© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Transgender Kansans brace for sweeping anti-trans law to take effect

An expansive Kansas law limiting transgender rights takes effect this summer, and trans residents are bracing themselves. Plus: Despite the return of KCPD's Missing Person's Unit, community members are worried about how the department will handle the disappearance of Black women and girls.

Transgender Kansans are bracing for a sweeping new law to take effect this summer that restricts their rights and bars them from bathrooms that match their gender identity. As Rose Conlon of the Kansas News Service reports, uncertainty around how it’ll be enforced has left many anxious about what’s to come.

A Kansas City woman’s escape from an Excelsior Springs home in October sparked outrage and confirmed fears that police weren’t taking reports of missing Black women seriously. In response, Kansas City’s Chief of Police reinstated the department’s Missing Persons Unit. As KCUR’s Lawrence Brooks IV reports, more than a month later, community organizations are still wary.

Contact the show at news@kcur.org. Follow KCUR on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Paris Norvell, Byron Love and KCUR Studios and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and Lisa Rodriguez.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate

As a newscaster and a host of a daily news podcast, I want to deliver the most important and interesting news of the day in an engaging and easily understandable way. No matter where you live in the metro or what you’re interested in, I want you to learn something from each newscast or podcast – and maybe even give you something to talk about at the dinner table.
Paris Norvell is a freelance podcast producer for KCUR Studios,
As an on-demand producer, I am focused on using my skills and experiences across multiple digital applications, platforms and media fields to create community focused audio, video and on-demand products for KCUR Studios. The media that I produce aims to inform, entertain and connect with the Kansas City metro area as we continue to learn from each other. Email me at byronlove@kcur.org.
KCUR prides ourselves on bringing local journalism to the public without a paywall — ever.

Our reporting will always be free for you to read. But it's not free to produce.

As a nonprofit, we rely on your donations to keep operating and trying new things. If you value our work, consider becoming a member.