The State Department of Education will hold a summit in support of LGBTQ plus youth this fall.

That announcement from Education Commissioner Jason Glass, who was speaking out against the passage of Senate Bill 150, which bans gender affirming care for transgender youth, among other items.

In a statement, Glass called it, quote, sweeping and harmful piece of anti LGBTQ i a legislation and quote that goes on to say quote instead of addressing the real issues impacting our schools, the legislature expended its time and energy on this stitched together bill taking aim directly at LGBT cu i A-plus people.

The bill contains provisions that will put our young people at risk.

Have the government interfere with decisions between doctors, patients and families, and puts Kentucky at the front of a series of similar, hateful, ignorant and shameful efforts around the country.

And, quote, Glass says the summit will take place in the fall.

Now House Speaker Pro Tem David Mead issued a response to Commissioner Glass's statement, saying in part, quote, This only further proves that lawmakers are not pushing an agenda.

We are pushing back at an administration bent on shutting parents out of important conversations about their children.

And we are committed to ensuring the people and institutions our children depend upon are acting appropriately on their behalf.

He goes on to say, quote, As the Commissioner of Education, Mr. Glass's focus should be on improving reading and math scores in order to prepare this generation of Kentuckians for future success.

He should be working with educators and policymakers to find ways to help our children regain the learning lost when the governor closed schools.

Instead, he's doubling down on his support of policies that pit vulnerable children against their families and telling teachers that if they don't like it, they can find another job.

End quote.

Well, tune in tonight on Kentucky tonight for a discussion on the General Assembly's recent actions on LGBTQ plus issues.

Tonight, you'll hear from Jennifer Byrd.

POLLAN She's the mother of a transgender child.

She shares with us her reaction to Senate Bill 150 and how she says it will cause untold harm to kids like her child.

And from my perspective, a lot of the rhetoric around these bills has been about parents rights.

And I, I just find that so offensive as a parent of someone who fully endorses and embraces my kid and the choices that they're making, that really what's just happened with this legislation is my kids schools have been told that they don't have to respect my rights with respect to the pronouns my kid uses or the bathroom they want to use.

And and I'm not alone in this.

A lot of parents feel this and that.

Our vulnerable children are the ones who are targeted.

And we as parents have had rights taken away from us to protect our children in the way that we see fit.

Yeah.

Can you talk to us about Rick's journey and when they expressed to you that this is how they identified and hoped you would understand, for parents who wonder, like, I don't understand any of this.

Yeah.

Were you ever there?

Oh, absolutely.

You know, so this was a an evolution of Rick's thinking about things between middle school and high school.

And they came to us and said this was a change they wanted to make about their outward presentation.

I would also say from my parents and my husband's parents, it's been hard, but they recognize that the most you don't have to understand what's going on with your kid.

I mean, I was so moved by Representative Miller's testimony about his own experience as a grandparent.

It is not the responsible party of parents and grandparents always to understand exactly what's going on in our kids lives.

The reality is right, the times change.

Things are different than when we were in school.

It feels like my primary responsibility to support my kid and their decisions.

So.

So absolutely.

When it first happened, we made mistakes with pronouns.

We made mistakes with names.

I would say that still happens less in our own house, but with other people talking to us about our kid.

But this year we also got Christmas cards that were addressed to all of our family members by name, including Rick by name.

And that means a lot when your community and your family embrace the experiences of your kid.

I think that's it's a real showing of support, and we've had that in Lexington and with our family, with our friends.

It sounds like you and work, you know, you found that community through the school, through the school system, through the school.

The educators there were they were embracing.

But we know that there are places where kids this can have perhaps a detrimental impact on how they view themselves and will identify themselves or and even their value.

Yeah, or their work.

Right.

The best provider, the best decision makers and the best providers of support are the people who are close to children, not people in Frankfurt who, by their own admission, don't understand what's going on.

How many of them yesterday said how many of them in the session said they didn't understand.

They said they didn't understand.

And then they voted for a bill that that that harms children, but that the medical association said harms children, that the children themselves and their parents and families said would harm them and they voted for it anyway.

And it's very.

It's so disheartening.

Well, we'll have more on this issue on Kentucky tonight, this evening, including the story of a 21 year old who regrets their gender transition.

That's tonight at eight Eastern, seven Central right here on KCET.

And of course, we always welcome your questions and comments, so send them in.