As a State Senator, Laura Kelly spoke thoughtfully about the implications on state workers as Governor Sam Brownback removed workplace protections on state employees. In a small office room, surrounded by only her fellow senators and staff, years before the decision was made to run for office, then Senator Kelly had a short thought about for Gov. Sam Brownback’s alteration of language that would allow for discrimination among state employees: “it’s just sad and petty”.
Today, now Governor Laura Kelly gets to right that wrong, as she signs an executive order reinstating those protections for State Employees.
From the Kansas City Star:
Gov. Laura Kelly ordered Kansas state agencies on Tuesday to again prohibit on-the-job discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender state employees.
“As I have said numerous times before, discrimination of any kind has no place in Kansas and it will not be tolerated in this administration,” Kelly said. “We will ensure that state workers feel safe and supported in their working environment.”
Gov. Kelly’s decision can be felt in many of the counties that voted for her election in 2018, where Non Discrimination Ordinances are passing in community after community, in city offices where Kansas has elected more LGBT members, our state house which went from no openly LGBT members to two, and that’s before we reach the election of Kansas first LGBT Woman for US Congress in Sharice Davids.
The movement to protect the rights of LGBT Kansans has been a long time coming. Only last year, then State Senator Steve Fitzgerald was openly discussing the urgent need to “Stop the homosexual agenda” as noted by the Topeka Capital-Journal:
A Kansas state senator and congressional candidate suggested Friday that a “homosexual agenda” exists during an early morning debate over adoption legislation.
What Fitzgerald misses is that it isn’t a “homosexual agenda” it is a very human agenda — one that observes and grants the dignity of all Kansans to have their rights protected.
What difference does having a Democratic governor make? Today, workers know that being outted as a state employee can no longer cost them their job.