TOPEKA, Kan. — Transgender Kansas students will likely no longer permitted to compete in girls and women’s sports after the state House voted Wednesday to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s third veto of the policy.
The House voted 84 to 40 Wednesday to override Kelly’s veto. The Senate is expected to vote later in the day or Thursday and has on several occasions passed the policy with a veto-proof majority.
One Democrat, Rep. Marvin Robinson from Kansas City, voted yes with Republicans while two Republicans, Rep. Mark Schrieber of Emporia and Rep. David Younger of Ulysses voted no.
LGBTQ activists have called the bill a discriminatory act that targets vulnerable youth. While supporters say it ensures fairness, Daphne Cornelius, a Wichita transgender woman, said the supposed advantages she would gain because she was born with male genitalia is eliminated by hormone therapy.
“We’re not here to take over the world,” she said. “We just want to live our lives, no different than you do.”
The vote represented a major win for House and Senate GOP leaders who have sought to pass the policy since 2021 but have been unable to overcome Kelly’s veto until now.
“This is a victory lap not just for me but for all of you,” Rep. Barb Wasinger, a Hays Republican who has been one of the lead supporters of the bill, said during a Republican caucus meeting Wednesday morning.
When introducing the bill on the floor of the House, Wasinger presented it simply.
“Let’s not turn back time,” she said, referencing Title IX protections enacted in 1972 to prohibit discrimination based on sex.
Currently, the legislation will affect three student-athletes in the state, according to the Kansas State High School Sports and Activities Association. The legislation also bans participation for transgender women at the collegiate level in Kansas.
“That says a lot. You’re picking on three kids. That has to have an effect on those kids. It has to feel like bullying and erasure,” said Taryn Jones, vice chair of LGBTQ rights group Equality Kansas.
According to the LGBTQ Movement Advancement Project, Kansas will be the 20th state to enact the policy.
The override vote comes as the Legislature is pursuing a series of anti-trans measures and as GOP legislatures nationwide target the LGBTQ community. According to a tracker from the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas 451. anti-LGBTQ bills had been introduced nationwide.
Advocates of the sports bill celebrated the override as a successful effort to protect female athletes.
“It’s huge for women of the state, it’s huge for their opportunities, it’s huge for just our understanding of women’s place in society,” said Brittany Jones, a lobbyist for Kansas Family Voice, a Christian conservative group affiliated with the national Family Policy Alliance. “It’s something that women have fought for since the 60s and we are building on the hard work of so many women for decades.”
The legislation is likely to face legal challenges. In written testimony, the ACLU of Kansas said earlier this session it believed the policy violated the U.S. Constitution and federal Civil Rights Act.
“The overwhelming majority of courts to consider the issue have held that discrimination against transgender students in school is prohibited sex discrimination under Title IX,” D.C. Hiegert, a legal fellow at the ACLU of Kansas wrote.
In the meantime, opponents of the bill said the Legislature’s action will harm the mental health of transgender youth across Kansas, sending a clear message that they are not welcome here.
“This is an attempt to erase them out of our society,” said Rep. Susan Ruiz, a Shawnee Democrat and the first openly lesbian woman elected to the state Legislature. “These kids are killing themselves, they’re taking their own lives.”
