Two transgender men sue Kansas government over law voiding driver’s licenses
Two transgender men sued Kansas Friday, challenging a newly enacted law that abruptly invalidated their driver’s licenses and allowed private prosecutions of people accused of using the “wrong” bathrooms in government buildings.
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The lawsuit, filed in Douglas County District Court under the pseudonyms Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe, argues that Senate Bill 244, passed over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto and taken into effect Thursday, violates fundamental rights guaranteed by the Kansas Constitution, including due process, equality before the law, personal autonomy, privacy and freedom of speech.
“This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansas people,” Monica Bennett, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said in a statement. She urged the court to strike down the “harmful and discriminatory” provisions of the law.
Related: Kansas Governor Passes Law Requiring ID to View Acts of “Homosexuality” Online, Vetoes Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill
SB 244 provides that “any driver’s license issued before July 1, 2026” that lists a gender marker inconsistent with the Kansas statutory definition of sex, i.e., sex assigned at birth, “shall be invalid.” The state Division of Vehicles was ordered to notify affected individuals this week that their credentials would be invalid on Thursday. They would have to reissue new credentials indicating the person’s assigned sex at birth.
The law also prohibits transgender Kansas people and people born in Kansas from updating the gender marker on driver’s licenses and birth certificates in the future, according to the ACLU press release.
The lawsuit claims the abrupt invalidation amounts to a constitutionally impermissible deprivation of property – a valid permit – without notice or an opportunity to be heard, thereby violating due process. For Doe and Moe, the consequences are practical and immediate. Doe, an administrative associate at the University of Kansas, is required to drive university vehicles as part of his job; without a valid license, he risks losing his job. Moe, a Ph.D. A student who also works late hours at a local bar relies on his license to get home safely and to prove his identity for work, voting, travel and housing, the complaint states.
Related: Kansas Lawmakers Override Governor’s Veto of Anti-Trans ‘Bathroom Bounty’ Bill
Senior attorney Harper Seldin of the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Rights Project called the law “a cruel and cowardly threat to public safety, in the name of promoting fear, division and paranoia.” She said invalidating state-issued ID cards “threatens to exclude transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment or interact with police.”
“This is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identity and exclude them completely from public life,” Seldin added.
The restroom provisions of SB 244 are equally strict. The law requires public buildings to designate multi-occupancy spaces, including restrooms, intended for use by only one sex, defined as the sex assigned at birth, and requires administrators to “ensure that a person does not enter” a space designated for the opposite sex.
Importantly, it also establishes a private right of action, allowing anyone who suspects another person of violating the bathroom rule to sue for up to $1,000 in damages. According to the complaint, this would turn ordinary Kansans into de facto law enforcement.
“SB 244 presents a state-sanctioned attack on transgender people designed to silence, dehumanize and alienate Kansans whose gender identity does not conform to the preferences of the state legislature,” said Heather St. Clair, a Ballard Spahr trial attorney working on the case. “Ballard Spahr is committed to standing with the ACLU and plaintiffs in fighting on behalf of transgender Kansans for a remedy against the injustices presented by SB 244, and is dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights threatened by this new law.”
Related: Kansas immediately revokes driver’s licenses of transgender residents
SB 244 follows years of conservative legislative efforts in Kansas to redefine legal gender recognition. In 2023, lawmakers passed a law defining “sex” as biological sex at birth; Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach then sought to force the Department of Revenue to require driver’s licenses to reflect that definition. A 2025 decision by the Kansas Court of Appeals rejected that assertion, and the Kansas Supreme Court declined to review the issue.
Lawmakers responded by combining restrictions on ID cards and bathrooms into a single omnibus bill that bypassed prolonged committee hearings and lumped disparate measures together, without opportunity for broader public debate.
Kelly vetoed the bill, warning that it was poorly drafted, but Parliament overrode his veto on February 18, making the law take effect a few days later.
This article originally appeared on Advocate: Two transgender men sue Kansas government over law revoking driver’s licenses.
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