TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has banned transgender athletes from girls’ and girls’ sports from kindergarten through college, the first of several possible new laws restricting the rights of transgender people. pushed by Republican lawmakers because of the Democratic governor’s preference.
The Legislature on Wednesday defeated a third veto by Gov. Laura Kelly in three years on a bill to ban transgender athletes, and came a day after state lawmakers passed a sweeping bathroom bill. Nineteen other states have imposed bans on transgender athletes, most recently Wyoming.
Kansas law takes effect on July 1 and is one of several hundred proposals being pursued by Republican lawmakers across the US this year to push for LGBTQ rights. Kansas lawmakers who backed the ban are also pursuing proposals to end gender-affirming care. for minors and restrict toilet use.
The measure was approved by Kansas lawmakers on Tuesday prevent transgender people from using public restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities related to their gender identity, and prohibit them from changing their name or gender on their driver’s licenses. Kelly is expected to veto that.
“It’s a scary time to be raising a trans kid in Kansas,” said Cat Poland, a lifelong Kansas resident and mother of three who coordinates a Gay-Straight Alliance at the school in his 13-year-old trans son about 40 miles (65 kilometers). ) northwest of Wichita. “We may face a real threat of having to move, and it’s depressing.”
The ban reflects the strength of religious conservatives, which is reflected in the 2022 platform of the Kansas Republican Party — “We believe that God created man and woman” — and echoed many Republicans’ belief that their constituents would not like any cultural shift toward acceptance.
“I wish it was 1960, and, you know, little Johnny was a boy and Mary was a girl, and that’s what it was, period,” Republican state Rep. John Eplee, a 70-year-old doctor, said in a committee discussion on the bathroom bill.
LGBTQ rights advocates say it’s part of a national campaign from the traditional right to erase transgender, non-binary, gender-queer and gender-fluid people from American society.
Alex Poland, an eighth-grade cross-country runner who hopes to play baseball next year, said lawmakers are pushing “anti-kid bills” that “do nothing to hurt anybody. “
Alex, who lobbied for trans rights with her mother at the Statehouse last week, said it’s good for kids’ mental health to play on teams that relate to their gender identities, and which most of the other kids don’t care about.
Most adults “care a lot about what trans kids are doing,” Alex says.
Kelly told reporters in the Kansas City area that he believes lawmakers will eventually regret voting for “this terrible bill.”
“It breaks my heart and it’s definitely frustrating,” Kelly said.
The first state law on transgender athletes, in Idaho in 2020, came after conservatives retreated from a national backlash over a short-lived 2016 bathroom law in North Carolina. In Kansas, the biggest obstacle for conservatives is Kelly, who is close to winning again last year after positioning himself as a political centrist.
Conservative Kansas Republicans lack the two-thirds majority in both legislative chambers needed to override Kelly’s vetoes of transgender athlete bills in 2021 and 2022. But this year, the House voted 84-40 to override his veto, exactly a two-thirds majority is needed. The vote was 28-12 in the Senate, a more than two-thirds majority.
Supporters of the ban would not have been able to override Kelly’s veto this year but the only Democrat to side with them against the governor. Rep. Marvin Robinson, of Kansas City, told reporters he wanted to “meet in the middle” but found the debate “all or nothing there.” He said he prayed for guidance before the vote.
Two LGBTQ Democratic lawmakers from the Kansas City area are particularly upset because they believe Republicans are eager for the House vote.
Rep. Heather Meyer stood up, opened her jacket and revealed a “Protect Trans Youth” T-shirt before making a rude gesture as she left the room. Rep. shouted. Susan Ruiz the GOP members, briefly cursing them before telling them she is out of order.
“We’re tired of putting up with it, and I’m tired of putting up with it,” he said later. “There has to be some respect.”
Across the US, supporters of such restrictions argue that they keep competition fair. Track and field last month banned transgender athletes from international competition, adopted the same rules as the previous year’s swimming.
Supporters argue that they also ensure that women and cisgendered women do not lose out on scholarships and other opportunities that were not available to them decades ago.
“In the past 50 years, women have finally been able to celebrate our differences and create a division that has enabled us to achieve athletic endeavors similar to our male counterparts,” Caroline Bruce McAndrew, a former Olympic swimmer and member from the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame from Wichita, testified to lawmakers.
LGBTQ rights advocates acknowledge that arguments about competition resonate outside the conservative Republican base because of the long-held assumption that men and boys are naturally stronger than women and girls.
They are also disappointed that the debate often focuses on whether transgender athletes have or can win championships.
Hudson Taylor, a three-time All-American collegiate wrestler said youth sports should be about learning discipline, “healthy habits,” and having fun in a supportive environment. He is the founder and leader of the pro-LGBTQ group Athlete Ally.
“There has been a professionalization of youth sports over the last 40 years,” Taylor said. “Usually, lawmakers and people who oppose trans-athlete inclusion go directly to the most elite, the most talented, athletes with Olympic hopes.”
The Kansas measure bars transgender athletes from girls’ and girls’ teams starting in kindergarten, even though sports and other extra-curricular activities are not governed by Kansas State High School Activities. Association until the seventh grade.
That’s one reason LGBTQ-rights advocates doubt that the real issue is fair competition. Another is the scarcity of transgender female athletes.
The state association said three transgender girls competed in sports in grades 7-12 this year, two of them seniors. Taylor said transgender college athletes probably number less than 500. The NCAA says there are about 219,000 women. playing college sports.
The international track and field ban does not affect a transgender female athlete.
Cat Poland, the Kansas mother of a trans son, said: “They just keep going next, next step, next step, how far can trans people go? Where can they exist to be safe and live happy and joyful lives?”
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