What This Conservative Governor Said About Restroom Privacy-Protection Bills Might Surprise You

Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin strengthened his state’s informed-consent abortion law, shut down two abortion clinics, and sued one of them.

The state’s highest court upheld his decision in September to close one of those clinics for operating without a license. The governor takes a different approach when it comes to measures that would bar men who “feel” like women from using private facilities designated for women.

Kentucky Senator Al Robertson proposed a bill to protect women’s privacy. Lawmakers who care about the modesty, privacy, and safety of women and girls push these measures in response to the exiting President Barack Obama’s “transgender” restroom directive to government schools.

But Gov. Bevin doesn’t believe these privacy-protection measures are the right way to go.

“Why?” he said. “Why would we? Why would anybody need it? Is it an issue? Is there anyone you know in Kentucky who has trouble going to the bathroom? Seriously. Have you heard of one person in Kentucky having trouble taking care of business in Kentucky? The last thing we need is more government rules. I’m cutting red tape, not creating it. Making government rules for things that don’t even need government rules would be silly.”

The governor might have a point. President-elect Donald Trump can wipe out the departing president’s “transgender” restroom directive, so well-intended privacy-protection bills might be unnecessary.

Sen. Robertson disagrees. “There’s more people that are backing down when they should not be backing down for the sake of the threats and the financial threats. And to me there’s some price that’s just not worth paying.”

Gov. Bevin did call the soon-to-be-ex president’s restroom edict “absurd” and joined a coalition of states’ lawsuit against the federal government, but said that “if people want to spend all the time in Frankfort worrying about who uses which bathroom in the public schools, that day is over. I’m just telling you right now. I have no tolerance or interest in that kind of nonsense. None. Those things matter to some, but they sure don’t matter relative to everything else that needs to be addressed in this state. We are going to prioritize. We are going to have a sense of purpose.”

Do you think Gov. Bevin has a good point?

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