Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly. (Photo courtesy of the Kansas governor’s office)
This past Thursday, Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a sweeping set of anti-transgender bills, including a ban on gender-affirming health care for trans minors.
KMBC reported the governor said in statement on the four vetoes that measures “stripping away rights” would hurt the state’s ability to attract businesses. The vetoes also were in keeping with her promises to block any measure she views as discriminating against LGBTQ people.
“Companies have made it clear that they are not interested in doing business with states that discriminate against workers and their families,” Kelly said. “I’m focused on the economy. Anyone care to join me?”
In addition to the ban gender-affirming health care, bills were passed by state lawmakers that would have prevented trans Kansans from using restrooms and other public facilities that meshed with their gender identities; another measure would place limits on the Kansas Department of Corrections, restricting where trans offenders are housed in state prisons and county jails; then a measure placing restrictions on rooming arrangements for trans youth on overnight school trips.
The state legislature has Republican supermajorities in both chambers and conservative leadership has made it clear rolling back trans rights is a priority. Votes to override the governor are expected as soon as this week.
The bills on bathrooms, jails and overnight school trips passed earlier this month with the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto, KMBC reported, but the measure on gender-affirming care did not, falling 12 House votes short of a supermajority.
“I am not going to go back to those days of hiding in the closet,” Justin Brace, executive director of Transgender Kansas, said during a recent trans rights rally outside the State House. “We are in a fight for our lives, literally.”
Taking aim at the governor’s veto of the measure to ban on gender-affirming health care for trans minors, Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson said in a statement:
“By any reasonable standard, governing from the middle of the road should include ensuring vulnerable children do not become victims of woke culture run amok.”
The progressive Movement Advancement Project think tank noted that as of April 21, 15 states have bans on at least some forms of medical care, and many more states are actively pursuing similar bans. As a result, nearly one in five (20 percent) trans youth currently live in states where they are banned from receiving best-practice medical care, in addition to trans adults living in Missouri.
“These bills are part of a much broader, coordinated effort to prevent transgender people from being our authentic selves,” said Logan Casey, senior policy researcher at MAP and an author of the report. “Across the country, anti-transgender extremists and politicians are putting the lives and well-being of transgender people at risk by attempting to outlaw access to best practice medical care not only for youth, but for all transgender people.”
Prior to 2021, no states banned medical care for trans youth. Treatments for children and teens have been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.
Medical experts along with LGBTQ advocacy and legal groups point out that the health care targeted by anti-trans extremists is medically necessary care that is prescribed by experienced doctors who utilize best practices that are endorsed by all major medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association
The Kansas measure would have required the state’s medical board to revoke the license of any doctor discovered to have provided such care, and allowed people who received such care as children to sue health care providers later.
Republican state Rep. Susan Humphreys of Wichita said during a debate on the gender-affirming care bill: “They’re parents who are saying, ‘My child showed no signs of gender dysphoria until they got to be in middle school, and then they started using social media.’”
According to the Associated Press, Humphreys and her Republican counterparts across the U.S. argue many of their constituents reject the cultural shift toward accepting that people’s gender identities can differ from the sex assigned them a birth; don’t want cisgendered women sharing bathrooms and locker rooms with trans women; and question gender-affirming care such as puberty-blocking drugs, hormone therapies and surgeries.
Editor’s Note: The new MAP report, LGBTQ Policy Spotlight: Bans on Medical Care for Transgender People, provides the most comprehensive look to date at the sweeping attempts to ban and restrict medical care for not only transgender youth — but also trans adults.
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