Kentuckians for Higher Education

A state wide coalition working to stop anti-DEI legislation

In partnership with: United Campus Workers, the Fairness Campaign

Restore the Vote Kentucky

This coalition works to restore voting rights for Kentuckians with past felony convictions to build momentum for legislative change in early 2026 and ensuring a successful ballot measure in November 2026.

Lotus

As Kentucky’s regional children’s advocacy and sexual violence resource center for the Purchase Area, Lotus serves survivors of child abuse and sexual assault as well as their supportive family members. We are committed to serving all survivors and do not discriminate against anyone on any basis. ALL ARE WELCOME! Services provided in part or fully by federal, state, and local funds. Ask us how you can get involved!

24-HOUR HELPLINE: 1-800-928-7273

MURRAY KY PRIDE

Murray KY Pride is an organization dedicated to celebrating the LGBTQ+ community within our town of Murray, Kentucky.

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - City of Murray, KY

This WKN chapter has been following the City of Murray’s Human Rights Commission for the past few years. We believe that this commission is necessary and valuable to any community and want to make sure that the city of Murray’s Commission is current in policy and attending to the concerns of the community it serves.

Find a copy of the local HUMAN RIGHTS ORDINANCE HERE

If you feel as if your rights have been violated, you can make a complaint by downloading the complaint form. The completed form must be filed with the City Clerk (via email or in person) within 180 days of the incident.

NAACP Mayfield-McCrackenCounty Chapter

Representing the Paducah-McCracken Co. KY NAACP Branch. Seeking to promote equality in civics, race, economics, and justice.

When: 3rd Tuesday of each month at 5:30PM

Where: W.C. Young Center 505 S. 8th Street,  Paducah, KY
email: PaducahNAACP@gmail.com

The Gender Equity Caucus

The Gender Equity Caucus at Murray State University (formerly Women’s Faculty Caucus) are faculty working for gender equality across campus

ADVANCE at Murray State

Program at Murray State University devoted to recruiting, retaining, and advancing women and minority STEM

Merryman House

Merryman House Domestic Crisis Center is committed to improving the lives of those affected by intimate partner violence: women, men, and children. We are the state-designated and only certified domestic violence program in the Purchase Area Development District serving Ballard, Calloway, Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Marshall, and McCracken counties.

Merryman House offers a 24/7 staffed crisis hotline and emergency shelter, safety planning, comprehensive case management and advocacy, court advocacy, support groups and education, housing stabilization and assistance, and more. It has three outreach offices located in McCracken, Marshall and Calloway counties. All services are free and confidential.

Domestic Violence Crisis Hotline 800-585-2685

Paducah Pride United Together

The corporation is organized exclusively for charitable purposes, specifically to eliminate discrimination, advocate for equality, provide education and social support and protect basic rights for the LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY.

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-City of Paducah, KY

The Paducah Human Rights Commission (PHRC) was formed May 26, 1964. This board helps ensure that Paducah residents and visitors maintain the right to live and work as equal partners in our community. Never should anyone discriminate - or be discriminated against - because of race, color, religion, age, familial status, handicap, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation in connection with employment, places of public accommodation, and housing. Sadly, unfortunate incidents do occur, even in a progressive city such as ours. If you experience discrimination or humiliation because someone has violated your human rights, the City of Paducah wants to know about it, and the Paducah Human Rights Commission wants to help.

File a Complaint

• Learn the process to File a Complaint if you feel you have been a victim of discrimination.

• File a Complaint through Kentucky Commission on Human Rights

NAACP Mayfield-Graves County Chapter

When: 1st Monday of each month at 6:00PM

Where: Faith Miracle Temple of Glory Church, 1326 Wilson Ave., Mayfield, KY 42066

Email: mayfieldnaacp@gmail.com

United Campus Workers-MSU Chapter

At Murray State University, we are organizing for living wages and affordable healthcare, support for parents and caregivers on campus, and for the respect and safety of all campus workers. Read more below or view the full platform here.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay up to date on our campus chapter. For more information about UCW KY, email ucwky@ucw-cwa.org or reach out to an organizer through our contact form.

LivWell Community Health Services

LivWell Community Health Services is a non-profit organization providing comprehensive health and support services, education, and advocacy, as related to HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases and viral hepatitis. Quality health care is provided to persons living with HIV/AIDS or sexually transmitted diseases and support services are provided to HIV clients. Prevention education and testing are provided to all clients, their families, and the community at large.  Within the community, we strive to prevent new infections of HIV and STI’s and reduce the stigma associated with these various diseases by promoting awareness, acceptance, and equality.

LivWell Community Health Services Clinic
1903 Broadway Street
Paducah, KY 42001
Phone: (270) 444-8183

Outfit Inc. 

OutFit was organized to benefit the LGBTQIA+ community of Paducah and its surrounding areas through community outreach.  OutFit’s mission is to help those Fit in a community that stands Out.

OutFit offers a safe space for EVERYONE. As our organization continues to grow, we want to give back to the LGBTQIA+ community by providing valuable resources for its members and allies. Our goal is to help educate, assist, and develop connections with the people of our community.

Paducah Diversity Advisory Board

We promote the ethical, diverse, & equitable inclusion of marginalized people within the Purchase area community.

Mayfield Minority Enrichment Center

Our mission is to serve low income, BIPOC, elderly, and underserved populations in Western Kentucky to bridge gaps while enriching, empowering and equipping them to be productive members of the community.

