Amid a worsening climate for trans kids — with 14 states passing bills restricting gender affirming healthcare for trans youth to date — “Saturday Night Live” took on a more serious tone to discuss trans rights by bring on “SNL’s” first non-binary cast member, Molly Kearney.
“Since the start of this year, over 400 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced across the country, many of which directly target trans youth,” co-anchor Michael Che said at the end of the “Weekend Update” segment. “Here to talk about it is someone with their own introduction.”
In typical “SNL” fashion, Kearney appeared from above and was lowered down into a “Weekend Update” seat with a harness, using the contraption to segue into blasting anti-trans legislation in red states.
“This harness is pretty tight and my groin area is beefed,” Kearney said. “I have been hung up on my genitals for far too long, and I’m starting to feel like a freakin’ Republican lawmaker.”
“Restricting healthcare for kids — for some reason there’s something about the word ‘trans’ that makes people forget the word ‘kids,’” Kearney continued. “If you don’t care about trans kids’ lives, it means you don’t care about friggin’ kids’ lives.”
Che and Kearney continued to make use of Kearney’s stunt to double down on their point, with Che asking Kearney how long they were hanging by the ceiling before being hoisted down.
“Longer than I would have liked!” Kearney responded. “At one point I heard a crew guy say, ‘Is she gonna die up there?’ And then another crew guy was like, ‘ You mean, are they gonna die up there?’ And then they both walked away and didn’t help, which feels a lot how trans people are being treated right now.”
Kearney cleared up that all was resolved when they used their code word for emergencies: “trans rights.”
“People need to wake up,” Kearney said. “We are making trans kids grow up too fast. We should be keeping them safe and we need to be lifting them up.”
Right on cue, Kearney was lifted back up, leaving a heartwarming message for trans kids on the way.
“What’s happening, kids, is wrong, and you don’t need to be scared,” Kearney continued. “Our job is to protect you and your job is to focus on being a kid.”
Watch the entire segment in the clip above.
