Mountain Shopper in Southern Kentucky posts anti-gay article: The Fall of UK because of "homosexuals"

The Mountain Shopper, "The Leader for Buying, Selling and Trading; Community News, and Special Events" has been identified as the paper that published an anti-gay article, effectively blaming gay and lesbian people (or homosexuals as the articles refers to our community) as the reason the University of Kentucky has fallen in national rankings of the top schools.

The article sites many religious references as the reason for the "fall" of the University of Kentucky (UK).

Click here to view the article.

Earlier this month, the article drew criticism from Kentucky Equality Federation and Louisville's Fairness Campaign, especially for the articles religious references.

Kentucky Equality Federation reports that no one from the paper will return telephone calls, or respond to emails.

Do you have something you'd like to say to them?

Phone: (606) 495-1528
Email: themountainshopper@windstream.net

Please be sure to read the article first.

Online site refuses gay/lesbian screenplays.

An online site, "Write Like the Pros" lists homosexual screenplays as something they will not accept, and likens it to pornography, and "darkly sinister evil."

The site sells CD's, DVD's, and offers writing tips in addition to them reading your screenplay. They assist in character development, narration, and dialogue.

According to their site:

Submissions should follow normal script structure, using Microsoft Word (no Word Perfect) formatted in Palatino, Times, or Georgia text, black print, sentence case. Work must be e-mailed with the full name, address, and e-mail address of the author. SEND TO submissions@writelikethepros.com

However, they also list the following:

WE DO NOT ACCEPT
We will not accept, read, or report on any writing that involves pornographic material, lesbian-homosexual relationships, darkly sinsiter evil, horror, illicit sexual, or vulgar language manuscripts. If there is any question in your mind about your manuscript fitting into one of these categories, please do not send it to us. (source)

Wow. Our relationships are placed in the same category as pornography, darkly sinister evil (they misspelled the word sinister on their site), horror, illicit sexual, and so on.

Constitutionally, they may refuse anything they want, but this is ridiculous. They have closed themselves to a major market and shown their own homophobia.

We received this tip from a straight ally, who stated:

I am not reporting a personal discrimination. I am not actually gay myself - I have a wife. But I am a screenwriter. And I came across a group on the internet (you can view this webpage at: http://www.writelikethepros.com/screenplays.html who will not have anything to do with screenplays containing gay relationships if you read the very bottom of this webpage). They seem to give a lot do's and don't in terms of the rules of writing screenplays, but to include that they won't accept screenplays containing gay relationships is absolutely unacceptable in my opinion.

Thanks for the tip, and more importantly, thank you for being open minded and supporting LGBT people!

Louisville's Fairness Campaign wants to boycott Woody's Tavern, but Woody's may not be legally operating in Kentucky

After David P. Norton apologized in August for racist and sexist comments made about a year ago, Louisville's Fairness Campaign, a champion for LGBTI civil rights in Jefferson County, is again boycotting the bar owned by David Norton.

David Norton, owner of Woody’s Tavern, went public in August to apologize for comments made a year ago to University of Louisville students and a professor, saying “What came out of my mouth was pure filth.” Now, the Fairness Campaign is pushing for a boycott of his bar, Woody’s Tavern, because of more racist comments he allegedly made there last month.

Checkout their inactive Myspace profile, and the graphics on it. (more)

We conducted a search for Woody's Tavern with the Corporation's Division of the Kentucky Department of State and found no business in the Commonwealth currently or previously incorporated under the name "Woody's Tavern," nor it is listed as an assumed named of any business authorized to transact business in Kentucky, a violation of Kentucky law.

According to Kentucky Alcoholic Beverage Control, David P. Norton holds the alcohol license for Woody's Tavern, and is doing business as "Woody's Tavern," even though he is not registered (and therefore, not authorized) to transact business in Kentucky.

David P. Norton leases Woody's Tavern (the actual site), and even if he is incorporated in Indiana or any other state, he is still in violation of Kentucky law and not authorized to transact business in Kentucky because he has failed to register as a foreign corporation with the Kentucky Secretary of State.

You can get into serious trouble for doing business in Kentucky and not being registered, and thus, authorized. (see Commonwealth of Kentucky Court of Appeals No. 2005-CA-000196-MR)

When not authorized to transact business in Kentucky, or if the Secretary of State revokes your authority to do business in Kentucky, you are personally liable for your actions; there is no "corporate veil" to protect you (a corporation is treated as a separate legal person, which is solely responsible for the debts it incurs and the sole beneficiary of the credit it is owed).

From the Kentucky Department of State:

Who must file an Annual Report?
Each domestic and foreign corporation, domestic and foreign limited liability company, domestic and foreign partnership, and domestic and foreign business trust must file an Annual Report.

Why must I file an Annual Report?
To assist the Secretary of State in providing the most accurate information to the public, corporations and companies conducting business in the Commonwealth of Kentucky are required by law to file annual reports with the Secretary of State. Failure to file an Annual Report by June 30 will result in a status of bad standing. Failure to file the report by Oct. 31st will result in administrative dissolution or revocation of authority.

