TOPEKA, Kan. — A Kansas bill banning transgender athlete participation is not the only state legislation that has Brenan Riffel's attention.
Riffel is transfeminine graduate student at the University of Kansas, and recently emailed Republican cosponsors of a House bill that would criminalize gender reassignment surgery.
"I was not surprised with the message I received, a lot of the rhetoric used in the email I received has been the same rhetoric used in the last 50 years with the trans community," Riffel said.
Cheryl Helmer, who is a member of the Kansas House of Representatives, emailed Riffel about House Bill 2210.
"I understand the difference biologically between a male and a woman," Helmer said in part in the email. "No surgeon can cut, remove, wop, add to change the biology that is chemically occurring in each and every fiber, bone and molecule of every human being. A doctor can inject meds and dilute but cannot destroy what God has done in the perfection of the HUMAN BEING."
Helmer also made comments about another lawmaker in the email.
"Now, personally I do not appreciate the huge transgender female who is now in our restrooms in the Capitol," Helmer said in the email. "It is quite uncomforting."
Kansas state Rep. Stephanie Byers, who was the first elected transgender Kansas lawmaker, was shocked by Helmer's comments in the email.
"I was surprised that it was actually said out loud," Byers said.
She says anti-trans laws and comments are a threat.
"This is an attack on my humanity and my identity, this is not about a difference of ideology," Byers said. "This is about whether or not I am allowed to exist as I am, and by extension, is our trans people across Kansas and the Midwest region, are we allowed to exist?"
KSHB 41 reached out to Helmer, but she did not respond to our request for a comment.
House Speaker Ron Ryckman, a Republican from Olathe, recently told reporters that Helmer's remarks about Byers were "unfortunate."
Riffel and Byers say the conversation and climate have to change.
"If you don't understand the transgender community, or don't understand what it means to be transgender, what I want to say is you don't ever have to fully understand, you have to show compassion," Riffel said.
Byers agrees with Riffel.
"Acceptance is a part of our present, it is a part of how we move in society, we become more accepting," Byers said.
