Shame on Ky lawmakers for pandering to extremists, hurting trans kids | Opinion
SB 150
I am writing to ask readers to contact their state representative and senator and ask them to oppose SB115 and SB150, currently before the state legislature. We are a community that values all our residents and celebrates the variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and textures that God has made us. These bills do not represent the welcome that Lexington and our state are known for.
Several state legislators have devised these two bills to pander to the fears and ignorance of their base while preying on people in the LGBT community who have been marginalized. SB115 and SB150 both pretend to be about “parental rights.” They are truly trying to establish the “right” to be mean-spirited and to discriminate against people who don’t fit someone’s narrow ideals.
You can call the Legislative hotline at 800-372-7181 and ask to leave a message for your representatives to oppose these bills. You can also send real letters or email to them. Their addresses are found at Legislative Research Commission - Legislative Research Commission (ky.gov)
Dan Nolet, Danville
Hateful legislation
I urge Gov. Andy Beshear, Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo (D-Fayette) and Sen. Reginald Thomas (D-13) to oppose SB 150. It saddens me to see this sort of hateful legislation make its way to Kentucky. It also saddens me that I now must consider moving away from my beloved home (and relocating my business) in order to protect my family from the damage this ill-informed bill will ultimately cause. I urge all elected officials to vote no on SB 150 and to work to prevent any and all other anti-LGBT bills that may arise in our government. Kentucky must set an example to the rest of the country that laws that harm our children and prevent ordinary citizens from expressing their full freedom or accessing necessary healthcare will not be tolerated.
Jack Taylor, Lexington
Shameful
The Kentucky General Assembly has shown its complete indifference to the children of the Commonwealth. Of course there is great concern for the unborn even to the point of excluding abortion for rape or incest. Why do transgender kids raise their ire? They do NOT want to allow them on sports teams at their schools. They are lukewarm on allowing these marginalized kids to choose which pronoun by which they choose to be addressed. Are there any issues in the Commonwealth of greater importance which require the attention of our legislative body other than bullying transgender children? Why does the General Assembly feel the need to be involved in educational issues? Kentucky has a Department of Education as well as the Kentucky Education Association. This is bullying by legislation. It is SHAMEFUL.
Cheryl Keenan, Lexington
More shame
Shame on our lawmakers for SB 150! Shame on them for pandering to extremist views. Shame on them for putting trans children at further risk. Shame on them for ignoring the testimony of experts on how harmful this could be. Shame on them for downplaying the impact this will have on our Commonwealth, our schools, and our youth. Shame on you, State House!
As a Unitarian Universalist minister, I know our communities of faith will always, unabashedly, and without apology honor the trans community. We will honor your pronouns. We will cherish and respect your children, whoever they become. We will celebrate your uniqueness, your worth, your dignity. We will be a safe harbor now and always for the LGBTQ+ community even when our lawmakers harden their hearts and ignore the will of the people. We join in outrage with you.
Furthermore, I pledge myself to be not just an ally but a co-worker in the fight against bigotry. We have a lot of work to do, Kentucky! Our trans siblings need to know who is out there supporting them and fighting with them in this cause. You are not alone, trans Kentuckians. You will never be alone.
Rev. Brian Chenowith, Lexington
Overreach
I am beyond distressed that Kentucky legislators are so consumed with writing bills that empower teachers not to call students by their preferred name or pronoun. Are teachers so appalled over naming a student as that student desires that they need the legislature to defend that choice? My life experience teaches me that when a youngster lives at home with parents, said parents generally know if and when that young person is different, in distress or is struggling with significant issues. Parents have always had the right to communicate with teachers and are urged to do so. They also have the right to opt out of classes and activities they find abhorrent. Bills like SB150 are overreach, meddling and unnecessary. Teachers have professional standards to best equip them with knowledge of childhood development, psychology, best teaching methods, and subject matter. Do our legislators have the same? Leave the teaching and communication to the teachers, the parents and the school administrators! Consider working on keeping school kids from being slaughtered, keeping Kentucky parents employed so they can house and feed their children, and helping Kentuckians afford mental and physical health insurance. Those are the problems best addressed in Frankfort!
Janice Russell, Lexington
Merrick’s trees
Most days I walk in Merrick Park and share the trail with dog walkers, joggers, and others looking for a respite from a bustling world. Some days the chorus of birds, the rustling of animals, and the babbling creek, masks the sounds of nearby traffic. It is an oasis within the boundaries of New Circle Road.
This week, a tree service, at the direction of Kentucky Utilities, felled trees from one end of the creek to the other. Most were healthy and 100-feet tall or more.
These trees are essential to our habitat and to biomes further afield. They are part of an important corridor for wildlife in this area. Without the canopy they create, our wildlife and vegetation will struggle and some may vanish. Replanting lower-growing trees will not alleviate the problem.
