Two transgender teens and their parents filed a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging a new Kansas law that bans gender-affirming health care for minors.
The American Civil Liberties Union and its Kansas affiliate filed the lawsuit in the Douglas County District Court in Lawrence.
The organization said in a press release that the law violates the Kansas Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and fundamental rights because it denies certain medical treatments to individuals based on their gender identity.
The lawsuit asks the court to block the state from enforcing the law.
"Our clients and every Kansan should have the freedom to make their own private medical decisions and consult with their doctors without the intrusion of Kansas politicians," D.C. Hiegert, Civil Liberties Legal Fellow for the ACLU of Kansas, said in the release.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of a 16-year-old boy and a 13-year old girl, who used the pseudonyms Ryan Roe and Lily Loe in the court filing.
“Lily and Ryan have been thriving since they started receiving puberty blockers and hormone therapy, but now their trusted doctors in Kansas can no longer help them, and they are at risk of unimaginable suffering from permanent physical changes inconsistent with their gender identity and untreated gender dysphoria,” the complaint reads.
The law, which passed in February, bars medical professionals in Kansas from providing hormone therapies, pubertal suppressants and surgeries to young people with gender dysphoria.
Medical providers could face legal liability and lose their license if they approve medical treatments for gender dysphoria.
Patients are also banned from using state-funded programs, including Medicaid, to access gender-affirming treatment and medication.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said in a statement that he looked forward to seeing the ACLU in court.
“Once again, the ACLU is attempting to twist the meaning of the Kansas Constitution into something unrecognizable,” Kobach said. “The Kansas Legislature was well within its authority when it acted to protect Kansas children from these harmful surgeries.”
Republican state Senate President Ty Masterson also defended the law on Wednesday in a post on the social media platform X.
“In Kansas, we don't allow the mutilation of minors,” he said. “The Help Not Harm Act is now protecting Kansas kids from the Left’s dangerous woke agenda.”
In recent years, Republican lawmakers failed multiple times to pass bills banning gender-affirming health care. But victories in the 2024 elections gave GOP supporters of the bill enough votes to override a veto by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
Zane Irwin reports on politics, campaigns and elections for the Kansas News Service. You can email him at zaneirwin@kcur.org.
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