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GOP lawmakers override veto of transgender bill in Kentucky

Republican lawmakers have swept aside the Democratic governor’s veto of a bill regulating some of the most personal aspects of life for transgender young people.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Republican lawmakers in Kentucky on Wednesday swept aside the Democratic governor’s veto of a bill regulating some of the most personal aspects of life for transgender young people — from banning access to gender-affirming health care to restricting the bathrooms they can use.

The votes to override Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto were lopsided in both legislative chambers — where the GOP wields supermajorities — and came on the next-to-last day of this year’s legislative session.

As emotions surged, some people protesting the bill from the House gallery were removed and arrested after their chants drowned out the voices of lawmakers. The protesters, their hands bound, chanted “there’s more of us not here” as they waited to be taken away from the Capitol. 

Kentucky State Police Captain Paul Blanton said 19 people were arrested and cited for third-degree criminal trespassing.

"KSP gave each individual the option to leave without any enforcement action or be placed under arrest," he said. "The Franklin County District Court authorized that the individuals could be released on their own recognizance."

Credit: AP
Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers looks out over the Senate body during their session at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, March 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

The debate is likely to spill over into this year’s gubernatorial campaign, with Beshear's veto drawing GOP condemnation as he seeks reelection to a second term. A legal fight also is brewing. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky reaffirmed that it intends to “take this fight to the courts” to try to preserve access to those health care options for young transgender people.

“While we lost the battle in the legislature, our defeat is temporary. We will not lose in court,” said Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization.

In praising the override, David Walls, executive director of The Family Foundation, said the bill puts “policy in alignment with the truth that every child is created as a male or female and deserves to be loved, treated with dignity and accepted for who they really are.”

Activists on both sides of the impassioned debate gathered at the statehouse to make competing appeals before lawmakers took up the transgender bill.

At a rally that drew hundreds of transgender-rights supporters outside Kentucky’s Capitol, trans teenager Sun Pacyga held up a sign summing up a grim review of the Republican legislation. The sign read: “Our blood is on your hands.”

“If it passes, the restricted access to gender-affirming health care, I think trans kids will die because of that,” the 17-year-old student said, expressing a persistent concern among the bill's critics that the restrictions could lead to an increase in teen suicides.

The Senate voted 29-8 to override Beshear's veto,. A short time later, the House completed the override on a vote of 76-23. Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers.

Bill supporters assembled to defend the measure, saying it protects trans children from undertaking gender-affirming treatments they might regret as adults. Research shows such regret is rare, however.

“We cannot allow people to continue down the path of fantasy, to where they’re going to end up 10, 20, 30 years down the road and find themselves miserable from decisions that they made when they were young,” said Republican Rep. Shane Baker at a rally.

The legislation in Kentucky is part of a national movement, with state lawmakers approving extensive measures that restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ people this year — from bills targeting trans athletes and drag performers to measures limiting gender-affirming care.

Credit: AP
Members of the Kentucky State Police look out over the protesters gathered outside the Senate chambers of the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Protesters gathered outside the chambers to show their opposition of Senate bill SB150, known as the Transgender Health Bill. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

At least 10 states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah and South Dakota. A proposed ban is pending before the Republican governor in West Virginia. Federal judges have blocked enforcement of laws in Alabama and Arkansas, and nearly two dozen states are considering bills this year to restrict or ban care.

The debate in the Kentucky Senate reflected the impassioned arguments put forth at the rival rallies.

“We are denying families, their physicians and their therapists the right to make medically informed decisions for their families,” Democratic Sen. Karen Berg said in opposing the bill.

Berg read what her son, Henry Berg-Brousseau, wrote in advocating for transgender rights shortly before his death late last year at age 24. The cause was suicide, his mother said.

Republican Sen. Robby Mills said he supported the bill because of his belief that "puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, when administered to youth under 18 for the purpose of altering their appearance, is dangerous for the health of that child.”

Transgender medical treatments have long been available in the United States and are endorsed by major medical associations.

Mills said another reason for his support was that “parents and students should have confidence that bathrooms in their school will only be used by the same biological sex.”

The sweeping Kentucky measure would ban gender-affirming care for minors. It would outlaw gender reassignment surgery for anyone under 18, as well as the use of puberty blockers and hormones, and inpatient and outpatient gender-affirming hospital services.

Doctors would have to set a timeline to “detransition” children already taking puberty blockers or undergoing hormone therapy. They could continue offering care as they taper a youngster’s treatments, if removing them from the treatment immediately could harm the child.

Parts of the bill dealing with gender-affirming medical care will take effect in about three months.

Credit: AP
Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, addresses the Senate during their session at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort, Ky., Wednesday, March 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

The bill would not allow schools to discuss sexual orientation or gender identity with students of any age. It would also require school districts to devise bathroom policies that, “at a minimum,” would not allow transgender children to use the bathroom aligned with their gender identities.

It would further allow teachers to refuse to refer to transgender students by the pronouns they use and require schools to notify parents when lessons related to human sexuality are going to be taught.

Another trans teenager, Hazel Hardesty, said the potential discontinuation of gender-affirming health care would mean “my male puberty would continue," which would “cause a lot of mental distress.”

“People don’t even understand how it feels,” the 16-year-old said during a rally. "Going through the wrong puberty, every day your body is a little bit farther from what feels like you. And eventually you don’t even recognize yourself in the mirror.”

The following statement can be attributed to ACLU-KY Executive Director Amber Duke regarding the veto override of Senate Bill 150, an omnibus anti-trans bill:

In another shameful attack on LGBTQ youth in Kentucky, the General Assembly has overridden Governor Beshear’s veto of Senate Bill 150. 

SB 150 was rushed through the legislature in a deliberately secretive process at the 11th hour. Trans Kentuckians, medical and mental health professionals, and accredited professional associations pleaded with lawmakers to listen to the experts, not harmful rhetoric based in fear and hate. Their pleas fell on deaf ears as the general assembly passed the bill in a matter of hours. 

While an “emergency” clause was applied to some sections of the bill, the health care ban provisions will not go into effect until late June -- 90 days after the legislature adjourns. Trans youth can still receive care until that portion of the bill takes effect. And we intend to take this fight to the courts to make sure Kentuckians’ right to that care will continue. 

To all the trans youth who may be affected by this legislation: we stand by you, and we will not stop fighting. You are cherished. You are loved. You belong.

To the commonwealth: we will see you in court.  

The following statement can be attributed to Fairness Campaign Executive Director Chris Hartman:

While we lost the battle in the legislature, our defeat is temporary. We will not lose in court. And we are winning in so many other ways. Thousands of Kentucky kids came to the Capitol today to make their voices heard against the worst anti-trans bill in the nation. They are our hope for a Kentucky future that is more fair, more just, and more beautifully diverse and accepting than ever before.

I applaud the brave protesters who stood their ground in the Kentucky House gallery today before being removed by Kentucky State Troopers. Their chants and pain were heard by all in the chamber and were a necessary show of the grief and harm Senate Bill 150 will cause. Transgender children and their families in Kentucky are scared, rightfully so. We will do all we can to ensure they can continue to access the life-saving medical care they deserve.

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