Kansas Republicans have passed a bill into law that will require people to use bathrooms in state buildings and state-issued identification that align with their sex at birth. The House voted to override Governor Laura Kelly’s veto Wednesday, following the Senate’s Tuesday vote.
This will apply to restrooms in state universities, including Wichita State. It will also apply to other single-gender spaces, including locker rooms.
The Senate voted 31-9 to override the veto. The House followed with an 87-37 vote, meaning both chambers had the necessary supermajority needed to override a governor’s veto.
House Substitute for Senate Bill 244 will become law when it is published in the Kansas Register, which is published every Thursday.
Kelly called the legislation “poorly drafted” and said it would “have numerous and significant consequences far beyond the intent to limit the right for trans people to use the appropriate bathroom,” in her veto message.
Legislators in favor of the bill argued during floor debate that it would protect women and girls in female-only spaces.
Restricting bathrooms and other single-gender spaces
Senate Bill 244 bars anyone from using a restroom or other single-gender space that does not align with their sex as recorded at birth, even for transgender people who have medically transitioned.
It applies to all state-owned buildings, including state university buildings. The legislation also mandates that state institutions designate multi-occupancy restrooms and similar spaces as either male or female.
Governing bodies would be fined up to $25,000 for failing to enforce the rule on a first occurrence and $125,000 for each time after.
If someone uses a bathroom not matching their biological sex, the first violation will result in a written notice, the second could include a $1,000 penalty, and the third would result in a misdemeanor.
Genesis Merriett, president of WSU’s Spectrum, an LGBTQ student organization, previously told The Sunflower the bill would cause harm to many people, not just transgender individuals. Merriett said it would cause people to worry about appearing “male enough” or “female enough” to use their assigned restroom.
Gender markers on identification
The law forbids people from changing the gender marker on their driver’s licenses from the gender recorded at birth. Transgender Kansans who have already changed their IDs will have to get them replaced with a new ID reflecting the original gender marker.
Kelly responds to override
In a statement following the Senate’s vote, Kelly again criticized the legislation.
“As I said in my veto statement, this is a poorly drafted bill with significant, far-reaching consequences,” she said. “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.”
Senate President Ty Masterson, who also leads GoCreate, a WSU partnership with Koch Industries, expressed his support for the bill, writing in a statement that the Senate “restored sanity” by overriding the veto.
“Kansas Democrats are for They/Them,” Masterson wrote. “I will continue to fight for you, and protect women and girls across our state.”
