LGBTQ+ Rights

Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Kansas has changed its policy that forced people seeking gender-affirming surgery to legally change their name before the insurance giant would cover the surgery.

Before taking the vote, the council heard supportive remarks from multiple Merriam residents, representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union and Equality Kansas. Additionally, residents and elected officials from neighboring cities and faith leaders voiced their support for the measure.

In early 2026, the Kansas state legislature passed SB 244, a law which prohibits transgender people from using public restrooms on government property that align with their gender identity and establishes a private right of action that allows anyone who suspects someone is transgender and in violation of the law to sue that person for “damages” totaling $1,000. The law also invalidates state-issued driver’s licenses with updated gender markers that reflect the carrier’s gender identity. In February 2026, transgender people across the state received letters from the state Department of Revenue’s Division of Vehicles informing them that their driver’s licenses “will no longer be valid,” effective immediately. SB 244 also prohibits transgender Kansans – or those born in Kansas - from updating the gender marker on state-issued birth certificates and driver’s licenses in the future. The same day SB 244 went into effect, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP filed a lawsuit challenging SB 244 in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of two transgender men who had their driver’s licenses invalidated under the law. The lawsuit charges that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech. “The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police,” said Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.” Click here to learn more about SB 244 and what it means for transgender people. If you or a loved one is impacted by Senate Bill 244 becoming a law, contact us by visiting aclu.org/KS_SB244. We want to hear from you.

In January 2025, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly vetoed SB 63, a measure passed by the state legislature that 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. “It is not the job of politicians to stand between a parent and a child who needs medical care of any kind,” said Governor Kelly.

On July 11, 2023, the ACLU of Kansas, the ACLU, and Stinson LLP filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit between Attorney General Kris Kobach and the Kansas Department of Revenue, on behalf of five transgender Kansans who would be irreparably harmed by an unconstitutional effort by Kobach to ban and reverse changes to the gender markers on their driver’s licenses.

On July 23, the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Kansas, Lambda Legal, National Center for Transgender Equality, and Transcend Legal filed a brief of amici curiae calling on the Tenth Circuit Court to amend parts of its opinion in Lamb v. Norwood.