KY’s ed commissioner puts job on the line for LGBTQ kids. Where are other state leaders? | Opinion

Kentucky Education Commissioner Jason Glass had some unequivocal words for the General Assembly shortly after it passed a Frankenstein-Don’t Say Gay-bathroom bill-transgender target bill known as SB 150.

“Instead of addressing the real issues impacting our schools, the legislature expended its time and energy on this stitched-together bill, taking aim directly at LGBTQIA+ people,” Glass said in a release on Friday.

“The bill contains provisions that will put our young people at risk, have the government interfere with decisions between doctors, patients and families and puts Kentucky at the front of a series of similar hateful, ignorant and shameful efforts around the country.”

In addition, he announced the Kentucky Department of Education will be holding a summit in support of LGBTQIA+ people and youth. The statement put him directly in the cross-hairs of the legislators who passed that legislation, and believe that public schools are nests of indoctrination because someone, somewhere once put a rainbow on their classroom door.

Glass has been joined by some other educators, like Fayette County school board chairman Tyler Murphy, and the Danville Independent School Superintendent Greg Ross, both of whom declared their districts’ support for diversity policies and LGBTQ students and employees. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg called the bill “unconscionable.” Lexington’s council wrote a letter affirming its support for LGBTQ people.

But otherwise, not much else.

“The silence from so many allies has been deafening,” said Chris Hartman of the Fairness Campaign. “Where are all the companies who proudly post their rainbow logos during Pride Month? Maybe they’ve all been waiting for me—or someone—to come ask them to speak up. There’s no time for that. We’re in an unprecedented crisis right now—they’re coming for our LGBTQ community all across the nation.”

A deafening silence

So after the legislature paints a bullseye on the back of Kentucky’s LGBTQ population, where are our leaders?

Where are businessmen and women? Where is the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, which has said before that hate legislation hurts tourism and business? “The Chamber discourages any discriminatory legislation that would hinder any individual’s or organization’s desire to do business in or with the Commonwealth,” the Chamber released in its legislative priority statement. “The Chamber’s mission is to foster a positive environment that enables business growth in Kentucky, and we believe such legislation to be bad for business.” But president Ashli Watts has not issued any other statements.

Where are higher education leaders? In particular, where is the University of Kentucky, the state’s largest healthcare provider with what is surely the state’s largest concentration of LGBTQ students, staff and faculty? We heard from President Eli Capilouto loud and clear — with the political clout of the state’s largest alumni organization behind him — on another terrible bill, Rep. Savannah Maddox’s legislation to allow free range guns on college campuses. It then failed.

But nothing public on SB 150.

UK spokesman Jay Blanton said the university opposed the bill privately to lawmakers.

“We do not discuss our efforts in private or behind the scenes with respect to legislation. That’s a pledge we made long ago to lawmakers, and we always seek to honor that. We generally are opposed to legislation that seeks to regulate our decisions about what services we should be offering or how they are offered.”

Of course, it’s a risk to offend Kentucky legislators, especially when they control a portion of your budget. They are vindictive; look at what happened when Sen. Damon Thayer had to pay a few more bucks to park in downtown Lexington. And SB 150 is mostly aimed at the under 18 crowd, which does not technically include colleges. But UK — which has a 5 star rating from the Campus Pride Index for its institutional commitment to LGBTQ-inclusive policies and practice — should surely note that many of its patients and some of its students, including future teachers, could be affected by this bill, particularly in the way it sanctions anti-LGBTQ sentiments.

When asked for a comment after the bill’s passage, Blanton said: “We have consistently responded to questions about this legislation with our concerns – both to media who have asked and within our community – regarding legislation that seeks to regulate our decisions about what services we should be offering or how they are offered. We also routinely communicate with members of our LGBTQ community about resources for support as we are steadfastly committed to being a community of belonging for everyone.”

Capilouto leads the state’s flagship research university, with the power of a huge alumni base behind him. Academia is supposed to stand for many of our ideals about intellectual inquiry, and yes inclusion. Will he also stay quiet when Kentucky continues its copycat legislation and next goes after diversity initiatives and gender studies, as they are doing in other states?

Last week, Ohio Republicans introduced a bill to ban any diversity training; Florida is banning gender studies and African American history majors, along with any consideration of diversity in hiring.

UK’s silence has been a disappointment to many.

“I’m shocked that the University has not made any effort to express support for its own LGBTQ+ community,” said Ellen Rosenman, former chair of the UK English department and head of the Women’s Studies Program. “These recent bills run directly counter to UK’s stated values, from its support of “diversity [and] inclusion” to its promotion of research and health care. I had gay and trans-gender students in my classes, and their suffering was often palpable.

“The University should be helping them rather than standing silently by while the legislature demonizes them and forbids them from receiving the care recommended by the vast majority of medical professionals. I hope the outstanding faculty teaching and research on gender and sexuality, including the outstanding Gender and Women’s Studies Department, will not be a future target of destructive, ignorant legislation.”

‘Doing the right thing’

Glass said something else in his statement.

“The Kentucky legislature is following a terrifying, but sadly well-trodden path. In the long run, history does not reflect well on such regimes. And in the short-run, we should all be concerned about who will be their next target.”

For his part, Glass isn’t worried about his own status as a target. He’s entering year three of a four-year contract with the state Board of Education. We may not see his like again; Senate Bill 107 would require Senate confirmation of future education commissioners.

“It’s my role to call it like I see it, to be independent to stay and take action in the best interest of schools and students,” he said. “We’ve got all kinds of real problems that the legislature needs to be working on, but they’re hyperfocused on this culture war issue, which will ultimately put LGBTQ people in the target.

“I can find another job,” he said. “You don’t get into it to stay in it forever, particularly if you’re doing the right thing.”

Will other state leaders continue to stay silent as the march against the marginalized continues? Or will they risk something to do the right thing?