Kentucky legislature passes parental rights bill, includes ban on gender-affirming care for minors

FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Kentucky House and Senate have passed a bill that includes a ban on gender-affirming care for minors and other components that critics say are anti-LGBTQ.

House Bill 470, which was struggling in the Senate, has reappeared in a committee substitute as Senate Bill 150. The bill passed the House in a 75-22 vote. It passed in the Senate 30-7.

Read the updated Senate Bill 150 below:

The bill says the Kentucky Board of Education or the Kentucky Department of Education shall not require or recommend policies or procedures for the use of pronouns that do not match the student's gender on their original birth certificate, regardless of their pronoun preference.

Senate Bill 150 also outlaws surgical or non-surgical gender transition care. According to the bill, a healthcare provider "shall not, for the purposes of attempting to alter the appearance of, or to validate a minor's perception of, the minor's sex, if that appearance or perception is inconsistent with the minor's sex."

According to the bill, a healthcare provider would not be allowed to do the following:

• Prescribe or administer any drug to delay or stop normal puberty;
• Prescribe or administer testosterone, estrogen, or progesterone, in amounts greater than would normally be produced endogenously in a healthy person of the same age and sex;
• Perform any sterilizing surgery, including castration, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, orchiectomy, penectomy, and vasectomy;
• Perform any surgery that artificially constructs tissue having the appearance of genitalia differing from the minor's sex, including metoidioplasty, phalloplasty, and vaginoplasty; or
• Remove any healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue.

There are exceptions listed in the bill, including a minor born "with a medically verifiable disorder of sex development."

The bill says if a healthcare provider administers care outside of the exceptions listed, their license could be revoked. It also allows for any "civil action to recover damages for injury suffered as a result of a violation."

Another portion of the bill says students would not be allowed to use restrooms, locker rooms, or shower rooms that are "reserved for students of a different biological sex."

"A student who asserts to school officials that his or her gender is different from his or her biological sex and whose parent or legal guardian provides written consent to school officials shall be provided with the best available accommodation, but that accommodation shall not include the use of school restrooms, locker rooms, or shower rooms designed for use by students of the opposite biological sex while students of the opposite biological sex are present or could be present," the bill reads.

It does allow students to seek different "acceptable accommodations" like single-stall restrooms with parental permission.

LGBTQ advocates say they’re disgusted by the fact that lawmakers are still pushing "one of the worst anti-trans bills" they’ve ever seen. They worry the bill will have deadly consequences.

Part of the bill also outlines how sex education would be taught in schools. Senate Bill 150 would enforce a policy to respect parental rights by ensuring that:

• Children in grade five (5) and below do not receive any instruction through curriculum or programs on human sexuality or sexually transmitted diseases; or
• Any child, regardless of grade level, enrolled in the district does not receive any instruction or presentation that has a goal or purpose of students studying or exploring gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation; and
• A policy to notify a parent in advance and obtain the parent's written consent before the parent's child in grade six (6) or above receives any instruction through curriculum or programs on human sexuality or sexually transmitted diseases authorized in this section.

Gov. Beshear will likely veto the bill but lawmakers will be able to override that veto.