KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sixteen “Pride Never Ends” protests took place across Kansas on Saturday morning in response to the enactment of Senate Bill 180.
The bill legally defines a person’s sex as male or female based on their biological reproductive system at birth. Kansas state senators successfully overturned Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the bill, so it became law on Saturday, July 1.
“My biggest concern is that even though this bill doesn’t have an enforcement clause right now, that they would use this to further attack people in the LGBTQ community,” said engagement coordinator of Mainstream Coalition, Jae Moyer. “My direct message to the attorney general is that I would hope he finds it in his heart to be more compassionate in what he does with his position. There’s a place for every single person in the state of Kansas.”
Kelly announced on Thursday that the state will keep allowing transgender residents to change their gender marker. Attorney General Kris Kobach responded by saying he will sue her administration.
“This isn’t a database issue, and he is actively destroying lives and he is putting lives at risk,” said Windsor, a transgender woman who is hoping to get her gender markers changed.
Windsor says the state has not been transparent about the bill from the beginning. She spent hours on state websites looking for instructions and information on how to start the process of changing her gender marker, but none were found.
With the July 1 deadline, she traveled to Topeka to turn in her application in person. But when she arrived, the clerk told her she had to mail it, leading her to spend $28 on expedited next-day shipping.
“They are obfuscating information — they’re making it very hard to access updated policies," Windsor said. "The policies are changing every couple of months. There just doesn’t seem to be any interest for them to make it easy for us.”
Even if her application is approved, Attorney General Kris Kobach says the law will be retroactive. Meaning, it would revert all gender maker changes that have already been approved over the last six years.
Windsor says this is much more than simply a database issue, it is about people’s lives.
“You know, they are asking me to be dead named and misgendered every single time I go to the doctors office, every single time I interact with law enforcement, every single time I interact with the legal system in general. It’s incredibly taxing on my mental health and its incredibly destructive,” said Windsor.
—
