Transgender rights take center stage in Wichita mayor’s race. Where do candidates stand?

The winner of Wichita’s mayoral election will likely play a pivotal role in the future of transgender rights in Kansas’ largest city. And passions about the issue are running high on the campaign trail, with recent blowups at a Wichita Pride Parade and a candidate forum.

In Wichita, a 2021 nondiscrimination ordinance stands in the way of sweeping anti-trans legislation that bars transgender Kansans from single-sex spaces inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth and from competing in girls’ sports.

But members of the LGBTQ community and allies are on high alert as the Kansas Legislature and Attorney General Kris Kobach appear poised to challenge the city’s protections for transgender people.

The Wichita nondiscrimination ordinance, or NDO, prohibits discrimination in Wichita based on gender identity and a list of other protected categories with regard to housing, employment and public accommodations, allowing exemptions for religious organizations. The city can levy civil penalties of up to $2,000 for violations and city contractors are required to follow the ordinance.

Two big-name candidates — Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple, who pushed to put the NDO in place, and former City Council member Jared Cerullo, the first openly gay man on the council who worked to make the NDO stronger — told The Eagle they would fight as mayor to protect transgender rights at the local level against challenges from the state.

“You can’t legislate away someone’s identity,” Whipple said. “People have tried, but history is filled with failed attempts to do so that have caused more problems than solutions. We will continue to protect every Wichitan until a judge forces us to stop. We’ll keep fighting until the courts tell us, ‘No, discrimination is legal across the land.’”

“I will fight like hell to make sure that our city continues to be the most welcoming and inviting and equal city in the state,” Cerullo said.

Whipple and Cerullo said the city’s NDO protects transgender people against recent legislation aimed at limiting which restroom they can use and blocking transgender youth from competing in girls’ sports, with some exceptions for nonprofits and religious institutions. They both said the NDO prevents discrimination against trans athletes at city-owned sports facilities, such as Stryker Sports Complex, the Wichita Tennis Center and the Wichita Ice Center.

“If any group wants to come in and break any ordinance that’s currently on the books, then they can’t use the facilities,” Cerullo said.

“When I go to the bathroom, especially in a public place, all I care about is doing my business and getting the hell out of there,” Cerullo said. “And that’s all I believe anybody else should worry about.”

Celeste Racette, who worked as a banking industry watchdog for 25 years and founded Save Century II, said she is supportive of the LGBTQ community but not an expert on issues that are important to transgender people. She said she would seek guidance from the city’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Civil Rights Advisory Board before taking any actions to protect transgender rights.

Racette would not say where she stands on bathrooms and sports teams.

“When it comes to ethics and internal auditing and financial, man, I can nail it — you can ask me anything you want,” Racette said. “But this needs to be with the people who are experts. I’m not an expert, and I admit that freely. . . . So for me to presume I know all of the complexities and that my judgment is more important than a group of individuals who are committed to coming up with how we move forward in the city, that would be pretty egotistical of me to say, ‘This is what they should do.’”

Political newcomer Julie Rose Stroud said she agrees with the NDO and that transgender rights should be protected. But she said she would need to speak more with transgender people before forming an opinion on bathrooms and sports.

“Discrimination only hurts a community,” she said.

Two others — City Council member Bryan Frye and former TV news reporter Lily Wu — sent written statements and would not answer questions about how they would approach transgender issues as mayor.

“I support people making decisions for themselves and the limited role of local government,” Wu’s statement said. “As mayor, I’ll be focused on our city’s core services, public safety, strengthening our economy, restoring trust in city hall, and building a united community. I’ll work with anyone who wants to improve our city, bring our community together, find common ground, and make Wichita proud.”

Wu did not respond to follow-up questions.

Frye, who attempted to block the NDO in 2021 but voted for the final version, said in a recent interview on the John Whitmer radio show that he only voted for it because he knew Whipple had enough votes to pass it, and he wanted to send a message that Wichita is welcoming. He also suggested that message could have been sent without passing an ordinance.

