On Wednesday night, a sweeping anti-trans bill He was found dead in Kentucky as lawmakers debated whether he went too far. Thus, it surprised Democrats, transgender activists, and their allies when Republicans managed to hold a committee vote and then rush the bill through both the House of Representatives and the state Senate the next day.
Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear is not expected to sign the bill, which passed mostly along party lines, but the GOP has enough of a majority to override his veto.
The people in the gallery were furious when the measure passed and yelled: “You’re all fucking pieces of shit!” to the legislators on the floor, according to Courier Journal reporter Joe Sonka.
Democratic state Sen. Karen Berg, whose transgender son committed suicide in December, wept after the vote, Sonka reported. Berg had given powerful testimony while the bill was being debated.
“(This bill) is viewed as the worst anti-LGBTQ legislation to come out of a state chamber in this country,” he said. said during a debate on the floor.
“This is absolutely deliberate hate for a small group of people who are the weakest and most vulnerable,” he added.
The bill passed this week expanded one that Republicans in Kentucky first filed in February, which would have allowed students to mislead transgender students despite the detrimental impact it would have on trans youth.
He new version of the bill still allows trans students to be the wrong gender. But it goes much further: It also bans gender-affirming care, such as puberty blockers or hormone therapy, for trans children and requires doctors to begin detransitioning any of their trans patients who are children. Mandates that schools create policies that do not allow trans students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity. It does not allow educators to discuss sexual orientation or gender identity in any grade and prohibits discussion of human sexuality until sixth grade. After that, parental consent is required.
Last-minute push by the Kentucky Republican Party to advance the bill continues a troublemaker national trend. Hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced this year in Republican-dominated states as part of the broader culture war against trans-Americans and the push for “parental rights,” an umbrella term that centers the wishes of conservative white parents when designing policy. in public schools.
Gender affirming care for minors is appropriate and not dangerous, according to the American Medical Association. And the genuine risks to mental health come with widespread discrimination and healthcare bans: transgender youth are in increased risk of depression and suicide.
Instead of serving the most vulnerable among us, Berg said her fellow legislators ignored the science behind gender-affirming care for trans children and only rushed this bill for a reason.
“My son came here 10 years ago,” he says. said thursdayreferring to her testimony of his son in 2015 against a bathroom bill in the Kentucky state house. “You had time to understand the science… this is utter hate, deliberate and intentional.”