Kentucky

Wedding Photographers Can Discriminate Against Same-Sex Couples, Kentucky Judge Rules

Published

2 years ago

September 7, 2022

Wedding Photographers Can Discriminate Against Same-Sex Couples, Kentucky Judge Rules

Final week, a Trump-appointed federal decide dominated in favor of a Louisville marriage ceremony photographer who sued town over its 1999 non-discrimination “equity ordinance.”

The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of Chelsey Nelson in 2019, claims that town’s ordinance violates her Christian beliefs and First Modification rights by requiring all companies to deal with prospects equally, no matter sexual orientation or gender identification. In an op-ed, Nelson mentioned she ought to be allowed to refuse her pictures providers to same-sex {couples}, arguing that she could be going in opposition to her “sincerely held non secular beliefs” if she had to supply equal therapy to LGBTQ+ prospects.

No same-sex couple had requested her to take pictures at their marriage ceremony previous to submitting the lawsuit, in line with LGBTQ Nation.

After an intense three years of heated debate and public backlash, Federal District Court docket Decide Benjamin Beaton granted Nelson’s request to difficulty an injunction in opposition to the ordinance final Tuesday, the Courier Journal reported. In a 44-page ruling, Beaton mentioned town couldn’t use the regulation to compel her to {photograph} same-sex weddings or “in any other case specific messages inconsistent with Nelson’s beliefs.”

In his current order, he claimed that Louisville’s equity ordinance doesn’t “survive” authorized scrutiny and can’t restrict First Modification freedoms. Beaton mentioned that Nelson’s refusal to {photograph} queer weddings is born out of a real non secular dedication, and the monetary and authorized penalties she faces for abiding by her beliefs “are fairly substantial.”

As a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative authorized group with a longstanding historical past of an anti-LGBTQ+ bias, Beaton’s ruling comes as no shock. Chris Hartman, government director of the Kentucky LGBTQ+ advocacy group Equity Marketing campaign, says it “units a harmful precedent for discrimination by people who run public companies.”

“The current ruling from Trump-appointed Decide Beaton strikes on the coronary heart of discrimination protections for LGBTQ folks — not simply right here in Louisville and Kentucky, however all throughout the nation; it units a harmful precedent for discrimination by people who run public companies,” Hartman advised Hyperallergic.

“What Decide Beaton has achieved is create a carve-out for marriage ceremony photographers, singers, writers, even customized jewelers, and extra to brazenly discriminate in opposition to LGBTQ folks and {couples}, and to promote their intent to take action — that’s wholly unprecedented by way of discrimination protections throughout the board,” he continued.

For the case, Nelson was offered authorized counsel by way of the Alliance Defending Freedom, a authorized advocacy and coaching group that has been flagged as a chosen hate group by the Southern Poverty Regulation Middle for its common defamation of LGBTQ+ folks and its repeated assaults on their civil liberties.

The town has mentioned it would possible enchantment the decide’s ruling.

“We’re a metropolis of compassion and we admire the numerous methods our LGBTQ+ household contributes to our numerous neighborhood,” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer mentioned in a public assertion. “Louisville Metro Authorities will proceed to implement to the fullest extent attainable its ordinance prohibiting anti-discriminatory practices and can battle in opposition to discrimination in any type.”

Moreover, organizers and authorized advocacy teams have expressed their dedication to proceed to guard LGBTQ+ civil liberties on a neighborhood stage, whatever the federal courtroom ruling.

“Regardless of this, we’re going to proceed advancing equity ordinances all throughout Kentucky. There are 24 Kentucky communities now which have banned LGBTQ discrimination on the native stage, and we’re not seeing any indicators of slowing,” Hartman advised Hyperallergic. “In the end, the Supreme Court docket goes to do no matter it’ll do, nevertheless it won’t deter us and different state teams throughout the USA and nationwide accomplice organizations to proceed advancing LGBTQ civil rights, it doesn’t matter what the courtroom says.”

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Kentucky

Trends all lean Kentucky's way in Governor's Cup

Published

8 hours ago

November 25, 2024

Press Room

Trends all lean Kentucky's way in Governor's Cup

Mark Stoops owns a five-game winning streak in the Governor’s Cup series. The Wildcats have won three games in a row at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium and have not lost to Louisville at Kroger Field since 2017 when Bobby Petrino was holding the call sheet and and Lamar Jackson was playing quarterback. The Wildcats have also covered a lot of spreads in this series.