“I thought the end of the day, the best message was, and the reason I voted yes, was because of the message that it was sending, right? And if we could have done that differently, I don’t think we even needed a vote.”

In a statement sent in response to The Eagle’s questions about his views on transgender rights, Frye did not mention gender.

“I supported the NDO because no one, no matter race, sex, or religion, should be discriminated against anywhere,” Frye’s statement said. “Wichita needs to be known as an inviting city. More importantly, Wichita must be known as a safe city. Individuals and families should expect a right to privacy and safety throughout Wichita.”

Frye would not answer questions on transgender people being allowed to use restrooms of their preference or participate in youth sports that align with their gender identities.

“Crime is the real issue here,” Frye said in a written response to those questions. “I do not see the value in directing Wichitans toward manufactured fears fueled by conflict-hungry press seeking to sell click bait headlines. I know the issues. And I know my community.”

Trans community watches closely

Taylor Darling, a Black transgender woman and Wichita voter, said the fear created by attacks on trans rights in Kansas is very real for the trans community. And it’s an issue that mayoral candidates should address, she said.

“The mayor would have a very important role in keeping that nondiscrimination ordinance intact, especially in our political climate because we have seen, not only here in Kansas but across the nation, really targeted attacks from legislatures against trans rights,” Darling said.

Darling said she and others within the transgender community are watching candidates closely because their safety depends on it.

“The problem with not answering these types of questions directly is that it leaves the space for interpretation, and the way that we’ve been seeing the sort of lack of acknowledgment of the real fear, and the real things that are happening to trans people,” Darling said.

“People like to think that trans people have this idea of victimhood,” Darling said. “And that we want to be seen as like special. But the reality is that we don’t want to be seen as special. We just want to live our lives every day like everybody else.”

Thea Howard, who identifies as a woman of transgender experience, recently moved to Wichita and said when candidates don’t answer questions about trans rights, it limits her options on who she can support.

“I think government’s job at any level is to protect the people,” Howard said. “And if the state’s not doing that, then seeing city officials standing up and not standing for hate, I think it says a whole lot. It makes it feel like a safer place, and I know that many trans individuals in the area do not feel safe here at all. . . . So unless a candidate comes out and is pretty bold about their support, then everyone’s going to have that fear that they will look the other way if something bad were to happen, especially if it had anything to do with legislation that’s going through.”

Whipple said the mayor can have enormous influence on how the city responds to state challenges.

“Being mayor isn’t just a question of can you make a public statement on this, values-wise,” Whipple said. “We will be in an executive session where no one else is there. No one else can hear you. You can’t talk about it at all. And we will be presented sometime in the future of a choice of do we retract protections for people in minority groups or do we fight back with a lawsuit? Somewhere down the line, as mayor, you will have to make that choice.

“It’s more than just how do you feel about this. That’s why it’s important to get someone in here who knows the system. Because if one pathway to equality is shut off, we’ll take another one,” Whipple said.

Passions run high

Transgender rights have taken a prominent role in the mayoral campaign after a series of public confrontations and accusations last week raised questions about where candidates stood on the issue.

It started when Chris Pumpelly, a Whipple campaign volunteer and president of the Wichita Park Board, shouted toward Racette and a group of her supporters at the Wichita Pride March. Pumpelly says he yelled, “beware of candidates who are showing up who are just here for photo ops.” Racette said he also suggested she had been cut from the parade lineup.

Racette and Jim Hall, president of Wichita Pride, said her campaign registered to be in the parade but failed to pay on time.

“She was among others that were not cut or disallowed but simply were no longer in the parade because they hadn’t paid their fees to be in the parade,” Hall said. “It was as simple as that. . . . It was one reason, and one reason only.”

The disagreement escalated on Monday night at the Sedgwick County Grassroots Democrats mayoral candidate forum, which Frye and Wu did not attend.

Cerullo, a Republican, accused Whipple of trying to push through an NDO in 2021 that did not offer protections to the LGBTQ community. The initial draft of the ordinance made it unenforceable, but Whipple later moved to change the ordinance after a public outcry and pushback from Cerullo that Whipple had not reached out to LGBTQ groups for input.

