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Kansas City Today

Families flee Kansas over transgender care ban

By Brian Ellison,
Gabe Rosenberg
Published December 22, 2025 at 4:00 AM CST
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An illustration showing the Kansas City skyline with the words "Kansas City Today"

Kansas will end all access to hormone treatments and other gender-affirming care for transgender minors in January. To keep getting care for their children, some families are opting to leave the state entirely.

On Jan. 1, 2026, young people in Kansas will be completely banned from receiving gender affirming medical treatments. As Zane Irwin of the Kansas News Service reports, transgender people and their families have already started fleeing for states where they can access care — uprooting their lives in the process.

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

Kansas City Today is hosted by Brian Ellison. This episode was produced by Gabe Rosenberg and KCUR Studios, and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and Emily Younker.

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Kansas City Today KansastransgenderKansas LegislatureGender Affirming Caregender
Brian Ellison
As a host and senior news analyst at KCUR, I seek to create a more informed citizenry and richer community. I want to enlighten and inspire our audience by delivering the information they need with accuracy and urgency, clarifying what’s complicated and teasing out the complexities of what seems simple. I work to craft conversations that reveal realities in our midst and model civil discourse in a divided world. Follow me on socials @ptsbrian or email me at brian@kcur.org.
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Gabe Rosenberg
As KCUR’s Audience Editor, I‘m always asking: What do our communities need to know, and how can KCUR best deliver that? I help figure out how our journalism lives online, so we can serve more people, build trust with our communities, and amplify joy. Contact me at gabe@kcur.org
See stories by Gabe Rosenberg
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