Kansas OKs gender-affirming care ban for youth
Governor is expected to veto bill outlawing medical treatment for transgender minors.
TOPEKA, Kan. — Republican lawmakers in Kansas on Friday approved a plan to end gender-affirming care for transgender youth, capping a week of intensifying efforts to roll back LGBTQ rights.
The Kansas House voted 70 to 52 to pass a bill requiring the state’s medical board to revoke the licenses of doctors who provide genderaffirming care to minors, even though many professionals who deal with transgender youth see such care as vital for the preservation of mental health and to prevent suicides.
The Senate then voted 23 to 12 to approve the measure, sending it to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
The governor is expected to veto the bill, having made a promise to LGBTQ youth last month during a Statehouse lobbying day that she would protect their rights and reject any measure “that aims to harm or discriminate against you.”
Supporters of the legislation do not have the twothirds majorities in both chambers needed to override a veto.
LGBTQ rights advocates
believe they’re seeing a national effort to erase transgender, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming and genderfluid people from American society, at least legally. Dr. Beth Oller, a family physician in a northwestern Kansas town who provides gender-affirming care, sees GOP lawmakers going “in search of a dog whistle” to unite their party.
“This one was a winner because they found it palatable to strip rights from a population that was small and did not affect most of them,” she said in an email Thursday night. “They delude themselves with groupthink so that they can pretend this isn’t about hate but about protection, but we know the truth.”
Thirteen other states have enacted laws against gender-affirming care for minors; federal judges have blocked enforcement of such laws in Alabama and Arkansas. Republican lawmakers across the U.S. have pursued several hundred proposals this year that would push back on LGBTQ rights.
Supporters of the Kansas ban argue that it’s about protecting children from medical care that comes with side effects or cannot be reversed. They contend that only an adult — and not the minor’s parent — can consent to the treatments.
“We all know children change their minds,” said Republican state Rep. Susan Humphries of Wichita. “How many children know what they want to be when they grow up?”
The bill would include bans on puberty-blocking drugs and hormone therapy. Although the bill would not keep transgender youth from receiving counseling or psychiatric therapy, it applies to acts performed or “causing” acts “to affirm the child’s perception of the child’s sex” if it differs from the gender assigned at birth.
“Where I kind of part ways with some of this is with surgical procedures,” said state Rep. Steve Howe, a Republican from central Kansas. “I do agree that all kids have value, and that’s why I’m going to support the bill.”
The vote came after Kansas lawmakers on Thursday passed a “parents’ rights” bill, allowing families to pull their children out of lessons and activities involving LGBTQ-themed materials, and another measure restricting rooming arrangements for transgender students on school trips.
Republicans on Tuesday approved a broad bathroom bill that would prevent transgender people from changing the gender on their driver’s licenses. On Wednesday, they overrode Kelly’s veto of a bill banning transgender female athletes from girls’ and women’s sports.
“People are finally getting tired of this push toward trying to push our kids in the wrong direction, and I think that this is a pushback from parents, from people who see this as a big problem,” said state Sen. Mike Thompson, a Kansas City-area Republican who backed all of the measures.
Humphries suggested that “a social contagion” driven by social media is increasing the desire among “confused” youth to transition to a different gender — repeating an idea that has been debunked by studies.
Transgender medical treatments for children and teens have been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.
“Gender-affirming medicine is lifesaving,” said Jordan Smith — a Kansas City-area resident who identifies as gender fluid and is the state chapter leader of Parasol Patrol, a group advocating for LGBTQ youth — after a transgender rights rally last week at the Statehouse.
“You know, the kids are trying to understand who they are, and they’re supposed to look to the adults to have that guidance,” Smith added, “and the adults are wanting to say: ‘No, you can’t be that way.’ ”
After last week’s rally, Ian Benalcazar, a 13-year-old transgender boy from northeastern Kansas, said his transition to male was “one of the greatest decisions of my life.”
“I feel so much more free and so much more myself, and it’s allowed me to make so many great connections with people and just be authentically me,” he said.
Oller, the doctor, said she has patients who are “terrified” that they won’t be able to access care, and she’s worried that enactment of a law against gender-affirming care could force her to leave her small town.
She said she will probably sue the state, “because I’m not going to take this lying down.”