OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — LGBTQ+ groups across Kansas are rallying against recent legislation passed in the state.
Senate Bill 180, also known as the Kansas Women’s Bill of Rights, passed this spring, but the state’s attorney general issued an opinion on the law this week.
“They can present themselves as they wish. They can change their names and their appearance and do any of the things that they want to do,” AG Kris Kobach said in an interview with KSHB 41 Wednesday afternoon. “The bill simply is a directive to the state agencies, and it says these documents will reflect the truth of a person’s biological sex at birth.”
The bill — which specifies an individual's sex, male or female, as the person's sex assigned at birth — has been on the radar of groups across the state for a while, prompting a host of feelings leading up to its effective date of July 1.
Jae Moyer identifies as nonbinary. As a member of Mainstream Coalition, a statewide nonpartisan political advocacy group, Moyer is against the law creating an unwelcoming environment in Kansas.
“The majority of the legislature is saying, 'We don’t want you here. You are not welcome here,'” Moyer said. “That is not an environment we want to be fostering here in Kansas.”
Saturday, Mainstream Coalition and Equality Kansas are holding rallies in support of the LGBTQ+ community.
Speakers will conduct informational conversations in Overland Park and Kansas City, Kansas, along with 14 other locations across the state.
Moyer said it’s all about unity.
“A concerted effort to hold space across the state to show other LGBTQ people in Kansas that they really are welcome here and we do want them here,” Moyer said.
Gatherings set for Overland Park and Manhattan are expected to be the largest.
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