Vandals used red spray paint to write messages on State Sen. Mike Kennedy’s garage door
By Taylor Penley Fox News
Published April 24, 2023 11:30am EDT
A Utah Republican is remaining defiant after vandals slathered blood-red paint on his home after he sponsored a state bill to curb gender-affirming care procedures for minors, including surgery and puberty blockers.
Utah State Sen. Mike Kennedy (R) joined “Fox & Friends” to discuss the incident Monday, saying he was out of town when the vandals struck, adding that his neighbors helped by cleaning up some of the mess in his absence.
“In an effort to silence me, these violent messages were left on my garage door,” he told Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt. “You’ll notice that they’re blood-red spray paint, which I find to be frankly shocking.”
“This is an effort to silence me, and I will not be silenced,” he continued.
Kennedy slammed the vandals’ behavior as “inappropriate” on all levels, noting that members of both parties have come together to condemn the move. Equality Utah, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group was among those who condemned the attack, alleging it hindered efforts to “build bridges on Utah’s Captol Hill,” according to a local report from FOX 13 in Salt Lake City.
“We don’t know the ideology of those who vandalized Sen. Kennedy’s house. But we have repeatedly asked conservatives to call out extremists on their side, who verbally harass our community and attack our liberties with harmful legislation. In return, we now call out and condemn extremists who may identify with our side, who deploy tactics to intimidate and frighten political opponents,” the group said in a statement, according to the outlet.
Kennedy, during the Monday segment, blasted gender-affirming care for minors as “radical, irreversible and damaging” and circled back to label the retaliatory vandalism “reprehensible.”
“We’ve been violated, the neighborhood has been violated,” he said. “An attack on one is an attack on all, and I’ve been really grateful to see people who don’t necessarily support my political views, they also have been supportive of the effort to condemn this sort of behavior.”
Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed controversial Senate Bill 16 into law in January, effectively banning gender surgeries for minors and placing a moratorium on puberty blockers for transgender patients in the Beehive State.
The ACLU of Utah has since threatened a lawsuit over the policy, alleging it violates the civil liberties of transgender Utahans.