Arkansas’ recent bill banning trans youth from accessing necessary healthcare is not only unjust and harmful, but also a signifier of a deeper problem: it clearly demonstrates that conservatives are willing to compromise their own principles in the name of a self-imposed “culture war,” endangering innocent bystanders in the process.
This particular bill, enacted last week after Arkansas politicians voted to override the governor’s veto, is the most extreme and restrictive piece of legislation of its kind. Not only does it prevent any trans person under the age of 18 from receiving any kind of gender-affirming healthcare, it also doesn’t even have a grandfather clause meaning that minors currently on hormone replacement therapy with parental consent, under medical supervision and in alignment with current agreed-upon best practice, have now lost access to treatment.
These overreaching barriers are, of course, discriminatory and harmful. But they’re also hugely hypocritical — if Republicans claim that the government should have less influence on our personal lives and if they believe so fervently in freedom of speech, why do those principles evaporate when it comes to protecting trans youth?
The answer is simple: the right has demonized LGBT people, particularly trans women, for years, weaponizing them as a tool to unite their own base. Their rights have become entangled in the rhetoric of the Republicans, used as a target to polarize voters and draw more support.
Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson has previously supported other legislation that harmed trans people, including a ban on trans girls in school sports and a bill that allowed doctors to refuse care to trans patients on the basis of religion. But for Hutchinson, this bill crossed a line — he said in an interview with The New York Times that he thinks it was not an appropriate use of the government’s influence.
“You’ve got to evaluate each [bill] as to whether it’s the proper role of government, whether it makes sense and whether it is the right balance,” said Hutchinson. “When I saw this bill come forward, I thought it went too far. And I said: ‘We’ve got to show greater tolerance. We’ve got to show greater compassion,’ And so I didn’t sign that.”
Hutchinson’s demonstration of the most basic human empathy quickly earned him attacks from his right-wing peers. Former President Donald Trump himself condemned the veto, saying it would end the governor’s career. Tucker Carlson, who hosts a show on Fox News, ran a segment suggesting that Hutchinson acted under the influence of corporate dollars. Since when have Republicans really fought hard against corporate interests?
As other states may prepare to follow Arkansas’ lead in the next few months, conservative politicians and their supporters need to take a hard look at their own values, or at least the ones they advertise. Before any conservative backs a bill like this one, they should consider what it is about trans people that makes them violate their own deeply-held principles. Why do advocates of smaller government and personal freedom of expression make an exception here, and how many innocent people are politicians hurting for the sake of advancing the G.O.P.’s culture-war agenda?
Photo: Trans Pride flags | Ted Eytan via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0
Thank you, Aaron. I think the answer to this culture war is in the younger generation, those who have grown up learning to be inclusive. Working to get younger voters to participate in elections will make a difference.