Governor Vetoes Gender Identity Bill

Today, Governor Douglas vetoed H.865, commonly known as the Gender Identity bill. Although the bill passed with overwhelming majorities, mostly by Democrats, in both the House and Senate, it is expected that the House will not have the votes to override the veto.

Issues with the bill, such as the ambigous definitions and the lack of clarity of what "gender identity and expression" really was, was a sticking point in the abbreviated deliberations during testimony taken in the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

The matter was so convoluted, Senator Sears, the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was frequently bewildered by the proponents inability to give a straight answer concerning these definitions. Despite the confusion, the bill was voted out of commmittee with Sears voting for the bill.

We will post the Governor's veto message as soon as we obtain it from the House Clerk's office.