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Anti-gay actions could hurt state's [KY] business prospects
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| Contributor | The Sunset Provision |
| Last Edited | The Sunset Provision Apr 24, 2006 03:05pm |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Monday, April 24, 2006 09:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Gov. Ernie Fletcher and other politicians talk a lot about luring businesses to Kentucky, but critics cite extensive research that suggests anti-gay actions by Fletcher and state lawmakers may drive companies elsewhere.
Detractors contend that Fletcher's April 11 move to strip discrimination protections from homosexual employees and the General Assembly's decision to provide $11 million to a private university that expelled a gay student will make Kentucky seem unsavory to many companies that officials hope to attract and retain.
"Bigotry is bad for business and having a governor who is obviously bigoted is fundamentally incompatible with business," said Alan Hawse of Lexington, vice president of information technology for California-based Cypress Semiconductor.
Hawse, who oversees about 40 highly paid employees in downtown Lexington and another 175 in California, Minnesota, the Philippines and elsewhere, said the state's already lackluster image has been further tarnished by recent events.
"We go from a backwater state trying to attract business to a backwater, bigoted state trying to attract business," Hawse said Friday.
Brett Hall, a spokesman for Fletcher, called Hawse's assertions "absurd." He said the Fletcher administration has no intention of discriminating against gay or lesbian job candidates and employees.
"We don't ask people if they're gay and how would we know?" Hall said. "I can't imagine it would be an issue at all."
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