Shouts Echo In Kentucky's Legislature As Anti-trans Bill Passes House With Nobody Having Read It
Shouts Echo In Kentucky's Legislature As Anti-trans Bill Passes House With Nobody Having Read It
Kentucky's House Judiciary Committee pushed an amendment with no time to read it onto an anti-trans bill. They then voted it through both the committee and House to loud protests from the halls.
Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee in Kentucky met to consider HB470, a sweeping anti-transgender bill containing no less than 14 separate provisions targeting the transgender community. In a rare move after allowing opposition to speak against the bill, the committee substituted a large amendment that substantially changed the bill. Opponents were not given time to read the new provisions or respond to them, and Republican legislators passed the bill out of committee. The audience, most of whom were there in opposition to the bill, stood and shouted “shame!” as legislators promptly moved the bill to the full House Floor. As chants and shouts erupted outside the legislative chamber, several Democrats passionately spoke out against the bill, while only two Republicans spoke in favor, and the majority remained silent. The bill passed 75-22 and must now pass the Senate before being signed into law.
House Bill 470 originally was a bill that seemed to combine every other anti-trans youth bill in 2023 into one. Its provisions were far-reaching. It would ban birth certificate changes for trans youth, force school employees to out students to their parents, and ban their gender affirming care. Most of these provisions were retained in the new bill, though the mental health and school counseling provisions were removed. Name changes are banned in the new bill for transgender youth as are birth certificate changes. Importantly, no legislator or opponent was able to vet the new bill because it was handed out in committee only after opponents spoke against the original bill, giving them no ability to respond to the changes. The new bill was not even made available to the general public until the next day:
Immediately following the proponent testimony, the committee moved for a vote. They passed the bill out of the Judiciary committee as people chanted, “Shame!” Word began to spread that Kentucky representatives were going to rush the bill to the House floor for final passage on that same day. When the list of bills were read, sure enough, HB470 was introduced and put on the roll.
The bill was brought forward early in the hearing, which gave representatives even less time to read and examine it. It was evident, however, that this bill continued to unfairly target trans youth. Democrats took turns testifying against the bill, grilling the bills sponsor, Representative Jennifer Decker (R), with pointed questions and delivering impassioned speeches. Meanwhile, a crowd gathered outside, their chants reverberating throughout the chamber. Representative Pamela Stevenson (D) gave a powerful testimony against the bill, stating,“This goes for the jugular to kill, annihilate, and make sure that a whole group of people have no rights.”
During the floor testimony, various representatives criticized the bill using different approaches. Representative Josie Raymond (D) brought attention to the bill's misleading title, "An Act Relating to the Protection of Children." In her testimony, she pointed out the bill's hypocritical nature, stating, "The smugness of this bill. It's called an act related to the protection of children. You read it and think, we're finally going to do something about lead paint. We're going to do away with guns in schools. We'll reduce vehicle accidents. No, no, no."
She then pleaded with them to think of how their children will think of them, asking “Remember when you were scared of gay people getting married? You're wrong again about people that make you uncomfortable. Transness is not contagious. You won't catch gender dysphoria from a trans kid.”
During one of the most emotional moments of the floor session, Representative Daniel Grossburg (D) spoke directly to the trans kids and their parents while in tears, saying, “To this of you hurting today, I’m sorry. We are fighting for you, but we will not win today.”
He then gave the national suicide hotline number.
The entire time, the crowd grew outside of the doors that lead to the House Floor. They chanted so loudly at times that it drowned out the representative’s speeches. As the chamber moved to a vote, the chants grew louder. Before revealing the vote totals to the public, representatives were allowed to explain their votes. The state’s first openly LGBTQ+ representative, Representative Keturah Herron, pointed out the silence from Republicans: “It's been very difficult to sit here for 2 hours and listen to my colleagues explain why its a harmful legislation and little from members on the other side. Their silence speaks volumes.”
The vote passed 77-22:
Though the House moved onto new bills, the sounds of “trans lives matter” echoed throughout the halls:
We now know the full impact of this legislation. It targets transgender youth in a myriad of ways that harm them. Here is a full accounting of provisions that are in the final bill:
A ban on gender affirming care for transgender people under 18, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
A legalization of intersex surgeries on intersex babies.
A ban on birth certificate changes for trans youth.
A ban on legal name changes for trans youth.
Defining trans youth entirely out of the law by defining their sex as “biological sex at time of birth.”
A ban on trans youth being incarcerated in facilities matching their gender identity.
Bans on “aesthetic services” such as hair removal for trans youth.
Restrictions on pharmaceutical companies that manufacture puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
A 30 year liability clause for doctors providing gender affirming care to trans youth.
A ban on public funds to any organization that participates in gender affirming care for trans youth, no matter if they participate in that care in another state.
A ban on medicaid contracts with insurance companies that cover gender affirming care, no matter if they cover that care in different states.
A ban on deducting gender affirming care from taxes for trans youth.
Bills like this do immense harm to transgender youth. Trans youth getting proper gender affirming care see 73% lower suicidality. Another study showed a reduction of 40% in actual attempts. The bans on name changes and identity documents are particularly cruel - this would be the first state where name changes are banned for transgender youth if it passes. The Journal of Adolescent Health published an article showing a 53% decrease in suicidal behavior and a large decrease in patient’s scores of depression.
This bill is one of the most far-reaching bills in the United States this year. It combines several anti-trans bills into a single bill. The impacts of this bill will be most felt by vulnerable transgender youth, who will have to suffer at the hands of legislators who extend them no empathy. Kentucky is just the latest in a series of legislative escalations against the community. The bill will next move to the Senate, where we will see if it has enough votes to overcome what is almost certain to be a veto by the state’s Democratic governor, Governor Andy Besheaer.
I WANT TO VOMIT.
Absolutely sickening