Who is Asa Hutchinson? Where does he stand on LGBTQ+ rights?

While Asa Hutchinson is best known for being the former governor of Arkansas, he has a long history as a lawyer and an active politician within the Republican Party. He also has a mixed record on LGBTQ+ rights: While he has opposed transphobic bans on bathroom access and gender-affirming healthcare for minors, he has supported laws permitting LGBTQ+ discrimination in healthcare and religious organizations.

Asa Hutchinson At a Glance

• Location: Rogers, Arkansas
• Party Affiliation: Republican
• Race/Ethnicity: White
• Gender Identity: Male
• Sexual Orientation: Straight
• Pronouns: He/Him
• LGBTQ+ Ally: No

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Related:

Arkansas becomes third state to ban trans girls & women from sports

This is just one of three anti-LGBTQ bills that the state legislature sent to the governor.

Biography

Born in Bentonville, Arkansas on December 3, 1950, Hutchinson received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Bob Jones University in 1972 and his Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1975.

After years of practicing trial law in Fort Smith, Arkansas, then-President Ronald Reagan appointed Hutchinson as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas in 1982.

He ran an unsuccessful campaign to become Arkansas’s U.S. Senator in 1986 and an unsuccessful campaign to become Arkansas’ attorney general in 1990. He then served as co-chair of the Arkansas Republican Party from 1991 to 1995.

He successfully ran to become one of Arkansas’s representatives in the U.S. House in 1996 but lost re-election in 2002. Then-President George W. Bush appointed Hutchinson as administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2001 and as head of the Border and Transportation Security Directorate under the Department of Homeland Security in 2005.

Hutchinson formed a consulting company called Hutchinson Group in 2005. He ran an unsuccessful campaign to become Arkansas’ governor in 2006 but ran a successful campaign for the same office in 2014, winning re-election in 2018. He stepped down as Arkansas’ governor in 2022 and announced his campaign for the U.S. presidency in 2023.

Hutchinson and his wife, Susan Burrell, have four children.

Hutchinson’s stance on LGBTQ+ issues

While serving as governor, Hutchinson signed a ban on transgender girls and women in sports and a law permitting anti-LGBTQ+ medical discrimination. He has also voiced support for “Don’t Say Gay” laws and religious-based discrimination, though he unsuccessfully vetoed a bill banning gender-affirming healthcare for minors.

Same-sex marriage

After the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, Gov. Hutchinson released a statement saying that the decision went “against the expressed view of Arkansans and my personal beliefs and convictions.” His personal belief is that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

“While my personal convictions will not change,” his statement continued, “as Governor I recognize the responsibility of the state to follow the direction of the U.S. Supreme Court. As a result of this ruling, I will direct all state agencies to comply with the decision.”

Arkansas’ legislature passed a same-sex marriage in 1997 that would go back into effect if the Supreme Court’s ruling were ever overturned.

Trans children in school sports

In March 2021, Hutchinson signed a bill banning trans girls and women from playing sports in accordance with their gender identity. “This will help promote and maintain fairness in women’s sporting events,” he said.

Transgender access to public bathrooms

In 2017, Hutchinson opposed a bill to require that people in public schools and government buildings use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to the gender they were assigned at birth.

“We don’t need that in Arkansas, and if there’s a North Carolina-type bill, then I want the legislature not to pass it,” Hutchinson said, referring to North Carolina’s 2016 anti-trans bathroom bill that garnered national outrage and boycotts against the state.

Don’t say gay/LGBTQ+ discussions in schools

In an April 2023 interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Hutchinson said he “supported” Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act (also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law). The law bans any instruction on LGBTQ+ issues in K-8 classrooms and restricts such issues to “age-appropriate” presentations in ninth through twelfth-grade classrooms.

While Hutchinson supports the law, he said he didn’t support Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis retaliating against Disney for speaking out against the law. “It’s not the role of government to punish a business when you disagree with what they’re saying or a position that they take,” he said.

Gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth

In April 2021, he vetoed a bill banning minors from receiving gender-affirming healthcare. He called it “a vast government overreach” and added, “It is compassionate to say we care for all our young people – whether they’re trans youth or otherwise – we care for them, and that’s the message of compassion and conservatism that we need to have as a party.” However, his state’s Republican-led legislature overrode his veto. He defended his veto again in a July 2023 interview.

Discriminations protections

In March 2021, Hutchinson signed the “Medical Ethics and Diversity Act,” a law allowing medical providers to refuse non-emergency treatment to others because of religious or moral objections, something that allows medical workers to legally refuse to treat LGBTQ+ people.

“I support this right of conscience so long as emergency care is exempted and conscience objection cannot be used to deny general health service to any class of people,” Hutchinson said upon signing the law. However, while the law does forbid such objections from being used to provide emergency care, it does not limit medical workers’ “right” to “conscience objection” in any other way.

In February 2015, he refused to veto a law banning local governments from expanding anti-discrimination protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity. He said he understood the need to prevent “burdensome regulations on businesses across the state” but also worried about the bill’s impact on local control.

In March 2015, Hutchinson said he’d sign an anti-LGBTQ+ religious protection bill. He told reporters that it would “balance concerns about protecting religious beliefs and worries about discrimination.”

Hutchinson’s career

• Received bachelor’s degree in accounting from Bob Jones University in 1972
• Received Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1975
• Appointed as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas in 1982
• Ran unsuccessful campaign to become Arkansas’ U.S. Senator in 1986
• Ran unsuccessful campaign to become Arkansas’ attorney general in 1990
• Served as co-chair of the Arkansas Republican Party from 1991 to 1995
• Elected as Arkansas’ representative in the U.S. House in 1996
• Appointed as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2001
• Appointed as head of the Border and Transportation Security Directorate under the Department of Homeland Security in 2005
• Formed a consulting company called Hutchinson Group in 2005
• Ran unsuccessful campaign to become Arkansas’ governor in 2006
• Elected to serve as Arkansas’ governor from 2014 to 2022
• Announced campaign for U.S. presidency in 2023

In conclusion

Despite his somewhat mixed record on LGBTQ+ issues, Hutchinson has predominantly supported legislation that has prevented the expansion of LGBTQ+ civil rights.

Stay informed about his career by subscribing to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter.

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