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In an interview with The Capital-Journal, Harper Seldin, staff attorney for the ACLU, said the posts were not relevant to the ongoing case. “I think the only relevance here is that the state is trying to use that to create pressure on anonymous Kansans who have been brave enough to show up in person and in court to tell their stories,” he said. “There’s no reason for this.”

In a lawsuit backed by the ACLU of Kansas, plaintiffs seek to block a sweeping law that invalidated driver’s licenses bearing gender markers that differ from a person’s sex assigned at birth and restricts restroom use in government buildings. As plaintiffs told The Washington Post, the ID requirement has exposed them to scrutiny in ordinary interactions, even after they complied with the law.

“I think this law is really about trying to figure out who belongs in Kansas and who doesn’t,” Harper Seldin, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, told KAKE. “If S.B. 244 remains in effect, it’s a pretty clear statement that transgender Kansans don’t belong in Kansas and intersex people don’t belong in Kansas.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Kansas and Ballard Spahr LLP sued the state for alleged violations of the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process and freedom of speech. Gov. Laura Kelley also initially vetoed the bill before both the Kansas Senate and Kansas House of Representatives overrode the veto.

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.

According to the ACLU of Kansas, this extends to restrooms and locker rooms, with an additional provision that prohibits trans people from updating their driver’s licenses and state IDs to reflect their gender.

On Feb. 25, Siobhan Kirchstein received an official letter from the Kansas Division of Vehicles instructing her to surrender her driver’s license. She was one of hundreds of Kansans who received such letters when Senate Bill 244, a hastily passed piece of legislation, invalidated driver’s licenses on which the gender marker did not match the holder’s sex as assigned at birth.

The ACLU of Kansas immediately sued over the law; the evidentiary court hearing for a temporary injunction against the law is scheduled for September 29.

TOPEKA — Pivotal court cases challenging laws that have altered the lives of transgender Kansans are approaching turning points, as one moves to a higher court and two others face consolidation.