Four Rivers Indivisible

Four Rivers Indivisible is a forum for civic engagement and action for freedom, social justice and equality. It was formed January, 2017 in the belief that the times require a strong response to the anti-democratic forces coming into our politics. In order to work together to achieve this goal, we model the values of inclusion, tolerance, and fairness. Members are welcome from any location with the current service area including the Four Rivers area of Western Kentucky (Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee, Cumberland Rivers) and So IL (Massac/Pope Counties). This group is affiliated with Indivisible.org and is listed in the national Indivisible Directory. This group is also affiliated with Indivisible IL

Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC)

KFTC is a grassroots organization of thousands of members across Kentucky. They have local chapters and at-large members in many counties. They use a set of core strategies, from leadership development to communications and voter empowerment, to impact a broad range of issues, including coal and water, new energy and transition, economic justice and voting rights.  KFTC is committed to building a strong, diverse organization. Racism, classism and other forms of oppression stand in the way of their vision and are among the root causes of the problems they're working to address. They bring together people from diverse backgrounds and help them see the connections between their communities and issues – to build long-term, mutually supportive relationships that are the basis for building power together.

League of Women Voters KY

LWV of Kentucky works to promote political responsibility through informed and active participation of citizens in government. We may take action on government measures and policies in the public interest in conformity with the principles of the League of Women Voters of the US. We do not support or oppose any political party or candidate.

Fairness Campaign

The Fairness Campaign is Kentucky’s LGBTQ advocacy organization founded in 1991 by 10 Louisvillians. Its primary goal is comprehensive civil rights legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and to dismantle systemic racism. With the help of the Fairness Campaign, 24 Kentucky communities and counting have enacted Fairness Ordinances outlawing LGBTQ discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Today, the Fairness Campaign works in cities all across Kentucky to advance LGBTQ rights and acceptance through legislative advocacy and public education.

Kentucky Health Justice Network

Kentucky Health Justice Network builds the power of Kentuckians to achieve reproductive justice. We support this mission through direct support, education and outreach.

Our work is guided by the reproductive justice framework, developed by women and people of color. We believe reproductive rights are human rights, and that all people should be able to decide if, when, and how to parent. To learn more the history of the reproductive justice framework, visit the SisterSong website

BLACK

Black Leadership Action Coalition of Kentucky (BLACK) is an inclusive network of Black organizers and activists across the Commonwealth of Kentucky who are abolitionists, anti-capitalist, and believe in representative and collective decision-making. 

BLACK organizes to transform and realign current systems of power to meet the needs of all people through the belief that we can work together to build just, equitable, and inclusive socio-economic systems by building relationships with one another, growing in our leadership, and expanding our base.

ABLE-KY

Advocacy Based on Lived Experience (ABLE) builds and fosters relationships of trust amongst Kentuckians with lived experience and their communities through education, mobilization, and organization to promote healthy civic participation for the betterment of people and communities.

Queer Kentucky

Queer Kentucky is a diverse LGBTQ+ run non-profit founded in Louisville, Kentucky working to bolster and enhance Queer culture and health through storytelling, education and action. Through our storytelling approach, we give visibility and celebrate the lives of LGBTQ+ people in the great Bluegrass State.

Visibility alone is life-saving. Queer Kentucky actively works with organizations and businesses on their inclusivity efforts that enhance the well-being of their employees.

Planned Parenthood Advocates

Advocating for a just, equitable, thriving world where everyone has access to sexual and reproductive health care and education.

Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, Serving AK, HI, ID, IN, KY, and WA (PPAA) protects and promotes reproductive health, rights and justice. We do this by advocating for public policies that guarantee the right to choice and full and nondiscriminatory access to reproductive health care, and fostering and preserving a social and political climate favorable to the exercise of reproductive choice through voter education, candidate endorsement and other means.

National Organization for Women (National)

As the grassroots arm of the women’s movement, the National Organization for Women is dedicated to its multi-issue and multi-strategy approach to women’s rights, and is the largest organization of feminist grassroots activists in the United States. NOW has hundreds of chapters and hundreds of thousands of members and activists in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Since our founding in 1966, NOW’s purpose is to take action through intersectional grassroots activism to promote feminist ideals, lead societal change, eliminate discrimination, and achieve and protect the equal rights of all women and girls in all aspects of social, political, and economic life.

League of Women Voters

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization working to protect and expand voting rights and ensure everyone is represented in our democracy. We empower voters and defend democracy through advocacy, education, and litigation, at the local, state, and national levels.

Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading provider and advocate of high-quality, affordable sexual and reproductive health care for all people, as well as the nation’s largest provider of sex education. With nearly 600 health centers across the country, Planned Parenthood organizations serve all patients with care and compassion, with respect, and without judgment, striving to create equitable access to health care. Through health centers, programs in schools and communities, and online resources, Planned Parenthood is a trusted source of reliable education and information that allows people to make informed health decisions. We do all this because we care passionately about helping people lead healthier lives.

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is a national organization that brings hundreds of thousands of white people into fights for racial and economic justice.

For too long, the Right has hoarded wealth and power by using strategic racism to convince white people that we have more in common with billionaires and corporate elites than with the people of color in our communities. At SURJ, we bring our folks in by offering a better alternative: a just, vibrant future where people of all races work together to win what we need. We do this work by building people power in multi-racial communities across our network — through campaigns, 200 chapters across the country, and deep local organizing projects.