Bowling Green lawmaker reintroduces LGBTQ Fairness Bill

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- On the first day of pride month, June 1st, State Representative Patti Minter reintroduced the statewide LGBTQ Fairness Bill.  

Minter’s bill would prohibit discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity at the state level.

This bill would add to Kentucky’s existing civil rights law, which already prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex and other factors.

Earlier this year, Minter introduced a previous version of this bill with bipartisan support and House Democratic leader Joni Jenkins as primary cosponsor. 

Currently, 21 cities in Kentucky have passed fairness ordinances, which enact the same anti- discrimination protections at the local level.

Those that have passed the ordinance include two of the three largest cities in the commonwealth, Louisville and Lexington. In May of 2019, the City Commissioners for the third largest city, Bowling Green, voted against the ordinance. 

“It’s past time for the city of Bowling Green to pass a fairness ordinance, if 21 other Kentucky cities can stand on the right side of history, so can we,” Minter said in a social media post on Tuesday.