A court ruled Tuesday that a new Kansas law restricting bathroom use and ID changes for transgender people can remain in effect.
The ruling means that transgender people must use bathrooms in public places that align with their sex assigned at birth. Driver’s licenses and birth certificates that have had the gender marker changed are now considered invalid.
The hearing on Friday came after two transgender Kansans, who used pseudonyms, sued to challenge a recently enacted state law.
Their attorneys raised concerns that the law could result in altercations and invasions of privacy if transgender people have to show IDs or use restrooms that don’t match their gender identity. They had requested the law be put on hold while it winds through the legal system
But Douglas County District Court Judge James McCabria said he doesn’t believe most Kansans would act that way toward transgender people.
“The vast majority of Kansans are tolerant, understanding, accepting and generally supportive of each other and that the vast majority of transgender persons have experienced this as Kansans,” he wrote in the decision.
The judge also rejected the suggestion that having IDs that don’t match gender identity would result in transgender people losing their jobs.
“This Court declines the invitation to assume that every employer who values and respects an employee would react in every instance by firing or harassing that employee,” McCabria wrote.
The law sparked confusion as many transgender Kansans found that their state-issued driver’s licenses and birth certificates had become invalid overnight.
Republican Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, who defended the law, said in court on Friday that his office would wait until March 26 to send a list of invalid IDs to a law enforcement database.
In a recent interview, ACLU attorney Harper Seldin said the Kansas law went further than similar ones in other states because it invalidates existing IDs, rather than merely blocking future changes.
Supporters of the policy said it helps law enforcement officials and first responders to know a person’s sex assigned at birth.
“Driver's licenses need to be as accurate and as objective and as unchanging as possible,” Kobach said during the hearing on Friday.
The law also establishes civil and criminal penalties for individuals accused of using restrooms or locker rooms in government buildings that don’t align with their sex assigned at birth.
At stake in Friday’s hearing was not the ultimate fate of the law, which would require a much longer process to determine.
'Can I drive?'
Hazel Krebs started watching the Kansas Legislature closely in 2023, when a so-called “women’s bill of rights” passed creating a legal definition of “man” and “woman.”
The Westwood author, who has written about her experience coming out as transgender, followed this year as Republican lawmakers introduced a bill to restrict gender marker changes on driver’s licenses and birth certificates. Last fall, supporters fell on the losing side of a yearslong court battle over the policy.
Krebs saw lawmakers amend that bill with a major addition — skirting public comment in the process — which barred transgender people like her from using restrooms aligned with their gender identity and presentation.
And she knew that the policy would take effect soon after Republicans muscled the bill into law, using two-thirds majorities in each chamber to override a veto by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly.
Still, Krebs didn’t realize her state-issued driver’s license had become unusable overnight until she saw the news on social media.
“My thought was initially, ‘Oh my gosh, can I drive?’” she said.
According to official guidance from the state agency responsible for driver’s licenses, Krebs can’t legally drive — not until she exchanges her license for one with an “M” for “Male.”
“I have pink hair, wear makeup, dresses. And then I have this letter that doesn't match it,” Krebs said. “It’s only going to bring questions. It's only going to bring doubt.”
The Kansas Department of Revenue said in a post on its website that people who have changed their gender markers in the past could face penalties for driving with their existing licenses. Nor can those individuals use their IDs to buy alcohol or other age-restricted items.
Republican state Rep. Susan Humphries, who helped push the bill through the Legislature, said in an interview that individuals had a week to comply with the law between Republicans’ veto override and the law taking effect.
“There was time in there for people to be thinking about that,” she said. “So it wasn't really overnight.”
Kansas laws passed during the spring Legislative session often take effect in July, but lawmakers wrote this legislation such that it would become enforceable within a week of passing via veto override, on Feb. 26.
Confusion over the law’s implementation — and the possibility of court intervention — prompted some affected individuals to take a “wait and see” approach.
Jaelynn Abegg, a trans woman in Wichita, said in an interview on Tuesday that she planned to hold off on changing her ID until the outcome of Friday’s hearing became clear.
“I present as a woman. I walk through this world as a woman,” Abegg said. “It makes as much sense to me to have ‘M’ on my driver's license as it does for me to list my weight as nine and a half pounds, if we're talking about statistics at birth.”
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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