State senator compares trans identity to bestiality in ‘dehumanising’ court outburst
Vermont state senator Steven Heffernan (Image: Facebook/steven.heffernan.2025 | Vermont General Assembly)
A Vermont Republican state senator likened transgender identity to bestiality while speaking on the Senate floor during debate on an animal cruelty bill.
State Sen. Steven Heffernan, the Republican senator for Addison elected in 2024, made the remarks on 15 May during discussion of House Bill 578, as per the Washington Blade.
On the floor, Heffernan said: “In these crazy times, what happens if the individual identifies as an animal having intercourse with an animal? How is the courts going to handle that?”
He then referenced Vermont’s passage of “Prop Four”, adding: “Being that we voted through Prop Four, and if it does make it through this state, and I have a gender identity that I identify as a dog and had sex with my dog, is this law going to affect me?”
Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky, the Democratic lawmaker who presented the legislation, responded by outlining what the bill would criminalise. “The bill that we are putting forward in the current law is quite clear that any act between a person and an animal that involves contact with the mouth, sex organ, or anus of the person, and the mouth, sex organ, or anus of the animal, without a bona fide veterinary purpose, will be a crime,” she said.
Vyhovsky’s response
After the exchange, Vyhovsky said Heffernan’s comments were deliberate. “Senator Heffernan knew exactly what he was doing,” she said.
“Sen. Heffernan is using the same dehumanising playbook that has been used against LGBTQ+ people for generations – the false, ugly suggestion that queer and trans identity is synonymous with deviance and harm. It was wrong then and it is wrong now.”
Democrats demand apology
Vermont Senate Democrats condemned Heffernan’s remarks and demanded an apology. “In the wake of Sen. Heffernan’s comments, the stakes of this election couldn’t be more clear,” they said.
“Transgender and non-binary Vermonters are our neighbours, our friends, and our family members. On Friday, Sen. Heffernan used his platform as an elected official representing the people of Vermont to dehumanise them. Senate Democrats will never stop fighting for dignity for all Vermonters. We demand Senator Heffernan apologise to those he has harmed with his words and actions.”
The caucus also pointed to 4 November as the date voters will be asked to pass Proposal 4 (PR 4), a proposed constitutional amendment. In March, Heffernan left the floor before a vote on the measure and was marked absent as it passed the Senate 29-0, after the House passed it 128-14.
Mistaken identity
The tactic of suggesting someone could identify as an animal in an attempt to make a mockery of trans and non-binary people is sadly nothing new.
In 2019, Ofcom, the television regulator in the UK, received 950 complaints after Piers Morgan said during a Good Morning Britain discussion about gender that he had decided to identify as a “two-spirit penguin”.
The complaints were rejected and Morgan was cleared of any wrongdoing.
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