{Louisville, Kentucky}...U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II in Louisville found that the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services dismissed Milton Elwood Stroder from his job in 2009 for a violation of the cabinet's email policy, while letting Shannon Duncan, a heterosexual employee who committed the same infraction stay on the job. Stroder sued the cabinet alleging that his supervisors dismissed him because he's gay. The cabinet denied that it discriminated against Stroder and said it was coincidence that Stroder was fired as a probationary employee, and Duncan's case wasn't processed until a few days later, after she became a permanent employee and could not be fired because of additional rights afforded to such workers. Jill Midkiff, a spokeswoman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said the agency "respectfully disagrees" with Heyburn's decision and is weighing an appeal. Heyburn gave Stroder until May 15th to file for damages or a remedy.
