HB 470, the draconian anti-trans bill sponsored by “Christian” legislator Jennifer Decker, passed the Kentucky House this afternoon by a vote of 75 to 22. All Democrats in the chamber voted against it; only Republicans Kim Moser, Dietz, and Banta voted against it, with all the other Republican voting for it.
The bill not only outlaws gender-affirming medical care for anyone under 18; it also requires health professionals, counselors, and school personnel to out any student to their parents if that student even mentions having questions about their sexuality.
The bill would also put health professional in danger of losing their license for providing such care. And note that those “gender services” includes merely using the child’s preferred pronouns.
The bill was passed in committee and in the House over the chants and screams of “Shame! Shame!” It also passed in spite of hours of testimony against it by doctors and mental health professionals from across the state.
Trans teens are one of the most vulnerable groups when it comes to suicide. Without safe spaces to discuss what they are feeling, they will “endure in silence,” as one trans teen told this reporter in an interview, until they decide they have “had enough” and kill themselves. This bill will lead directly to more teen suicides.
HB 470 now moves to the state Senate, where perhaps it can be stopped.
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