The Kentucky transgender bill has been enacted after Republican lawmakers overrode Democratic Governor Andy Beshear’s veto on Wednesday, regulating the most intimate aspects of life for transgender youths.
Lawmakers override Kentucky Transgender Bill. (Photo: LATIMES)
What is Inside Kentucky Transgender Bill?
The Kentucky transgender bill will prohibit access to gender-affirming health care and limit the bathrooms they can use. The votes in both the legislative chambers were lopsided as the GOP has a supermajority.
The Senate voted 29-8 to override Beshear’s veto, while the House completed the override on a vote of 76-23. Nineteen people protesting the bill were arrested and charged with third-degree criminal trespassing, and a legal fight is brewing, according to an article published in Associated Press.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky intends to fight to preserve access to healthcare options for young transgender people. The Family Foundation’s executive director praised the veto override, stating that every child deserves to be loved, treated with dignity, and accepted for who they are.
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Goal of Kentucky Transgender Bill
The legislation is part of a national movement to limit the rights of LGBTQ+ people this year, with at least 11 states enacting laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors. In Kentucky, the new law will ban gender-affirming care for minors, 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.
In a published article in POLITICO, doctors will have to set a timeline to “detransition” children already taking puberty blockers or undergoing hormone therapy, and school districts will have to devise bathroom policies that, at a minimum, won’t allow transgender children to use the bathroom aligned with their gender.
The bill’s opponents framed the issue as a civil-rights fight. Democratic Representative Sarah Stalker said that “Kentucky will be on the wrong side of history” by enacting the measure. At a rally, trans teenager Sun Pacyga held up a sign saying, “Our blood is on your hands.”
The new law has been criticized for limiting access to healthcare options for young transgender people, which, critics say, could lead to an increase in teen suicides. However, supporters say that the law protects trans children from making decisions that they may regret as adults.
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