Another Kentucky Town Expands Gay Rights

Call it the Vicco Effect.

Berea doesn't want to be shown up:

Gay rights advocates have scored another victory in a small eastern Kentucky town as Berea prepares to expand anti-discrimination protections for city employees.

Mayor Steve Connelly announced this week that he will sign an executive order banning discrimination based on actual or perceived sexual orientation in hiring, firing and benefits for the city's 130 employees.

"Personally I think it's the right thing to do, and in terms of our city, we were founded in 1853 with the idea that people were going to be treated equal," Connelly said in a phone interview Friday.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/02/01/2499304/berea-to-enact-protections-for.html#storylink=cpy

Specifically, Berea College was founded as the first integrated school in a slave state. For 160 years, "Berea" has been a synonym for progressive - even liberal - ideals.

Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Richmond, Shelbyville and the rest of you: jump on the bandwagon before it leaves you behind.

And hey you all in the Kentucky Tourism and Economic Development Cabinets: you're missing a huge marketing opportunity by not promoting the living shit out of this.