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What happens to marginalized groups in a DOGE Eat KOGE World?

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Since originality is dead and redundancy is in—Kentucky has been quick to join the list of states mirroring the new, and legally questionable, Department of Governmental Efficiency or DOGE at the state level. 

The proposed Kentucky Senate Bill 257 (SB 257) aims to establish the Office of Government Efficiency within the Auditor of Public Accounts, tasked with evaluating and recommending improvements to the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and performance of state government agencies, programs, and operations. 

Aiming to cut waste and be more efficient is good. I am annoyingly known to be very efficient with how much I have to talk, aiming for fewer words because I don’t love hearing my own voice. I also have had relationships struggle because of my incessant need to be efficient…like looking up the EXACT time to head to dinner based on traffic patterns– so far be it from me to criticize anyone wanting to work at efficiency. I am one of you.

But what the proposed Kentucky office, or KOGE as they wish to be called, doesn’t factor in are the possible inadvertent negative impacts on marginalized groups, including LGBTQ individuals and people of color. 

As history has shown, when the costs start getting cut—stuff for people who are of the lesser regarded class, aka the others, are often first on the chopping block. Efficiency initiatives often lead to budget cuts or restructuring of programs deemed non-essential. Services specifically supporting marginalized communities, such as LGBTQ health programs or minority outreach initiatives, might be at risk if they are not prioritized, thereby reducing access to critical resources for these populations.

A primary focus on cost-cutting may also neglect to factor in the importance of equity. Yes equity, that word some people are now trying to paint as a negative when really it is anything but. A valid concern with KOGE is how it would handle programs and services designed to address systemic disparities which pose a risk of being undervalued if their benefits are not immediately quantifiable in economic terms, potentially exacerbating existing inequalities. Further, without explicit inclusion of diverse perspectives in the evaluation process, the unique needs of marginalized groups might be overlooked. This oversight can result in recommendations that do not account for the challenges faced by these communities, leading to policies that are not inclusive.

A more tangible fear I hold relates to an office I hold dear to my heart. As the former Executive Director of the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, I value the mission and purpose of the agency. Past state budgets, not so much. And I know firsthand the importance of the work being done there to this day. When we can look to the federal model of DOGE that has used an approach that seems kind to call “control find” as its guiding practice, I fear what happens to an agency that’s main mission is to “safeguard all individuals within the state from discrimination.”  When the federal version is closing buildings referencing the Civil Rights Movement or looking for things that use the word women, or Black, or queer and laying them out for more scrutiny—what happens with an agency tasked with protecting people who are discriminated against for being a woman, or Black, or queer? Does KOGE make it easier to fire or choose to not hire a queer or Black applicant? Even if that isn’t the intention, the chilling effect on the work of an agency can be pretty severe. On top of open discrimination, this can lead to increased unemployment among populations already facing employment challenges.

Kentucky rarely leads on things outside of bourbon, basketball, and horses. The desire to be one of the first states to emulate DOGE at the state level is befuddling. Why rush? State legislatures already have sweeping authority to monitor and provide oversight of the same things KOGE seeks to address. Does it have a cool name that gets a tweet, sorry X, from Elon Musk? Probably not, but the purpose can be carried out without endangering vital services to marginalized communities. But then again, isn’t it super-efficient to have multiple offices doing the same thing?

 

Crunch time: Follow along on the last day before the veto period in Frankfort

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It is crunch time in Frankfort: Friday is the last day Kentucky’s Republican-dominated legislature can pass bills and know they’ll be able to override any vetoes from Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. 

Read: Any anti-LGBTQ+ legislation needs to pass today, otherwise it is dead for 2025. 

Here’s a general outline of what to watch for Friday, plus an outline of where things go from here. We’ll be updating this story throughout the day, too, so go ahead and bookmark this page and keep an eye on our socials for the latest. 

 

11:42 p.m.: House OKs more health care restrictions for transgender Kentuckians

Kentucky’s House also just voted to block gender-affirming health care from transgender inmates in Kentucky — all 67 of them. This one will also go to Beshear’s desk for consideration.

They approved Senate Bill 2 on a 73-12 vote with mere minutes remaining before the veto period.

Minority Whip Rep. Lindsey Burke (D-Lexington) called out GOP leadership for calling the bill after just passing HB 495, which also restricts access to gender-affirming care — and did so with such little time left on the clock.

“What a wasteful piece of legislation, what a waste of our time when we actually could do something to help instead of hurt,” Burke said.

