FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Senate Bill 150 passed through the full Senate with a vote of 29-6 Thursday afternoon, but opponents fought it until the final hour.
“It will make life worse for students in our Commonwealth,” said one opponent of the bill during a committee meeting earlier in the day.
The bill doesn’t require teachers to call students by their preferred pronouns, and LGBTQ advocates fear the repercussions will be deadly as trans kids already have higher rates of depression and suicide.
“The suicide rates are outrageous. You know it, but you seem to not care. Not one of you has talked about it,” said Chris Hartman with the Fairness Campaign. Addressing the state senators before him, he asked, “What is the intent of this bill, what is the point?”
According to the bill’s sponsor, Senator Max Wise, one point of the bill is to uphold the First Amendment by allowing teachers the choice of whether to use a student's non-conforming pronoun.
The real focus of the bill, however, is to empower parents, according to Wise.
During Thursday’s committee meeting, Wise made technical corrections to the bill. For example, the bill now requires parental consent before a student receives a well-being assessment.
“This is, again, about parent communication,” said Wise, adding, “As related to empowering parents, having parental rights, and for them to have communication.”
Senate Bill 150 now moves to the full house, with opposition only expected to grow.
“This is legalized bullying," said LGBTQ advocate Jessica Bowman. "By peers and teachers, and our schools have a bullying problem already and kids are killing themselves at record numbers."
