At present, there is no clear answer, because the Kentucky Supreme Court has not ruled directly on the issue of whether the Kentucky Civil Rights Act, Kentucky Revised Statutes chapter 344, outlaws employment discrimination based on an individual's sexual orientation.
That said, it is likely that the Kentucky Supreme Court will rule that the civil rights act does, in fact, prohibit discrimination based on an individual's sexual orientation. The main reason for this conclusion is the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County that employment discrimination based on an individual's sexual orientation is prohibited by the federal civil rights act, or, more specifically, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The rationale for this ruling was straight-forward:
An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fire that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex. Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.
The ruling of the United States Supreme Court is important because the Kentucky Supreme Court has observed time and again that the Kentucky Civil Rights Act should be interpreted consonant or pretty similar to Title VII, as well as other federal anti-discrimination laws. So, it would seem to follow that the Kentucky law would likewise prohibit discrimination based on an individual's sexual orientation.
Lexington, Kentucky discrimination lawyer Robert Abell represents individuals and employees in discrimination cases in state and federal courts.
