The Republican-controlled Kansas state legislature has overridden a veto by Gov. Laura Kelly (D) to enact a law that will block transgender girls and women in the state from participating in sports that correspond with their gender.
GOP lawmakers had been attempting to pass a trans sports ban for nearly three years, but Kelly vetoed the legislation every time. This week, however, Republicans — joined by one Democratic lawmaker — overrode her most recent block of the bill.
“It sort of breaks my heart,” Kelly said in response to the override. “It certainly is disappointing.”
Parents of trans children in the state expressed deep worry over the bill’s passage.
“It’s a scary time to be raising a trans child in Kansas. We may face the very real threat of having to move,” Cat Poland, a lifelong Kansan and the parent of a transgender teenager, told PBS NewsHour.
Anti-trans lawmakers “just keep taking the next, the next step, the next step, until where are trans people supposed to go? Where can they can exist to be safe and live happy and fulfilling lives?” she went on.
In her veto message last month, Kelly said that the trans sports ban was “all about politics,” adding that restrictions on trans athletes will “harm the mental health of our students.”
The new law will only allow trans girls and women in the state to participate in sports if they play on male teams. The bill does not ban trans boys or men from participating in men’s sports, as the bill’s supporters cynically claim that it is meant to “protect” female athletes — an especially disingenuous argument given that female athletes could potentially be subject to intrusive exams under the new law.
“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, and will now open up all girls and women to potentially invasive examinations just to be able to participate.”
Many critics of the law have pointed out that its enforcement could require “genital inspections” of student athletes, including children, who are suspected to be transgender — a process that could be traumatizing. During discussion on how the law’s provisions would be enforced, Rep. Barbara Wasinger, the Republican sponsor of the legislation, said that it would require athletes who don’t provide a birth certificate to undergo a “sports physical.”
When asked if that would mean a genital inspection requirement, the GOP lawmaker said she couldn’t “recall” if that was the case.
State legislatures, particularly those controlled by Republicans, have introduced more than 450 anti-LGBTQ bills since the start of this year, many of them targeting transgender youth, including trans sports bans, trans bathroom bans, and restrictions on gender-affirming care, which advocates say is often life-saving.
“This is an organized attack on queer rights with the ultimate goal of elimination,” said Allison Chapman, a legislative researcher and advocate for trans rights.
Trans advocates and their allies have responded to far right legislative attacks by organizing demonstrations across the country — including in Topeka, Kansas, Truthout’s Zane McNeill has reported.
“We are here and we will not allow ourselves to be erased,” the Trans Radical Activist Network said in response to the myriad of bills attacking trans people.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.