11:09 p.m.: House OKs blocking health care from some transgender Kentuckians

After using a swift legislative move to stifle debate on HB 495 at the 11th-hour, the GOP-dominated legislature will be sending a bill to both block gender-affirming health care from transgender Kentuckians on Medicaid and prohibit bans on conversion therapy to the governor’s desk.

Five House Democrats spoke against the bill before GOP leadership ended debate and immediately called for a vote on the bill. It passed on a 67-19 vote, with Rep. Kim Banta being the lone Republican to join the Dems in voting against the bill.

 

10:41 p.m.: Clock is ticking, y’all

Checking in real fast to confirm that my prior statement of this being a long night is true.

My eyes are on the House right now, which needs to take action on basically all of the bills I told y’all to watch tonight in the next, um, 80 minutes or so.  Anything controversial must be passed by midnight in order to withstand a potential Beshear veto, so the clock is ticking.

The House just started debating House Bill 495, which would ban transgender Kentuckians on Medicaid from accessing gender-affirming health care as well as prohibit bans on conversion therapy.

Stay tuned here and you can watch live on KET, if you’d like.

 

6:30 p.m.: A last-second Senate change aimed at transgender inmates

It has been a long day and it is expected to be an even longer night. Lawmakers gaveled in this morning and have largely been bouncing between closed door caucus meetings, last-second committee hearings to hammer out final details of a handful of bills and votes on a variety of topics.

This morning, the Senate changed an uncontroversial bill initially aimed at mental health facilities — House Bill 392 — to require inmates to use facilities tied to their assigned sex at birth. The House needs to agree with the changes in order for it to advance to Beshear’s desk for consideration.

 

What to expect in Kentucky’s legislature Friday

Expect a dizzying rush of legislation mixed with random, at times lengthy, periods of downtime as lawmakers meet with their caucuses behind closed doors. 

Also, you should probably expect an incredibly long day — the Senate starts at 9 a.m. and the House at 10 a.m., and they have until midnight to pass whatever they’d like. 

 

What are the bills to watch on Friday?

Queer Kentucky has been tracking LGBTQ-focused legislation all session, and only a handful of the bills are still at play this late into the legislative session. 

The biggest one to watch Friday is House Bill 495. This is the one that initially wanted to just undo Beshear’s ban on conversion therapy, but then suddenly also wanted to block transgender Kentuckians on Medicaid from receiving gender-affirming health care. 

HB 495 passed out of the Senate Thursday, and now the House needs to approve the new health care ban language before the legislature sends the bill to Beshear’s desk. 

And then two bills — Senate Bill 2 and Senate Bill 132 — could get a House vote Friday. SB 2 would block gender-affirming health care for transgender inmates, and SB 132 would allow health care providers to refuse to offer certain treatments if they don’t want to for religious or moral reasons. 

You might also want to keep an eye on House Bill 392, which is poised for a Senate vote on Friday. It is about mental health facilities and has sailed through the legislature thus far. However, Senate Majority Whip Mike Wilson (R-Bowling Green) — the sponsor of SB 2 — added a floor amendment that would, if passed, require inmates to use facilities tied to the sex they were assigned to at birth. 

The Senate may not approve it, but it is worth watching. Like HB 495, this would need to go back to the House for approval before it goes to the governor if it gets changed.

 

And what if the House doesn’t like these changes? 

I will try to make this as conversational as possible. 

OK, so, if the two chambers don’t agree on something, it goes to a thing called a conference committee. Basically, a group of lawmakers talk about the bill and can change around its parts to try and reach a compromise. But they can’t add anything new in; they’ve gotta work with what they’ve got.

But if this doesn’t work, then they get to go to a free conference committee. Now, they can kinda do whatever to reach a compromise. They can add, subtract, multiply, divide, whatever it takes to strike a deal.

Typically, the free conference committee works, so I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if there is a step after that other than the bill failing to pass. 

And I’ll remind y’all that in this situation, they’d be trying to do all of this in a day that is typically the legislature’s busiest. 

 

What happens after Friday?

Everyone is in a rush because the veto period starts at, like, 12:01 a.m. Saturday. This is a block of time dedicated to Beshear reviewing everything passed thus far, and vetoing what he doesn’t like. (Of course, he can also sign things into law, or let them become law without his signature.)

There are then two days of the legislative session left — March 27 and 28 — where the legislature can override those vetoes. So, the GOP-heavy legislature needs to pass anything controversial now so they get the last say. 

