The Republican-controlled state chamber voted to override Republican governor Asa Hutchinson’s veto of HB 1570 on Tuesday afternoon, with the Republican-controlled Senate doing the same soon after.
The action was quickly denounced by LGBTQ advocates, who promised to set up a legal case against the law.
The Arkansas Law to Save Teenagers from Experimentation (SAFE) was passed by the state Senate at the end of last month by a 28-7 vote. The state council passed in early March by a 70-22 vote.
The project creates what it calls an “exception” for some intersex people with chromosomal composition and unspecified hormone production, and those with difficulties resulting from previous gender-affirming treatments. It also prohibits so-called cross-hormone therapy, a gender-affirming treatment that allows transgender people to change their physical appearance to be more consistent with their gender identity.
Hutchinson vetoed the legislation on Monday, calling it “a product of the cultural war in America” and arguing that it creates “new patterns of legislative interference with doctors and parents as they deal with some of the most complex and sensitive issues. involving young people. “The governor told reporters after his veto that he hoped lawmakers would overturn it.
After the annulment, the American Civil Liberties Union said the new law “will take families, doctors and businesses out of the state and send a terrible and moving message to young transgender people who are watching in fear”.
“ACLU is preparing the litigation as we speak,” said Chase Strangio, the ACLU’s deputy director of transgender justice for the LGBTQ and HIV Project, in a statement.
This story is breaking and will be updated.