Kansas bill banning affirming care for trans kids headed toward fight with governor

TOPEKA —Kansas House lawmakers advanced a wide-ranging bill Tuesday that includes Republican plans to ban trans children from getting gender-affirming medical care amid outcry from worried parents. 

The bill is part of a wave of anti-trans legislation pushed by Republican-dominated legislatures throughout the U.S. Twenty-two states have similar bans, including Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas and Nebraska. 

Several LGBTQ lawmakers urged fellow lawmakers against voting for Senate Bill 233. Rep. Brandon Woodard, D-Lenexa, one of the Statehouse’s few gay lawmakers, said he would continue to fight for the state’s LGBTQ residents. 

“Nobody is grooming children to be gay or trans,” Woodard said. “…Please, in your rhetoric, remember that trans people are humans as well. Being trans is not an ideology, which has been referenced in this building. Me loving who I am is not a lifestyle. It is who we are.” 

SB 233 bans health care professionals from using surgery or puberty blockers to treat children whose gender identity doesn’t match their sex. It would also ban state employees from helping minors to “social transition,” such as using a trans child’s preferred pronouns. The bill gained initial approval on the House floor, with final action on the bill expected tomorrow. 

Similar legislation was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, and a veto override attempt failed during the last legislative session, but lawmakers continue to attempt to regulate transgender Kansans’ lives. 

The state made news last year when it became the 20th state to pass a transgender student athlete ban into law in April, after lawmakers overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto. The Legislature adopted Senate Bill 180 last year through veto override. That law, which continues to be the subject of litigation, has led to a temporary restraining order blocking Kelly’s administration from making gender marker changes on identity cards and driver’s licenses.

These restrictions go against commonly-accepted medical practices. Gender-affirming care for youths is supported by health care organizations including American Medical Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

 The American Academy of Pediatrics also released a 2022 study showing that 97.5% of trans-identifying youth still identified as trans years later. An adolescent health study found 98% of young people who start gender-affirming care in adolescence continue care as adults.

Author of the bill Rep. Ron Bryce, a Coffeyville Republican and physician registered in Texas, waved aside gender-affirming care practices to push forward the legislation during Tuesday’s debate. 

“No matter what reality says, no matter what their body says, if the child says ‘I’m this,’ the affirmative model says we must change reality to meet what’s in the child’s head,” Bryce said.  

During the initial bill hearings in a House legislative committee, transgender Kansans told legislators multiple times how damaging the legislation could be for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents. 

Committee chairwoman Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, responded by forcing transgender activists out of the hearing, and later held a surprise committee meeting without giving notice to the public to take action on the bill.

Rep. Susan Ruiz, a Shawnee Democrat and LGBT lawmaker, said banning medical professionals from providing care was unethical. Transgender youth face heightened risk of suicide. The Trevor Project estimated that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ youth consider suicide every year in the U.S. In a 2023 study, the project found that roughly half of transgender and nonbinary youth surveyed had seriously contemplated suicide. 

“For us to say, ‘Well, let’s just wait till they grow out of it.’ Well, you know, let’s just hope they’re still alive, and see if that even happens,” Ruiz said.