Hundreds gather at Transylvania University to speak out against anti-LGBTQ bills
Hundreds of people gathered at Transylvania University Friday to speak out against anti-LGBTQ legislation being debated and passed in Kentucky.
Though the threat of severe weather moved the rally indoors, students, employees and elected officials gathered in the William T. Young Campus Center. Ysa Leon, one of the organizers of the rally, called the recent legislation “hateful.”
“I am terrified,” Leon said. “It’s hard enough being trans in America. It’s hard enough being trans in Kentucky. It’s hard enough being trans. We don’t need any other barriers to just being ourselves.”
Leon was one of the protesters at the Capitol Thursday when House Bill 470 was passed by the Kentucky House of Representatives. The bill restricts how health care providers across the specialties treat their underage transgender patients by outlawing “gender-affirming care” and “gender transition services.”
“It’s not a mental illness,” Leon said. “It’s not a trend. It’s not wrong or evil or bad. Being trans is beautiful, and they’re trying to take that away from us.”
Another anti-LGBTQ bill, Senate Bill 150, passed the Senate last week. The bill is framed as being focused on “parents’ rights,” and includes language about communications between schools and parents. It also prohibits school districts from requiring or recommending that school employees use a student’s preferred pronouns.
In total, more than 10 bills that take aim at LGBTQ issues and people have been introduced. Doctors in Kentucky have warned of the mental health impacts of these bills, saying the proposed laws would worsen the mental health of members of the LGBTQ community.
Rebecca Blankenship, a Transylvania graduate who became Kentucky’s first openly transgender elected official when she won a seat on the board of Berea Independent Schools in 2022, spoke against the bills at the rally and said “this is not the end of the fight.”
“We have come a long way,” Blankenship said. “The Kentucky that I grew up in was not one in which transgender people can gather in a room openly and speak about our rights. ... I believe that the future will be better than today, too.”
Blankenship said Thursday in Frankfort was an “emotionally intense day.” She encouraged people to continue reaching out to elected officials against the proposed legislation, while also coming together as a community.
“When they attack us in this way, we come together and show a greater strength, and the community shows a greater strength than ever before,” Blankenship said.
