FRANKFORT, KY – On Friday, July 7, 2023, Attorney General Daniel Cameron filed an emergency motion challenging a federal court's decision to halt a portion of Senate Bill 150. The Kentucky law protects children from the irreparable harm caused by experimental drug treatments such as puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
"It's indefensible that leftist activists are disguising sterilization and genital surgeries as pediatric care for vulnerable children," said General Cameron. "Child mutilation is illegal in our Commonwealth, and these reckless hormone interventions are based on an irrational ideology that ignores scientific evidence. I will do everything in my power to protect Kentucky kids from this radical agenda, and my office will continue to defend this law at every turn."
Last month a federal court in Louisville sided with the ACLU and the National Center for Lesbian Rights by blocking a section of SB 150 that prohibits healthcare providers from performing so-called "gender-affirming care" procedures on minors. General Cameron's motion sharply criticizes that misguided decision, arguing the court overlooked that Kentucky's elected representatives—not outside interest groups—set public policy in the Commonwealth.
"No one questions that parents possess a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the medical care of their children. But this is only a general right to make decisions among legally available medical treatments," the motion reads. "[E]vidence shows that [so-called "gender-affirming"] treatments . . . lead to higher rates of mental illness and suicide. Not only that, such care leads to severe physical and mental-health problems, many of which are irreversible, and many of which would have never befallen the child but for such treatment."
Passed by the General Assembly during the 2023 Regular Session, SB 150 prioritizes the health, safety, and welfare of children and safeguards them from, among other things, irreversible medical intervention, ideological indoctrination in schools, and exposure to the opposite sex in restrooms, locker rooms, and shower facilities. Governor Beshear sided with the ACLU and vetoed the legislation, and the General Assembly overrode his veto by overwhelming margins.
This is General Cameron's latest defense of SB 150. Earlier this week he issued an Opinion concluding that the Kentucky Department of Education's (KDE) guidance regarding gender identity is "both perverse and non-sensical." The Opinion finds that school districts are not given the option—as KDE argues—to choose which prohibitions on gender identity curriculum they must implement. Additionally, the Opinion notes a school district would not violate federal law by prohibiting preferred pronoun usage policies or restricting a person of one biological sex from using the restrooms, locker rooms, or shower rooms designated for the opposite biological sex.
To view a copy of the motion, click here.
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