Comment on transgender issue roils Kentucky governor’s race

By BRUCE SCHREINER
Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A GOP candidate has roiled the primary race for Kentucky governor with a comment that if she’s elected, “we will not have transgenders in our school system,” angering LGBTQ advocates in a state that has enacted laws limiting the rights of transgender youth. Former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft made the comment during a telephone town hall Monday. Her campaign said Tuesday she was referring to “woke ideologies” in schools. Craft’s comments were denounced as “desperate and disgusting” by Chris Hartman of the Fairness Campaign, a Kentucky-based LGBTQ advocacy group. Craft is in a combative, 12-candidate field vying for the Republican nomination in a May 16 primary. The winner will face Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in the fall.