Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce declined to give the keynote address at a Columbus VA MLK luncheon Thursday after organizers said he could not discuss DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) topics.
This week President Trump issued an executive order to end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts within the federal government.
Boyce said VA organizers contacted him just two hours before the event alerting him he would not be allowed to speak on DEI-related topics.
"They called and I guess, tried to have a conversation about it,” said Boyce. “And for me, my response was, this is not negotiable for me.”
Boyce said he could not change what he had written. He had been invited two months ago to share his personal journey to leadership while honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy at the event.
"How could a speech, how could anyone give a speech recognizing the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and not mention the words diversity, equity, or inclusion? I just, I don't think it's possible,” said Boyce.
Boyce said conversations about DEI should be embraced and not discouraged.
"Our country, this community deserves to have a freedom of conversation around topics that involve race, that involve discrimination, that involve inclusion, that involve diversity,” said Boyce. “All of those things should be embraced and our embedded in our constitutional rights."
Public Affairs Officer with the VA Central Ohio Healthcare System, Stacia Ruby responded late Friday afternoon, in an email.
She wrote “As a result of this speaker’s cancellation, Columbus VA Ambulatory Care Center is working to reschedule the event honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. VA is no longer focusing on DEI and is recommitting itself to its core mission: providing the best possible care and benefits to Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors.”
"A conversation or discussion is not law," said Boyce. "It's not a policy. It's not even an action. It is simply a healthy conversation on this topic, on Martin Luther King Jr Day, which is all about those ideas, those the proposition that we are fighting to always be a better nation."
