Arkansas Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson vetoed a bill on Monday that would restrict health procedures for transgender minors. Transgender rights have become a new flash point for Republican lawmakers across the country.
“I was told this week that the nation is looking at Arkansas because I have on my desk another bill passed by the General Assembly that is a product of the cultural war in America,” Hutchinson told reporters when he announced his veto.
He said the bill “although well-intentioned, is off course”, calling it an example of “great government exaggeration” that would create “legislative interference with doctors and parents as they deal with some of the most complex and complex issues. sensitive issues involving young people. ”
The bill, called the Law to Save Teenagers from Experimentation, would have banned gender transition treatments, including surgery and hormone therapy, for people under 18. Arkansas would have become the first state in the country to ban these practices if Hutchinson signed it.
The governor criticized the bill even more for not continuing to provide assistance to young transgender people who already receive these treatments.
“We want to send a message of tolerance and diversity,” he said.
The House and Senate led by the Arkansas Republican Party approved the bill last month, mostly on party lines. Republicans have enough votes to overturn Hutchinson’s veto with a simple majority of votes – something the governor said he anticipated.
“I am hopeful, however, that my action will make conservative Republican lawmakers reflect on the issue again and, hopefully, present a more restrained approach that allows for a careful study of science and ethics around the issue before taking action. “, he said .
CBS News requested comments from Arkansas state representative Robin Lundstrum and state senator Alan Clark, two Republicans who were the main sponsors of the project.
Hutchinson’s veto comes less than two weeks after he signed two other bills that restrict LGBT rights.
A bill allows doctors to refuse treatment to patients based on religious or moral objections – a move that critics say would allow LGBT people to be rejected.
The other project forbids transgender women and girls from participating in women’s sports teams. Arkansas was the second US state to pass such legislation – after Idaho, whose law was suspended by a federal judge.
At least 25 states have seen proposals for similar measures. Four states have so far made bans into law.
South Dakota Legislature passed a ban about trans women playing on women’s sports teams, but Republican governor Kristi Noem said she did not believe the projects would survive legal challenges and instead issued an executive order ban last week.
The wave of bans comes after President Biden reversed many of the Trump administration’s LGBT restrictions, including a transgender military ban.