By Michael Collins, Frankfort Bureau Chief
The Kentucky Post
March 9, 2000
FRANKFORT - Gov. Paul Patton has vetoed a bill pushed by Southern Baptists from Northern Kentucky who say they should not be forced to rent their church camps to atheists and other groups that don't share their beliefs.
Patton vetoed House Bill 70 on Wednesday, saying it violates ''both the spirit and the meaning of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act'' by permitting discrimination on the basis of religion.
Patton said nothing in existing law requires churches to make their church camps or other facilities available to the public.
''But if they make the decision to do that, then they shouldn't discriminate,'' he said.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Tom Kerr, D-Taylor Mill, said the governor has been misinformed. ''All the bill does is restore freedom to Kentucky's churches,'' Kerr said.
''I don't see it as a discrimination bill at all. I think he is seeing it from a wrong perspective. I think he's listening to the wrong people.''
Opponents of the measure said Patton made the right choice.
''The whole point of civil rights law is we don't, in the public arena, get to pick and choose who we do or don't like,'' said Maria Price, executive director of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance, which promotes rights for gays and lesbians.
''If you are involved in the public arena, just because you are a religious institution, that doesn't give you special rights to discriminate.''
The fight now shifts back to the General Assembly, which could overturn the governor's veto. The bill appears secure in at least one chamber, if not both:
House: The veto probably will be overturned in the House, where 51 votes would b e needed. The bill cleared the House last month on an 82-17 vote.
Senate: The outcome is less certain in the Senate, where 20 votes are required t o override a governor's veto. The Senate approved the billlast month on a 17-12 vote. Supporters need either to change three ''no'' votes to ''yes'' votes or find support among the nine senators who did not vote.
''I'm sure I can change three,'' said Senate President Pro Tem Dick Roeding, R-Lakeside Park, who handled the bill on the Senate floor.
The impetus for House Bill 70 came from a group of Northern Kentucky churches that began pushing for the legislation after renting a church camp to a group of secular humanists in 1996.
The Bullittsburg Baptist Assembly Camp, which is located in Boone County, is owned by the Northern Kentucky Baptist Association. The secular humanist group rented the facility for its Camp Quest children's camp.
Church officials say they didn't realize until after they agreed to lease the facility that the organization's members don't believe in God. The churches decided to rent the camp inste ad of risking a lawsuit.
Under House Bill 70, churches would not be required to rent their facilities to people they disagree with. The bill would enable them to get around existing civil rights laws by exempting them from the definition of ''public accommodation.''
The Rev. Wayne Lipscomb, pastor of Union Baptist Church, said the legislation is needed so that churches can exercise religious freedom.
''What you have on the books, you have a law that basically states that churches or church groups cannot manage their property according to their religious principles and beliefs,'' Lipscomb said.
But opponents such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky said the bill would open the door to discrimination against a broad range of groups, such as African-Americans, Jews and gays and lesbians.
The House amended the bill to make it clear that religious organizations can't discriminate on the basis of disability, race, color or national origin. But opponents still said the bill went too far.
''It would have allowed state-sponsored hate,'' said Helen Kagin, a Union resident and member of the secular humanist group that rented the church camp in Boone County.
Even some church organizations opposed the bill and lobbied for Patton to veto it. The Kentucky Council of Churches fought the legislation on the grounds that it would unnecessarily entangle government in the determination of religious beliefs, said Rev. Nancy Jo Kemper, the organization's executive director.
''It wasn't good for churches or civil rights,'' Rev. Kemper said.