They can still pass stuff on those last two days, but then Beshear gets the last say — not them. 

 

Let’s look at the final full week of Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session

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This article was originally published by The Gallery Press by Olivia Krauth

This is the final full week of Kentucky’s 2025 legislative session and, honestly, thank God for that.

The GOP-dominated legislature has until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Friday night to pass anything controversial before a 10-day veto period starts. That’s when Gov. Andy Beshear — known supporter of DEI efforts and the LGBTQ+ community — can reject bills sent to him for consideration to be law, but lawmakers would still have two days at the end of the month to override him.

If anything anti-DEI or anti-LGBTQ+ *doesn’t* make it to Beshear by then, I would tell you it is safe to assume it is dead and won’t become law. But also this is Frankfort and apparently we can randomly try and block needed health care from transgender Kentuckians at 8:30 in the morning, so.

A note of caution: There is so, so, so much going on in Kentucky politics right now. For this evening, I’m focusing on the five bills left on the Queer Kentucky bill tracker I’ve been running all session that are still considered alive because what an absolute day for going after the LGBTQ+ community.

As always, you can fill out this survey real fast to let me know what questions you have or what bills you’d like an update on. (And yes, you can also submit people for the potential Best Dressed of #KYGA25 list.)

OK, let’s begin.

FRANKFORT, March 7 – Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, (left) confers with Rep. David Hale, R-Wellington, during Friday’s House session. (Photo: LRC Public Information)

OK, seriously?

We can start with the way some Republicans decided to take a bill that already sought to prohibit bans on conversion therapy — a discredited attempt at counseling kids out of being anything other than straight — and then somehow add a section barring Medicaid funds from covering gender-affirming health care for transgender Kentuckians.

They did this literally at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in front of a Senate committee, which proceeded to pass the new bill (House Bill 495, sponsored by GOP Rep. David Hale).

Hale, to his credit, explained the committee substitute of the bill, which radically altered the bill with all of the new we’re-taking-away-your-health-care language, in the committee.

It was interesting to hear Hale present and defend this sudden change because just last week, he seemed to be defending a parent’s right to choose their child’s health care. Now, he’s defending the state’s right to choose your health care, regardless of age. Wonder what changed.

However, he was — and has been — praised for working to make the conversion therapy part of the bill stronger, per Dem Sen. Karen Berg. But the new section yanking away health care was a no-go.

The HB 495 committee vote also included committee chair GOP Sen. Stephen Meredith yelling at Fairness Campaign director Chris Hartman mere *syllables* into Hartman’s testimony against the bill.

I’ve seen plenty of high tensions in Frankfort, but Meredith’s audacity might be unprecedented.

HB 495 now has two readings in the Senate, meaning it could get a full Senate vote as early as Thursday morning, actually, since both the House and Senate decided to gavel in at 9 a.m. instead of the normal 2 p.m.

If it passes the Senate, the House needs to agree with the changes the Senate made to their bill before it gets sent to Beshear’s desk where it will almost absolutely be vetoed.

But here’s the thing: Some Republicans in the House already tried to make the whole blocking Medicaid funds situation a thing several weeks ago and the bill went nowhere. Not even when HB 495 was up for a House vote last week did they try to add this language to it.

So, why now? And will the Senate be interested in it?

And if the Senate approves it, the House has to agree with the changes — will they? Will they do so by Friday night? If they don’t, will a conference committee — a group of lawmakers tasked with finding a compromise — be successful in time?

And if the conference committee fails, what will the free conference committee — the group that basically gets to take the bill and do whatever they want to it — come up with? And will they reach a solution in time?

Is it really worth it to them to spend that much time during the next two legislative days? We’ll see.

It is entirely possible that adding this language about Medicaid will cause the entire thing to collapse, therefore allowing Beshear’s ban on conversion therapy to stay in place. But again, we’ll see.
FRANKFORT, March 12 – Senate Democratic Floor Leader Gerald A. Neal, D-Louisville, speaks on House Bill 4, an act related to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, on the Senate floor Wednesday. (Photo: LRC Public Information)

Does anyone know when slavery ended?

Kentucky’s GOP-dominated Senate easily approved — with an assist from Dem Sen. Robin Webb, who also voted in favor of the measure — this year’s marquee anti-diversity, equity and inclusion bill, House Bill 4.

HB 4 is aimed at college campuses, and despite this being a high-profile topic for the last two sessions and the bill actually not changing a ton since being filed last month, I’m still not sure if anyone is 100% sure what exactly it does and doesn’t do.