Also, the Kentucky Attorney General's Office may pursue and fine companies doing business in the Commonwealth who are not properly registered, or their certificate of authority from the Kentucky Secretary of State's Office has been revoked.

Regardless, if the owner is making sexual and/or racial slurs, as a community we should stand united and boycott it.

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Discrimination in Kentucky

Gay hate killings highest since 1999

The number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people killed in bias-motivated incidents increased by 28 percent in 2008 compared to a year ago, according to a national coalition of advocacy groups.

Last year’s 29 killings was the highest recorded by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs since 1999, when it documented the same number of slayings, according to a report released Tuesday by the coalition.

Coalition officials say their figures are more accurate than those from law enforcement agencies. As an example, the FBI doesn’t record bias crimes against transgender people because gender identity isn’t covered by federal hate-crime law.

In addition, victims sometimes are reluctant to report bias incidents to police because they don’t want to reveal their sexual orientation or gender identity and/or they fear bias from police.

Stupid faggot..... personal feelings or professional misconduct?

Where is the line between personal feelings and professional conduct? How do you define it? Are they the same or are they separate?

Is it possible, to separate your personal feelings from professional conduct? What if you work for the Commonwealth in a position of power? That changes the outlook drastically doesn't it?

Yes, the pin displayed directly relates to this blog post. Even more shocking, it is for sale on cafepress.com!

Checkout this emailed complaint and give your opinion:

As the secretary of the Cabinet for health and social services I am writing you today to ask advice on where,who and how to formally file a complaint on a state employee (inside of Child protective services) that has engaged herself in discriminating and derogatory language towards homosexuals. I have a copy of a text message where one of your employees, while at work, sent me a text message in response to a conversation that we were having, "go to hell you faggot." I do happen to be a gay man, and she is very aware of this.

PArt of the details are that she is my sister-in-law. She is employed by the state in Winchester KY in the offices of child protective services. We were having a a discussion via text message, so I have the dialogue between us, about some family concerns. We were both a bit aggravated, she told me to "go to hell you faggot", and I let her know I would let her daughters now what their mother felt about their uncle ***DELETED***. She quickly followed up that she would not allow them to see me, because she would use her knowledge of the system to push through court documents that would require her to be present and she would not allow me to visit. I am very sorry that this sounds like a very dramatic mess, it is. I have no desire to concern anyone else with family issues.

Having said that, however, I have a serious problem with someone engaging, on or off the clock, on or off a personal phone, calling them a faggot and saying she would make it to where "her" girls could not visit me. I have serious problems, whether in my case or another individuals, that a state "social worker" posses the vocabulary and mentality of a bigot and of using their position to threaten individuals of child custody and visitation rights.

That is how all of this came about. Its a very grey area here and what road to take on this matter, for me and I am sure on your part as well. Bottom line, the state has in its retention, the state has licensed, the state trusts to protect the rights of children and families, to uphold impartial, unbiased action to advocate actions in the best interest of children, a woman by the name of *****DELETED****** that has in her heart hatred, bigotry and the inability to see past her own desire to control and manipulate a system of which she has been sworn to uphold.

I am sorry for bring you all into my world the thought of her in a position with that in her heart sickens me.

I have spoken the the secretary in her office and she clarified that my sister-in-law was at work, on the clock while all of this occurred. I had a lengthy discussion yesterday with ****NAME DELETED - THIS PERSON IS AN EMPLOYEE OF THE COMMONWEALTH*****.

He is in agreement with you (Jordan Palmer) that it is a very dysfunctional area of the state. One thing I even discovered is that it is not required to be a licensed social worker to perform duties as one, inside of this area of the state. The state requires massage therapists to be licensed, and they could do for less harm than a social worker, hands down. But I digress. He agrees that bigoted remarks have no place inside or outside of the workplace for someone retaining a job inside of the Health and Social Services. He also agrees that she is most likely to claim that she was on a break when she tested such remarks, he knows how most disputes end inside of the state level. He also agrees that it is very unfortunate that the state, even with proof contrary to inappropriate behavior, most likely will defend their employees, for what ever reason. I am curious to what affect it would be different if she had called me a N*&#er, or Jew, or Retard...had I been any of those minorities that the hateful remarks could be applied too. I am certain that this would hold different weight inside of the state level.

Bottom line, from where I am standing, this state is in need of a reformation. Every person in every office that I have spoken to agrees that bigoted comments, inside or out of professional settings, from a state employee, are wrong. Bottom line. By having no legislation and having no rights or no recourse in such matters, they in practice ARE condoning bigoted actions towards LGBT individuals. The are that seems like it should be more strict is being revealed as one of the most lax and dysfunctional.

So, to me if the commonwealth is part of the problem, then they need to be addressed and admit that they are allowing such behavior to persist. They are endorsing this.

Please share your comments below; they will be forwarded to the Commonwealth, and the person who sent this complaint to Kentucky Equality Federation.

NOTE: Posting this complaint was done with permission from the plaintiff to gauge public opinion on the issue.