Saturday Night Live this week introduced its first "nonbinary" cast member, Molly Kearney, who entered the show's "Weekend Update" segment hanging from a harness attached to the ceiling and used the segment to complain about Republican legislation that bans sex-change operations for children.
"As you know, I've been wanting to come to 'Update' and talk about trans people," Kearney said. When segment host Michael Che said that "over 14 states" have "passed bills restricting health care for trans kids," Kearney jumped in: "Listen to that, Michael. Restricting health care for kids. … If you don't care about trans kids' lives, it means you don't care about frickin' kids' lives."
Kearney, who uses "they/them" pronouns, did not go into detail about the legislation, only describing it as "a bunch of dudes asking you about your crotch." The bills, which at least 11 states have passed, outlaw sex-change surgeries for minors, which Republicans say are irreversibly harming children.
Missouri attorney general Andrew Bailey (R.), who last week issued a rule limiting sex-change treatments for children as well as adults, cited "dozens of scientific studies and reports" in support, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
"When even progressive countries like Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the United Kingdom have all sharply curtailed these procedures," Bailey said in a statement, "it's time for the United States to course-correct."
Bailey's office is also investigating a St. Louis transgender clinic that faces accusations of "egregious abuses and potential malpractice regarding minors."
Many people on Twitter criticized the Kearney sketch as "cringe" and "unfunny," with a few commenters pointing out that SNL once made a joke out of the androgynous character "Pat."
"I thought SNL would never do anything as cringe as the time Kate McKinnon sang 'Hallelujah' as Hillary Clinton," conservative commentator Matt Walsh wrote, "but somehow they've topped themselves with this embarrassing bullshit."