Kansas lawmakers take aim again at banning transgender women from women’s sports

A bill that would ban transgender athletes from girl’s and women’s school sports will head to the Senate floor after it was passed by the Senate Education Committee Wednesday.

It is the second attempt at banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports, after legislators failed to override the veto of a nearly identical bill by Gov. Laura Kelly last year. This year’s measure, the Fairness In Women’s Sports Act, bans transgender women from school sports in kindergarten through college.

Supporters of the bill say it would protect women on sports teams from competition from transgender women, who they argue have a biological advantage in athletics.

“This is not a trans bill, it is a protection for women and for girls. In all reality, they still, as do girls, have opportunities to participate in athletics,” said Sen. Renee Erickson, a Wichita Republican who introduced the bill this session. “This is not keeping them from participating in sports, but we do need to protect that fairness for girls because we absolutely know that there are physiological differences that give males an advantage in competitions involving strength and endurance.”

Opponents say it undermines the school experience of transgender children and is another attempt at legislators to use them for political gain.

“Last year when the kids were at home for school online all day, a lot of kids were watching in real time the names they were being called by adults who should know better up here in Topeka, both legislators and people who were pushing to get last year’s bill past, and it’s getting to them,” said Thomas Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, an LGBTQ advocacy group. “This is very damaging to kids...the adults that are supposed to value them are trying to find ways to exclude and use them as a political punching bag.”

To Holly Terrill and her transgender son, Senate Bill 484, and others like it across the country, are dehumanizing.

Her son wanted nothing more than to run cross country at his Wichita middle school. He was allowed to do so, but not before he and Terrell had to fill out paperwork attesting to his gender identification and the team he would be a part of.

“It was a very uncomfortable process for me as a parent, which means it was tremendously more uncomfortable for my child who’s experiencing what feels like prejudice,” Terrill said.

“And, you know, not that there’s any kind of fortunate situation here, but unfortunately transgender female athletes tend to get a lot more negative repercussions as you see in this bill…So it was a little bit easier for my transgender male son to participate in the sports, than potentially would’ve been had he identified as a different gender identity.”

Similar legislation has been introduced in several states, including Indiana, Kentucky and Wyoming. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a ban on transgender athletes earlier this month.

Missouri lawmakers have held hearings on their own version of the bills in recent weeks. On Tuesday, the Missouri Senate Education Committee voted to send to the floor a measure that would, according to the legislation, prohibit anyone assigned male at birth from participating in girls or women’s sports.

Texas and Florida have introduced bills going beyond banning transgender athletes from sports. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state child welfare officials to launch child abuse investigations of parents whose transgender children are receiving gender-affirming medical care. Florida lawmakers passed a “Don’t Say Gay” bill that prohibits education on gender identity and sexual orientation in the state’s primary schools.

“For transgender kids, there is an emotional exhaustion that comes if you’re not able to live your life authentically, so that you know who you are, but you’re not able to express that to the rest of the world,” said Rep. Stephanie Byers, a Wichita Democrat and the first transgender lawmaker in the Kansas legislature. “You’re kind of pushed into this dark space within your own self.”

The bill passed both the Senate and House of Representatives last session before it was vetoed by Kelly. The Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed to override.

Sen. John Doll, a Garden City Republican who voted against the bill last session, told the Topeka Capital-Journal he would reluctantly vote in favor of it when it comes up for a vote. He was one of three Senate Republicans who opposed the bill.

The Star’s Jon Shorman contributed reporting.

This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 7:25 PM with the headline "Kansas lawmakers take aim again at banning transgender women from women’s sports."