ICYMI: KC Star Editorial Slams Colyer for Upholding Brownback-Era Discrimination Policy

“So much for Colyer’s much ballyhooed ‘new tone.’”

In case you missed it, Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer is under fire for refusing to reinstate LGBTQ protections for state workers, effectively upholding his predecessor Sam Brownback’s position. The Kansas City Star editorial board published a scathing editorial criticizing Colyer for following in Brownback’s footsteps and scaring away investment from national companies in the process.
Read the full article here, or excerpts below:
 
KC Star Editorial: Why won’t Gov. Jeff Colyer commit to protecting LGBT workers from discrimination?
Kansas hung onto a well-earned reputation for its behind-the-times approach to so many things when Gov. Jeff Colyer declined to say whether he would reinstate an executive order prohibiting discrimination against LGBT state workers.
Colyer’s decision to remain mum has him siding with his predecessor, former Gov. Sam Brownback. And it has him at odds with the approach that another former governor, Kathleen Sebelius, took in 2007.
…Now, though, Colyer is in a desperate struggle against fellow Republican Kris Kobach and others for the GOP gubernatorial nomination up for grabs in August. Signing an executive order on LGBT discrimination threatens to turn off far-right social conservatives who consistently turn out in party primaries.
This suggests Colyer is playing politics on an issue of vital importance to thousands of state workers across Kansas.
Colyer puts lipstick on this pig-of-a-decision by declaring that he won’t tolerate discrimination.
…Colyer surely understands the ramifications of what he’s doing. But in his mind, votes in August apparently trump protections to vital state workers today. That’s a shame.
So much for Colyer’s much ballyhooed “new tone.”