Republican lawmakers are working to ban transgender Kansans from changing their gender on Kansas driver’s licenses and birth certificates.
Takeaways
- The bill would define sex as assigned at birth and require any previously changed documents would be invalid.
- Republicans say this bill is needed to help police catch criminals.
- Democrats say this is another attack on transgender Kansans.
A bill heard Tuesday afternoon in the House Judiciary committee invalidates driver’s licenses and birth certificates that have already been issued with gender changes. Those documents would have to be reissued with someone’s sex as assigned at birth. It also prevents any future changes from being processed.
The bill drew written testimony from hundreds of people — so many that lawmakers weren’t able to read all the testimony before the hearing started. House Democrats said they had 500 pieces of opposition testimony.
The state has temporarily blocked transgender Kansans from changing their gender on government documents before.
In 2023, the legislature passed the Women’s Bill of Rights, which became law after Republicans overrode a veto by Gov. Laura Kelly. That law defined someone’s gender as their sex at birth. It defined men and women based on their “biological reproductive system”. The law also required state agencies to track gender based on someone’s sex at birth.
The law itself never mentioned restrictions on Kansas driver’s licenses. Republicans argued the law did prohibit any changes, state agencies disagreed and the two sides went to court. An appeals court ruled against conservatives and the Kansas Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
That’s why transgender Kansans can change their licenses now.
“In the wake of the Court of Appeals ruling, (the Women’s Bill of Rights) does nothing,” said Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach. “It has no practical effect.”
Kobach blasted the court’s opinion. The Court of Appeals sent the litigation back to the District Court. Kobach said it would take years for the old law to head all the way back up to the state Supreme Court for a final ruling.
Passing this bill would end the litigation. Kobach called that important, saying real harms are happening in Kansas because the state doesn’t have this law on the books.
Kobach said it is harder to arrest criminals without this law. He said he’s spoken with police who said people with warrants have tried to change their appearance to avoid arrest. Bob Stuart, executive officer at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, agreed with Kobach. He said arrests are harder, as is determining where someone should be put in correctional facilities.
Stuart said this law would create more accurate data.
Democrats blasted these claims from supporters of the bill.
Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, said he knows a transgender Kansan with a beard on his face. This person was a female at birth, but now looks like a man. Changing that person’s driver’s license to identify them as a female would create the exact problem Republicans are trying to avoid, Carmichael said.
The Court of Appeals also agreed with Democrats and ruled that Kobach failed to provide any evidence that driver’s licenses changes are causing problems. Other supporters of the ban said medical professionals need to know what gender someone is to provide proper care.
Elise Flatland, from Olathe, said she had a seizure. When help arrived, she didn’t have her driver’s license and didn’t even know how old she was. Yet she still received help.
Flatland has two transgender children. She said she’s tired of testifying to lawmakers about anti-transgender policies. She said it was a ban on transgender women in women’s sports, and it was a ban on gender-affirming medical care, and now “you want to take away their identity.”
“When is it enough? What more do you want?” Flatland said to lawmakers. “This is the third year I’ve asked you to recognize my children as human beings.”
