LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Prosecutors dismissed charges Thursday against three gayrights activists arrested this summer for standing silently in matching orange T-shirts to protest an event at the Kentucky State Fair.
Chris Hartman, director of the Fairness Campaign in Louisville, was among those arrested in August while demonstrating at the Kentucky Farm Bureau’s annual Country Ham Breakfast, which draws many of the state’s political heavyweights. The Fairness Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union have protested the event for years in opposition to the insurance company’s political arm, which opposes same-sex marriage and lobbies for other conservative causes.
Around two dozen activists bought tickets to the breakfast for $28 each, Hartman said. They sat at tables in the back of the event.
State troopers met with the protesters before the event and laid out rules, and warned them that if they violated them, they would be removed.
When the activists stood at the event, troopers handcuffed and arrested them. They charged Hartman with disorderly conduct and failure to disperse. Two others were charged with failure to disperse.
Assistant County Attorney J.P. Ward told the judge his office has reviewed video footage of the event, interviewed witnesses and consulted law enforcement officials.
The office concluded it would be unlikely to secure a conviction against them.