Donnavan Dillon, a 21-year-old junior at the University of Kansas, community organizer and self-identified member of the queer community, spends his days like most of his peers: he attends classes, does homework, goes to work and hangs out with his friends, when he finds the time.
Unlike his peers, however, Dillon was in the Kansas Senate chambers when Senate Bill 233, legislation that would effectively eliminate gender-affirming care for minors in the state, passed in late March.
Donnavan Dillon, organizer and KU student, was in the Kansas Senate chambers when Senate Bill 233 passed before being vetoed by Gov. Laura Kelly.
Courtesy of Donnavan Dillon
As a community organizer and LGBTQ+ policy monitor for advocacy group Loud Light, Dillon had been monitoring the bill as it passed through the legislature until its eventual vote on March 27.
“I try to prioritize, like, we know bad things are coming; how do we make sure we’re in a good spot to pivot and respond?” Dillon said.
Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, vetoed the bill on April 12, but in the 16 days between the bill's passage and veto, Dillon and Loud Light, alongside other advocacy groups and LGBTQ+ communities statewide, mobilized to voice their concerns to the governor.
Monty Coash-Johnson, KU student and co-founder of the Trans Lawrence Coalition, has been organizing for queer communities since 2019.
Courtesy of Monty Coash-Johnson
Monty Coash-Johnson is a 20-year-old KU student and one of the founders of of Trans Lawrence Coalition, originally formed as No SB180 Lawrence in opposition to a bill eliminating state-recognized gender transitions, which passed into law in early 2023.
Coash-Johnson said the SB233 veto was expected.
“Governor Kelly has been good about listening to our concerns, even back when SB180 was in the legislature,” Coash-Johnson said. “The veto was good, but we were worried they’d override it.”
The House voted 82-43, just two shy of the necessary 2/3 majority to override the veto.
In Lawrence, Loud Light, Prairie Roots and Trans Lawrence Coalition all either started or continued mobilization campaigns against the bill. Statewide, Trans Heartland, the ACLU of Kansas, Kansas Interfaith Action and Equality Kansas also continued or started campaigns against the bill.
Most or all of these groups also provided opposition testimony during the bill’s hearings, alongside several healthcare and mental healthcare professionals and concerned private citizens.
“To be clear, this legislation tramples parental rights,” Kelly said in an April 12 news release. “The last place that I would want to be as a politician is between a parent and a child who needed medical care of any kind. And, yet, that is exactly what this legislation does.”
Coash-Johnson said the urgency in mobilizing was due in part to the bill’s restrictions on social transitioning.
“My biggest concern was that the bill also would prohibit social transitioning; something that’s entirely reversible and has no lasting health implications,” Coash-Johnson said. “Several legislators that were in favor of the bill simply didn’t know it included this, they thought it was just hormonal treatments.”
Social transitioning, unlike hormonal therapies, is the changing of a person’s appearance to better display their gender identity without medical treatment; this often includes a person’s names, pronouns and appearance.
Hormonal and surgical treatments, the main treatments targeted by SB233, also have significant use cases in cisgender healthcare; some cancer patients receive reconstructive surgery following tumor removal procedures, and many cisgender patients receive care in the form of hair transplants or other cosmetic surgery that would be classified as "gender affirming care" under the bill.
“Even with the hormonal treatments they’re targeting, they still get used by cisgender youth,” Coash-Johnson said.
Similarly to cosmetic surgeries, puberty blockers, a hormonal treatment targeted by the bill, have a significant use-case in cisgender youth mental healthcare. The treatment is most commonly used to target early-onset puberty.
During the legislation's hearings, Dr. Dena Hubbard of Kansas City, Missouri, testified against SB233 on behalf of the Kansas Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics, saying restricting this specific care serves to discriminate against trans and gender-diverse youth in the state.
Just prior to the proposal of SB180 in January 2023, Sen. Mike Thompson (R-Shawnee), the original sponsor of SB233, proposed SB12, which sought to restrict the ability of healthcare providers and even strip their licenses if they provided gender-affirming care to a minor; the bill’s description shares language with the version of SB233 that Kelly vetoed.
While organizers say they expect more anti-trans legislation, the sustained veto of SB233 has given community members a much needed moment of optimism.
“Last year when [SB180] was in the legislature, we started No SB180 Lawrence,” Coash-Johnson said. “And we found this kind of community through oppression that’s lasting today.”
Megan Williams, assistant director of the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity and co-founder of the Trans Lawrence Coalition, helped create mobilization graphics for the response to SB233.
Courtesy of Megan Williams
Megan Williams, another co-founder of No SB180 Lawrence and contributor to the Trans Lawrence Coalition, said that the community’s morale is high after the House failed to override the governor’s veto of SB233.
“I think the success of No SB180 has really empowered trans people in Lawrence in facing future anti-trans laws,” Williams said. “From my perspective, the trans community and its allies in Lawrence are incredibly resilient and optimistic about the positive impact they can make as a collective.”
Coash-Johnson, responding before the veto was sustained, held less optimistic perspectives on morale.
“I think the biggest thing is we’re tired,” Coash-Johnson said. “It feels like we’re always working against something.”
Dillon voiced similar sentiment regarding his experience testifying at the statehouse in Topeka.
“I mean like even outside of testimony, just being like a queer person in the Capitol, a young person in the Capitol is pretty dehumanizing,” Dillon said. “You know what you’re up against going in, but seeing it face to face is another experience.”
Williams, Dillon and Coash-Johnson all said that solidarity, understanding and education are the best ways to support the transgender community through times like this.
“A lot of people think it’s bad, but like, don’t know exactly how bad it is,” Dillon said. “The only way stuff will change is if our people are aware it’s happening.”