News & Commentary

THERE ARE TIMES when I wonder whether I’m in denial about the perilous state of trans rights; I find my attention snapping from a lovely dinner with my polycule, most of whom are trans, to the screaming Mouth of Sauron that is social media’s endless shouting about how me and my people are all going to die. It can feel convincing; the evidence piles up with every legislative filing, from coast to coast. It’s a bleak picture made up of far more than unkind words.

The Kansas Legislature voted to override the Democratic governor's veto of a bill that bans transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports from kindergarten through college. It is the latest push of several anti-trans bills introduced by Republican legislators in the state.

"The sports ban has never sincerely been about protecting women's sports," said Micah Kubic, the executive director of the ACLU of Kansas. "Rather, it arises out of the same gender discrimination, stereotyping, and paternalism that has held back progress for cisgender women athletes for centuries."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas released a poll on voting rights Friday. The civil rights advocacy group found that 70% of Kansans support measures to make voting easier, rather than adding additional restrictions.

Kansas lawmakers are moving forward with legislation that would define biological sex and ban transgender athletes from women sports. However, Aileen Berquist, Policy Director for the ACLU of Kansas, argued that the bill is not about women’s rights.

“My understanding is that they are jumping from state to state, pushing a very specific agenda,” Berquist said. “The people who are opponents of this bill are living, working, having children and fighting this hatred in our communities every day, and they deserve to have their voices heard.” 

Puberty blockers, mastectomies, surgeries that remove “any body part or tissue” and prescribing estrogen to males or testosterone to females to treat gender dysphoria could be essentially unavailable in Kansas to people under 18 due to a bill in the Statehouse would cost doctors their licenses.

The past two years have been the deadliest for transgender people in recent history, in large part due to the rapidly increasing number of legislative attacks against trans peoples’ rights and the resurgence of demeaning and harmful anti-trans rhetoric in our communities. Kansas is no exception.

Organization wants to eliminate fees for children and legalize medical marijuana