FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is pushing back against Republican efforts to cast him as an advocate of gender reassignment surgery for minors, saying his detractors have misrepresented his position and citing his Christian faith and support for parents’ rights as reasons why he vetoed a measure banning childcare.
Beshear, a Democrat seeking a second term in a race that could test the political potency of Republican messaging on transgender issues, said in an interview that he has always opposed gender reassignment surgery for children.
“My position on this has always been clear,” Beshear said. “I have never supported gender reassignment surgery for minors, and it doesn’t happen in Kentucky.”
It’s a direct response to what he says is a patently false Republican narrative that suggested he supports these surgeries. The Courier Journal has reported that there is no record of such surgeries on minors in Kentucky.
The GOP attacks, coming from groups supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron and the candidate himself, were aimed at reducing Beshear’s popularity in the conservative-leaning Bluegrass State.
Kentucky’s race for governor is one of the most watched campaigns this year and could provide insight into voter sentiment heading into the 2024 White House and congressional elections.
A new ad released Monday by the Beshear campaign doubles down on his previous statements against surgeries on minors and his campaign’s denunciation of the GOP attack. And it reflects the governor’s determination not to cede so-called family values to Cameron, the state’s attorney general.
Looking straight into the camera, Beshear invokes her Christian faith and support for parental rights to counter the drumbeat of GOP criticism she’s faced in the months since she vetoed a sweeping transgender bill that included a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. The veto was overridden by the GOP-dominated state legislature.
“My faith guides me as governor and as a parent,” Beshear says in the ad. “I am a deacon in my church and I believe that all children are children of God.”
In vetoing the bill, the governor said it allowed “too much government interference in personal health care matters and infringes on parents’ freedom to make medical decisions for their children.” The measure prevents trans youth from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
“When I took office, I promised to support parents, because as parents, we know what’s best for our children, not the politicians in Frankfort or Washington,” Beshear says in the ad.
Included in the legislation was a ban on gender reassignment surgery for minors. Republican groups have used Beshear’s veto as an opening to unleash a campaign attack on Beshear. In recent comments to the media, the Republican Governors Association said, “If Andy Beshear doesn’t support sex-reassignment surgery for minors, he should have signed the bill that would ban sex-reassignment surgery for minors outright.”
The Fairness Campaign, a Kentucky-based LGBTQ+ advocacy group, has never promoted such surgeries for minors, said Chris Hartman, the group’s executive director.
Hartman called the Republican attack on Beshear a “gross mischaracterization” of the governor’s position.
Kentucky’s transgender health care legislation was part of a national movement, with at least 20 states having enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. Most of these states are facing lawsuits.
Those who oppose gender-affirmation care worry about the long-term effects of the treatments on teenagers, argue that research is limited, and focus particularly on irreversible procedures such as genital surgery or mastectomies. However, they are rare. Doctors often steer children toward therapy or voice training long before medical intervention. At this point, puberty blockers, anti-androgens that block the effects of testosterone, and hormone treatments are much more common than surgery. They have been available in the United States for more than a decade and are standard treatments supported by major physician organizations.
Beshear’s decision to take on the transgender issue pushed by the GOP represents a new twist in advertising strategy. He has focused on touting the state’s growing economy, including record economic development and historically low unemployment rates, messages that remain central to his campaign.
Cameron, meanwhile, has played up social issues in his bid to oust Beshear in November, accusing the governor of “emboldening a radical gender ideology.” In a tweet last month, the Republican nominee echoed the barrage of transgender-related attacks against the governor, saying Beshear and his allies “believe children should have access to sex-change surgeries and drugs.”
Cameron also overruled Beshear’s veto of a bill last year to ban transgender girls and women from participating in school sports that match their gender identity. This veto was also overruled.
“Andy Beshear couldn’t be further from your values than anything,” Cameron said in a recent speech.
Beshear accuses his Republican rival of trying to stoke divisions with such talk.
“I believe we are better than that, and my faith teaches me that we are supposed to love each other as ourselves, and there are no exceptions,” the governor said in the interview. “I think people are tired of division, they’re tired of groups of people yelling at each other and they just want to support one candidate or they want a government that tries to focus on things that are good for everyone.”
