Brandt and Attig are joined by other parents and trans advocates in calling on the governor to veto the bill. The American Civil Liberties Union has said it would otherwise sue. At a press briefing Tuesday, Hutchinson said he planned to meet with and listen to people before deciding on signing.

The passage of the SAFE Act comes days after Hutchinson signed two laws that the ACLU of Arkansas charged would enable discrimination based on gender identity. One bans transgender girls from competing on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity; the other allows medical doctors to refuse nonemergency medical treatment to a patient based on religious or moral objections.

The governor defended signing those laws, saying Tuesday that the sports bill \"made sense to me.\"

\"It just simply says that if you're a biological male, you cannot compete against girls in sports,\" he said. \"I think that should not be a signal to anyone that they're going to be oppressed in life.\"

\"PHOTO:
Staton Breidenthal/The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP, FILE
PHOTO: In this March 23, 2020, file photo, Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks in Little Rock, Ark.
>

Hutchinson said he doesn't expect the medical right-of-conscience act to be exercised very often, and that transgender people will be able to have the health care that they need.

\"It's very important that it does not allow anyone to discriminate based upon a class of persons,\" he said. \"That would be against federal law.\"

LGBTQ advocates in Arkansas say the volume of legislation impacting transgender people this year has been damaging.

\"There's a lot of frustration, a lot of pain,\" Rumba Yambú, director of Intransitive, which supports trans people in Arkansas, told ABC News.

Intransitive has been working to bring people to testify before the state legislature against the bills.

\"It's important for our community to be able to be the ones whose voices are heard during those hearings, and for them to feel supported,\" Yambú said.

Other Arkansas state legislation currently under consideration that Intransitive is speaking out against includes a House bill that would require public school employees to address students by the name and sex designated on their birth certificate.

\"PHOTO:
UIG via Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: In this undated file photo, the Arkansas State Capitol building is shown in Little Rock, Ark.
>

While she waits to see what becomes of the SAFE Act, Brandt said she and her family are weighing their options.

\"I own a home and a business, friends, family here, but how can I stay somewhere that clearly doesn't want us?\" she said. \"Dylan would be devastated if all the progress that he has made came to a screeching halt.\"

Attig said it feels like the state is targeting his child.

\"I don't know how to describe that feeling,\" he said. \"It's a feeling of just being demeaned, it's a feeling of just powerlessness.\"

Brandt said her community has been largely supportive, and she has heard from people that they don't agree with the SAFE Act.

\"I know that that is not how everybody here feels, even though right this second it feels like it,\" she said.

Attig had one message in particular he wanted to share.

\"Trans people belong in Arkansas,\" he said. \"We love them, they are loved and we want them here.\"

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