Democratic Gov. Beshear vetoes GOP bill to dismantle DEI efforts at Kentucky's public universities

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a GOP-backed bill Thursday to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at public universities, declaring that diversity should be embraced as a strength while branding the legislation as being “about hate.”

Beshear, who is seen as a potential candidate for the White House in 2028, announced his veto in a social media video. His forceful defense of diversity initiatives comes as Republican President Donald Trump seeks to end government support for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

“I believe in the Golden Rule that says we love our neighbor as ourself, and there are no exceptions, no asterisks,” Beshear said. "We love and we accept everyone. This bill isn’t about love. House Bill 4 is about hate. So I’m gonna try a little act of love myself and I’m gonna veto it right now.”

The anti-DEI legislation cleared both legislative chambers by lopsided margins. Kentucky's Republican-supermajority legislature will have a chance to override Beshear's veto when lawmakers reconvene in late March for the final two days of this year's 30-day session. Throughout Beshear's tenure as governor, GOP lawmakers have, with gusto, routinely swept aside his vetoes to push their policies into law.

The DEI-related bill originated in the Kentucky House, and a spokeswoman for House Republicans didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Beshear's veto.

The measure rejected by Beshear would require Kentucky's public universities and community and technical colleges to defund DEI initiatives. It also would require the schools to eliminate DEI offices and prohibit them from requiring students or staff to attend DEI training sessions.

“I’ll always believe that diversity is a strength and never a weakness,” Beshear said in the video from his office at the Kentucky Capitol. “That we are better with more voices and more seats at our table.”

More than 50 universities are being investigated for alleged racial discrimination as part of Trump’s campaign to end DEI programs, which his officials say exclude white and Asian American students.

The U.S. Education Department recently announced the new investigations, one month after issuing a memo warning America’s schools and colleges that they could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.

Trump plans to sign an executive order Thursday calling for the dismantling of the U.S. Education Department, advancing a campaign promise to eliminate an agency that’s been a longtime target of conservatives who criticize it as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. However, completing its dismantling is most likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979. Beshear has criticized efforts to mothball the agency.

The term-limited Kentucky governor recently participated in a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 60th anniversary of the clash that became known as Bloody Sunday. The attack shocked the nation and galvanized support for the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Last year, Beshear condemned efforts to limit DEI practices at public universities after marching with other Kentuckians to commemorate the 60th anniversary of a civil-rights rally that featured Martin Luther King Jr. in the state’s capital city of Frankfort. Anti-DEI legislation died last year in Kentucky amid a House-Senate impasse in what was a rare temporary setback on a priority, hot-button issue.

“DEI is not a four-letter word,” Beshear said at the time. “DEI is a three-letter acronym for very important values that are found in our Bible. Diversity, equity and inclusion is about loving each other. It’s about living out the Golden Rule. ... Diversity will always make us stronger.”