 It's only April, but already there's been hundreds of anti-LGBTQ plus bills introduced at state legislatures across the country And most of them are anti-trans bills pertaining to banning school-aged children from participating in sports We're talking middle school and high school age But Kentucky is one of the states to enact a ban. They're governor who was a Democrat He vetoed this ban, but they overrode his veto And I really think that Kentucky serves as an important example that demonstrates just how absurd these bans are But first, let's get to the details here This is according to Nico Lang of Extra magazine who writes Kentucky lawmakers forced a transports ban through its legislature this week Despite the fact that there's only one known Trans student athlete in the whole state on April 13th Kentucky state Legislatures overrode an April 7th veto from Governor Andy Bashar Striking down a bill preventing trans girls from competing on middle and high school sports teams that align with their gender identity In a statement the Democratic governor said Senate Bill 8-3 most likely violates the equal protection rights afforded by the United States Constitution Because it discriminates against transgender children seeking to participate in girls or women's sports Transgender children deserve public officials efforts to demonstrate that they are valued members of our communities through compassion, kindness and empathy Even if not understanding he wrote last week But despite Bashar's veto Republicans bypassed his objections with the simple majority of both houses of the legislature The GOP controls a supermajority in both the Kentucky House and Senate and the veto override passed easily in both 72 to 23 and 29 to 8 respectively Supporters of SB 8-3 claim the legislation is about preserving the integrity of women's sports Which they claim is threatened by trans inclusion So the way that these Republicans protect women's sports is Enacting a statewide ban that would apply to just one child literally. There's one Trans student in school sports throughout the whole state So they actually comically believe that they're protecting sports But that's not really what they believe. We all know that they don't care about school sports They don't care about girl sports. This is about hate. This is about them otherizing trans people Making them second-class citizens and even making children who are trans feel like shit now ironically They claim that they want to support women's sports or save women's sports But this particular sport quite literally would not exist without the trans child who they just banned Chris Hartman executive director of the fairness campaign says the only trans student athlete He is currently aware of is 12 year old Fisher Wells a middle school field hockey player He worries that bills targeting trans youth create isolation and will prevent other students from feeling safe and comfortable being themselves Wells a student at Westport Middle School Testified against SB 8-3 before the Senate Education Committee in February She helped kickstart the field hockey team at her Louisville school after there was no option for girls to play But as a result of the trans sports ban, she will no longer be able to compete alongside her teammates Now I'm gonna play a video of her testimony where she explains How difficult it was to start this team in the first place because there was so little interest, but her and her friends They created the sport and now um, she's banned because Republicans are terrible people who are just Unnecessarily cruel like you're not protecting women's sports obviously, but you see how cruel this is when you hear from this little girl herself Let's watch Fisher Wells, and I would like to tell you my experience on the Westport girls field hockey team before um Well after COVID and we were just getting back in the girls field hockey team barely Existed it was just a thing that Westport had that nobody joined because everybody wanted to play like volleyball or something but then three people signed up one of them was me and I Tried my very hardest to get the minimum amount of people for the team and we got that and on our first game I Got news that I couldn't play and so I didn't play I sat at home Watching television And then I got so many texts from my friends supporting me and then yeah I got these wonderful pictures We tied on that game barely by the way, which was fun But later it was resolved and then I started to find out how disgusting the reason I couldn't play was and I have made a ton of very nice friends on this team And we've had a fun time um in one game the ball rolled up one of my teammates skirts Her face described at all It was very funny And I just have made so many friends and me and my friends have started playing on a league at the YMCA And that has been extremely fun. We even won our second game We've lost a lot of games But that was because we were mostly new to the sport and we were all getting invested in this really awesome sport That is just really fun it taught us how to be sportsman like and very Calm about things. I really don't want this bill to pass because that means I can't play and it will be extremely detrimental to my mental health as well because I know that Sports is a great way for me to cope with things like it's just a good way for me to cope with things um and It's why I recovered so very quickly from not being able to play because later like a few days later I found out I could play and I was able to play and have fun and Like every like my coach was crying like she was like, oh my god. Sure. Um, I Just it's disgusting that this bill is even Suggested, it's terrible and I've worked really hard and practiced so many hours Um, I hope you don't vote on this bill and I hope I can Play an eighth grade. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony I'm so sorry little girl But we have to protect this sports team that you helped to create by banning you from it. Yeah, I Mean it's it's just so ridiculous and for all this talk of protecting children that we've heard from the GOP and their Propagandists does this bill Make children any safer. I don't think that this one trans child is gonna feel any safer I don't think her friends are gonna feel safer. In fact, her friends want to play with her But you say no you hear her with your own ears testify saying this Helps me cope. This helps me with mental health and still knowing the supplies to one child Choose to not just pass the spill but override the governor's veto in other states like in Arkansas anti trans governors They have realized okay, maybe these sports bands go too far because there's not really any high school Athletes who are trans. I mean we have like 12 trans kids that we know if they're out the state And I don't know if any of them are playing sports. So this seems a little bit ridiculous So even transphobes sometimes will recognize how ridiculous this is But the Kentucky legislature overwhelmingly said yeah, we have to ban this one kid from playing hockey because we're protecting women's sports and For all this talk of protecting women's sports, how many of these lawmakers helped create sports teams For women like helped facilitate the creation of entire of an entire new category of Of a sport at a particular middle school or high school Have they have they done that this little girl has done more for female sports than anyone in that legislature But they banned her from participating when this law takes effect in July She won't be able to play in the sport that she helped create. How ridiculous is this? How ridiculous is this? So I mean, I don't know what to say when it comes to middle school and high school sports This is quite literally just about socialization I mean these kids are playing sports and they probably don't even understand the sports half the time, right? When I was in elementary school, like I played sports, you know in PE and whatnot, but I wasn't very athletic I didn't know, you know the rules and stuff. It's about socialization It's about hanging out with your friends and having fun and it's apparent that this helped her But because these bigots these disgusting vile transphobes Want to win an election they're using this one trans child as a red meat to throw to the base Throwing this one 12 year old under the bus. I mean for a lot of trans kids really middle school and high school to them more so than anything is about Existence right just existing and surviving these cruel times when children are usually cruel But you know, you know, sometimes trans kids they end up enjoying sports and that's really good We should applaud them right we should be happy and celebrate the fact that this girl has confidence and you know She has loving parents who encourage her to do what she wants pursue her interests But you know because of this nationwide effort to bans to ban high schoolers from sports How many trans kids who wanted to participate in school sports with their friends? We'll now feel as if they don't want to do that because of this bigoted push because they might become targets as Fisher Wells is it's just it's gross So I don't want to hear anything about protecting children from the GOP or anyone who votes for the GOP Because it's very clear that you don't just not care about protecting children But the policies that you support are actively harming children This is proof of that