KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics in Kansas, Missouri and at the local level. Share your story idea with Charlie.
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Two transgender Kansans filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday with the American Civil Liberties Union asking to repeal a recently-passed law governing transgender bathroom use and driver’s license requirements.
The law, Senate Bill 244, took effect Thursday - very quickly - after the Republican supermajority of the legislature overrode Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s veto.
“I think SB244 basically requires transgender people in Kansas to walk around with a scarlet T on them,” explained Harper Seldin, an attorney for the ACLU.
The law is dubbed the “bathroom bill.” It requires people to use bathrooms in government buildings like schools, courthouses, and city halls, that match their gender at birth.
The law creates a mechanism for people who are “aggrieved” by seeing a transgender person in the incorrect bathroom to sue that person for $1,000.
Critics of that concept call it a bounty to discriminate against transgender people.
“I believe this law is seeking to find solutions to problems that are manufactured by the people who wrote the law,” said Jae Moyer, an advocate for the transgender community.
Supporters argue the law keeps private places private.
“This brings some certainty to our statutes, some clarity for Kansans, and some safety as well,” said State Senator Kellie Warren, a Republican from Leawood.
Senate President Ty Masterson, a Republican from Andover, said the law “restored sanity” by preventing “our mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters to share their bathrooms with biological men in government buildings.”
Another part of the law requires about 1,800 people to change the gender on their birth certificates and driver’s licenses to match their gender at birth.
Hazel Krebs transitioned in 2021. She has yet to receive a letter from the Department of Revenue informing her to change her license, but she’s expecting it.
She hopes the lawsuit will repeal the law.
“My community is not a threat and by villainizing my community, you’re endangering Kansans. The reality is we are still Kansans and we are still people trying to live our lives,” Krebs said.
A judge has not yet set a date for a hearing in the lawsuit.
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