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The Kentucky legislature voted Wednesday to override Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of sweeping legislation banning gender-affirming health care for youth and preventing transgender women and girls from competing on female sports teams.
The new law, which also bars transgender public school students from using facilities like restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity, is effective immediately.
Beshear’s veto was overridden in both the state House and Senate, both of which are controlled by Republicans, in votes largely along party lines.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the state capitol on Wednesday to protest the measure, the Louisville Courier Journal reported. Inside the building, a smaller group held signs saying “Gender-Affirming Healthcare Saves Lives” and “You Messed With The Wrong Generation.”
Chants of “shame” were heard outside the Senate chamber as lawmakers voted to override Beshear’s veto and enact the measure, making Kentucky the eleventh state in the country to ban gender-affirming health care for minors, and the eighth to do so this year.
Kentucky is now the nineteenth state since 2021 to pass a law barring transgender athletes from competing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity and joins six other states in adopting legislation that prohibits transgender students from using multi-person facilities at schools that align with their gender identity.
