After failed veto override, gender-affirming care for trans youth remains legal in Kansas

Transgender youth in Kansas will continue to have access to gender transition surgery and hormone therapy after the Republican-controlled Legislature failed to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a ban on the care.

The House on Monday voted 82-43 to override the veto, two votes short of what was necessary, after the Senate approved it 27-13 earlier in the day.

Kansas would have become the 25th state with laws or policies restricting youth access to gender-affirming care, according to the health research firm KFF. Missouri lawmakers last year passed a ban that went into effect in August.

The legislation outlined a path to sue health care professionals and revoke their medical licenses for providing gender-affirming care to minors. In addition, the measure would have held providers strictly liable for any negative outcomes resulting from the treatment for ten years after patients turns 18.

The measure would have also prohibited “state employees” from promoting a child’s social or medical transition, a vague clause that opponents warned could prohibit people like public school teachers or social workers from using a minor’s preferred pronouns or allow them to dress in a way they feel most comfortable.

“I strongly support prohibiting gender reassignment surgery and limiting the use of hormone blockers … (some parts of the bill) go too far in restricting mental and behavioral health care for children,” Rep. Jesse Borjon, a Topeka Republican said in explaining his no vote.

The veto override was preceded by anguished debate, as Democrats pleaded with their colleagues to leave Kelly’s veto in place. Several said the measure was overly broad and inserted government into what should be family decisions made in consultation with medical professionals.

“Here is yet another attempt to ignore local control. This bill ignores – or should I say tramples – on the ability of some Kansans to live peaceably, lawfully and to make their own decisions about their own bodies,” Sen. Mary Ware, a Wichita Democrat, said.

Sen. Mark Steffen, a Hutchinson Republican who is a physician, blamed a “woke health care system” for encouraging youth to transition. He said he voted to override the veto because protecting children is the “primary job” of lawmakers.

“Today I voted to protect our children from being mutilated,” Steffen said.

Some supporters of the ban questioned whether parents aiding their children’s transitions were truly informed. They also voiced doubts about the ability of youth to make potentially permanent life-altering decisions.

“There’s a reason we don’t let kids vote under 18, there’s a reason we don’t let kids do other things,” Rep. Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican, said.

When Kelly vetoed the measure, she said the legislation dictates to parents how to best raise and care for their children, adding that it is not a “conservative value, and it’s certainly not a Kansas value.”

Kansas providers said the legislation would have restricted them from providing the best care possible to their clients – care that is recommended and supported by nearly every nationally recognized medical and psychological association.

Hundreds of providers signed a letter sent to the Legislature urging lawmakers to “heed the professional opinions informed by a plethora of data” supporting the availability of gender-affirming care to minors.

Kathryn Tolle, a psychologist in Manhattan, questioned why treatments like puberty blockers would have only been banned for transgender minors despite frequently being utilized by cisgender children.

“Bottom line is my clients would have reason to sue me for malpractice if I adhere to the law because I am harming them,” she said. “And they would have reason to sue me if I don’t adhere to the law because of the law itself. It denies me the ability to engage in evidence-based treatments which leaves me open to liability.”

The proposed ban was the latest in a series of bills advanced by Kansas Republicans that seek to regulate the lives of trans residents. Last year, Republicans overrode Kelly’s vetoes to enact bills that ban transgender women from competing in women’s sports, bar transgender individuals from single-sex spaces – though its effects are still unclear – and require students on overnight school field trips to be separated by sex.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, is currently in Shawnee County District Court attempting to block transgender and nonbinary Kansans from changing the gender marker on their driver’s license to reflect their gender identity. Kobach argues the changes violate a new state law defining man and woman by sex assigned at birth.