Comment on transgender issue roils Kentucky governor’s race

May 9, 2023, 2:58 PM

Kentucky gubernatorial candidate Kelly Craft speaks with supporters during a campaign stop in Liber...

Kentucky gubernatorial candidate Kelly Craft speaks with supporters during a campaign stop in Liberty, Ky., Wednesday, May 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A prominent GOP candidate roiled the hotly contested primary race for Kentucky governor with a comment that if elected, “we will not have transgenders in our school system,” angering LGBTQ advocates in a state that has enacted laws limiting the rights of transgender youth.

Former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft made the comment in response to a question during a telephone town hall Monday night. She did not specify what policy actions she envisioned involving transgender students, but her campaign weighed in Tuesday when asked to respond.

“Of course Kelly was referring to the woke ideologies being pushed in our schools,” her campaign said in a statement. “She has been advocating for the best for all children this entire campaign.”

Craft’s comments were swiftly denounced as “desperate and disgusting” by Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign, a Kentucky-based LGBTQ advocacy group.

Craft is waging a combative contest against state Attorney General Daniel Cameron as part of a 12-candidate field vying for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in the May 16 primary. Craft’s running mate, state Sen. Max Wise, sponsored a sweeping law aimed at transgender youth this year.

“Her claim that she and Wise will somehow purge transgender kids from Kentucky schools is nothing more than an unhinged political promise she can’t keep,” Hartman said.

“None of the other candidates are railing this hard against LGBTQ youth because it won’t work, except to harm trans kids,” he added.

The nominee is expected to challenge Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who is seeking reelection to a second term in the GOP-trending state and faces nominal opposition in his party’s primary. Other Republican contenders include state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, state Auditor Mike Harmon, retired attorney Eric Deters and Somerset Mayor Alan Keck.

Craft spent an hour fielding questions reportedly submitted by callers across Kentucky, with topics including her stand on gun rights, abortion and fighting illegal drugs.

One question asked Craft how she’d “combat the transgender agenda” in classrooms. Craft noted that Wise sponsored the measure dealing with, among other things, school bathroom policies, curriculum and which pronouns are used to refer to transgender students.

Craft added: “Under a Craft-Wise administration, we will not have transgenders in our school system.”

She later doubled down in answering the same question, saying: “Under a Craft-Wise administration, we will not have transgender.”

Throughout the campaign, Craft has railed against what she claims are “woke” ideologies infiltrating Kentucky public schools, pledging to lead efforts to overhaul the state education department if elected. With her remarks about transgender children, Craft upped the ante in her culture-war messaging.

The question is whether the strategy will pay off against a field of staunchly conservative candidates. Craft has put millions of her family’s fortune into a barrage of TV advertising.

“There’s no doubt that that issue polls very, very well with core Republican primary voters,” GOP political consultant T.J. Litafik said by phone Tuesday. “The danger that any candidate faces is going so extreme to win a very small primary vote that you can’t get back to the middle for a general election.”

The Kentucky legislation is part of a widespread movement, along with Republican state lawmakers in other states who have approved extensive measures that restrict the rights of LGBTQ people.

The debate about transgender issues is likely to continue into Kentucky’s fall campaign for governor.

Beshear vetoed the sweeping measure that banned gender-affirming medical care for trans youth — one of many provisions affecting young transgender people. Beshear said the legislation amounted to government overreach into parental rights in making medical decisions for their children.

“My faith teaches me that all children are children of God,” the governor said in his veto message.

The GOP-dominated legislature overrode the veto.

Other parts of the measure require school districts to devise bathroom policies that, “at a minimum,” would not allow transgender children to use the bathroom aligned with their gender identities. It allows teachers to refuse to refer to transgender students by the pronouns they use and requires schools to notify parents when lessons related to human sexuality are going to be taught.

Several Kentucky families with transgender children recently filed a federal lawsuit challenging the sections banning puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender youths. The suit didn’t take aim at other sections dealing with school policies.

United States News

FILE - A roadblock is seen along Center Sugarbush Lane on Feb. 8, 2023, along Elsie Lake Lane in La...

Associated Press

Federal government lawsuit accuses Wisconsin town of trespassing on tribal reservation

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to force a northern Wisconsin town to pay unspecified damages for failing to renew access easements on American Indian tribal land. U.S. Attorney Timothy O’Shea filed the action in Madison on Wednesday seeking a declaration that without easements the town of Lac […]

11 hours ago

FILE - Members of the Oath Keepers extremist group stand on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol on J...

Associated Press

Oath Keeper convicted in Jan. 6 Capitol riot gets 3 years in latest extremist sentencing

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida man who stormed the U.S. Capitol with other members of the far-right Oath Keepers group was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges — the latest in a historic string of sentences in the Jan. 6. 2021 attack. David Moerschel, 45, a neurophysiologist from […]

11 hours ago

Travelers check out a jumbo screen projecting images of Walt Disney World in the east hall atrium a...

Associated Press

Disney lawsuit judge removes himself from case but not for reasons cited by DeSantis

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge overseeing the First Amendment lawsuit that Walt Disney Parks filed against Gov. Ron DeSantis and others is disqualifying himself, but not because of bias claims made by the Florida governor. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker said in a court filing Thursday that it was because a relative […]

11 hours ago

Associated Press

UN renews European Union’s authority to inspect ships suspected of violating Libya arms embargo

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Friday renewing the European Union’s permission to inspect vessels off Libya’s coast suspected of violating the an arms embargo on the troubled North African nation. The vote on the resolution sponsored by France and Malta was 14-0, with Russia abstaining, just as it did […]

11 hours ago

Associated Press

Haitian businessman gets life sentence in 2021 assassination of Haiti’s president

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge in Miami sentenced a Haitian-Chilean businessman Friday to life in prison for his role in helping a group of Colombian mercenaries obtain weapons to assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Rodolphe Jaar, who has dual Haitian and Chilean citizenship, had pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit […]

11 hours ago

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves to receive Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal b...

Associated Press

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited to address Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. congressional leaders have invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint meeting of Congress during a visit to Washington later this month as the U.S. looks to deepen its bonds with India, the world’s most populous democracy, to counter China’s growing influence even as Modi has faced criticism for […]

11 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

...

re:vitalize

Why drug-free weight loss still matters

Wanting to lose weight is a common goal for many people as they progress throughout life, but choosing between a holistic approach or to take medicine can be a tough decision.

(Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona Photo)...

Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona

5 common causes for chronic neck pain

Neck pain can debilitate one’s daily routine, yet 80% of people experience it in their lives and 20%-50% deal with it annually.

...

Day & Night Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing

Company looking for oldest air conditioner and wants to reward homeowner with new one

Does your air conditioner make weird noises or a burning smell when it starts? If so, you may be due for an AC unit replacement.

Comment on transgender issue roils Kentucky governor’s race