Kansas Equality Coalition - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Kansas Equality Coalition is a statewide LGBT rights organization whose mission is to end discrimination based on sexual orientation

Sexual orientation

Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...

and gender identity and expression. The coalition seeks to ensure the dignity, safety and legal equality of all Kansans

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

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Created on October 9, 2005, during a meeting in Emporia, Kansas

Emporia, Kansas

Emporia is a city in and the county seat of Lyon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 24,916. Emporia lies between Topeka and Wichita at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 with Interstates 335 and 35 on the Kansas Turnpike...

, KEC is dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Chapters

The Equality Coalition started with five original chapters:

Johnson County (since reorganized as the Northeast Kansas Chapter)
Lawrence/Douglas County
Topeka
The Flint Hills (since reorganized as the Riley/Geary County Chapter)
Wichita

Since then, the following chapters have been added:

Southwest Kansas (March 14, 2006)
North Central (July 26, 2006)
South East (January 13, 2008)
Central Plains (April 27, 2008)
Hutchinson Area (June 27, 2010)
Northwest Kansas (July 18, 2010)

Activities

KEC-Lawrence members were instrumental in persuading the city of Lawrence, Kansas

Lawrence, Kansas

Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...

, to institute a domestic partnership registry in 2007. It is the first of its kind in the state. Lawrence is the seat of Douglas County, which is the only county in Kansas where a majority of voters opposed the state's 2005 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....

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In February 2007, members of the Kansas Equality Coalition testified before the Kansas House Committee on Federal and State affairs in opposition to a bill that would have outlawed domestic partnership registries in the state. No floor vote on the bill was held in 2007. In February 2008, the Kansas House of Representatives voted 66 to 50 to refer the bill to the House Judiciary Committee for more hearings.

In August 2007, members of the coalition stood with then Kansas

Kansas

Governor Kathleen Sebelius

Kathleen Sebelius

Kathleen Sebelius is an American politician currently serving as the 21st Secretary of Health and Human Services. She was the second female Governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009, the Democratic respondent to the 2008 State of the Union address, and chair-emerita of the Democratic Governors...

as she signed an executive order} banning discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation

Sexual orientation

and gender identity

Gender identity

A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...

. The order applies to the executive branch of state government.

In March 2009, Members of the coalition's Topeka chapter were instrumental in successfully lobbying the Board of the Topeka/Shawnee Co. Library to prevent a move by local religious conservatives to restrict access and censor predominately LGBT sexual education materials.

Kansas Equality PAC

In 2006 the coalition formed a political action committee

Political action committee

In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...

, Kansas Equality PAC, to work toward the election of state and local candidates for office in Kansas who support equality for LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

Kansans. The mission of the PAC is to end discrimination based on sexual orientation

Sexual orientation

and gender identity/expression and to ensure the dignity, safety and legal equality of all Kansans by working to elect fair minded candidates to office, regardless of party affiliation.

Chapters

Activities

Kansas Equality PAC

See also