Kentucky GOP moves to criminalize interference with legislature after transgender protests

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s Republican-supermajority legislature is taking steps to criminalize disruptive protests inside the Capitol, raising concerns among advocates that their right to challenge authority will be chilled.

Before big votes on polarizing issues, throngs of protesters have waved signs and shouted out synchronized chants at the foot of the steps that lawmakers climb to reach the House or Senate chambers, creating a din that echoes throughout the ornate statehouse. Activists sometimes pack committee rooms in the Capitol Annex or crowd the galleries to monitor floor debates.

Teachers, union members and abortion-rights supporters have staged massive demonstrations, but it was a protest against anti-transgender legislation — which resulted in the arrests of some demonstrators on criminal trespassing charges last year — that prompted the Kentucky House this week to approve new criminal offenses for interfering with legislative proceedings. The bill is now pending in the Senate.

Republican state Rep. John Blanton considers protesting to be “as American as apple pie,” and “part of the foundation of who we are and I’m fully supportive of that.” But he said there should be consequences when demonstrators “cross the line” and become disruptive.

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