Generally, it is aimed at not forcing any policy designed to be based on religion, race, sex, color or national origin. It wants to do away with DEI offices. It wants to foster intellectual diversity, though, that is safe.

But, just like with so many other bills sparked by the GOP’s culture wars, even with attempts to make its language specific and after months of discussion, it still isn’t totally clear.

And when things like this aren’t clear, it often has a chilling effect on educators and admins.

Wednesday’s Senate vote was, um, interesting. Some Dems, like Louisville Dem Sen. Karen Berg, shared lengthy, personal stories about how DEI impacted them directly. Republican Sen. Donald Douglas, who is Black, rattled off a list of historical facts, including sharing that slavery ended in 1805. Dem Sen. Reggie Thomas, who is also Black, later corrected him regarding slavery facts.

And apparently there was an off-camera fight between legislative leaders, captured by the Kentucky Lantern’s McKenna Horsley.

McKenna Horsley @mckennahorsley.bsky.social

Some party leaders are having a heated discussion.

View on Bluesky

I could write an entire other newsletter about the energy, the body language, Sen. Karen Berg’s shawl version of a Snuggie (?), the last second appearance of Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong — everything — in this clip, but I am tired and so therefore I will move on (for now).

This one is off to Beshear, who has 10 days to decide what he wants to do with it. (Spoiler: He will most likely veto it.)

More on LGBTQ+ issues

Senate Bill 2

SB 2, which would block gender-affirming health care for the 67 or so transgender inmates in Kentucky, passed a House committee Wednesday.

This is a top priority bill for the Senate GOP — all 31 Republican senators signed on as a cosponsor — but it looks like it might not have the time to pass the House. It needs three readings across three days, like all bills, and it needed its first reading on Wednesday in order to pass by Friday. And it got that first reading. So we’ll see how this goes.

But while Beshear is pretty pro-LGBTQ+, I don’t know if he’s gone on record regarding this particular issue. It might be possible that he won’t veto it, and therefore Republicans have a bit of extra time.

Senate Bill 132

This one would basically allow health care professionals to refuse to do certain medical procedures if those procedures violate their values. So, think, if their religious values include not believing LGBTQ+ people are real, they could refuse to provide needed gender-affirming health care. Same idea goes for abortions.

This passed out of a House committee and got that first reading Wednesday, so this also could pass Friday.

Senate Bill 60

SB 60 is very much like SB 132, but it extends the religious liberty thing to basically everything — not just health care.

It is almost safe to say this one is dead. It could’ve been heard in committee Wednesday, and yet they didn’t put it on the agenda. It also doesn’t have any of its three readings in the House, and there are only two legislative days left before the veto period, so … the math.

Oh, and also

For reasons I have not seen publicly and/or widely articulated, apparently Grimace was terrorizing the Kentucky Capitol Annex Wednesday.

As if the session itself wasn’t a terror enough.

Apparently, there is also an uprising regarding an alleged recent decision to stop the Capitol Annex snack shop (a small place with a gas station-like assortment of snacks and drinks so you don’t pass out in Frankfort and/or for those of us who have a fear of the Capitol Annex cafeteria) from offering *checks notes* hot food?

Obviously, I will keep y’all updated with such incredibly passing matters, especially as the veto period approaches.

Some programming notes

Just a bunch of repeats from last week:

  • If you’re a paid sub, PLEASE double-check what card you have on file so any and all payments go through. Several of y’all signed up for annual subscriptions last March, so those should be renewing soon and I’d hate for you to lose access at the worst possible moment of session.
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Aight, my party people, we will talk when we talk next. If you see me in Frankfort and I’m not sobbing in my car, feel free to come up and say hi! I have friendship bracelets!

Toodles!

The image shoes a poster made of the colors of the trans pride flag and it reads "We are your neighbors, your friends and family, we are human beings, we are Kentucky, we deserve fairness"

SESSION IS OVER: Costly crime bill to become law, anti-DEI bills officially dead for now

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Today is the infamous sine die, which is the action that officially ends this legislative session. This legislative session has included at least 14 anti-LGBTQ+ bills, with anti-DEI bills being particularly publicly controversial. Of all of the bills, only 1 of the anti-LGBTQ bills passed. 

House Bill 5, a broad-reaching crime bill, will become law despite Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto. HB 5 has been opposed by statewide and national advocacy organizations including the Fairness Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union. Also profiled by both organizations were HB 9 and SB 6, anti-DEI bills that were dead, resuscitated at the last second, and then left to be gasping for air again. This is to say they did not pass for now, but the sponsors of these bills seek to continue advocating for this kind of policy.

