Kentucky governor Andy Beshear vetoed one of the most draconian anti-transgender bills in the U.S. today, volleying it back to its Republican sponsors for a final showdown.
Senate Bill 150 is an omnibus anti-trans bill stitched from several different pieces of legislation that were previously thought to be dead. If enacted, SB 150 would force doctors to medically detransition minors under their care, prohibit trans kids from using properly gendered bathrooms in schools, and ban any discussion of LGBTQ+ topics or human sexuality from kindergarten through the sixth grade. Senate Republicans composed the bill and rushed it through committee and onto the floor last week, so quickly that full copies of the bill text were not available to all legislators before the votes were held.
In his veto message, Beshear wrote that the bill “allows too much governmental interference in personal healthcare issues and rips away the freedom of parents to make medical decisions for their children.” Beshear also said SB 150 “turns educators and administrators into investigators that must listen in” on the private lives of children, and then “knock on doors to confront and question parents” about their child’s identity.
“I am also vetoing Senate Bill 150 because my faith teaches me that all children are children of God and Senate Bill 150 will endanger the children of Kentucky,” Beshear wrote, citing statistics from the Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health regarding suicidal ideation and gender-affirming care. “Improving access to gender-affirming care is an important means of improving health outcomes for the transgender population,” Beshear wrote.
Kentucky Republicans hold a legislative supermajority and are expected to vote to override Beshear’s veto, as they’ve done in the past. But not every Republican is on board with the far-right plan to deny trans kids healthcare: Reps. Kim Banta, Stephanie Dietz and Killian Timoney all opposed SB 150 in the House, indicating there may be a GOP faction willing to defect. “I think that it’s more important to support kids through the process than it is to pass legislation on who they are,” Timoney said during floor debate last week.
Civil rights groups have praised Beshear for using his veto power against the bill, which the ACLU of Kentucky has called “the worst anti-trans bill in the nation.” Of the nearly 500 anti-trans bills filed in states across the U.S. this year so far, 19 have passed into law.
“Transgender students already live and go to school in Kentucky, play sports, and enjoy time with their friends. They deserve the chance to succeed and thrive like any other student,” said ACLU-KY communications director Angela Cooper in a statement Friday. “The adults in the General Assembly should focus on what students, teachers, and schools really need, rather than single out vulnerable children to score cheap political points.”
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