Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a popular Democrat, has gone viral for claiming he opposes gender reassignment care/surgery for minors.

If true, it would make him a very rare Democrat who opposes the child “genital mutilation” that conservatives are hellbent on banning.

Beshear offered the surprising take in a new ad published earlier this week.

Watch:

“My faith guides me as governor and as a dad. I’m a deacon in my church, and I believe that all children are children of God. These attacks on me by Daniel Cameron are not true,” he said.

“I’ve never supported gender reassignment surgery for kids, and those procedures don’t happen here in Kentucky. When I took office, I vowed to support parents because as parents, we know what’s best for our kids, not politicians in Frankfurt or Washington,” he continued.

Daniel Cameron is Kentucky’s Republican attorney general. He’s running against Beshear in this year’s Kentucky gubernatorial race, and as part of his own attack ads, he’s been accusing Beshear of being pro-gender reassignment care/surgery for minors. The new ad from Beshear was reportedly meant to push back on this claim.

“It’s a direct response to what he says is a patently false Republican narrative that suggested he supports such surgeries. The Courier Journal has reported there is no record of such surgeries for minors happening in Kentucky,” according to the Associated Press.

Indeed, the governor’s campaign spokesperson, Eric Hyers, said as much in a statement.

“Andy Beshear has always been clear that he does not support gender reassignment surgery for minors – which doesn’t happen in Kentucky,” he said, as reported by Fox News.

“Daniel Cameron and his allies are pushing a blatantly false attack because they know they can’t win talking about Cameron’s record, which includes supporting cuts to teacher pensions and backing schemes to divert money out of our public schools,” he added.

But Cameron’s campaign didn’t buy it.

“Andy Beshear supports sex-change surgeries for kids because he vetoed the bill banning them in March,” campaign surrogate and Republican Party of Kentucky spokesman Sean Southard reportedly said in a statement.

“Now, in the heat of a campaign, Andy Beshear is misleading voters about his true beliefs. It’s a shame, and Kentuckians are smart enough to see through Andy Beshear’s lies,” he added.

In his statement, Southard referenced Beshear’s decision months earlier in March to veto a bill “to ban gender transition surgeries for minors, prohibit school discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity, and prevent teachers from being forced to use a student’s preferred pronouns,” according to Fox News.

When vetoing the Republican-backed bill, the governor claimed it would have allowed “too much government interference in personal healthcare issues,” ripped “away the freedom of parents to make medical decisions for their children,” and caused “an increase in suicide among Kentucky’s youth.”

“A spokesperson for Beshear’s campaign [said] that his veto of the bill was based on multiple concerns about the legislation, including mental health and parental rights, and not about the ban on child sex change surgeries,” Fox News notes.

But Southard reportedly also pointed to Beshear’s decision last year to veto the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act last year, a bill that would have prohibited biological males who identify as women from competing against biological women.

In the veto, the governor argued that policies already established by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association would “allow transgender children the opportunity to participate in sports without disturbing the competitive balance.”

“Those policies Beshear referenced allowed biological male children to compete in girls’ sports if they underwent sex reassignment before puberty, or after puberty if they completed changes to their external genitalia, received hormone therapy ‘in a verifiable manner and for a sufficient length of time to minimize gender-related advantages,’ and continued taking such hormone treatments,” according to Fox News.

Critics say that if Beshear was sincere about his opposition to sex reassignment surgery for minors, he wouldn’t have vetoed both bills.

“If Andy Beshear doesn’t support sex change surgery for minors he should have signed the bill that would ban sex change surgery for minors, plain and simple.” Decisions have consequences! He needs to own it. He chose poorly! https://t.co/TrPKGfHkhw pic.twitter.com/OPPousKfyv

— Rick Fow (@rickfow) July 25, 2023

One critic, meanwhile, urged Beshear to watch a viral video recorded this week of a detransitioner testifying about everything she’s been through.

.@GovAndyBeshear, who vetoed legislation protecting Kentucky’s kids from this malpractice, should listen to the searing testimony of the brave @ChoooCole. “We need to learn from the opioid crisis. Let this be your final warning.” https://t.co/MSTblUTPEg

— Kelley Paul (@KelleyAshbyPaul) July 27, 2023

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Vivek Saxena

Senior Staff Writer -- [email protected]
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.

V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.

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