LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Every year during the Kentucky State Fair, the Kentucky Farm Bureau hosts the Country Ham Breakfast where a ham is auctioned off and sold to the highest bidder. Every year, members of the Fairness Campaign plan a protest of the event.
THE QUESTION
The Fairness Campaign claims that the Kentucky Farm Bureau (which puts on the event) is “anti-LGBTQ, anti-teacher, anti-union, anti-choice, anti-POC (people of color), and pro-death penalty.” Are these accusations true?
THE ANSWER
While some of these charges are more subjective claims (being “anti-teacher,” for example), it is true that the members of the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation voted to approve a “policy book” advocating against things like same-sex marriage, gender-neutral schools, teacher unions, farm unions, and abortion.
However, the Kentucky Farm Bureau told us that these “policies” do not reflect their business practices. In other words, the members of the Federation may oppose same-sex marriage; however, a same-sex couple would be welcome to join the Federation and vote in support of same-sex marriage as next year’s policies are being crafted.
WHAT WE FOUND
On the Fairness Campaign’s website, a scanned copy of the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation’s 2019 Policy Book has been uploaded, with portions highlighted that the group takes issue with. The Federation sends out a “policy” book each year to state legislators, outlining its positions on a wide range of issues. It is not released publicly, but we were able to confirm with KFB that the document is authentic.
“We are a member-based and member-driven and therefore our policies reflect our membership and Kentucky’s rural communities,” they said in a statement.
With that, let’s take the claims one-by-one.
Pro-Death Penalty: Yes. The KFB specifically says it supports capital punishment on page 94 of its policy book.
Anti-unions: On page 80, KFB says it is opposed to the unionization of farms and farmworkers, and it strongly opposes the government being required to recognize collective bargain agreements from employee unions.
Anti-choice: The KFB does oppose abortion. On page 14, it says they “strongly believe in the value of all individuals, both born and unborn.”
Anti-LGBTQ: In its policy book, the KFB says it opposes same-sex marriage, benefits for domestic partners, gender-neutral schools, and requiring transgender bathrooms. They also oppose schools teaching what they call “alternative lifestyles.”
Anti-teacher: Again, this one is more subjective. The KFB is opposed to teacher strikes and collective bargaining for public school employees. The Fairness Campaign feels this makes the KFB anti-teacher.
Anti-POC: Nothing in the Kentucky Farm Bureau’s 2019 policy book specifically talks about race. We asked the director of the Fairness Campaign Chris Hartman which policies he felt were racially discriminatory, and he pointed to the KFB’s belief that recipients of welfare and food stamps should be randomly drug tested. He believes this would disproportionately target people of color. He also pointed to the fact that the death penalty is disproportionately applied to people of color.
---
Contact reporter Rob Harris at rjharris@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@robharristv) and Facebook.