Additionally, as reported by McKenna Horsley with the Kentucky Lantern, the Senate did concur with a House floor amendment to Senate Bill 191, a postsecondary funding bill, that would prohibit the use of “any race-based metrics or targets in the formulas” for the higher education funding model. 

This was one area where anti-DEI language was able to be quietly implemented, which follows a national trend of conservative politicians restricting DEI efforts (below).

There were many developments with SB 6 and HB 9, the anti-DEI bills of this legislative session. SB 6 was infused into HB 9 by Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Waddy, without consulting the sponsor of SB 6, Republican Whip Mike Wilson of Bowling Green. 

This action caused controversy within the Republican Party, as they could not agree on the constitutionality of Rep. Decker’s more regulatory and extreme additions. The Senate did not go along with the sweeping changes made in the House, causing the clock to run out on the possibility of sweeping anti-DEI legislation in the 2024 legislative session. 

The bill that will become law was HB 5, which proponents called the “Safer Kentucky Act.” Opponents say it criminalizes the poor and unhoused, dubbing it the “Suffer Kentucky Act.” 

The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy did an analysis of HB 5, giving 5 leading effects of the potential law:

  1. Increases criminal penalties for fentanyl in numerous ways
  2. Criminalizes Kentuckians for being poor and unhoused
  3. Creates harsher penalties for violent crime that do not make us safer and are not an appropriate response to current conditions
  4. Expands felonies, enhances penalties and restricts personal liberties, among other provisions
  5. Spends a large amount of state and local financial resources on these tried and failed approaches to public safety

LGBTQ+ communities already have “higher rates of poverty, lower rates of home ownership, and higher rates of homelessness” according to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. 

As well, LGBTQ+ communities “face widespread discrimination in housing, mortgage lending, and homeless shelters and services.” 

These compounding impacts of discrimination and marginalization have a greater impact on Black, Brown, and Indigenous members of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as people identifying as LGBTQ+ and living with disabilities. 

Further, the Trevor Project reports the key findings on how homelessness and housing instability are tied to queerness,

“Nearly half (44%) of Native/Indigenous LGBTQ youth have experienced homelessness or housing instability at some point in their life, compared to 16% of Asian American/Pacific Islander youth, 27% of White LGBTQ youth, 27% of Latinx LGBTQ youth, 26% of Black LGBTQ youth, and 36% of multiracial LGBTQ youth. 

Homelessness and housing instability were reported at higher rates among transgender and nonbinary youth, including 38% of transgender girls/women, 39% of transgender boys/men, and 35% of nonbinary youth, compared to 23% of cisgender LGBQ youth.”

The Nation published an article covering Kentucky’s HB 5, and in that article the “Safer Kentucky Act” was referenced as the “cruelest criminal-justice bill in America.”

HB 5 was publicly opposed by more than 100 Kentucky groups, urging lawmakers to reject the bill. The legislation will cost Kentucky more than $1 billion over a decade, and much of that cost would come from the finances to require longer prison sentences. 

If Kentucky was a country, it would have the 7th highest rate of incarceration in the world. The international scale of Kentucky’s high rate of incarceration was in a report by the Prison Policy Initiative, shared in 2021. This bill will only further populate Kentucky’s already chronically overpopulated jails.

With the amount of public controversy around this bill, more information regarding the source of the bill was requested. A Kentucky Public radio analysis exposed that many of the sources provided as support for this bill are from a policy report in Georgia, not Kentucky constituents, policy writers, or community members. Further, multiple writers of the quoted sources claim that their academic work was used out of context for political gain.

Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky loses tax exempt status, leadership questioned by former advocates 

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UPDATE: On April 11, the Kentucky Youth Law Project, an organization working to enhance legal protections for queer youth, denounced BCTK’s actions and called for its executive director, Rebecca Blankenship, and its one lobbyist, Michael Frazier to resign immediately.

“In these difficult times, it is imperative that all nonprofit organizations scrupulously follow the laws, rules and regulations. Organizations that fail to do this risk losing their credibility and support within our community. And organizations that continue to collect donor funds after they have been declared ineligible for tax-exempt status are misleading their supporters,” Elston said.

The full statement can be read here.

