Kentucky’s governor has said he will hold, but not veto, $11 million in government funding for a Baptist college that made headlines by expelling a gay student.
Gov. Ernie Fletcher said he will not disburse the grant — earmarked to help establish a pharmacy school at the University of the Cumberlands — until questions about its constitutionality are settled in court.
Addressing Kentuckians on statewide television April 24, Fletcher said, “I believe we need to answer once and for all in Kentucky the legality of funding private faith-based institutions for public purposes.”
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, the head of a statewide gay-rights group sued Fletcher in state court April 25, claiming that direct government funding of a religious school violates the Kentucky Constitution. “Gov. Fletcher has failed to uphold his duty to protect Kentucky citizens and enforce the Kentucky Constitution,” Christina Gilgor, director of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance, told the paper.
The controversy over the grant began after the Williamsburg, Ky.-based school expelled sophomore Jason Johnson, after it was discovered he listed his sexual orientation on a Web site. Johnson’s page on MySpace.com, a networking site popular among college students, classified him as “gay” under a section labeled “orientation.” The 20-year-old theater major and dean’s list student is from Lexington, Ky.
The controversy at Cumberlands echoes similar disputes in the past three years at other Baptist schools.
Debates over discipline of students for homosexuality or support of gay-rights groups have erupted at Baylor University in Texas, Mars Hill College in North Carolina and Mercer University in Georgia. (ABP)
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