HAZARD, KY -- City officials in Hazard, Kentucky, have refused to change policy after a public employee kicked out a couple with developmental disabilities from a publicly funded swimming pool -- because the couple was gay.
After more than 2,000 people signed the Kentucky Equality Federation's Change.org petition demanding that the city apologize to the couple, the city agreed and began to institute reforms to prevent a similar situation in the future.
However, after the media spotlight from the incident diminished, the city's position changed. City Attorney Paul R. Collins, who is responsible for changing city rules, reversed his stance, demanding that the Kentucky Equality Federation's Jordan Palmer produce a Kentucky state law saying the pool could not discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
"Unfortunately, Kentucky's civil rights code provides more protections for smokers than it does for LGBT people," said Palmer. "It is perfectly legal to fire someone, or deny someone access to public accommodations, because they are gay or lesbian. However, it is not legal to deny someone access to public accommodations because they smoke."
Since Palmer was unable to produce a statewide law, Collins backed away from a commitment to create new rules to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity at the Pavilion in the future. As a result, it will remain legal for public employees in Hazard, Kentucky to continue to deny gay people access to the Pavilion's public swimming pool if they so choose.
"The Kentucky Equality Federation hopes the city will change their rules to prevent further discrimination," said Palmer. "Kentucky used to lead the country by enacting the first civil rights law. Now it is lagging severely behind the rest of the country."
Read the Kentucky Equality Federation's Change.org petition with updated signature totals here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/hazard-kentucky-city-council-apologize-for-kicking-two-gay-men-out-of-a-public-pool
Learn more bout the Kentucky Equality Federation here:
http://www.kyequality.org/
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