Kentucky lawsuit:
Taxes shouldn't fund homophobia

A gay rights group filed suit Tuesday against Kentucky governor Ernie Fletcher over his decision to keep $11 million in state funds earmarked for a private Baptist college that expelled a gay student earlier this month. Christina Gilgor, executive director of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance, asked a Franklin circuit court judge to prevent the state from giving public money to University of the Cumberlands.

Lawmakers included $10 million for a proposed pharmacy school and $1 million for scholarships for the school in the budget. The school is located in the district of Republican senate president David Williams, and he has been an advocate for funding the program.

Kentucky's constitution prohibits the state from using tax money in support of religious institutions or entities that discriminate against citizens, according to the suit. "We're asking that the governor uphold the constitution and not allow the funding of the University of the Cumberlands," Gilgor said in a telephone interview.

Fletcher declined to veto funding for the college because, he said, the money came from coal severance taxes paid by coal companies, not by individual taxpayers in the state. Jim Deckard, Fletcher's general counsel, said Monday evening he believes the constitution's prohibition on funding private schools is limited to elementary and high schools, not colleges and universities.

Fletcher had said he would ask the courts to determine the constitutionality of providing state funding for construction projects at private institutions before releasing the money. However, the governor would not be the proper plaintiff in such a suit, Gilgor said.

The group is asking the court to block public funding of the school and wants a ruling from the court about whether such an appropriation is legal under the state's constitution, she said. "We really just needed to take the lead and be sure that the constitutional issues received a full and fair representation," Gilgor said. (AP)