Jared Polis Says GOP Push for Anti-LGBTQ Laws 'Overreach' and 'Un-American'
Jared Polis on Sunday said that Republicans' push for anti-LGBTQ laws is "un-American" and an "overreach.""These hard policies about saying certain youth can't play sports, and certain people aren't allowed in certain places, or micromanaging what restroom people use and mandating what they do are really, frankly, un-American and are an example of Republican overreach, which will ultimately hurt their party, if they can't espouse the full diversity of the American people," the Democrat said during an appearance on CNN's State of the Union with host Dana Bash.The host asked him about his reaction to a clip that showed South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem during a conference responding to questions related to LGBTQ issues in the state.On Thursday, a reporter asked Noem what she thought about a statistic, by HelpAdvisor, that stated that around 90 percent of the state's LGBTQ residents reported experiencing depression and anxiety, to which the GOP governor said, "I don't know.
That makes me sad, and we should figure it out."Commenting on the clip, Polis noted that words and laws matter when it comes to dealing with issues related to the LGBTQ community."Look, words matter.
Laws matter. When a group of people, LGBTQ youth, feel targeted by the words and laws that some politicians espouse, of course, it can increase anxiety, depression," the first openly gay elected governor said.Noem signed a transgender athlete ban bill into law earlier this month, making South Dakota the 10th state to do so after Idaho, Texas, Florida, West Virginia, Montana, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi.
