Kansas bans transgender athletes from joining women's sports
| Topeka, Kan.
Kansas is banning transgender athletes from girls鈥� and women鈥檚 sports from kindergarten through college, the first of several possible new laws restricting the rights of transgender people pushed through by Republican legislators over the wishes of the Democratic governor.
The Legislature on Wednesday overrode Gov. Laura Kelly鈥檚 third veto in three years of a bill to ban transgender athletes, and came a day after state lawmakers passed a broad bathroom bill. Nineteen other states have imposed restrictions on transgender athletes, most recently Wyoming.
The Kansas law takes effect July 1 and is among several hundred proposals that Republican lawmakers across the United States have pursued this year to push back on LGBTQ+ rights. Kansas lawmakers who back the ban are also pursuing proposals to end gender-affirming care for minors and restrict restroom use.
Republican governors in Indiana and Idaho have signed into law bills banning gender-affirming care for minors, making those states the latest to restrict transgender health care as Republican-led legislatures continue to curb LGBTQ+ rights this year.
More than a dozen other states are considering bills that would prohibit transgender youth from accessing hormone therapies, puberty blockers, and transition surgeries, even after the approval of parents and the advice of doctors. Other proposals target transgender individuals鈥� everyday life 鈥� including workplaces and schools.
The measure approved by Kansas lawmakers Tuesday would prevent transgender people from using public restrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities associated with their gender identities, and bars them from changing their name or gender on their driver鈥檚 licenses. Ms. Kelly is expected to veto that.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a scary time to be raising a trans child in Kansas,鈥� said Cat Poland, a lifelong Kansas resident and mother of three who coordinates a Gay-Straight Alliance at her 13-year-old trans son鈥檚 school about 40 miles northwest of Wichita. 鈥淲e may face the very real threat of having to move, and it鈥檚 heartbreaking.鈥�
The ban demonstrates the clout of religious conservatives, reflected in the 2022 platform of the Kansas Republican Party 鈥� 鈥淲e believe God created man and woman鈥� 鈥� and echoes many Republicans鈥� beliefs that their constituents don鈥檛 like any cultural shift toward acceptance.
鈥淚 wish it was 1960, and, you know, little Johnny鈥檚 a boy and Mary鈥檚 a girl, and that鈥檚 how it is, period,鈥� Republican state Rep. John Eplee, a 70-year-old doctor, said during a committee discussion of the bathroom bill.
LGBTQ+ rights advocates say it鈥檚 part of a national campaign from right-wing traditionalists to erase 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 pursuing 鈥渂ills against children鈥� who 鈥渉aven鈥檛 done anything to harm anyone.鈥�
Alex, who lobbied for trans rights with his mother at the Statehouse last week, said it鈥檚 good for trans kids鈥� mental health to play on teams associated with their gender identities, and that most other kids just don鈥檛 care.
It鈥檚 largely adults who 鈥渃are so much about what the trans kids are doing,鈥� Alex said.
Ms. Kelly told reporters in the Kansas City area that she believes legislators eventually will regret voting for 鈥渢his really awful bill.鈥�
鈥淚t breaks my heart and certainly is disappointing,鈥� Ms. Kelly said.
The first state law on transgender athletes, in Idaho in 2020, came after conservatives retrenched from the national backlash over a short-lived 2016 bathroom law in North Carolina. In Kansas, conservatives鈥� biggest obstacle has been Ms. Kelly, who narrowly won reelection last year after pitching herself as a political centrist.
Conservative Republicans in Kansas fell short of the two-thirds majorities in both legislative chambers needed to override Ms. Kelly鈥檚 vetoes of the transgender athlete bills 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.
Supporters of the ban could not have overridden Ms. Kelly鈥檚 veto this year but for the only Democrat to side with them against the governor. Rep. Marvin Robinson, of Kansas City, told reporters that he had wanted to 鈥渕eet in the middle鈥� but found the debate 鈥渁ll or none out there.鈥� He said he prayed for guidance before the vote.
Two LGBTQ+ Democratic lawmakers from the Kansas City area were especially upset because they believed Republicans were gloating over the House vote.
Rep. Heather Meyer stood up, opened her jacket, and displayed a 鈥淧rotect Trans Youth鈥� T-shirt before making a rude gesture as she left the chamber. Rep. Susan Ruiz yelled at GOP members, briefly cursing at them before being told she was out of order.
鈥淲e鈥檙e tired of putting up with it, and I鈥檓 tired of putting up with it,鈥� she said later. 鈥淭here needs to be some respect.鈥�
Across the U.S., supporters of such bans argue that they keep competition fair. Track and field last month barred transgender athletes from international competition, adopting the same rules that swimming did last year.
Supporters argue that they鈥檙e also making sure cisgender girls and women don鈥檛 lose the scholarships and other opportunities that didn鈥檛 exist for them decades ago.
鈥淥ver the past 50 years, females have finally been able to celebrate our differences and create a division that enabled us to achieve athletic endeavors similar to our male counterparts,鈥� Caroline Bruce McAndrew, a former Olympic swimmer and member from the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame from Wichita, testified to lawmakers.
LGBTQ+ rights advocates acknowledge that arguments about competition resonate outside Republicans鈥� conservative base because of the longstanding assumption that men and boys are naturally stronger than women and girls.
They鈥檙e also frustrated that the debate often focuses on whether transgender athletes have or can win championships.
Hudson Taylor, a three-time All-American collegiate wrestler said youth sports should be about learning discipline, 鈥渉ealthy habits,鈥� and having fun in a supportive environment. He founded and leads the pro-LGBTQ+ group Athlete Ally.
鈥淭here鈥檚 been a professionalization of youth sports over the last 40 years,鈥� Mr. Taylor said. 鈥淪o often, the legislators and people who oppose trans-athlete inclusion really go directly to the most elite, top talent, Olympic-hopeful athletes.鈥�
The Kansas measure bans transgender athletes from women鈥檚 and girls鈥� teams starting in kindergarten, even though sports and other extra-curricular activities aren鈥檛 overseen by the Kansas State High School Activities Association until the seventh grade.
That鈥檚 one reason LGBTQ+ rights advocates are skeptical that the true issue is fair competition. Another is the scarcity of transgender female athletes.
The state association said three transgender girls competed in sports in grades 7-12 this year, two of them seniors. Mr. Taylor said transgender athletes in college likely number fewer than 500. The NCAA says about 219,000 women play collegiate sports.
The international track and field ban doesn鈥檛 affect a single transgender female athlete.
Cat Poland, the Kansas mother with a trans son, said: 鈥淭hey 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?鈥�
This story was reported by The Associated Press. 聽