Louisville, KY – Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky (BCTK), a group founded in 2017, recently announced it will “reevaluate and restructure” the organization as its efforts no longer center on a conversion therapy ban in Kentucky. Former advisers and organizers now criticize the group’s 2024 lobbying efforts and loss of non-profit status, calling the actions “gross oversight” and “deeply saddening.” 

Kia Nishida, a former organizer for BCTK who cut ties in 2021, said the group’s leaders are unjustly benefiting from the support of LGBTQ+ people and their allies while supporting legislation that can be damaging to queer people. “I’m frustrated,” Nishida explained. “They’re using the name we worked so hard to build to make it seem like they’re supporting LGBTQ+ folks when that is not the case.”

In a March 29 social media post BCTK described its shift in focus saying changes began in 2023. This year, BCTK reported lobbying Senate Bill 6 and House Bill 9 according to a March 27 update from the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission. The organization also noted lobbying on conversion therapy and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

The two specific bills had a similar focus, targeting diversity, equity and inclusion. Senate Bill 6 is commonly referred to as the anti-DEI bill and House Bill 9 sought to ban DEI in higher education. You can read Queer Kentucky’s extensive reporting on this legislation from reporter Belle Townsend here. 

Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky is currently led by executive director Rebecca Blankenship of Berea, Kentucky. Queer Kentucky reached out to BCTK for comment from Blankenship and the group’s sole lobbyist Michael Frazier. In an email, Blankenship addressed their lobbying efforts saying, “Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky opposed the first two versions of SB6 and took no position on HB9 or the third version of SB6.”

Rebecca Blankenship, Executive Director, Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky

This contradicts the previously mentioned documentation from the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission which notes BCTK’s lobbying efforts on HB9. When asked to clarify this discrepancy, Blankenship said, “HB9 should not be listed on BCTK. Either Michael or I made a mistake filling out the KLEC forms. I’ll correct it with KLEC. HB9 is not part of the lobbying efforts for BCTK.”

Blankenship is also the Assistant Executive Director for the Kentucky Students Rights Coalition. In that capacity, Blankenship said she testified against the original version of SB6. After legislators made amendments, she became a strong supporter of the bill and even wrote a letter to the House Judiciary Committee. She said, “ I believe the hype and anger that surrounded that bill was much more a reaction to the racist rhetoric employed by some of the bill’s supporters than to the bill’s actual impact, which was almost universally misunderstood and which the bill’s numerous exceptions and qualifications would have made pretty narrow. DEI officers get paid $100,000 a year to wear a suit and do mostly nothing.” 

ACLU-KY and The Fairness Campaign, Kentucky’s leading LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, have publicly denounced these bills saying they suppress free speech and deny students’ rights.

BCTK is no longer an active non-profit registered in Kentucky, having been administratively dissolved by the Kentucky Secretary of State for failing to file mandated annual reports. BCTK is no longer an active non-profit registered in Kentucky. Still, BCTK requested donations asking folks to “help us protect LGBT youth” as recently as February without communicating its change in status or policy focus to donors or stakeholders. When asked to address these concerns, Blankenship responded, “Of course I can’t comment on any legal matters. BCTK is not actively soliciting or receiving donations of any kind.”

BCTK’s sole lobbyist in 2024 was Michael Frazier

BCTK’s sole lobbyist in 2024 was Michael Frazier, founder and director of the Kentucky Student Rights Coalition. He reportedly received $2,800 to lobby on behalf of the BCTK in 2024.

Frazier publicly supported SB6 and HB9; while he was only paid to lobby on behalf of BCTK in 2024, he spoke out in favor of both anti-DEI bills under his title with the Kentucky Students Rights Coalition. Frazier provided testimony in March supporting Senate Bill 6, saying DEI funding would be better used in scholarship dollars, among other things. 

While those formerly involved with BCTK question these actions, there is currently no prohibition in Kentucky’s Legislative Ethics Code on a lobbyist or group lobbying both sides of a particular issue or bill.

Former BCTK Adviser Patti Piatt said the organization’s recent actions are “Antithetical to their mission” and “absolutely heartbreaking.” The outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ Kentuckians left BCTK in 2021 citing concerns with new leadership. She told Queer Kentucky, “I would like to see a change in leadership. People more dedicated to the cause should be in charge of this organization.”

While the next steps for BCTKY are unclear, the organization’s work in Frankfort this year has been contrary to leading LGBTQ+ advocacy work in the Commonwealth.

Queer Kentucky will continue updating this story as it unfolds. For questions, please reach out to [email protected] / [email protected]

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