2 trans men sue Kansas over law invalidating their licenses and about 1,700 others
TOPEKA, Kan. — Two transgender men are suing Kansas over a new law that invalidates their driver’s licenses and about 1,700 others for reflecting people’s gender identity and not their sex assigned at birth, arguing the measure is “dehumanizing.”
The men filed their suit Thursday, the same day the law took effect, and argue that it violates the rights to privacy, personal autonomy and due process of law guaranteed by the Kansas Constitution. The men are also challenging strict new enforcement provisions of the three-year-old state law banning transgender people from using public restrooms or other single-sex facilities associated with their gender identity.
The men are asking Douglas County District Judge Catherine Theisen to block the law, which also invalidates the birth certificates of about 1,800 transgender people. The county is home to the main campus of the University of Kansas and is a liberal stronghold in a red-leaning state.
“The Kansas Constitution prohibits the Kansas Legislature from targeting transgender people for this discriminatory and dehumanizing treatment,” the lawsuit states.
The state Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the Kansas Bill of Rights confers and protects a right to bodily autonomy — a decision that protects the right to abortion.
The new law was signed into law last week when Republicans, who hold a supermajority in the Legislature, overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto. She appointed Theisen to the bench in 2022.
A 2023 state law, also passed over Kelly’s veto, defines male and female by a person’s “biological reproductive system” at birth. The Kansas Supreme Court has not yet considered it.
This year’s law provides for heavy fines for cities, counties, public schools and state agencies that do not restrict transgender people’s use of facilities, as well as fines and criminal prosecution for transgender people who violate it. People can also sue trans people for alleged violations.
Republican lawmakers argued the new law would protect girls and women and often described transgender women and girls as men.
“Kansans expect clarity, not confusion,” House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said after the law was signed into law. “They expect leadership, not capitulation to radical activists. »
The law prohibits any mention of “sex” on driver’s licenses and birth certificates other than that assigned at birth and invalidates existing records that do not comply. The state has begun notifying transgender people by mail that their licenses are invalid and that they should get a new one immediately.
At least eight other states do not allow transgender people to amend one or both documents, but only Kansas has invalidated previously amended documents.
The two men suing the new law are from Lawrence, about 40 miles west of Kansas City, and represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union. They are identified as Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe, saying they fear discrimination, harassment and violence if they do not remain anonymous.
