This week, Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson vetoed the bill which would outlaw transgender healthcare for minors. And then by a simple majority, the state legislature overrode the veto, making Arkansas the first state to outlaw affirming healthcare for transgender children.
The Family Research Council sent out a press release celebrating what the Arkansas legislature did:
Today, Arkansas became the first state in the nation to enact legislation that prohibits gender transition procedures on minors, prevents taxpayer funds or medical insurance mandates to pay for them, and provides legal remedies for minors who have been permanently disfigured and/or sterilized by them.On Tuesday afternoon, in quick succession the Arkansas House (72-25) and Senate (25-8) overrode the governor's veto of the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act. Family Research Council praised the state legislature for its effort to protect minors.Family Research Council President Tony Perkins released the following statement: "The SAFE Act's successful passage into law is a victory for children and their health and safety. The state of Arkansas has taken the lead in the race to protect children from a political movement that advocates for using off-label drugs and experimental procedures on minors."As the name implies, the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act protects minors from unscientific, experimental, and destructive gender transition procedures that interrupt their natural development and irreversibly alter their bodies. As a growing number of individuals come forward to share their stories of being permanently disfigured and/or sterilized, there is a growing and urgent need for other states to follow Arkansas' lead by protecting minors from life-altering procedures such as puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, and irreversible surgeries.
The consistent repetition of phrases like "life altering procedures" and "irreversible surgeries" and words like "disfigurement" and "sterilization" in FRC's press release isn't happenstance. It has been part of a deliberate attempt to "nauseate" instead of "educate" and exploit unfounded fears for a cynical purpose. By conjuring up false images of minors being forced to undergo surgeries altering their gender and given drugs which would permanently damage their health, those who have been pushing these anti-trans bills - like FRC - have been deliberately appealing to hysteria in a somewhat successful attempt to drown out the voices of the medical professionals who know better and the transgender youth who they falsely claim that they want to protect.
It's an old but highly successful tactic.
