Bucking History

Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher, whose approval ratings are around 33%, chose Diversity Day to repeal discrimination protections for gay employees in the state government. It may come as no surprise that Fletcher is a Republican and that he has been dogged by scandals in the state government. (Sound familiar?)

What one might not expect is the reaction from the business community, as reflected in this editorial from Business Lexington:

How ironic is it that on "Diversity Day," the governor of Kentucky let the Vice President of the United States know that his daughter isn't welcome on his staff - which is a sad thing, because Mary Cheney is intelligent, articulate, and accomplished and might have the talent to transform the governor's dismal approval ratings overnight. Newt Gingrich, former speaker and likely presidential candidate, also has a sister who wouldn't be welcome in Fletcher's state house.

It is not a positive notice.

Kentucky seems to be in the news:

Note this story from MSNBC, about Jason Johnson, the student who was expelled from the University of the Cumberlands for being gay:

[State Sen Ernesto] Scorsone mocked a presentation by state Senate President David Williams a day earlier, in which Williams presented an oversized check from the state to the university for its planned $10 million pharmacy school. Williams has defended the school's decision to expel Johnson.

"I wouldn't cash that check," Scorsone said Wednesday.

Johnson and others argue that a private school that bans openly gay students should not receive funding from the state.

Brett Hall, a spokesman for Gov. Ernie Fletcher, said Wednesday the governor hasn't yet decided whether to use his line-item veto power to remove the funding for the pharmacy school from the state budget.

Hall said Fletcher is concerned that the proposed pharmacy school might not be able to win accreditation because of its policy against accepting gay and lesbian students. Hall said the governor also has sought a legal opinion from his general counsel about whether the state can give money for a building project to a religious institution.

Seems we have some First Amendment issues here. Yank the funds, Ernie. You've already got enough problems.

Two points here: the Christianists, those who need someone to hate to give their "message" validity (I honestly cannot call them "Christians" -- to state it once again, they have nothing to do with the teachings of Christ except that one can note the extent to which they have perverted them) are fighting history, morality, and the American character, all of which point to tolerance and (gasp!) acceptance. It's a mark of how badly they have skewed the foundations of our nation that the State of Kentucky could even consider funding a religious school that discriminates against anyone.

Y'know, we've had a workable system in place for years: religious institutions that participate in government-funded programs have incorporated separate entities that have their own governance to administer those programs. They have had no problems in adhering to the requirements of the law, including anti-dicrimination statutes. I take it as another indication of the poisonous nature of the so-called "Christian right" that any government official could even consider subverting the law to accommodate them. This sort of thing is really of a piece with the Chimp's "faith-based" initiatives -- as long as the faith is evangelical Christianity of the nastiest sort. So we find Mitt Romney, one of the most blatant vote-whores of the decade, trying to gut civil rights laws in Massachusetts to accommodate a bunch of pederasts. And, vis-a-vis the Catholic Charities pulling out of adoptions services: let them. If they can't play by the rules, turn that caseload over to a non-partisan, non-sectarian, secular organization, and let the country see just exactly what this Catholic "morality" is all about. As Andrew Sullivan has pointed out numerous times, secularism is what made this country possible. Seems foolish to toss it out now, when we need it the most.

Sporadically yours (at least for the next ten days or so). . . .