Beshear says he does not support taxpayer-funded surgeries for transgender inmates

Kentucky's Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday said he does not support using taxpayer dollars for gender-affirming surgery for transgender inmates as the state's corrections department looks for clarity on its legal obligation to trans people in its custody.

During a Thursday press conference, Beshear said he does not believe incarcerated transgender people should have access to gender-affirming surgeries, saying if they did, they would be “receiving better coverage and health care than a law-abiding citizen.”

“I recognize that LGBTQ inmates may be at a higher risk for violence than other inmates,” said Beshear, recently elected to lead the Democratic Governors Association in 2026. “However, convicted felons do not have the right to have any and all medical surgeries paid for entirely by tax dollars, especially when it would exceed the type of coverage available to law-abiding citizens in the private sector.”

The Kentucky Department of Corrections made changes to its regulations in 2021 and 2023, including clarification that transgender people in state custody may have access to surgical procedures after “all other avenues to alleviate” their gender dysphoria, or the distress that stems from a mismatch between a person’s gender identity and sex at birth, have been attempted.

State Republicans seized on the changes this week, after the corrections department asked Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman to review them. In a Monday statement, the Republican Party of Kentucky said Beshear’s administration was trying “to force Kentucky taxpayers to pay for transgender surgeries for convicted criminals.”

“Andy Beshear’s administration is out of control,” the party’s communications director, Andy Westberry, said.

Kentucky has yet to fund a transition-related surgery for a transgender inmate, the state’s corrections department commissioner told a state legislative committee on Monday. In a Dec. 6 letter to Coleman, the department requested clarity on its legal obligation to provide such procedures when deemed medically necessary.

The letter, which points to conflicting court decisions in states across the country, voices some concern that, by denying trans inmates access to gender-affirming surgeries, the department will be found liable for violating the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The Supreme Court has held for nearly half a century that denying incarcerated people medically necessary care is a violation of their constitutional rights.

Outgoing state Sen. Damon Thayer (R) told Kentucky Department of Corrections Commissioner Cookie Crews at Monday’s meeting that he doesn’t think Kentucky taxpayers are “interested in paying for the hormone replacement therapy or transgender surgeries for people who have been found guilty of committing crimes against the commonwealth.”

“You’re wasting your time, our time and, frankly, this administration’s pursuit of this out-of-the-mainstream taxpayer-funded procedure is an insult, and you ought to just stop,” he said. “Because if you don’t, it’s going to blow up into a much bigger issue than just this subcommittee today.”

“We’ve just had an election where we saw that these issues regarding transgender surgeries were a factor,” Thayer added, likely referring to one of President-elect Trump’s campaign ads hitting Vice President Harris over her past support for gender-affirming surgery for incarcerated trans people.

Beshear on Thursday said the state has an obligation to follow federal law, and his office will wait for an opinion from Coleman before making any decision.

“The Department of Corrections is just trying to get this right under federal law, and it appears at least a little unclear to me what's required under federal law,” he said. “So, for Republican lawmakers to get upset that we’re going to a Republican attorney general to try to get this opinion there on what is required, that seems a little silly. It seems like just wanting to pick a fight and argue instead of to say, 'Let's work together, let's figure out what's required, let's figure out what's reasonable.'”

Beshear, who won reelection last year, faced an onslaught of Republican-led attacks on the campaign trail over his support for trans-inclusive policies. His then-opponent, Daniel Cameron, Kentucky’s former attorney general, claimed Beshear supported transition-related surgeries for minors, citing Beshear’s veto of a sweeping bill that included a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.

“My position on this has always been clear,” Beshear told The Associated Press last year. “I have never supported gender reassignment surgery for minors, and they don’t happen in Kentucky.”

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