A Kentucky bill that would have barred transgender people from education has failed.
State Sen. Jex (Jay) Williams (R-Verona) is introduced. SB351 It went into effect in early March to ban transgender people from obtaining or holding teaching licenses.
The bill would have required anyone who reports to state education officials that they may be transgender to submit a medical examination to obtain or renew a teaching license.
The bill would also prohibit anyone from obtaining a teaching license who “has ever been treated by or diagnosed with a disability excluded from the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, by a qualified health professional.” [DSM] at that time. “
This means that people who identify as transgender (still classified as a “mental disorder” in 1990) cannot hold teaching positions. Medical professionals who screen applicants would also be required to classify transgender people as “mentally disabled” and ineligible for recognition, based on the 1990 DSM definition.
Williams’ original bill stalled without a public hearing and was withdrawn. He then attempted to reinstate the program by introducing an amendment that incorporated that language into HB 759, a maneuver known as “piggybacking.” The proposed amendment was an unrelated measure dealing with alternative education qualifications.
According to queer kentuckypiggybacking violates Senate rules, and officials told LGBTQ media outlets that those rules will be enforced.
On March 31, lawmakers removed HB 759 from the consent calendar but did not add it to the order for a full floor vote that day, preventing the amendment from being formally taken out of order.
HB 759 was not given a vote by the evening of April 1, the deadline to pass the bill without a veto. Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, a longtime LGBTQ supporter, would have been certain to veto a bill that would restrict transgender people from becoming teachers.
Lawmakers could have forced a vote on the bill on April 6 and April 7, the last day of the legislative session, but chose not to do so. Additionally, even if the bill were to pass, a veto by Beshear would kill it and lawmakers would not have time to vote to override the veto.
Lawmakers could have forced a vote on the last two days of the session, April 6 and April 7, but they did not do so. Even if the bill passed, Beshear’s veto would have killed it, leaving lawmakers no time to kill it.
The bill’s failure means that for the first time in recent years, Kentucky has not passed any new anti-LGBTQ legislation in the Legislature. Earlier this year, Kentucky Republicans introduced several similar measures, including a transgender bathroom ban, a bill that would criminalize drag performances, and a bill that would allow health care providers to refuse treatment based on religious “conscience” objections. No one gained traction.
But as Transitics’ Aleksandra Vaca points out, Williams’ attempt to ban transgender people from education, and his efforts to avoid transparency in doing so, helped sink the underlying teacher certification reform bill.
“In other words, Mr. Williams appears to have seized the opportunity to pass radical anti-trans proposals in exchange for the education of hundreds of thousands of children,” Vaca said.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