Stoops is 7-2-1 against-the-spread (ATS) in this series with with covers as a double-digit dog in 2014 and 2016. Kentucky has beaten Louisville outright as a dog three times since 2016 and has covered five straight in this series. Those are not the only trends going in Kentucky’s direction heading into this Week 14 contest.

Louisville is 0-4-1 ATS as a road favorite under Jeff Brohm with outright losses to Pittsburgh and Stanford. Kentucky is 5-0-1 ATS as a dog in its last six outing including four games this season. Kentucky covered numbers as a double-digit dog against Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Texas this season.

The visitor is 11-3-1 ATS (5-10 outright) in the last 14 meetings of this series with 10 outright wins but Kentucky has won the last two meetings at Kroger Field covering each times as a three-point favorite. In 2019, Kentucky ran away for a 45-13 victory and cruised to a 26-13 victory in 2022.

Kentucky has consistently overachieved pregame expectations in this series. The Wildcats are currently a 3.5-point dog with a total of 48.5. That’s a projected final score of 26-22.5. Will UK exceed expectations again against Louisville? A win would equal four outright upsets for the Big Blue in the last eight meetings of the series.

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Kentucky

ESPN predicts the winner between Kentucky and Western Kentucky

Published

16 hours ago

November 25, 2024

Press Room

ESPN predicts the winner between Kentucky and Western Kentucky

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats are getting ready to host the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers for an in-state battle in Rupp Arena. This is a game that is always fun as it brings different parts of Kentucky together to share in the state’s favorite pastime, which is basketball.

WKU is 3-2 on the season with wins over Lipscomb, Jackson State, and Campbellsville. The Hilltoppers lost to Wichita State and Grand Canyon.

While Kentucky steamrolled Lipscomb, they are a solid team, and Western Kentucky was able to take them down 66-61, so the Wildcats can’t look past this matchup. This shouldn’t be an issue as Coach Pope respects the game and doesn’t let his team look past an opponent.

While WKU is a solid mid-major team, ESPN doesn’t seem to think the Wildcats will have any issue taking down the Hilltoppers, as they give Kentucky a 97.5% chance to win this game.

The best player for the Hilltoppers is guard Don McHenry, who is averaging 17.2 points per game five games into the season. The 6’2 guard is shooting 32.4% from three on the season, but he lets a lot of them fly, so the Wildcats can let him get hot from deep.

The goal for this Kentucky team when they take on WKU should be to keep working on defense and rebounding while the offense keeps doing what it has been doing all season long. If the Wildcats can keep improving in these two areas, they will be hard to beat come SEC play and March.

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Kentucky

Liberty 38-21 Western Kentucky (Nov 23, 2024) Game Recap – ESPN

Published

1 day ago

November 25, 2024

Press Room

Liberty 38-21 Western Kentucky (Nov 23, 2024) Game Recap – ESPN

LYNCHBURG, Va. — — Quinton Cooley rushed for 166 yards and two touchdowns, Billy Lucas added 131 yards and a score, and Liberty gained 419 on the ground with four touchdowns in a 38-21 victory over Western Kentucky on Saturday.

Liberty (8-2, 5-2 Conference USA) has won eight-plus games for the sixth consecutive season to keep alive hopes of a second straight trip to the conference championship game. The Flames play Sam Houston (8-3, 5-2) on Friday.

Liberty scored 21 straight points to close the first quarter, the last covering 90 yards in just 45 seconds to take a 21-7 lead.

Amarian Williams made two interceptions, including one with 2:03 remaining to seal it. Caden Veltkamp was intercepted three times before finishing 20 of 34 for 262 yards and two touchdowns for Western Kentucky (7-4, 5-2).

Cooley reached 1,000 yards rushing for the second straight season. The Flames entered ranked No. 5 nationally in rushing yards/game (249.8). Quarterback Kaidon Salter also carried 11 times for 66 yards and a touchdown. Three other players had at least two rushes for Liberty, which ended with 63 carries.

The Flames, in their season finale at Williams Stadium, avoided dropping multiple conference games at home for the first time since 2005.

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