Legislators override Governor’s veto on anti-DEI bill

FRANKFORT, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) — Diversity, equity and inclusion programs and policies at public universities in Kentucky are now banned under House Bill 4.

The University of Kentucky began dismantling its DEI departments back in August of last year.

Now, other universities face the same requirements by law.

Nick Spencer with the Family Foundation says they’re extremely please at all of the veto overrides, specifically House Bill 4.

“We think it’s an important step in pushing back against what is truthfully the fashionable form of institutionalized racism for the 21st century,” Spencer said.

Meanwhile, Lexington council member Emma Curtis says she wasn’t surprised at the veto override, but is disappointed in the result.

“This legislature has made it clear that their goal is to make Kentucky a less welcoming and less inclusive place,” Curtis said.

Spencer says this piece of legislation aims to do the opposite.

“House Bill Four prevents any sort of raced-based, relgious-based discrimination as it should be,” he said.

On the other hand, Curtis says DEI programs have done a lot to move our society forward.

“So often when we talk about DEI, it’s used specifically in the context of race, but these are programs go to benefit marginzlized communities like impoverished Eastern Kentuckians or people with disabilities or, candidly, just women,” she said.

Meanwhile, Spencer says banning DEI helps provide equal opportunity for all people.

“Previously, it was wrongly decided by the United States Supreme Court that there was the seperate but equal doctrate,” he said. “Obviously, many people understand that seperate but equal was not equal, but DEI is the 21st century version of seperate but equal.”

Curtis says she’s worried that banning DEI will cause future harm.

“Anybody who argues that DEI divides people is somebody who’s not operating in good faith,” she said. “They’re trying to ignore the systemic disadvantages that women, that people of color, that LGBTQ folks, that poor folks and disabled folks have faced.”