Putting the Phobia in Transphobia
As hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills are introduced in statehouses, the conservative legislature in Kentucky has overridden a veto on a bill that will only kill children, not help them. SB 150 is a bill that contains bans on gender-affirming health care for minors so that any medications that these children were taking (for example, testosterone or estrogen, puberty blockers) will be stopped. The bill also outs kids if they come out to their teachers, which means if the student confides in a teacher about their sexual orientation or gender identity, the teacher will tell their parents. Teachers will have no choice but to misgender these children, making the environment even worse. What if these kids have a dangerous household? The bill doesn’t care about that at all. Transgender students will also be forced to be in locker rooms and bathrooms that match their assigned sex at birth. These conservatives act like they’re doctors; what gives them the right to take away medication and healthcare? Legislators claim that gender-affirming surgery is ‘mutilation,’ but they’re not banning people from getting plastic surgery, are they? They are asking for suicide rates to skyrocket right in front of Senator Karen Berg.
Senator Karen Berg lost her openly trans son, Henry Berg-Brousseau, to suicide. Henry worked for the Human Rights Campaign as a deputy press secretary for politics. Karen reads her son’s press release, which was his work 14 hours before he committed suicide. His mother reads, "We must all work to repudiate anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and falsehoods in the strongest possible terms ... because our lives are quite literally on the line.” His words are important and relevant to this bill. Our lives are on the line because if we can’t be ourselves in Kentucky, where do we go? Those kids that are finally happy to be themselves would now be shut away and forced to be silenced. Conservatives enjoy talking about freedom of speech, but when it comes to kids they dare force them to be muted. The sign that the person in the second image holds reads, “It was NEVER about a bathroom, just as it was NEVER about a water fountain.” This sign mentions segregation laws from 1877-the 1950s, where your skin tone was either considered a privilege or a death sentence. Everyone knows that these segregation laws were just racist. These privileged folks didn’t care about health or safety; they only wanted to hurt and separate, which brings us to the conservative legislators that passed the SB 150 bill. They don’t care about what will happen to these kids. They just want to force their power. If they can’t attack adults, they can attack children because they don’t have a voice.
During the legislative process, it was found that SB 150 was actually rushed towards the last hour while everyone was getting ready to leave. As a result, on March 24th, Governor Beshear vetoed the bill. His message is stated below:
This veto was overridden by legislators, which means that the bill will be taking effect in late June. These actions, this bill, and how these powerful people treat those below them is disgusting. Yet, after reading the governor’s veto, they still decide to override it. Knowing damn well that this will only cause suicide rates in CHILDREN to rise, that these kids will suffer in silence.
A quote from Pamela Stevenson’s passionate testimony against the SB 150 bill states, “First you hated Black people, then you hated Jews, now you’re hating everybody. So the question is, when it’s the only people left… will you hate yourself?” Prejudice and discrimination are a part of the United States' history. Anti-semitism, crimes against indigenous people, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia; when will the hate end? They sent hundreds of bills to harm the LGBTQ+ community, 470 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were made in the US., alienating trans people, fighting identities, and policing health care for those who don’t even have that much of a voice. Conservatives talk about freedom of speech, but only when it comes to them. Only when it is convenient for them. When these sick people choose to willingly hurt children, and harm minorities, are we truly united and free?
