2025 Regular Session - Day 29 - HB 4 Veto Override Vote Explanation, Rep Grossl

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is no question that there is value in diversity of thought, of lived experience, and of inclusion of various perspectives in all aspects of our lives. However, I believe in equality, and I believe in equal opportunity. Thanks to several historic movements our nation has undergone, like the civil rights movement, the suffragist movement, and others. Our greatest divide as a commonwealth and as a nation is not based in race, but is rural and urban. I'm voting no today because DEI on our college campuses is not helping poor kids in Kentucky who are seeking to further their educational goals, regardless of their immutable characteristics. DEI is costing our taxpayers millions of dollars, and has largely been an embarrassing failure in our commonwealth. And for those who have said and will say that DEI is about so much more than race, let me remind you that Governor Beshear surrounded himself exclusively as he vetoed this bill with urbanites who are all people of color. And as we seek to become a more perfect union, we need to realize that Kentucky is diverse as we are today. We don't need to import more diversity per se. We need to value the Kentuckians that are here, the rural and the urban, the blue-collar and the white-collar equally. Thank you.