In HB 470, the cruelty is the point. Even if that cruelty is against children. | Opinion
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In HB 470, the cruelty is the point. Even if that cruelty is against children. | Opinion
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“The cruelty is the point.”
Journalist and author Adam Serwer wrote those words in 2018 about the policies of the Trump administration, but they have served as a prescient warning to all of us about what would come after from his political descendants.
The cruelty is the point.
It’s not about whether Kentucky is being overrun by LGBTQ indoctrinators who force our kids to get rainbow tattoos across their foreheads — we know it is not. But it doesn’t matter. Fox News, not content with lying about the 2020 election, has ginned up its base with one or two stories here and there about transgender kids, to convince its gullible viewers — happily catered to by their cynical legislative representatives — that this is a problem that needs immediate action.
The cruelty is the point. As Serwer said, these people “find community by rejoicing in the suffering of those they hate and fear.”
And so we come to House Bill 470, a bill so sweeping in its breadth, its stupidity, its unforeseen consequences that it could fundamentally transform how healthcare is offered in the state of Kentucky. I don’t understand why every counselor, social worker, therapist, psychiatrist and family practice doctor in the state is not storming Frankfort right now.
But the cruelty is point.
They could have written instead a bill that would outlaw gender transitioning surgeries to anyone below 18. That’s something most people would agree with, and then GOP legislators could check off their report to ALEC or the Heritage Foundation: “Discriminated against LGBTQ kids,” and get their bumper stickers, campaign donations and secret handshake.
No, HB 470 would apply criminal penalties to anyone who helped a child struggling with gender identity issues. In other words, it’s so broad and vague, that therapists, even a pastor or school counselor, speaking with a suffering child, possibly suicidal, could be seen as “assisting a person with a gender transition.” Which, according to the bill, is “unethical and unprofessional conduct that establishes the provider is unfit to perform the duties and discharge the responsibilities of his or her position or occupation.”
And by the way, in this bill providers can include dentists and chiropractors. This, in the words of someone I spoke to about it, is like killing flies with a flamethrower.
Frankfort attorney Anna Whites, who specializes in health and constitutional law, said the bill could stop doctors from seeing teenagers at all.
“It is a bill that will significantly, adversely impact the confidence of providers who treat teenagers because it is so unclear and overbroad that it is virtually impossible for a provider to determine if they are breaking the law,” she said. “In addition, the law punishes providers for doing what their Code of Ethics, Interstate Compact Requirements and insurance and licensure requirements mandate that they do — that being provide the type of care requested or needed by their patients. A provider must violate those essential requirements in order to comply with the law.”
The cruelty is the point.
It’s clear that bill sponsor Jennifer Decker has never talked to the parents of a trans or nonbinary child who are simply try to keep their children alive long enough for them to be able to make solid decisions about healthcare. Not that any of the sponsors would care. They’re caring to the most bigoted and ignorant part of their base.
The extra gravy is that this bill passes, it will end up in the lap of Gov. Andy Beshear. If he vetoes it to cater to his base, Republicans can use it against him in next year’s election. If he signs it as it’s written, he loses part of his base and his own self-respect.
But let’s pray that the cooler heads in the House and Senate will rein this madness in and write a committee substitute, so we can say we don’t live in the worst state in the country. It’s not so long ago that these people directed their ire at gay people. Transgender folks are just the latest in a long line of scapegoats that politicians use to their own immoral ends. And it doesn’t even matter that this time, they’re children.
This story was originally published March 1, 2023 at 1:49 PM.
