The event is the Lexington Pride Festival, scheduled for June 28. The festival declares itself as the most premier Pride festival in Central Kentucky.
Last year, UK Healthcare participated and was a sponsor; however, the university cited government restrictions on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives as the reason for its withdrawal.
This decision was brought about because of an investigation from the U.S. Department of Education for not complying with the executive order that stopped DEI policies and practices. The university does not want to be seen supporting something for which it is the subject of an on-going investigation.
UK is one of 45 institutions under investigation for not complying with the order.
Jesse Green is Legal Counsel for The Family Foundation of Kentucky. He explains that the organization is happy to see UK withdraw from this sort of event.
“We do not support Pride month, obviously. We don't support Pride parades, and we don't think taxpayer institutions should be spending taxpayer dollars on these types of events, especially considering the harm that these events typically promote,” Green says.
He said there has been much debate recently in Kentucky and around the country about the harms of things like the transgender movement, “especially children with surgeries and hormone blockers and whatnot."
Kentucky has recently passed its own anti-DEI law, further giving the university urgency to comply with the law and dismantle its DEI program.
The new law states that schools must eliminate DEI offices, programs, roles and funding by the end of June.
There are prohibitions on required DEI training and on curriculum requirements.
Universities must annually certify compliance or face the threat of lost funding.
"DEI is incredibly harmful. It's divisive, it's discriminatory, and we would argue that it's unconstitutional. For that reason alone, we are very happy to see them pull back from this event, and hopefully, it'll continue forward even into future presidential administrations as well,” Green concludes.
