Ian Mackey, Chuck Basye.Photo: Ian Mackey/Facebook; Chuck Basye State Representative/Facebook
An exchange last week between two Missouri state lawmakers has gone viral after one — who is openly gay — confronted the other — who has a gay brother — about the latter’s support of a measure that would prohibit transgender girls attending K-12 public schools from being members of girls' sports teams.
The incident occurred on Wednesday between Rep. Chuck Basye, a Republican who recently sponsored the amendment, and Democratic Rep. Ian Mackey. Footage of the exchange was subsequentlyshared on social media, where it was seen more than 1 million times.
After Mackey asked Basye to comment on the moment his brother came out to his family, Basye acknowledged that his brother initially “thought that we would hold that against him and not let my children be around him.”
Not so, he said.
“It never would have happened,” Basye said. “I’ll tell you that. My kids at that point in their life adored my brother.”
Mackey, though, argued that there was reason to worry about Basye’s views.
“Can I tell you if I were your brother, I would have been afraid to tell you too … because of stuff like this,” Mackey told him, alluding to the amendment Basye was now sponsoring. “Because this is what you’re focused on. This is the legislation you want to put forward. This is what consumes your time.”
Mackey continued: “I was afraid of people like you growing up … I grew up in a school district that would vote tomorrow to put this in place. And for 18 years, I walked around with nice people like you who took me to ball games, who told me how smart I was. And then [they] went to the ballot box, and voted for crap like this. And I couldn’t wait to get out, to move to a part of our state that would reject this stuff.”
“I think every day of the kids who are still there, who haven’t made it out, who haven’t escaped from this kind of bigotry,” he said.
After hours of heated testimony and debate such as the one involving Mackey, Basye’s amendment (which was added onto an elections bill) was approved in an 89-40 vote.
It needed one more vote before it could be sent to the Missouri state Senate,The Advocatereported. Basye has said the purpose of the bill is to “save women’s sports.”
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa,Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia have all implemented bans against transgender athletes.
“This bill is harmful in two ways,” the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics said in a previous statement. “One, it threatens the health and well-being of transgender youth, and two, it puts politicians rather than pediatricians in charge of a child’s medical care.”
Speaking about the “onslaught of anti-transgender state laws,” PresidentJoe Bidenlast month marked Transgender Day of Visibility with a speech that touched on the various measures.
“To any transgender American who’s struggling, please know you’re not alone. To parents and children alike, please ask for help,” Biden said. “And know this: You’re so brave. You belong. And we have your back.”
source: people.com
