Last month, approximately 1700 transgender Kansans received a letter from the Kansas Department of Revenue. According to the letter, gender markers on their driver’s licenses and birth certificates had been retroactively cancelled. These documents were “Invalid immediately.”
Senate Bill 244, which became law in February, eliminates transgender people’s opportunity to change gender markers on their drivers licenses and birth certificates, as well as require Kansans to use bathrooms that correspond with their sex assigned at birth.
“My initial reaction was really just shocked. This bill went into effect overnight and a lot of people I know got affected directly,” said Theo Mardis, a senior at LHS.
He noted the impractical nature of the new law.
“Taking away their license would strip away access to travel to get food, get to work, and most things that would allow them to function normally in society,” Mardis said.
The rollout of the new law, including enforcement protocols that went into effect overnight, has become a source of confusion among the transgender community. For many, obtaining a new license won’t be easy, requiring them to surrender their current license in favor of one whose gender markers conflict with their gender identity and presentation. The law included no grace period for the issuance of new legal credentials.
Mellisa Allen, a para at LHS, said the law left many ambiguities unaddressed.
“[Besides] the fact that they have to change their licenses, they may not be able to vote if they are denied the fact of getting new licenses,” Allen said. “It’s impractical.”
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly had initially vetoed the so-called “bathroom bill” before the House and Senate voted to override her veto on Feb. 18. In a statement following the vote, Kelly said the bill was poorly written and would have far-reaching consequences.
“It is nothing short of ridiculous that the Legislature is forcing the entire state, every city and town, every school district, every public university to spend taxpayer money on a manufactured problem,” Kelly said.
Mardis said the new law is not a reasonable solution to the issues that legislators who voted for the bill claim to be addressing.
“Taking away trans people’s identity is not the way to promote public safety like they claim,” he said.
Rosalina Hayes, an LHS senior who identifies as trans, added that the bill used confusing logic.
“If men wanted to go into the women’s bathroom and assault people, why would they go through years of self identification and hormone treatment?,” Hayes asked. “If they think this is a choice, why would we choose this if they are making it so hard for us?
As a result of the new law, some transgender Kansas have felt pressure to leave the state.
“I have friends who are moving out of the state,” Allen said. “I can’t even fathom what they are going through…everybody has rights, and theirs are being taken away.”
She warned that the law will have dangerous repercussions.
“Lots of suicides are going to be happening. I have a lot of friends who want to give up,” Allen said. “Suicides are gonna go on the rise because they feel alone.”
For Hayes, the law is another hurdle on an already-difficult path.
“It’s already hard being a trans person, just internally,” she said. “Regardless of laws, just doing this myself is hard.”
Allen’s foremost concern is for the safety of the trans community.
“They are a small group in Kansas,” she said. “They can’t go on living in this state and feel safe. They don’t feel safe.”
