An Open Letter to Governor Beshear, Kentucky’s Legislators, and Citizens of the Commonwealth:
On behalf of the League of Women Voters of Northern Kentucky, I thank the bi-partisan group of 22 Representatives and seven Senators who voted against Senate Bill 150 on March 16th.
The League also thanks Governor Beshear for vetoing this bill on March 24th.
However, the task is not finished because legislators will take up all of the Governor’s vetoes when they return to Frankfort on Wednesday and Thursday (March 29 and 30) to finish out this legislative session.
The League of Women Voters of Kentucky strongly opposed SB 150 and its companion House Bill 470 which was subsumed into SB 150. We now respectfully ask that all elected representatives DO NOT OVERRIDE the Governor’s veto of SB 150. Further, we ask all citizens to contact your legislators to express your personal concern about this legislation.
We call on the bi-partisan group of legislators who voted against SB 150 to actively encourage and lead your fellow legislators to engage in a more thorough, thoughtful process of research and dialogue about this issue.
Members of the medical community who are fully educated about the human experience around gender identity and the families that include transgender children should be afforded the dignity of dealing with these personal healthcare issues in the way they choose to be most appropriate for their situation. The Kentucky legislature is treading where it need not be.
The hasty and cobbled passage of SB 150 was, overall, a disservice to the General Assembly, serving only to further divide our Commonwealth and diminish the public’s faith and trust in the legislative process. Legislators have an opportunity to demonstrate true statesmanship this week by choosing to allow the Governor’s veto of SB 150 to stand, and by committing to engage in fair and fully-transparent legislative dialogue in the future.
Becky S. Jones
President, LWVNKY and Board Member, LWVKY