Undeniably, trees cannot interfere with our electrical lines. But when our community leaders are faced with protecting our natural habitats or protecting an essential utility service, they have opted to chop down the trees.
Perhaps consulting specialists would offer other solutions. We have an obligation to seek less brutal ways to protect power lines, while protecting our environment.
Can’t Lexington do better than this?
Cynthia Clark, Lexington
Revival transformation
The nineteenth paragraph of Paul Prather’s Feb. 19 Herald-Leader piece, on the Asbury/Wilmore spontaneous revival, is notable. He wrote, of the 1801 Cane Ridge revival, “It helped transform the South from a refuge for violent brigands into the Bible Belt.”
Prather does not elaborate. Does he mean that the creation of the Bible Belt coincided with the presence and continuation of slavery, slave patrols, and the south’s rejection of Reconstruction? Or could it be that the 1801 Cane Ridge Revival spurred southern abolition? Maybe he means that an increasing awareness of the Bible, via the Bourbon County revival, bolstered the justification for the buying and selling of humans for plantation labor. Or could it be that south of the Mason-Dixon line, plundering and marauding miraculously ended after the last Cane Ridge amen?
Christopher Hitchens said, “That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.” Prather does not explain post-Cane Ridge southern transformation, so maybe he can take it up in another column.
Todd Kelly, Lexington
Band inclusivity
As the mother of a neurodivergent one-time member of the Lafayette Band, I feel the need to respond to Evelyn Weaver’s op-ed piece of Feb. 19.
Band was part of the fabric of our family life from 2006 until 2012 and benefited both of my children, but in very different ways. While my daughter was a top-notch musician (three-time All-State clarinetist, section leader and recipient of a college music scholarship), my neurodivergent son may have had even more benefits. Marching band gave him structure and discipline that he found difficult to adhere to in other academic environments. It was structure that he appreciated and enjoyed. His success in marching band gave him the confidence to pursue higher education and other performing arts.
I point out that there are a huge variety of neurodivergent students and many of them thrive in marching band.
I also served on the board of the Lafayette Band Association when my children attended Lafayette and one of the chief concerns of the association was to make band—and music education—available to all students, especially those from low-income families.
Through community support, communication and self-advocacy, music education is available to all students in Fayette County.
Margaret Gabriel, Lexington
Always open
I wish address the recent opinion piece regarding the inclusivity of Fayette County marching band programs. I do so only to address the student’s claim that marching band makes “it even harder for lower-income students to receive a music education....” I am the current president of the Lafayette Band Association (“LBA”), and I am the parent and guardian of three students who marched last year, so I know about how much time and money parents, and kids, must put into the marching band program.
The Lafayette High School Marching Band has been, and always shall be, open to students from every economic background. It is true the Lafayette Band Association asks each student to contribute toward the expenses necessary to transport, feed, and lodge over 200 students as they travel the state and country for competitions, but it is not true that it imposes a fee, or that students are prohibited from participating in the marching band if they cannot make their contributions.
I am proud of Fayette County’s marching bands and everything they have achieved. This is made possible only because of the hard work of the students, their parents (and guardians), and their wonderful instructors.
Benjamin D Allen, Lexington
Competency tests
The former governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, proposes to require all politicians over 75 years of age to take a mental competency test. Sounds like a good idea, especially coming from someone whom I have always considered to be one of the more sensible politicians who could help restore the Republican party back into mainstream respectability. However, why pick out age? Other factors associated with cognitive deficits include family history, physical inactivity, and many disease conditions like Parkinson’s, heart disease, stroke, brain injury, brain cancers, drugs, toxins, and diabetes. As a woman of color raised in rural South Carolina by immigrant parents, I am sure Haley knows a lot about the injurious “isms” in our society.
Shame on her for so blatantly playing the ageism card.
Mike Bardo, Lexington
President Carter
My focus, like some others, is on the loss we face this week.
For now, it’s the fact that President Jimmy Carter has entered hospice care. I do hope he is peaceful as family and friends surround him, and I’m thankful for their loving support for him.
The abuse of power and interference in foreign/military policy by his opponents brought an end to his presidency, including swaying gullible voters. Carter’s failure as a president was a composite of wrongdoings including by the national and international oil industry.
In the beginning, his opposition increased drastically on his first day of office when he pardoned Vietnam War draft resisters. Conservatives, joined by military leaders and veterans, hated him. However, I was a beneficiary of that pardon. I was incarcerated, even after an honorable discharge from the Army and my ROTC 2nd Lieutenant commission (to be given on graduation from the University of KY).
I am grateful to have my citizenship rights restored but firmly believe the nation’s leaders need to be pardoned for what they did to many of our soldiers and to the Vietnamese!
Carter’s leadership after serving in office shows the humility and kindness of a great man whom I honor by thanking him tonight while I sadly wait for his passing.
President Carter, you are loved!
Don Pratt, Lexington
Compiled by Liz Carey
