News & Commentary

A three-judge appeals court panel on Friday cleared the way for Kansans to resume changing their gender markers on driver’s licenses, rejecting arguments made by Attorney General Kris Kobach and overturning a lower court ruling.

"This decision recognizes that the Attorney General had not shown any harm at all in allowing transgender Kansans the same personal autonomy, privacy, and dignity that all Kansans deserve," said D.C. Hiegert, an ACLU attorney, said in a statement to The Capital-Journal.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas called the ruling a victory for transgender Kansans. The legal organization had intervened in the case on behalf of five transgender Kansans, arguing Kobach’s lawsuit and the court’s injunction violated their constitutional rights.

This week, the American Civil Liberties Union announced that they are representing two families of transgender youth in a lawsuit against Kansas bill SB 63, a ban on gender affirming care for minors.

"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.

The ACLU of Kansas says that two Douglas County adolescents and their parents filed a challenge in Kansas state court against Senate Bill 63, which was passed earlier in 2025 to bar access to gender-affirming medical treatments for those under the age of 18 who identify as transgender.

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Kansas 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, who all opted to use pseudonyms.

The American Civil Liberties Union and its Kansas affiliate filed the lawsuit in the Douglas County District Court in Lawrence.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Kansas filed Wednesday’s challenge in Douglas County District Court pseudonymously on behalf of plaintiffs Lily Loe, 13, Ryan Roe, 16, and their mothers, Lisa Loe and Rebecca Roe.