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Kansas’ transgender bathroom bill shaped by out-of-staters

The infamous $2,500 “bounty” provision and the name of Kansas’ proposed “Student Physical Privacy Act” mirror model legislation from “a massive, deep-pocketed network of lawyers called Alliance Defending Freedom,” Mother Jones reported. Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, R-Shawnee, told the magazine: “We thought it did a good job of being thorough and concise, so we adopted parts of it.” Kansas’ bill would mandate that transgender students at public K-12 schools and universities use the restroom or locker room corresponding to their sex as determined by their chromosomes and birth anatomy, entitling an “aggrieved student” who spotted a violator and sued to collect $2,500 for each encounter. The Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom also has testified at the Statehouse against legislation to protect gay, lesbian and transgender Kansans from discrimination. – Rhonda Holman

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