LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) – Arkansas lawmakers on Tuesday made the state the first to ban gender-affirming treatments and surgeries for transgender youth, enacting the ban despite the governor’s objections.
Republican-controlled House and Senate voted to override GOP governor Asa Hutchinson’s veto of the measure, which prohibits doctors from giving sex-affirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers, or surgery to anyone under the age of 18, or referring them to other providers for treatment.
Opponents of the measure have vowed to block the ban before it takes effect this summer.
Hutchinson vetoed the bill after pleas from pediatricians, social workers and the parents of transgender youth who said the measure would harm a community already at risk for depression and suicide.
The ban was opposed by several medical and child welfare groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The sponsor of the measure referred to the procedures as experiments and compared the restriction with other restrictions placed on minors by the state.
“They have to be 18 before making those decisions,” said Republican Representative Robin Lundstrum.
Hutchinson said the measure went too far in meddling with parents and doctors, noting that it will end care for transgender youth who are already receiving treatment. He said he would have signed the bill had it focused solely on gender-affirming surgeries, which are not currently performed on minors in the state.
The law will enter into force at the end of July at the earliest. The American Civil Liberties Union said it planned to challenge the measure before then.
“This is a sad day for Arkansas, but this fight isn’t over – and we’re doing it for the long haul,” Holly Dickson, Arkansas’ ACLU executive director, said in a statement.
The waiver, requiring only a simple majority, was passed easily in both houses, with a vote of 72-25 in Parliament and the Senate with 25-8.
The ban was enacted during a year when bills targeting transgender people in Arkansas and other states have easily advanced. Hutchinson recently signed legislation prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in teams consistent with their gender identity, a ban also enacted in Tennessee and Mississippi this year.
Hutchinson also recently signed a law that allows doctors to refuse someone because of moral or religious objections
The foundation, founded on Tuesday by the family of Bentonville-based Walmart founder, has expressed concern about the recent measures against LGBTQ people.
“This trend is harmful and sends the wrong message to those who want to invest in or visit our state,” said Tom Walton of the Walton Family Foundation in a statement released before the vote.
A lawmaker opposed to the measure compared it to the anti-integration laws passed by the Arkansas legislature in 1958 as opposed to the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School last year.
“What I see, this bill, is the most powerful bullying of the most vulnerable people in our state,” Democratic Senator Clarke Tucker said before the vote.