KY Family Foundation wants to ‘promote a biblical world view.’ Many in the GOP are on board

Public schools are “working to replace parental authority” by indoctrinating and “grooming” Kentucky’s children with a liberal agenda.

Major medical associations are in cabal with the “LGBTQ revolution” and want to “push transgenderism” on youth.

And Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is a “tyrannical governor” who wants to block people from attending church.

These were the messages shared Saturday by a series of panelists, including several sitting lawmakers and the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, at the Family Foundation’s first-ever Kentucky Family Forum in Lexington.

Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, supporter of the recent trans youth gender-affirming medical care ban and lead sponsor of a bill to ban drag shows on publicly owned property or where they could potentially be seen by a child, told a crowd of a few hundred attendees the “aggressive” LGBTQ movement in public schools is coming for Kentucky’s kids.

“If they get to them before us, we will spend a lifetime trying to undo it,” Tichenor said to applause inside the Clarion Hotel conference room.

The forum was billed as an educational event to “promote a biblical worldview, help build and unify the pro-family policy movement across Kentucky (and) equip Christians to effectively engage the culture.”

The Family Foundation is a conservative Christian lobbying group that supports “pro-family” policy, which has lately included abortion bans with no exceptions for rape or incest, a ban on gender-affirming health care for trans teens and restricting school curriculum about gender diversity or sexuality.

The organization also recently advocated against the legalization of sports gambling and medical marijuana.

Executive Director David Walls opened the forum by painting a bleak picture, one where the Christian message is the only hope: “Our culture is dark, there’s no denying that, (but) we’re called to be torchbearers . . . illuminating the path to bring honor to the Lord,” he said.

Last November, ahead of an unsuccessful statewide ballot initiative to change the Kentucky Constitution to explicitly prohibit judges from ruling in favor of abortion protections, Walls accused pro-abortion rights supporters of engaging in “satanist” behavior.

In late September, Walls was publicly reprimanded by the Legislative Ethics Committee for standing on the Senate floor during the deliberation on Senate Bill 150, a controversial anti-trans bill Walls helped craft. Lobbyists are not permitted on the floor of either chamber during official votes.

In a state where Republicans control both legislative chambers in Frankfort, Saturday’s event provides insight into efforts among some in the political majority to continue pursuing a far-right tack on such issues as abortion access, public school curriculum on gender diversity and trans health care.

Undergirding this pursuit is the Christian need to battle a sinister “world view” that is invading the “minds of our children,” said Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington.

Such a pursuit is being endorsed by Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who is running for governor against Beshear, a Democrat. Cameron has made anti-trans rhetoric a cornerstone of his gubernatorial bid.

His running mate, state Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, was in attendance Saturday. Mills, who spoke on the final panel of the day, said, “the breakdown of the family is just traumatic in our society right now, and we’ve got to focus on things that help build the family back up.”

The function, touted as a policy event, was largely a showcase of recent legislation the organization has had a hand in, with some mention of what’s to come. Close to 20 elected Republicans were present, including the half dozen who spoke on panels.

Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Waddy, who filed the initial bill to ban not only gender-affirming medical care, but affirming counseling services for trans youth, said God “gave me the courage to push this bill.”

Decker, on the “It’s About Our Kids: The LGBTQ Revolution and Educational Freedom” panel, said she was tired of hearing about “kids being groomed at school, being groomed online, losing their peer groups (and being) only embraced by this sick culture.” Decker was referring to a culture that affirms LGBTQ identities.

The bill language was written by the Family Police Alliance, she said, but, “We took the bill and changed it in Kentucky to meet some of our laws.”

Also on that panel was Randy Adams, the former principal of Anderson County’s alternative school who resigned after refusing to heed the Kentucky Department of Education’s student pronoun guidance, for which he was initially suspended.

Before he left his post last year, Adams posted to Facebook – and reiterated Saturday – that calling a student by a pronoun different from their gender assigned at birth and not necessarily telling their parents would be a “sin against God.”

Adams told the Lexington crowd that public schools are “working to replace parental authority.”

He called Kentucky Department of Education’s guidance “direct grooming to lead them on a path of destruction.”

Later at the forum, Walls awarded Adams the Family Foundation’s “Salt and Light” award to Adams for “living biblical values courageously.”

Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Irvington, said, “They are no longer hiding the fact that they’re after our children. They want to control them at a young age (and) develop that worldview.”

Calloway and Tichenor said they would revive a constitutional amendment “school-choice” bill this upcoming session, that failed to pass earlier this year. If passed by the General Assembly and by voters in referendum, it would make it incumbent on the state to fund private school costs for K-12 students. It’s an effort to open access to charter and Christian schools.

“That will allow us to have actual school choice in Kentucky,” Calloway said.

Adams added: “Kids are worse today because of public schools (and) the path that they’re on.”

Restricting abortion across state lines

On a panel titled, “After Roe: A Pro-Life Agenda Moving Forward,” Rep. Nancy Tate, R-Brandenburg talked about next steps for abortion restrictions in Kentucky.

Now that abortion is currently banned in the commonwealth except when a pregnant person’s life is imminently threatened, they agreed the next “North Star” policy focus must be achieving Equal Protection status for fetuses in utero.

Tate also said Kentucky needs to consider punitive laws against organizations that “aid and abet” Kentuckians who travel out of state to get abortions.

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ Office of Vital Statistics last week released its annual abortion report, showing that only three legal, reported abortions were provided between August and December last year, once abortion bans became enforceable.

“That doesn’t keep track of women who are going out of Kentucky into other states to get those abortions,” Tate said.

“As legislators, we’re going to have to have the conversation of aiding and abetting,” she added. “Those corporations aiding and abetting women to go out of the commonwealth of Kentucky in order to have those abortions. It’s really important for us to protect the life of our citizens.”

Protecting the life of citizens includes defending current abortion bans’ lack of rape and incest exceptions, panelists agreed — a topic of recent focus in the Kentucky governor’s race.

Last month, Cameron publicly changed his position in this regard, announcing he would support adding rape and incest exceptions, if court-ordered to do so, or if the General Assembly brought him a bill to that end.

Sue Swayze Liebel, director of policy affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, signaled on Saturday to Cameron’s position change without using his name, remarking that Republicans nationwide are diluting their abortion stances for political gain.

“Unfortunately, we’re seeing some reshuffling of the deck,” she said alongside Rep. Tate and Addia Wuchner, executive director of Kentucky Right to Life. “And we’re seeing some elected leaders who were staunchly pro-life before, reading the polls, or what they think the polls say, and some are watering down their views for political reasons.”

Tate and Wuchner underscored the need to keep rape and incest exceptions out of Kentucky’s bans.

“We don’t punish the child,” Wuchner said.

“Why should the baby in the womb be tortured and killed because of the sins of the perpetrator?” Tate added.

Correction: an earlier version of this story included mention of the “Salt and Life” award. The actual award name is “Salt and Light” award.