue, Kentucky lawmakers allowed the Kentucky AIDS Drug Assistance Program to expire. “The fact that the Commonwealth also stopped funding the low-income Kentucky AIDS Drug Assistance Program in 2007 is inhumane, shortsighted, and threatens individual and public health,” stated Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer.

Gary L. Fowler, a special adviser to the Kentucky HIV/AIDS Advocacy Action Group, and Co-Chair of the Kentucky HIV Prevention Advisory Council (KHPAC) stated: “I would like to point out that surveillance training is necessary for us to have the best information available to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Kentucky has a high number of people infected with the disease that report unknown risk factors. If we do not have accurate numbers for who is being infected and what their behavioral risk factors are, we do not have a clear picture of where we need to target our prevention dollars.”

Edelen continued: “House Bill 350 does a disservice to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky by lowering healthcare standards for service providers and should be defeated. The citizens of this great Commonwealth deserve the best representation from their lawmakers to ensure the quality of healthcare is held to a higher standard than ‘minimum’ and enforced with every protection under the law.”

* Notice: This article contains a question and/or opinion of the contributor or journalist.

The wide margin was unexpected in the New England state, the other chamber, the New York State Assembly has approved the legislation before, and Governor David A. Paterson had promised to sign it into law.

The vote prompted pronouncements that the momentum for gay marriage had been not only halted, but also effectively reversed. Same-sex marriage is legal in Iowa, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and, most recently, New Hampshire, where it goes into effect on January 01, 2010.

“I think you put it all together and it most likely spells the end of the idea that you can pass gay marriage democratically anywhere else in the United States,” said Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, which spearheaded opposition in Albany. “I think the gay marriage lobby will have to go back to a court-based approach.

“We did believe they were short at least five votes, but we did not expect to win by 14 votes.”

Opponents said New York lawmakers heeded the outcome of a Nov. 3 ballot measure in Maine, where voters repealed a gay marriage law before it went into effect.

“We had long called for a public debate on this matter so we could determine who was truly on our side,” said the Empire State Pride Agenda in a statement. “If you cannot support us, we will find candidates for public office who do.”

The National Organization for Marriage, which is based in New Jersey but has offices in Virginia, was even more explicit, warning ahead of the vote that it would raise $500,000 to defeat any Republican senator who broke ranks on the issue. The heading on the group’s news release read: “Vote for Gay Marriage and We Will Fund a Primary Challenge.”

“Today equality was denied to New York State families. The State Senate voted against equal civil marriage and turned its back on civil rights,” stated Marriage Equality New York (MENY) Executive Director Ron Zacchi. “This day will go down in history as the day the New York State Senators decided to be on the wrong side of history by denying an entire community the ability to protect its families!”

The National Organization for Marriage added, “This helps us in New Hampshire where a coalition that includes Catholic bishops will attempt to reverse the same-sex marriage law as that state’s legislative election season opens. We might even make it in Vermont.”

The National Organization for Marriage has also promised to fight any gay marriage measure in the District of Columbia.

Marriage Equality New York has scheduled a protest rally at Union Square on December 03, 2009.

Marzian, a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives since 1994 told United We Stand News™ that she filed the legislation “to let Kentucky’s LGBT citizens know that there are people in the General Assembly who believe that all Kentuckians deserve justice and fairness.”

Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer stated that if the bill passes both the Kentucky House and Senate and voters ratify it, lawmakers would then be able to legislate domestic-partnerships, or civil unions, such as the new domestic partnership law in the state of Washington.

Hoping to avert a religious debate, Palmer also stated a compromise with domestic partnerships or civil unions could be reached with lawmakers. (source)

Kentucky Equality Federation and Marriage Equality Kentucky started an online marriage petition in an attempt to persuade lawmakers to undo Kentucky’s five year old Constitutional amendment. Kentucky Equality Federation had planned on presenting those signatures to lawmakers in 2011, or 2012. (source)

“We have a lot of new, young voters since the same-sex marriage ban was passed more than five years ago,” Kentucky Equality Federation Treasurer and Board member Nick Herweck told United We Stand News™.

“People who hadn’t reached voting age in 2004 when the amendment passed can vote now, and the younger generation overwhelming approves of complete equality,” stated Herweck. “Five years of younger voters have been added to the electorate.”

The proposed legislation may never reach voters, and Kentucky Equality Federation has been criticized that the timing isn’t right. Responding to those claims, Palmer responded to United We Stand News™ by email:

“No one is ever assured of victory, but the possibility of defeat cannot stop people of good conscience from perusing justice. When will the timing be right, in 5 years, 10 years? The important thing in any political battle is that you fight it in the pursuit what’s right. The gay rights movement would not have reached the new heights it has today if everyone waited until victory is assured; victory is never assured, but even in defeat people of good conscience will fight again until the battle is won. We can no longer hide from the issue of domestic equality in Kentucky.

Patrick Henry wasn’t assured of victory against the most powerful empire in the world when he said ‘Give me Liberty, or give me Death!’ and though they suffered defeats along the way, the end result was the birth of our republic.”

The likelihood of the legislation passing the Republican controlled Senate is unlikely.  Calls to the Senate Republican leadership seeking comment on this issue have not been returned.

Kentucky Equality Federation is currently the only gay rights organization to comment publicly about Marzian’s legislation, and the only statewide organization to endorse Marriage Equality Kentucky’s collection of signatures. Palmer stated that other organizations had been invited but didn’t sign-off on it.