The Kentucky General Assembly recently passed SB 150, one of the most extreme anti-trans bills in the nation. The governor quickly vetoed the bill but with a Republican supermajority in the General Assembly that wasn't the end of things.
On Wednesday the General Assembly returned from a recess to overturn that veto. That morning hundreds of people descended on the Capitol in Frankfort for a rally, kids coming from all over the state to make one last effort to convince lawmakers not to do hateful things in their name.
It's as if we're living out some sick, vicious joke. In this country the leading cause of death for children is firearms, and these lawmakers are worried about . . . children's genitalia.
To add insult to injury, they're hellbent on outlawing the very things that have been proven to reduce the absurdly high suicide rate for trans kids.
In the off chance that these lawmakers cared about anything other than the sound of their own voice, a die-in was staged during the rally to illustrate the kids that would die if lawmakers overrode the veto.
Even after the rally was officially over, young people continued to come up to the microphone and speak, reading poems and addressing their peers and the lawmakers hiding nearby.
A handful of counterprotesters showed up but they seemed to be afraid to even show their face.
Once the General Assembly was actually in session we took the protest inside the Capitol.
The Senate took up the veto override first. They wouldn't let us inside the chamber so we got as close as we could and chanted loud enough they could hear us clearly inside.
Had a couple skeezy types join us but they had their hands full.
They may have been able to hear us in the Senate but it didn't measurably change the outcome, they still voted to override the veto. From there the action shifted to the House of Representatives at the other end of the building and we followed close behind.
A small group of protesters managed to get into the House gallery where they locked arms and chanted, shutting things down for about thirty minutes, until the state police dragged them out in zip ties. Their chants and ours from outside the chamber were insufficient to sway the outcome and the House ultimately voted to overturn the veto as well.
This is some bullshit. We knew what the outcome was likely to be going into the day but that doesn't make it any easier to watch hate and petty viciousness become law. If there's a silver lining to be found, it's that much if not all of this will most likely be thrown out in court, reducing it to little more than an exercise in spite and messaging.
We're all human beings stuck on this rock together. Until that changes, can we at least agree to not be deliberately cruel to one another?
Be safe out there y'all.