Following Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach’s call for a federal investigation into whether four Kansas school districts violated parents’ federal rights by having policies protecting non-binary and transgender students’ privacy, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas advised students or families to utilize resources that inform them of their rights. “We again remind Mr. Kobach that the Constitution specifically protects against government actors and their attacks on Americans — and that includes children in Kansas who happen to be transgender,” the organization wrote in a statement Thursday. Micah Kubic, executive director of the Kansas ACLU, told The Star afterward that it plans to continue to monitor Kobach’s probe into those school districts. He also said the organization offers resources for Kansans who might be concerned about their rights. TOP VIDEOS The video player is currently playing an ad. He touted the ACLU of Kansas’ “Know Your Rights” guides, which provide information on laws protecting LQBTQ+ Kansans, resources for transgender youth, and an overview on all students’ rights. Those resources include a reminder that Kansas doesn’t currently have a law that requires schools to out students to their guardians. The ACLU’s written response, which went on to accuse Kobach of targeting transgender students as a political stunt, came a day after Kobach wrote a letter to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon that asked her to investigate the districts, including three in the Kansas City metro, over their policies on the rights of transgender and non-binary students. On the same day, the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies announced it had filed a Title IX complaint against those districts for their policies. Kobach argued the school districts violated parents’ federal rights by having policies that refrain from informing parents when their children asked to be addressed by different pronouns in class than at home unless that student gives permission to do so. He has also said districts hid information from parents related to students’ “social transitioning” at school, a term used to describe non-medical ways that trans or non-binary individuals express their gender identity, such as by wearing certain clothes or hairstyles, or going by a new name. The school districts, including Shawnee Mission, Olathe, Kansas City, Kansas, and Topeka public schools largely defended their policies and insisted they did not violate federal law. Two districts told The Star earlier this week that they hadn’t received any related complaints from families. All students have the right to be safe and free from discrimination at school, Kubic said, and policies like the ones held by these districts can shield youths from potential harm or harassment. The ACLU of Kansas is involved in two major lawsuits against the state involving transgender or non-binary residents’ rights — one related to the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors and another regarding gender markers on identification items, such as driver’s licenses. The Kansas Court of Appeals earlier this month reversed a district court injunction that prevented the state revenue department from complying with requests to change residents’ genders on their identification forms. The ACLU of Kansas in late May filed suit against the state on behalf of two transgender adolescents and their parents in response to the gender-affirming health care ban. Kubic said that case had not been scheduled as of this week.
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