Beshear cites faith in veto of child sex-change treatment ban as Democrats talk religion 

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says his Christian faith is why he vetoed a measure that ultimately banned so-called sex-change drugs and surgeries for children.

Beshear mentioned the 2023 veto, which the Republican Legislature promptly overrode, in an interview with USA Today this week. He called the legislation the “nastiest anti-trans bill that my state had ever seen.”

“All children are children of God,” he said, adding that he didn’t want people picking on them.

The proposal stopped doctors from giving children puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to change how their sex appears. It also banned so-called sex-change surgeries for minors.

Beshear, a Democrat and possible 2028 presidential candidate, claimed the measure would have ended all medical care for those children. However, the law targeted only those specific treatments.

It also keeps boys out of girls’ bathrooms at school.

Heartlander News reported in February that Beshear used his faith to defend the veto during an appearance on The View. He also told USA Today that Democrats should talk more about their faith.

The interviewer asked him about religious Democrats running for office, including Texas U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico. Beshear said they were responding to the way Republicans use religion in politics.

Talarico, who is running against Republican Ken Paxton, has said his church helped shape his views. He grew up attending St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas, where the Rev. Jim Rigby is the longtime pastor.

In a 2023 interview, Talarico said St. Andrew’s had housed a Guatemalan mother and son who faced deportation. He said the church’s work helped lead him into politics. The Presbyterian Church (USA) reported in 2020 that the mother and son were living there at the time.

A minister at St. Andrew’s now says an illegal immigrant from Guatemala lives at the church. The Rev. Carol Johnson made the claim in a video obtained by Texas Scorecard.

She called St. Andrew’s a “sanctuary church” for illegal immigrants and said the person had worked there for eight years. It is unclear whether she was talking about someone from the family Talarico mentioned.

Johnson also described the church’s approach to faith.

“We’re not a belief-based church. We’re a values-based church,” she said.

Rigby also criticized evangelical Christians in a separate video posted by Blaze News.

Asked what was wrong with evangelicals, he said they were “not that smart in, like, abstract thinking.” He also questioned their beliefs in hell, angels and demons.

Talarico has called Rigby a major influence on his faith. Rigby has said he doesn’t speak for Talarico.

Talarico, who is leading Paxton in the latest polls, has faced criticism for his views on God, who he once said is “nonbinary,” and support for diversity, equity and inclusion, abortion and critical race theory.