Families Challenge Kansas Ban On Medical Care for Transgender Adolescents
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2025
CONTACT
ACLU Media [email protected]
Esmie Tseng, ACLU of Kansas, [email protected]
LAWRENCE – Two transgender adolescents and their parents have filed a challenge in Kansas state court against SB 63, a law passed earlier this year prohibiting access to gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender people under 18.
Filed by the ACLU and the ACLU of Kansas in District Court of Douglas County, Loe v. Kansas charges SB 63 with violating the Kansas Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and fundamental rights. The case was filed pseudonymously on behalf of 16-year-old Ryan Roe and his mother Rebecca Roe as well as 13-year-old Lily Loe and her mother Lisa Loe.
"Our clients and every Kansan should have the freedom to make their own private medical decisions and consult with their doctors without the intrusion of Kansas politicians," said D.C. Hiegert, Civil Liberties Legal Fellow for the ACLU of Kansas. "SB 63 is a particularly harmful example of politicians' overreach and their efforts to target, politicize, and control the healthcare of already vulnerable Kansas families. We are honored to represent our clients in standing up for their constitutional rights and in fighting back against this threat to our communities."
“Bans like SB 63 have already had catastrophic effects on the families of transgender youth across the country,” said Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “These bans have uprooted many families from the only homes they’ve ever known while forcing many more to watch their young people suffer knowing a politician stands between them and their family doctor’s best medical judgment. We are determined for every state to be a safe place to raise every family, and that means fighting SB 63 until all transgender Kansans have the freedom to be themselves.”
SB 63 prohibits medical providers in the state of Kansas from providing gender-affirming medical treatments, such as hormone therapies and pubertal suppressants, to transgender youth diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The law allows these same treatments to be provided to cisgender youth for any other reason.
SB 63 was passed by the Kansas state legislature in January then vetoed by Governor Laura Kelly, who said in her veto statement “it is not the job of politicians to stand between a parent and a child who needs medical care of any kind.” The legislature overrode her veto and SB 63 took effect on February 20.
The complaint filed today can be found here and other information on the case is here.
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About the ACLU of Kansas: The ACLU of Kansas is the statewide affiliate of the national American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU of Kansas is dedicated to preserving and advancing the civil rights and legal freedoms guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. For more information, visit our website at www.aclukansas.org.
