Fairness Campaign, ACLU-KY, & JCTA Protest KY Farm Bureau
Policies are Anti-LGBT, Anti-Union, & More
The Fairness Campaign, American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky (ACLU-KY), and Jefferson County Teachers Association (JCTA) protested the Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance's discriminatory policies at the annual State Fair Country Ham Breakfast Thursday, August 27.
As one of the state's largest lobbying groups, the Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance Federation officially promotes policies that are anti-LGBT, anti-teacher, anti-union, anti-choice, and pro-death penalty, among others. Each year, Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance customers are automatically charged a fee that enrolls them as members of the company's 501(c)4 lobbying arm. While elected officials are mailed copies of company's policy book, which details the organization's discriminatory stances, it is not sent to paying customers.
A copy of the Kentucky Farm Bureau Policy Book can be downloaded at www.tinyurl.com/KFBProtest2015.
Since the Fairness Campaign and its allies began protesting the policies in 2012, Kentucky Farm Bureau has lost more than 34,000 members. Thousands of Kentuckians--many of them Kentucky Farm Bureau members--have signed petitions asking for the policies' removal with no response.
KY Farm Bureau Policies & 2015 Policy Book Page Numbers
- The institution of marriage should only be recognized as the legal union of a man and a woman. (p.13)
- We are opposed to any state-supported agency providing benefits to “domestic” partners. (p.14)
- We strongly believe in the value of all individuals both born and unborn. (p.14)
- We strongly oppose teacher strikes. We oppose legislation that mandates collective bargaining for public school employees. (p.61)
- Alternative lifestyles should not be taught in public schools. (p.61)
- We support the enactment of right-to-work legislation. (p. 75)
- We recommend the federal prevailing wage law be repealed when dealing with government contracts. (p.76)
- We oppose an increase in the minimum hourly wage. (p.76)
- We strongly oppose any mandate that would require any government entities to recognize and collectively bargain with employee unions. (p.76)
- Furthermore, we oppose public employees being permitted to strike, organize work stoppage or slow-downs. (p.76)
- We oppose unionization of farmers and farm laborers. (p.76)
- We support capital punishment. (p.88)