State family group condemns threat made by domestic partner supporter

For Immediate Release
October 19, 2006 A. D.

Contact: Martin Cothran
Phone: 859-329-1919


Threat against conservative lawmaker condemned by state family group

LEXINGTON, KY. —The Family Foundation of Kentucky today condemned a threat made in a newspaper comment section against a state lawmaker who recently introduced legislation barring benefits for live-in sexual partners at state universities. An opponent of the legislation posted the family address of State Representative Stan Lee, the sponsor of the legislation, in the comment section of the article on the bill’s introduction in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The person posting the message called on opponents of the bill to protest outside his home “’round the clock,” and ended the message by saying, “Trick or Treat, anybody?”

“We hope this is not a sign of things to come from the supporters of domestic partner benefits,” said Martin Cothran, senior policy analyst for The Family Foundation. “To attempt to intimidate people just because you disagree with them is hardly furthering the message of tolerance and diversity.”

Cothran pointed out that the media was quick to jump on the incident during the debate over the Marriage Protection Amendment in 2004 in which a supporter of the amendment allegedly spat on an aide of openly gay State Sen. Ernesto Scorsone at the State Capitol. “Some quarters of the media seems to have a trigger finger when it comes to pointing out the warts of conservatives, but reticent to say anything that could be conceived as reflecting badly on left-wing critics. We certainly hope that this gets the same kind of attention the media gave to the alleged incident at the Capitol two years ago.”

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