TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Kansas has banned transgender athletes from girls and women’s sports from kindergarten through college, the first of several new laws that could limit transgender rights pushed through by Republican legislators over the wishes of a Democratic governor.
The Legislature on Friday overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s third veto in three years of a bill to ban transgender athletes, and it came a day after the state legislature passed a large bathroom bill. Nineteen other states have enacted bans on transgender athletes, most recently Wyoming.
The Kansas law took effect July 1 and is among several hundred proposals passed by Republican lawmakers across the U.S. this year to push for LGBTQ rights. Kansas lawmakers who support the ban are also working on proposals to end gender-affirming treatment for minors and restrict bathroom use.
A measure approved by Kansas lawmakers Tuesday would prevent transgender people from using public bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities associated with their gender identity, and prohibit changing their name or gender on driver’s licenses. Kelly is expected to veto that.
“It’s a scary time to raise a trans kid in Kansas,” said Cat Poland, a Kansas resident and mother of three who coordinates the Gay-Straight Alliance at her 13-year-old trans son’s school about 40 miles (65 kilometers) away. ) northwest of Wichita. “We may be facing a real threat if we have to move, and that’s exciting.”
The ban reflects the conservative influence of religion, which is reflected in the Kansas Republican Party’s 2022 platform – “We believe that God created us male and female” – and echoes the beliefs of many Republicans who do not like the cultural shift towards acceptance.
“I wish it was 1960, and, you know, little Johnny was a boy and Mary was a girl, and so on,” said Republican John Eplee, a 70-year-old doctor, during a committee discussion. from the bathroom bill.
LGBTQ rights advocates say it’s part of a national campaign by right-wing traditionalists to remove transgender, non-binary, gender-queer and gender-fluid people from American society.
Alex Poland, an eighth-grade cross country runner who hopes to play baseball next year, said legislators are working on a “kid-friendly bill” that “does nothing to harm anyone.”
Alex, who lobbied for trans rights with his mother at the Statehouse last week, said it is good for the mental health of trans children to play in teams with gender identity, and that most other children just don’t care.
It’s mostly adults who are “very concerned about what trans kids are doing,” Alex said.
Kelly told reporters in the Kansas City area that he believes legislators will eventually regret voting for “this horrible bill.”
“It breaks my heart and it’s definitely disappointing,” Kelly said.
The first state law on transgender athletes, in Idaho in 2020, comes after conservatives backed off from a national backlash over North Carolina’s 2016 bathroom law. In Kansas, the biggest obstacle for conservatives is Kelly, who won re-election last year after moving to the political center.
Conservative Republicans in Kansas fell short of the two-thirds majority in both legislative chambers needed to override Kelly’s veto of the transgender athlete bill in 2021 and 2022. But this year, the House voted 84-40 to override her veto, exactly the two-thirds majority needed. The vote was 28-12 in the Senate, one more than a two-thirds majority.
Proponents of the ban were unable to override Kelly’s veto this year, but he was the only Democrat running against the governor. Rep. Marvin Robinson, of Kansas City, told reporters he wanted to “meet in the middle” but found the debate “all or nothing there.” He said he prayed for guidance before voting.
Two LGBTQ Democratic lawmakers from the Kansas City area are particularly upset because they believe Republicans are too happy about the House vote.
Rep. Heather Meyer stood up, opened her jacket and displayed a “Protect Trans Youth” T-shirt before making a rude gesture as she left the room. Rep. Susan Ruiz yelled at GOP members, briefly cursing them out before telling them she was rude.
“We are tired of putting up with it, and I am tired of putting up with it,” he said later. “There has to be respect.”
In the US, supporters of the ban argue that it keeps competition fair. Track and field last month banned transgender athletes from international competition, implementing the same rules as swimming last year.
Supporters argue that they also make sure that cisgendered girls and women don’t lose out on scholarships and other opportunities that weren’t available to them decades ago.
“Over the past 50 years, women have finally been able to celebrate our differences and create divisions that allow us to achieve the same athletic endeavors as our male counterparts,” said Caroline Bruce McAndrew, a former Olympic swimmer and member of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. Fame from Wichita, testified to lawmakers.
LGBTQ rights advocates acknowledge that arguments about competition are outside of the Republican conservative base because of the long-standing assumption that men and boys are stronger than women and girls.
He’s also frustrated that the debate often centers on whether transgender athletes have or can win championships.
Hudson Taylor, a three-time All-American collegiate wrestler said youth sports should teach them discipline, “healthy habits,” and having fun in a supportive environment. He founded and leads the pro-LGBTQ group Athlete Ally.
“There has been a professionalization of youth sports over the last 40 years,” Taylor said. “Oftentimes, legislators and people who oppose the inclusion of trans-athletes really go straight to the most elite athletes, the best talent, the Olympic hopefuls.”
The Kansas measure bans transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ teams starting in kindergarten, although sports and other extracurricular activities are not overseen by the Kansas State High School Activities Association until seventh grade.
This is one reason LGBTQ rights advocates are skeptical that the real issue is fair competition. Another is the lack of transgender female athletes.
The state association said three transgender girls competed in the sport in grades 7-12 this year, two of them parents. Taylor said transgender athletes in college likely number less than 500. The NCAA says about 219,000 women play collegiate sports.
International track and field ban does not affect transgender female athletes.
Cat Poland, a Kansas mother with a trans son, said: “They keep taking the next step, the next step, the next step, how far should trans people go? Where can they live safely and live happily and comfortably?”
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