UPDATE: Today Arkansas lawmakers overrode the Governor’s veto making the state the first to ban gender confirming treatments & surgery for transgender youth…💔 Arkansas Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson issued a veto Monday of a bill that would prohibit access to gender-affirming health care for the state’s transgender minors. The veto comes just hours after the Department of Justice issued a memo regarding federal Title IX protections determining that the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County applies to Title IX & clarifying transgender students are protected from discrimination in schools. The memo is even further evidence of the fact that attacks on trans students like the ban on trans student athletes signed into law by Governor Hutchinson earlier this year are illegal & exposes states that prioritize discrimination to expensive lawsuits. Winnie Stachelberg, Executive Vice President for External Affairs at the Center for American Progress stated, “Today’s veto is a welcome reprieve for Arkansas’ transgender youth, their families & their communities….Transgender Americans particularly transgender youth are already among the most at-risk individuals in the country. They face alarmingly high rates of discrimination in nearly every facet of daily life. Medical professionals in Arkansas made it clear to lawmakers last month that passing this bill would put lives in immediate jeopardy, but their testimony was ignored. It is abhorrent that Arkansas legislators chose to waste their time & energy attacking transgender children instead of responding to the pandemic. Unfortunately, this fight is not yet over. The state’s simple majority veto override means lawmakers could continue to put politics over the lives of Arkansans by overturning Gov. Hutchinson’s decision & imposing this discriminatory & unconstitutional ban on Arkansas’ children. For now though, Arkansas’ transgender youth & their allies have scored a huge, hard-fought victory.”
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