News & Commentary

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Kansas, and the law firm Ballard Spahr LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of two transgender Kansans, identified as Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe, challenging the constitutionality of the law.

Logan DeMond with the Kansas American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) found fault with the legislation in several areas: “This bill disregards civil rights, disregards due process, disregards necessary checks on law enforcement, and the likelihood of error exposes the state to what will be costly litigation.”

The ACLU’s challenge focuses on S.B. 244’s driver’s license provision, arguing that denying the plaintiffs documents that accurately reflect their gender is a violation of equal protection laws and infringes on their freedom of expression.

“This is a devastating, but hopefully temporary, setback for our clients and transgender people across the state of Kansas,” said Harper Seldin, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU. “The harm of this law has already had sweeping impacts on the lives of transgender people like our clients, threatening their ability to hold a job, go to school, or go about their daily lives.”

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the state government are using the pseudonyms Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe and are being represented by the ACLU and Ballard Spahr LLP. They are asking for a temporary restraining order, which would pause enforcement of the law while litigation continues.

A judge for the Douglas County District Court says he hopes to put out a written decision on Tuesday related to a lawsuit by the ACLU and two transgender Kansans challenging a recently enacted Kansas law dictating bathroom usage and legal documents for transgender Kansans.

“We're talking about holding someone for up to 48 hours and forcing them to prove their citizenship status simply because of an ice detainer or an administrative warrant. Not a judicial warrant that's been signed by a judge, an ICE detainer,” Logan DeMond, director of policy and research at the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said at the hearing.

A Kansas law invalidating the driver's licenses and birth certificates of transgender residents who changed their gender on the documents took effect Thursday.

Logan DeMond, director of policy and research at ACLU of Kansas, said the bill cannot be viewed in isolation and called it another attack on immigrants in the state.