Republican lawmakers in Kentucky have successfully overturned the Democratic governor’s veto of a bill that restricts transgender young people’s access to healthcare and public bathrooms, according to a report from The Associated Press.
The legislation is set to take effect in three months and prohibits gender-related medical treatments, including hormone therapy and puberty blockers, for anyone under the age of 18.
Doctors must also provide a timeline for “detransitioning” for children who are already taking these treatments.
Schools are not allowed to discuss gender identity or sexual orientation with students and must create bathroom policies that “at a minimum” do not allow transgender children to use the restroom aligned with their gender identity.
Teachers may refuse to use the pronouns chosen by transgender students, and parents must be notified when lessons about human sexuality will be taught.
The Senate voted 29-8 to override Governor Andy Beshear’s veto, and the House followed suit with a 76-23 vote.
The GOP holds a supermajority in both chambers.
Supporters of the bill argue that it protects children from making regrettable decisions regarding their gender identity.
Republican Representative Shane Baker said, “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.”
Ten other states have already implemented laws that restrict or ban gender-related medical care for minors, with an additional 22 states considering similar bills this year.
Republican Senator Robby Mills stated his support for the Kentucky bill, citing his belief that gender-related medical treatments for minors are “dangerous” and that “parents and students should have confidence that bathrooms in their school will only be used by the same biological sex.”
The bill’s advocates, including David Walls, executive director of The Family Foundation, praised the override, stating that the legislation aligns with the idea 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.”
