Subject: Jews Could Be Discriminated Against Under New Kentucky Proposal
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2000 21:34:08 EST

To be published in the March 2000 issue of The Letter - Kentucky's gay, 
lesbian, bisexual & transgender newspaper

JEWS COULD BE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST, LEGISLATOR SAYS

    A proposal passed by the Kentucky General Assembly and now on its way to 
the senate could allow church-run businesses to toss Jews and other 
minorities into the streets, its chief sponsor admitted in open testimony 
Feb. 15.
    HB 70 is an attempt by religious conservatives to exempt church-run 
businesses from the public accommodations provisions of the state civil 
rights laws.  The idea for the bill came about after a Baptist church in the 
northern Kentucky community of Bullittsburg felt compelled to rent a 
campground out to a group of secular humanists in 1996 rather than risk 
violating the law.  The church later decided it might risk the wrath of its 
god if it continued to rent to individuals whom it considers sinful.
    As originally written, the proposal would have allowed discrimination on 
the basis of race, color and national origin, but an amendment has been added 
that would prohibit that.  It retains provisions that permit discrimination 
on the basis of disability, gender, and marital status.
    Gays and lesbians, transgenders, secular humanists and atheists would be 
the first individuals impacted by the measure if it becomes law, but other 
groups would also face expulsion from church-run businesses.
    During senate testimony on the bill in February, state rep. Tom Kerr, its 
chief sponsor, and two other men--Rev. Wayne Lipscomb, a minister, and Bob 
Winter, attorney for the Kentucky Southern Baptists--acknowledged that 
Buddhists and Muslims would most likely be affected.  When they were asked if 
Jews could be discriminated against, at first Kerr said they most likely 
would not be but then contradicted himself by admitting that a church could 
evict them from its businesses if it wanted to.
    When Sen. David Karem of Louisville asked them if Bob Jones University, a 
fundamentalist Christian college in South Carolina with segregationist and 
anti-Catholic views, would be covered, the sponsors sidestepped the question 
by falling back on a "hate the sin, love the sinner" argument and did not 
condemn that college's policies.
    In the end, the Senate passed the measure 17-12.  It's now on its way to 
the governor for his signature or veto.

END