White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre lamented the slew of laws banning biological men in women’s sports and transgender procedures on minors at Thursday’s press briefing.
Jean-Pierre accused Republican state lawmakers in Kansas, Indiana and Idaho of attacking transgender youth for passing bans on sex-reassignment surgeries for minors and prohibiting biological males from competing in women’s sports.
“This has been one of the worst weeks of 2023 so far in terms of anti-LGBTQ bills becoming law in states across America,” Jean-Pierre said. “Three anti-LGBTQ bills have been enacted so far this week in Kansas, Indiana, and Idaho. Just yesterday, the North Dakota senate passed 10 anti-LGBTQ bills in just one day. A single day record … With the enactment of a new law in Indiana, 14 states have now banned gender-affirming healthcare while some of these laws are currently blocked by courts. This is a dangerous, dangerous attack on the rights of parents to make the best healthcare decisions for their own kids.”
The press secretary said children in several states are “at risk” of losing access to irreversible surgeries, hormone and puberty blocking procedures. She praised opponents of the laws for staging school walkouts and protests to fight back against “legislative bullying.” (RELATED: White House Says Lawmakers Shouldn’t Decide ‘Appropriate’ Age For Sex Changes)
“This is awful news, let’s be very clear about that,” she continued. “LGBTQI+ kids are resilient, they are fierce, they fight back, they’re not going anywhere and we have their back. This administration has their back. We are so proud of the kids across this country who have organized, protest, and school walkouts to tell the politicians in their states to stop this legislative bullying.”
The press secretary then urged transgender youth “feeling overwhelmed” to call a “hotline.”
Republicans in the Kansas legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto Wednesday on a bill that bans biological males from participating in women’s sports. Republicans said the bill, which takes effect July 1, will ensure that female athletes are protected “in their pursuit of athletic awards, opportunities, and scholarships.”
Republican Govs. Eric Holcomb of Indiana and Brad Little of Idaho signed legislation Wednesday to ban procedures for minors. The North Dakota Senate passed a series of bills to prohibit transgender medical procedures on minors and prevent males from competing against females. It also revived an effort to bar teachers and government officials from acknowledging the preferred pronouns of a transgender student or colleague, PBS reported.
The series of North Dakota bills also intends to restrict bathroom, locker room and shower accessibility in colleges, prisons and penitentiaries to a person’ biological sex, the outlet reported.