“He (Whipple) wanted to check off a box on his campaign website, and that’s an insult,” Cerullo said at the forum.

Whipple interrupted, calling Cerullo a liar multiple times and asking for an opportunity to respond. Instead, the moderator moved on to Racette, the next speaker.

As Whipple continued to talk during Racette’s turn to speak, former Sedgwick County Democratic Party Chairman and Racette supporter Kelly Johnston, shouted at the mayor, telling his fellow Democrat to “Shut up, mayor!”

“What did you just say?” Whipple said.

“Shut up, mayor!” Johnston shouted.

“No, I will not be told to shut up by someone,” Whipple said.

Racette attempted to reclaim her time to speak.

“I’m going to talk about the nondiscrimination ordinance,” Racette said. “And I fully support it. I put that on my website, and I have addressed this many times.” At the end of her answer, Racette called out Pumpelly, who was seated at the back of the room.

“I get tired of the animosity that’s shown to me by people, even at the Pride Parade yesterday. When we go to be inclusive and show support for gay, trans, bisexual — and I have some in my family — you all can be very divisive, and you’ve got to stop this,” she said.

”You don’t know what it was like back in the day, but I supported my husband operating (on people who had AIDS), I was a volunteer for Project AIDS, and I have — Don’t look at me like that, Chris,” Racette said to Pumpelly. “You were the one that yelled at me from the parade yesterday. You guys have got to stop being so divisive, I’m tellin’ ya.”

Whipple supporters and LGBTQ community members have accused Racette and Wu of dodging questions about transgender rights on social media, and both candidates have largely ignored those questions. In response, activists have posted screenshots of social media interactions with Racette they view as anti-trans and questioned a $50,000 donation by Wu’s boyfriend’s family to a political action committee that ran anti-trans political ads in 2022.

Racette and her supporters have called Whipple’s supporters — including Pumpelly — cyberbullies who attack anyone who disagrees with the mayor.

Pumpelly, who is a gay man, responded to Racette’s callout by yelling back at her, “you’re talking about my rights, Celeste.”

“You didn’t have any right to yell at me when you were in that parade,” Racette said.

“I said you were there for a photo op because you were,” Pumpelly shouted back.

Johnston, the Racette supporter who told Whipple to shut up, then approached Pumpelly and told him, “Now, it’s your turn to shut up,” a video obtained by The Eagle shows. Johnston declined to be interviewed for this story but acknowledged he told Whipple to shut up.

Pumpelly said when he shouted at Racette at the Pride Parade he was under the impression she had been removed from the parade because of concerns about her social media activity and non-responses to questions about her support of the LGBTQ community, an assertion that Hall rejected.

“We are watching like hawks on this,” Pumpelly said. “Because candidates do this all the time. They pretend to be allies and then they stab us in the back.”

Racette said she does not think Pumpelly and others within Whipple’s inner circle want to understand her position. She said tensions began when she broke from the Democratic Party in 2021 after she was scolded by party leaders for calling a special meeting to discuss ethics in the aftermath of Eagle reporting that showed City Council member Brandon Johnson voted on a contract that financially benefited a family friend and one of his board appointees.

Racette said Pumpelly should apologize for yelling at her and for spreading lies about why she wasn’t in the parade. She has also taken to Facebook to issue “Truth dare” challenges to several of Whipple’s supporters, which would require them to volunteer 500 hours each at a food pantry if their statements about why she wasn’t in the Pride Parade are false. None have agreed.

Pumpelly said he will not apologize. But he suggested he’s willing to bury the hatchet with Racette if she’s willing to stand up for the entire LGBTQ community against attacks from the Legislature.

“If she’s a real, sincere ally, this is a good opportunity for a first step,” Pumpelly said. “Let’s walk forward here. Let’s build some trust. Let’s show it. Time will tell. Meanwhile, this bickering is ridiculous.”