Kentucky governor goes viral for explaining why he vetoed anti-trans bill: ‘Perfect answer’
Kentucky governor Andy Beshear. (Getty)
The governor of Kentucky has gone viral after explaining why he vetoed the “nastiest” anti-LGBTQ+ bills he had seen during his career.
Democrat Andy Beshear said his decision was about “focus”, not just about support for equality.
“Remember, if we’re talking about the issue of the day… then we’re talking about jobs,” he said. “We’re only spending a third of the time talking about what people are worried about, and what impacts their life, the most.”
Beshear vetoed an anti-trans bill last year that would have forced under-18s in the state to detransition because of a ban on gender-affirming care.
During an appearance on CNN’s Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan on Sunday (17 November), Beshear was confronted by Democratic congressman Seth Moulton’s recent comments about transgender women in sports.
Governor Beshear: “I vetoed one of the nastiest anti-LGBTQ bills. All children are children of God and I wanted to stick up for children who were being picked on.”
— Adam (@AdamJSmithGA) November 17, 2024
Perfect answer. pic.twitter.com/txNnv0XFKC
Moulton, who has come under fire for his comments, said he didn’t want his two children to get “run over on a playing field” by what he described as a “male or formerly male athlete”, while failing to provide any evidence that any incidents of this type had happened.
When asked to respond, Beshear said Democrats shouldn’t abandon their beliefs and that he wasn’t going to change his support for LGBTQ+ rights.
“I voted down one of the nastiest anti-LGBTQ+ bills that my state had ever seen, in my election year,” he said. “But I did two things. Number one: I talked about why. That’s my faith, where I’m taught that all children are children of God, and I wanted to stick up for children [who] were being picked on.
“But the second thing [is] voters in my state knew the very next day, I was going to be working on jobs. I was going to be opening a new health clinic, first hospital in our largest African American neighbourhood in 150 years, we just cut the ribbon on. We’ve created two paediatric autism centres in Appalachia, so that people don’t have to drive two hours.”
It was more important to focus on issues that affect the majority of Americans, rather than repealing the rights of LGBTQ+ people, he added.
The governor was praised in September for his decision to ban the use of so-called conversion therapy in Kentucky. It was necessary to protect children from abusive practices, he said.
Conversion therapy refers to pointless efforts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity in a bid to “cure” them.
“Let’s be clear: conversion therapy has no basis in medicine or science, and it has been shown to increase rates of suicide and depression,” Beshear said at the time. “This is about doing what is right and protecting our children. Hate is not who we are as Kentuckians.”
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