Kansas lawmakers send transgender athletes ban to Gov. Laura Kelly, where veto threat looms

Lawmakers on Thursday voted to send a ban on transgender athletes in grades K-12 to Gov. Laura Kelly's desk for a third straight year, setting up a near-certain showdown over whether the Legislature has sufficient support to override the governor's likely veto.

Kelly's office wouldn't commit on whether the governor would again reject the legislation. Her spokesperson, Brianna Johnson, said the governor will evaluate the bill when it arrives on her desk and "she will want to avoid unnecessary divisiveness and do what’s best for students, families, and businesses here in Kansas."

But speaking with reporters last month, Kelly said the string of anti-transgender bills in the Legislature "just needs to stop."

"This is an ideological statement has nothing to do with the welfare of the state of Kansas and doing nothing in the interest of their constituents," she said.

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The Kansas Senate approved House Bill 2238 on a 28-11 vote, following in the footsteps of their counterparts in the House.

This puts them on track to be able to override a potential veto from Kelly. The House also appears to have the required two-thirds majority to overcome a veto, though this is contingent on Rep. Ford Carr, D-Wichita, the only Democrat to support the bill, to continue to do so.

Sen Brenda Dietrich, R-Topeka, was the only Republican to join all Democrats in opposing the bill. Sens. Rick Kloos, R-Berryton, and Kristen O'Shea, R-Topeka, voted for the legislation.

During debate Wednesday, Dietrich urged lawmakers to vote in favor of an ill-fated amendment that would have excluded elementary school students from the bill's provisions, arguing it would "open up an entirely different can of worms that I believe is harmful."

As the bill currently is written, transgender individuals would be excluded from K-6 athletics, even though they are not regulated by the Kansas State High School Activities Association, if two teams competing were school-sponsored.

"I’ve spent my entire life trying to take very good care of our kids," said Dietrich, a former superintendent of Auburn-Washburn Unified School District 437. "That absolutely is not appropriate. It is not."

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Sen. Renee Erickson, R-Wichita, argued that girls who compete in high-level athletics don't begin to do so only in high school.

"This bill doesn’t do the fearmongering that I’m hearing," she said.

Proponents of the bill have argued it is necessary given biological differences between women and men, pointing to a series of examples in other states. Critics have countered that there are only three transgender athletes competing in afterschool activities in Kansas, terming it a solution in search of a problem.

"It is shameful that we’re spending International Women's Day prohibiting women and girls from living authentically, fully and vibrantly," said Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, D-Lenexa. "Trans girls are girls, trans women are women and we should be ashamed to be party to these vicious attacks on them."

But Erickson pointed to the high-profile case of University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who tied with a transgender swimmer in the NCAA finals in 2021.

Gaines has testified in support of the bill nationally and appeared in television advertisements during last year's gubernatorial race, as Republican nominee Derek Schmidt vigorously campaigned on the issue.

"What about her mental health, what about her rights?" Erickson said. "What about the other girls in the locker room that day?