KY Gov. Beshear: GOP Needs to Stop Scapegoating Transgender Kids – Its ‘Gross,’ ‘Wrong’

Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) said Monday on MSNBC’s “Inside ” that Republicans should stop scapegoating transgender kids as a political issue because it was “gross.”

Anchor Jen Psaki said, “Your race was interesting in a lot of ways but one of the issues that came up was, of course, trans rights. I mean, you did not hesitate to veto a sweeping anti-trans bill passed by the Kentucky state legislature. But your opponents still kind of came after you. They, also because of, that came after you on that. It didn’t work. what does that tell you about the effectiveness of this kind of an attack. This approach from a lot of republicans out there?”

Beshear said, “All children are children of God, that’s what my faith teaches me. I was going to stand up especially for the most marginalized children that didn’t deserve either a state legislature or an entire campaign of all these super PACS picking on the individuals who are already at the margins, studies show more mental health issues, more at risk for suicide. We ought to be in the suicide prevention business. Not further harming kids who are going through too much.”

He continued, “I did it because it was the right thing. But I will say that the way these super PACS and my opponent went about their campaign, it was just mean. It was gross. It was cruel. And people don’t like that. That’s not who we are. This ought to be a message that you can’t scapegoat people just to get folks angry. And is wrong think about what some people are doing, trying to dehumanize other human beings. Trying to turn people against each other and to even foster hate and anger towards another American here in Kentucky, and why? So you can elect one more person that has a certain letter behind their name.”

Beshear added, “This can’t be right and left some things have to be basic right and wrong. And we have got to get our politics back to where we ask the basic question of  right and wrong. There is got to be limits. This can’t be a ruleless game, because it is so much more than a game. Ask any of these kids.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN