Mayor Grayson Vandegrift speaks at the ACLU's legislative reception at the Kentucky History Center in Frankfort as Kirsten Hawley of Brown-Forman Corp., right, listens. |
By Austyn Gaffney
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media
Mayor Grayson Vandegrift told an audience in Frankfort Wednesday night that Midway’s fairness ordinance, prohibiting discrimination
against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity, has been good
for business.
“The argument as to whether fairness laws are bad for
business is over,” said Vandegrift, one of three invited speakers at an American Civil
Liberties Union of Kentucky legislative reception. “And with every new job we create and
every business that opens its doors and every person that feels that they and
their loved ones are welcomed we will continue to show that fairness is good
for business.”
Vandegrift led the City Council to make Midway the eighth city in Kentucky with the anti-discrimination measure, known by advocates as a “fairness
ordinance.” Although state and federal civil rights laws ban discrimination on
the basis of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, disability or national
origin, they do not include sexual orientation and gender identity. In
Kentucky, it is still legal to discriminate based on sexual orientation and
gender identity in housing, employment, and public accommodation, such as a
business or restaurant. Fairness ordinances make discriminatory practices
illegal within city or county limits.
“Like a lot of people, I assumed those protections already
existed,” Vandegrift said. “When I ran for mayor it wasn’t on my radar.” Just
three weeks into his term, the Woodford County Human Rights Commission
presented the issue to him, and he quickly agreed to push it.
Opponents argued the ordinance would drive people out of
business or drive businesses out of town. But instead, according to the mayor,
the opposite happened, and businesses sought out Midway.
A year after passing the ordinance, the city projected a 33
percent increase in occupational-tax revenue and the Midway Station industrial
park transformed as two new businesses announced their plans to open plants,
Vandegrift noted. American Howa Kentucky Inc., an auto-parts manufacturer,
promises to employee 88 full time workers. Lakeshore Learning Materials, an
educational supply company from California, will open its first eastern
distribution center, employing 262 full time workers and 140 seasonal workers.
“We’re about to experience a nearly 100 percent increase in
jobs in a matter of a few years,” Vandegrift told supporters of the Kentucky
Competitive Workforce Coalition, which favors fairness ordinances and a
statewide law.
“So as not to appear disingenuous, I am not claiming all
this growth is the because of a fairness ordinance,” the mayor said. “But it is
indisputable that the ordinance did not cause hardship to our existing
businesses, it did not drive employers out of town, and it did not keep
companies from coming to Midway. And I’m happy to add that Lakeshore Learning Materials
has expressed their support for our ordinance and laws like it.”
The Midway Messenger asked Lakeshore if its decision to
locate here had anything to do with the fairness ordinance. The company
declined to comment.
The coalition is a group of over 200 businesses, from small,
locally owned businesses to large Fortune 500 Companies like PNC Bank, United
Parcel Service, Humana and Brown-Forman. Kirsten Hawley, senior vice president
and chief human resources officer of Brown-Forman, explained why her company is
committed to the coalition’s work: “We know through 145 years of experience
talent doesn’t come in one shape, one size, one color, one religious
background, or one type of sexual orientation or identity.”
But the coalition recognizes it faces a long, uphill battle.
“A non-discrimination ordinance has been introduced for 17
or 18 years now, and has not gained enough support for passage,” said Michael
Aldridge, director of Kentucky’s ACLU. “We were building and building more
support over the years but with the November elections it looks unlikely within
the General Assembly that a statewide anti-discrimination law will pass in the
near future.”
In fact, bills with an opposite vision have been introduced
in the 2017 General Assembly. House Bill 105, commonly known as the “religious
freedom” bill, says no law or court shall take the place of “a person’s right
of conscience” to stand by their religious beliefs. The bill threatens to
reverse fairness ordinances, but leaders of the newly Republican House have
indicated it won’t be heard.
Vandegrift finds it ironic that Rep. Rick Nelson, a Democrat
from Middlesboro, filed the bill and one to ban transgender people’s use of
bathrooms for the gender with which they identify.
“When he was running for state treasurer,” said Vandegrift,
“I co-hosted a fundraiser for him. What’s funny is that the ordinance had just
passed, and I find it funny he didn’t have a problem raising money here but
then turns and files a bill saying we don’t have the right to govern ourselves
on laws like this. You just can’t write this stuff.”
Vandegrift’s push for Midway to move towards fairness is
noticed not only by the coalition, but by Woodford County citizens as well. Dan
Brown, secretary of the Woodford County Human Rights Commission and a retired
school teacher, shared a personal story.
“For 27 years I drove to school and almost every morning I
worried a little bit that I could be fired for my sexual orientation,” said
Brown. “That loss of energy and that amount of worry would give more vibrancy
to city if you didn’t have to be concerned. It makes a city more welcoming to
all people.”
He also shared that when he and his husband go out to eat
now, they do so in Midway. “We’ve been together about 33 years. We’ve lived through a
lot of being hidden just to survive but we feel very comfortable in Midway,”
said Brown.
Aldridge said Midway was always a welcoming community, but
attributed the success of the ordinance to Vandegrift.
“I really applaud his leadership,” said Aldridge. “I think
he’s a leader we really need in other parts of the state.”
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