Kentucky
legislator opposes funding school that expelled gay student

A Kentucky state senator took exception with an item in the proposed state budget that includes funding for a building at the University of the Cumberlands, where a student was expelled last week after writing about his boyfriend on his MySpace.com profile. The $18.1 billion two-year budget includes $10 million of state debt to build a pharmacy building on the school's Whitley County campus. The budget also includes $1 million to fund scholarships for students attending the college's yet-to-be-created pharmacy program. "We should not be budgeting bigotry," Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, a Democrat from Lexington, told colleagues before the budget passed unanimously in Frankfort. Scorsone is the only openly gay member of the general assembly. "If the University of the Cumberlands does not change its policies and practices, we will have a state benefit that is only available to heterosexuals," Scorsone said. Republican senate president David Williams of Burkesville, who pushed for the funding, said he didn't know the facts of the specific case involving the student, so he didn't know whether it could affect funding for the school. (AP)