RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Governor Glenn Youngkin signaled that he did not support an outright ban on youth transition, but did not go as far as to say he would veto such a bill should it reach his desk.
Senator Amanda Chase (R – Colonial Heights) said she would introduce a bill during the upcoming General Assembly session modeled on a ban enacted by Arkansas last year but blocked by a federal court.
When asked whether he would support such a ban, Governor Glenn Youngkin put the emphasis on parental rights, saying it should be up to them to have final say.
“I do believe, that at the end of the day, these are decisions that are going to have to be made between parents, a child and a trusted physician,” he said.
That echoes Youngkin’s reasoning when he introduced a proposal to overhaul the state’s policy on trans students, which he said reflected a “commitment to preserving parental rights” — but which opponents said will place harmful restrictions on trans students.
But when asked directly whether he would veto such a bill, as Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson did when it first came to his desk, Youngkin demurred, saying he didn’t expect to see it reach his desk in the first place.
“I don’t think that bill, I mean, candidly, is going to ever make it to me,” he said. “We have a bipartisan legislature and the realities of that bipartisan legislature is we have Democrats that control the Senate and Republicans that control the House.”
