At least a dozen
Kentucky lawmakers are banding together to file a legal
brief in support of a lawsuit seeking to stop state funding
of a Baptist college that recently expelled a student
for being gay. Led by gay state senator Ernesto
Scorsone, a Democrat from Lexington, the group of both
senators and representatives says the state's constitution
does not allow public funding of private or religious
schools, the Associated Press reports.
The Kentucky Fairness Alliance, a gay rights
group, filed suit last week after Republican governor
Ernie Fletcher approved an $11 million budget
appropriation to fund a new pharmacy school and related
scholarships at the University of the Cumberlands in
Williamsburg. The school does not allow gay students
to attend and kicked out sophomore Jason Johnson last
month when administrators discovered on his MySpace.com page
that he is gay.
On Tuesday Scorsone and his allies held a
news conference outside the Old State Capitol in
Frankfort, where two actors performed state
constitutional debates from the 19th century. The purpose
was to show that Kentucky's founders meant for there
to be a separation between church and state. "History
is clear, and so is our constitution," Scorsone said
at the event.
Although he approved the appropriation, Fletcher
has also filed suit, seeking to clarify whether such
funding is legal. Scorsone said it is likely that
Fletcher's suit and the one by the Kentucky Fairness
Alliance will be joined, according to the AP. (The
Advocate)
