By Caitlin Sievers | PHOENIX, Ariz. – The governor vetoed a number of Republican charges, including those that may have allowed discrimination against trans people and given public school teachers a green light to publish the Ten Commandments in their rooms. Katie Hobbs on Tuesday.
Hobbs vetoed 13 bills, bringing her total for the year to 42. She has made it clear that she will use her veto power on any bills that don’t have bipartisan support, especially ones that discriminate against the LGBTQ community.
Republicans reacted with a clear outburst to Hobbs’ veto of their state’s “Arizona Women’s Bill of Rights,” which would have replaced any mention of identity with a rigid and inflexible definition of biological sex. The bill would have authorized the use of natural sex, no gender identity, to legalize prejudice against transgender Arizonans by allowing them to play sports groups, locker rooms, bathrooms, and even domestic violence homes and sexual abuse issue centers.
“As I have said time and again, I will not sign legislation that attacks Arizonans,” Hobbs wrote in a brief letter explaining why she vetoed Senate Bill 1628.
The Arizona Senate Republicans accused them of only pretending to be a sex diverse than they were born into when their response to the filibuster was full of unfair language about trans people.
Senate Republicans wrote in a declaration that the extreme left is trying to make community believe that genetic males can be considered women if they “feel” like they are, and that the Arizona State Legislature is killing the Arizona Women’s Bill of Rights.
The Democrats who voted against the costs continued to criticize the Senate Republicans of endangering people.
Democrats are only aggravated by pretending biological sex doesn’t matter, according to Senate President Warren Petersen in the statement, instead of helping these confused boys and men. “Our girls, grandchildren, sisters, and neighbors are growing up in a dangerous period where they are living with an increased risk of being victimized in open rooms, showers, and locker rooms because Democrats are now welcoming biological males into what used to be traditionally healthy, single-sex spaces.”
However, trans activists claim that there is no proof that transgender people can use the bathrooms in ways that make them less secure for everyone else who uses them, as at least one study has found.
In the speech, the bill’s partner, Sen. Sine Kerr, R-Buckeye, claimed that the costs would have stopped transgender women from competing in female sports, something she said gives them an unfair advantages. But Republicans now passed a rules to do just that in 2022, when Republican Gov. Doug Ducey was still in business, though that law is not already being enforced amidst a judge problem filed by two trans players.
Republicans rebuffed Senate Bill 1151, which would have allowed educators or officials to publish the Ten Commandments in public college rooms, a move that some Republicans also questioned as probably illegal.
In a statement, the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale, accused Hobbs of “abandoning God” with her veto.
By vetoing legislation that would have allowed public schools to include the Ten Commandments in classrooms, Katie Hobbs is contributing to Arizona’s cultural degradation, Kern said in the statement.
In her veto letter, Hobbs said she questioned the constitutionality of the bill, and also called it unnecessary. During discussion of the bill in March, several critics pointed out that posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, tenets of Judeo-Christian religions, might make children whose families practice other religions feel uncomfortable.
“Sadly, Katie Hobbs’ veto is a prime example of Democrats’ efforts to push state-sponsored atheism while robbing Arizona’s children of the opportunity to flourish with a healthy moral compass,” Kern said.
Another Republican proposal on Hobbs’ veto list was Senate Bill 1097, which would have made school board candidates declare a party affiliation. School board races in Arizona are currently nonpartisan.
In her veto letter, Hobbs argued that this bill will further the politicization and division of Arizona’s school district governing boards. The focus should continue to be on making the best decisions for students. “Partisan politics do not belong in Arizona’s schools.”
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With almost 10 years of experience as a reporter and editor, Caitlin held local government leaders accountable in newsrooms throughout the West and Midwest when she joined the Arizona Mirror in 2022. She’s won statewide awards in Nebraska, Indiana, and Wisconsin for reporting, photography, and commentary.
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The Arizona Mirror previously published the previous article, which has since been republished with permission.
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