In Utah, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox vetoed his state’s version of an anti-trans sports bill. He said, “Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.”
A similar bill was also vetoed by Eric Holcomb, Indiana’s Republican governor.
And yes, Andy Beshear did the same in Kentucky, but was quickly overrode by the Kentucky legislature, where the Republicans hold a supermajority in both chambers. The same happened to Cox’s veto and is expected to happen to Holcomb’s veto.
These bills seek to ban transgender children from playing sports with their peers. All three bills would ban trans girls and women from playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams. This means that a transgender child would be restricted from kicking a soccer ball, throwing a baseball, running in a loop on the school track because Republicans are uncomfortable with what might or might not be happening in their underwear.
Why have Republicans chosen to target children? It certainly has nothing to do with saving money or preserving any strongly held value. What it is, is adults bullying children because of a sickly obsession about what is happening in the most private of spaces, and it is gross. Very.
Republicans have claimed that it is to preserve women’s sports. Sports that they underfund and “women” that they don’t allow to control their own medical decisions. Sure... we believe you. We don’t. We don’t believe this bullshit.
Since the Republican party was infested with evangelical ideology and forgot the very roots of their party platform, it has gone on a crusade to attack marginalized groups including immigrants, People of Color, all members of the LGBTQ+ community, and right now the “attaques du jour” are against children, read that again, children who are transgender.
The fact of the matter is that Republicans are making decisions based on evangelical beliefs and the truth is that high religiosity and rampant sexual abuse are intertwined, so the fingers they are pointing at others, should be pointed in their own churches.
I’m enraged and protective because they are attacking children and I am a mother. And, even though my child seems to fall into the cis gender category, some of my friends’ children do not and I will fight against this sort of intimidation and discrimination as if it were my own child.
Why are we allowing a minority to make decisions that align with the very behavior we’ve already deemed unacceptable, the behavior we tell our children to stand up against? Bullying is never OK, but Republicans have forgotten that because “values” for them are only lip service.
The modern Republican party in this country, and particularly in states like Kentucky, are run by overtly white protestant groups of bruised egos and out-of-control Ids, meaning that these adults are displaying the very behavior that should have been lost in the natural process of maturity.
But to be sure, more at fault are the people who refuse to vote, and those who voted for these people to mistreat babies. America has a bullying problem and now, more than ever, we’re allowing that behavior to become institutional mores.
Two things need to happen immediately, and the first is for American parents to demand that legislators focus on policy that helps people and to make the passing of bills that do harm an offense worthy of being voted out of office.
The American people and our government need to grow the fuck up.
The other thing that needs to happen immediately is counseling and emotional care for the babies being targeted in this sort of legislation. Children can’t understand what this all means and for them and it definitely will become something that could have major adverse consequences, including the loss of young lives. We can’t afford that.
“Four kids and only one of them playing girls’ sports,” said Gov. Cox. “That’s what this is all about. Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are part of something.”
In Kentucky, just before a similar piece of legislation was advanced by the Senate Education Committee back in February, Sen. Reginald Thomas, a Democrat from Lexington, asked the bill’s sponsor Sen. Robby Mills, a Republican from Henderson, if he was aware of any issues or disputes concerning transgender students and sports occurring in Kentucky. He said he couldn’t.
Last year, the Associated Press reached out to more than 20 lawmakers from across the U.S. who sponsored bills that would ban transgender girls from competing on girls’ sports teams, asking them to cite a single example of why their bill was needed. In almost every case, they couldn’t.
We know that kids’ participation in school and having strong peer connections can reduce the risk of suicide. This is true for all children but particular for those children in the transgender and gender non-conforming communities.
We can’t lose our kids. We can’t lose them because of the perverted policy decisions that we’ve given Republicans the opportunities to make. What we can do is protect the children and end some careers. I mean, since we’re in the business of bedrooms and underwear… what skeletons are in the closets of Kentucky Republicans?
Keep Louisville interesting and support LEO Weekly by subscribing to our newsletter here. In return, you’ll receive news with an edge and the latest on where to eat, drink and hang out in Derby City.
