Kansas Transgender Residents Sue State Over Biological Sex Law

Two Kansas residents who identify as transgender men filed a lawsuit against the State of Kansas that challenges a new law which requires all driver’s licenses and birth certificates to be issued using a person’s sex that was documented at birth.

The law, which went into effect on Feb. 26, immediately invalidated the driver’s licenses of transgender people across the state, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

“Plaintiffs, along with other transgender people around the state of Kansas, will immediately suffer harm under SB 244 because they will not be able to utilize a driver’s license with their correct gender marker or access public restrooms that accord with their gender identity,” the lawsuit alleged.

The lawsuit was filed in the District Court of Douglas County on Feb. 26, which was the same day the sweeping legislation went into effect.

“By targeting transgender Kansans, the Act violates the Kansas Constitution’s guarantees of personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and free expression,” the lawsuit continued.

The plaintiffs, who opted to keep their names anonymous, were both born female.

They both live in Lawrence, Kansas, and work in government-owned buildings, according to the complaint.

“SB 244 is a cruel and craven threat to public safety all in the name of fostering fear, division, and paranoia,” Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project, said.

“The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police.”

The plaintiffs said they were directly impacted by the measure because it required that anybody in a government building must use restrooms, changing rooms, and other sex-specific facilities that align with their biological sex at birth.

Government buildings include libraries, courthouses, state parks, hospitals, and interstate rest stops.

Individuals face a warning after the first violation, a $1,000 fine for the second, and class B misdemeanor charges for further infractions.

Government entities face civil penalties of $25,000 for the first offense and $125,000 for subsequent ones, with each day counted separately.

“This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans,” Monica Bennett, legal director of the ACLU of Kansas, said. “It undermines our state’s strong constitutional protections against government overreach and persecution.”

The bill was initially vetoed by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Feb. 13, but she was quickly overruled by the state Senate and House.

“This is a poorly drafted bill with significant, far-reaching consequences,” Kelly wrote on Feb. 18 after the Legislature overrode her veto.

“Not only will this bill keep brothers from visiting sisters’ dorms and husbands from wives’ shared hospital rooms, it will cost Kansas taxpayers millions of dollars to comply with this very vague legislation.”