Andy Beshear Pushes Back When Bill Maher Complains About ‘Gender Bills’

Tommy ChristopherOct 25th, 2025, 5:43 pm
 

Comedian and pundit Bill Maher pressed Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) over a pair of “gender bills” he vetoed, but Beshear pushed back and defended the seventh-grade girl who is the only trans athlete in his state.

On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the interview guest was  Democratic governor of Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear.

The panel guests were Michael Steele, former RNC Chairman and Lt. Governor of Maryland, MSNBC political analyst, and co-host of “The Weeknight”; and Kate Bedingfield, CNN political commentator and former White House communications director under President Biden.

Maher — who frequently voices anti-trans rhetoric — expressed surprise that Beshear has a “very high approval rating” yet vetoed the bills in question:

BILL MAHER: But you have this very high approval rating in your state and yet it’s a conservative state and you still vetoed two gender bills that the legislature overrode, which will do you well in the Democratic primary. Just briefly describe what those bills were and what your reasoning is on this.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR: Yeah, those were both bills that mainly addressed our LGBTQ population. They were mean, they were unnecessary. Most of the time they were meant to score political points and or hurt me in a 2023 election. What did they say? They were trying to eliminate different types of therapies both for adults and for kids. And I think that there can be certain-.

BILL MAHER: Are you talking about sex change?

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR: Oh no, certain limitations certainly for kids I think are appropriate.

BILL MAHER: What about girls in sports?

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR: There was a bill on that, but here’s the thing. I care too much about sports to want to let government run them.

You look at where we were in Kentucky, and we didn’t have a single issue that you saw in the rest of the country.

We had a high school athletic association that had these really great policies that prevented any unfair advantage. They were really specific.

The only athlete that we had that was trans in the state was a seventh grader. And she had started a high school field hockey team to make friends.

Certainly we ought to be able to prevent unfair advantages in the high school and the college level without making life harder for a seventh grader.

(APPLAUSE)

BILL MAHER: Well, I’m sure that’s true.

Watch above via HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.

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