Our friends out in the state have some very different ideas about what Kentucky should be like. Way different than many people in more urban areas like Louisville and Lexington.

I say “friends” with a hint of sarcasm because an editorial in the Bowling Green Daily News posted online Wednesday made it clear that the editorial board there doesn’t think much of the majority of people here and those well-known leftists over in Lexington.

It’s hard to tell, in fact, if the piece that slammed the state’s largest cities as being full of “elitists” who "have no sense of the rest of this beautiful state" and feel entitled to special treatment is more full of anger or errors. But we’ll get to that later.

The column had to do with the action by California to ban state travel to Kentucky because of a new Kentucky law that some say can be implemented to discriminate against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people.

More from Joseph Gerth

Aluminum plant could drive Kentucky's bourbon industry, and Matt Bevin, to drink

Has the Trump administration joined the war on Louisville?

Who owns 'The Thinker' statue in Louisville? Depends on who you ask

What set the Bowling Green editorial writer off, half-cocked and all, was that the "elitist" mayors of Louisville and Lexington wrote letters to California Attorney General Xavier Becerra asking to be exempted from the ban because we, as cities, don’t agree with the law.

We both have passed ordinances over the years that attempt to protect people in our cities who are maybe a bit different than us — or sometimes the same as us — from being discriminated against just because of the way their genes and chromosomes lined up.

We think it's a good idea to protect people from discrimination. And so do many of the types of Fortune 500 companies that we would love to see bring high-paying jobs to our community — companies like Aetna, Apple, Intel, Microsoft and Oracle that all favor non-discriminatory laws.

Related:Kentucky lawmaker: Repealing law is only way to lift California travel ban

But many in the state, especially rural legislators, have tried for years to block equal rights on the basis of sexual orientation. There's a pretty good reason they should back off and listen to us in the larger cities.

It’s cliché when a politician searching for votes in Louisville comes here and says that Louisville is “the economic engine of Kentucky.” But it’s true.

How important is Louisville? More than a third of Kentucky's gross domestic product is generated here. Louisville and Lexington together account for more than half of the state's GDP.

Back in 2003 we reported on a study by University of Louisville economist Paul Coomes that found over the previous 10 years, Louisville residents paid about $1.2 billion more in taxes than it got back, with the rest disbursed and dispersed across the state.

And seven of the state's top 10 counties for per capita income are in the Louisville and Lexington metropolitan areas. (The other three are in the Cincinnati suburbs.)

We're obviously doing something right here.

Bowling Green is a nice little place with a quaint downtown.

A perfectly fine town to stop for gasoline on your way to Nashville.

It’s got a wonderful car museum where they sometimes hide classic automobiles in sinkholes.

Bowling Green and nearby small towns like Franklin, Morgantown and Russellville benefit from the forced largesse of Louisville residents who pay millions and millions of dollars more than what's paid by small Kentucky cities and towns.

That ingratitude isn't the only reason I’m surprised by the hostile tone of the editorial.

First, it accuses both Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and Lexington Mayor Jim Gray of being elitists.

I suppose one might call Fischer elite since his family has money — though I'm not sure anyone at the Bowling Green newspaper knows him well enough to make such a charge.

But Gray?

He was reared just up the road from Bowling Green in Glasgow and came from a family that often didn’t have two dimes to rub together until he and his brothers built a huge construction business now worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Talk to him or his brothers, Stephen and Howard, for a few minutes and the word “elitist” won't pop into your head.

I'm pretty certain Gray — having spent the first half of his life in a rural town of fewer than 15,000 people and the second half in one of Kentucky's largest cities — has a pretty darn good feel for the state.

The editorial also accuses the cities of trying to “ignore state law.” That couldn’t be further from the truth. We've been clear and consistent that we would like Kentucky to change the law — and change its attitudes toward people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

It would help us show big, good-paying corporations that we share their values. We in Louisville value fair play and we value smart, hard-working people no matter who they love.

You may like:An example of a well-run city? Look no further than Louisville

Finally, I was perplexed by the suggestion that Louisville and Lexington want to secede from Kentucky. I haven't heard leaders in either city call for it.

The editorial points out that “Secession didn’t work out all that well the last time it was attempted.” Folks in Bowling Green should know that all too well since they live in what was the Confederate capital of Kentucky. (Their side lost.)

While we’re not asking to leave, if Kentucky’s legislators want to throw Louisville out of the Commonwealth, so be it. A good number of people here would likely take them up on it.

And we’ll take our money with us.

Joseph Gerth's column runs on most Sundays and at various times throughout the week. He can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courier-journal.com.

Editorial:Playing whack-a-mole with bourbon would hurt Kentucky

Gerth:Brandenburg celebrates monument that celebrates slavery