Kansas State Capitol – Photo: Lindsey Martin Webb via iStockphoto
Republican lawmakers in Kansas have voted to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a sweeping anti-transgender bill.
The measure, approved by both chambers earlier this month, invalidates driver’s licenses and birth certificates that reflect a transgender person’s gender identity rather than their assigned sex at birth. It also bars people from using restrooms that do not align with that assigned sex and bans multi-stall unisex bathrooms.
While the original House bill focused on prohibiting gender markers that align with a person’s gender identity on identification documents, Republicans employed a procedural maneuver known as “gut and go” — inserting the House language into a previously approved Senate bill — to add the restroom restrictions.
Kelly vetoed the legislation, calling it overly broad, poorly drafted, and rife with unintended consequences. Critics argue the bill’s strict wording could prevent people from visiting opposite-sex loved ones in hospitals, nursing homes, and college dorms.
“If your grandfather is in a nursing home in a shared room, as a granddaughter, you would not be able to visit him. If your sister is living in a dorm at K-State, as a brother, you would not be able to visit her in her room,” Kelly said in a statement. “I believe the Legislature should stay out of the business of telling Kansans how to go to the bathroom and instead stay focused on how to make life more affordable for Kansans.”
The Republican-controlled House voted 87-37 to override the veto, followed by a 31-9 vote in the GOP-backed Senate.
“Kansas Democrats are for They/Them,” Senate President Ty Masterson (R-Andover) said in a statement, repeating a line of attack used by President Donald Trump against former Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign. “I will continue to fight for you, and protect women and girls across our state.”
The law “obviously discriminates against transgender people in ways that make our lives exponentially more difficult and dangerous,” said State Rep. Abi Boatman (D), who is transgender.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday signaled it may uphold state bans barring transgender girls and women from competing on female-designated sports teams during oral arguments in two closely watched cases.
Lower courts previously ruled in favor of the two transgender athletes, who challenged bans in Idaho and West Virginia -- two of the 27 states that have enacted laws banning people assigned male at birth from competing on female sports teams.
Proponents of restricting transgender participation argue that people who are assigned male at birth and undergo male puberty prior to transitioning retain physiological advantages that give them an unfair edge over cisgender female competitors.
A new study claims that transgender women exhibit strength and overall physical fitness comparable to cisgender women after several months of gender-affirming hormone therapy.
In the landmark study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Brazilian scientists reviewed existing research comparing the body composition and physical fitness of transgender people before and after hormone therapy with that of cisgender people.
Overall, the analysis examined 52 studies involving 6,485 people -- including 2,943 transgender women, 2,309 transgender men, 568 cisgender women, and 665 cisgender men -- ranging in age from 14 to 41.
Col. Bree Fram, a former Space Force officer forced to retire under the Trump administration's ban on transgender service members, has launched a campaign to represent Virginia in Congress, raising more than $102,000 in her first 24 hours as an official candidate.
An engineer by trade, Fram served 23 years in the military, including deployments to Iraq and Qatar with the U.S. Air Force during the Iraq War. She later became an officer in the U.S. Space Force and, in 2024, became the first transgender service member promoted to the rank of colonel. She was also named to Out magazine’s "Out 100" list of influential LGBTQ people that year.
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