Lawmakers join
fight against funding of Kentucky school that expelled gay
student

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)