Kentucky Values, a PAC backed by the Republican Governors Association, is re-upping an ad attacking Gov. Andy Beshear as he fights for re-election against Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.
The ad, “Conflicts,” was first launched earlier this month and is airing again on television and digital platforms statewide with what the group describes as a “significant investment.”
The ad centers on what Kentucky Values describes as a “radical agenda” that allows “young children to undergo permanent gender-changing surgery.”
While that’s a common refrain among critics of gender-affirming care for transgender youth, Beshear, his allies and Democrats would characterize it differently.
The ad cites a May 3 letter from University of Kentucky HealthCare’s Transform Clinic to state Rep. James Tipton who, based on the narrative within the letter, requested the information.
The letter explicitly states that “Transform Health does not perform genital gender reassignment surgery on minors,” noting that such surgeries “are not considered best practice in the United States and are performed in this country very rarely.”
Still, conservatives who oppose gender-affirming care for minors have used the next portion of that letter against Democrats who oppose anti-trans legislation.
“Transform Health has, in recent years, performed a small number of non-genital gender reassignment surgeries,” the letter reads, offering “mastectomies for older adolescents” as an example. But it notes that such “top surgeries” are “performed only after careful medical evaluation, discussion and the consent of patients/guardians.”
The ad uses media coverage of the letter to make its point, playing a clip of a reporter saying the letter “conflicts” with “LGBTQ advocates and the Governor(’s)” claim that “these surgeries weren’t happening.”
The ad ends with the narrator asking, “if Andy Beshear will lie about sex change surgery for kids, what else is he lying about?” followed by a repeat of Beshear’s statement.
“Andy Beshear’s radical agenda is putting Kentucky children in danger, and instead of being honest with Kentucky parents, he continues to lie about his record. If Andy Beshear will lie about sex change surgery for kids, what won’t he lie about,” National Republican Governors Association Press Secretary Courtney Alexander offered in a statement recycled from the ad’s initial rollout Sept. 6.
