Record High Year for Human Rights Complaints

More than 420 Kentuckians called the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights to complain of violations this year, that’s the second highest on record for the state.  Most complaints have to do with racial discrimination, including one recent case in which an African American TV repairman was denied entrance to an American Legion hall because of his race. Commission spokeswoman Victoria Dempsey says there have been a rising number of cases in which newspapers list real estate for rent or sale only for people without children.“…Which is actually against fair housing law. So we’ve had a number of instances where we settle cases with newspapers and other media, Web sites, that advertise real estate.  And we’ve had a number of cases over the years where women with children have been blocked from renting apartments," says Dempsey.Dempsey says about half of the discrimination cases are settled out of court and a few go on to be prosecuted.