Doug Ducey, governor of Arizona, refused to answer questions on whether transgender people exist on Thursday, just one day after signing legislation curbing transgender rights.
His focus instead was on defending his signatures on bills barring transgender girls from becoming athletes on female high school and college teams and prohibiting gender affirming surgery for anyone under 18.
According to Nbcnews, when directly consulted on if he understood that there “are really transgender people,” the governor hesitated for seconds before replying.
“I’m going to ask you to read the legislation and to see that the legislation that we passed was in the spirit of fairness to protect girls sports in competitive situations,” Ducey said, pertaining to the new law aimed at transgender girls seeking to participate in girls sports teams.
“That’s what the legislation is intended to do, and that’s what it does.”
Questioned again on if he believed there are “actual transgender people,” once again, he replied slowly with a similar response.
“I … am going to respect everyone, and I’m going to respect everyone’s rights. And I’m going to protect female sports. And that’s what the legislation does,” Ducey said.
Ducey’s reply is “appalling,” according to the Arizona director of the Human Rights Campaign.
“It’s quite shocking that he can’t even address trans people or even say that he thinks they exist,” Bridget Sharpe said.
Democrat Minority leaders described Ducey’s election law as voter suppression because it required long-time Arizona residents who could not prove their citizenship and address to be removed from the voter rolls.
Republican Governors Association, which helps elect Republican governors in U.S. states, is headed by the governor. As Arizona’s governor, he is in the last year of his second term and cannot run for reelection due to term limits.
A top Democrat, Rep. Reginald Bolding, called Wednesday “probably one of the darkest days we’ve seen in the history of Arizona.”
“With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Ducey has hurled Arizona backwards to its ugliest past,” Bolding said Wednesday. “And today, he put in jeopardy pregnant people, transgender youth in danger and curtailed voting rights for people of color.”
Meanwhile, Social conservative groups and the Arizona Republican Party applauded Ducey’s action.
The Center for Arizona Policy also called Doucey’s action a victory.
“Thank you, Governor Ducey, for taking a bold stand for women athletes, vulnerable children, and the unborn by putting your signature on (the bills) in the face of intense opposition from activists,” Center for Arizona Policy president Cathi Herrod stated.
She said the legislation will ensures a level playing field for female athletes and shows that “Arizona will do everything it can to protect vulnerable children struggling with gender confusion” by enacting the surgery ban.
“These are permanent surgeries of reassignment that are irreversible, and those discussions can happen once adulthood is reached,” he said.
Arizona enlists itself among other 13 other states in enacting laws prohibiting transgender girls and women from playing on girls sports.