Kansas Republicans approve Trans Sports Ban

 

Republicans generally don’t believe transgender identities are valid or worthy of respect.

Republican politicians often focus intensely on issues where they can present transgender identities, and transgender people, as harmful, threatening, and dangerous.

Republican politicians have made opposition to transgender rights a centerpiece of their platforms and campaigns at the state and federal level.

 

Women's and girls' sports are one of the places where Republicans say transgender people create problems.

Republicans say transgender female athletes have an unfair advantage compared to cisgender female athletes. 

And they generally do so by referring to transgender girls as boys, and transgender women as men. 

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley even said, "the women's issue of our time" are the problems created by "biological boys playing in girls' sports." 

After three years of obsessive focus, Kansas Republicans were finally able to approve a transgender sports ban in 2023.

 

 

 

Context

 

Republicans have advanced an avalanche of proposed legislation in the last few years to limit the rights of transgender people.

604 anti-trans bills were considered across the US in 2023, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker, a research organization which tracks bills that impact transgender and gender-diverse people.

87 of these bills were passed into law.

 

Even more anti-trans bills were considered this year.

652 anti-trans bills were considered in the US in 2024, 45 of which were passed into law.

 

 

(Graph from Trans Legislation Tracker) 

 

 

Republicans across the country have prioritized banning transgender girls and women from female athletics.

23 states, including Kansas, have enacted laws that restrict the participation of transgender girls in sports, according to an ESPN article published in August 2023. 

 

(ESPN Infographic) 

 

 

The issue has been a national priority for Republicans as well. 

In 2023, Republicans passed a bill in the US House that would prevent transgender women and girls from competing in female school athletics. 

The US Senate did not vote on the bill.

 

 

History

 

The Kansas Legislature approved a transgender sports ban, by successfully overriding Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto, in 2023. Kelly is a Democrat.

Kansas Republicans tried unsuccessfully to enact a transgender sports ban in 2021 and 2022.

In 2021, the Kansas Legislature failed to override Kelly’s veto.

In 2022, the Kansas Senate overrode Kelly’s veto, but the Kansas House fell three votes short.

 

In the 2022 Kansas Governor’s race, Derek Schmidt (R) criticized Kelly’s opposition to the transgender sports ban. 

Schmidt held a press conference where he said he would sign a trans sports ban into law, if he was elected governor. 

Schmidt also discussed the topic on social media. 

"I can say with no uncertainty that biological men should not be sharing locker rooms with female athletes or competing in girls' sports," Schmidt wrote on Twitter. "Kansas Legislature: send the Fairness in Women's Sports Act to my desk w/in the first 100 days I’m in office. Unlike Gov Kelly, I'll sign it!" 

As you can see, Schmidt refused to acknowledge the gender identities of the transgender athletes who he wanted to ban from women's sports. 

Transgender participation in women’s and girls’ sports became one of many issues debated during the gubernatorial campaign.

Kelly narrowly won the Kansas Governor’s race by 2.2%.

 

 

 

 

What the law does

 

Before we examine arguments for and against the law, let’s take a look at what the law actually does.

 

Under the law, schools must create sports that are designated for males, females, or both.

Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls, aren’t open to students of the male sex.

This prohibits transgender girls and transgender women from playing in girls’ and women’s sports.

The law applies to sports sponsored by public K-12 schools, public colleges, as well as private K-12 schools and private colleges whose students compete against teams from public schools or public colleges.

Supporters of the law named the legislation the, “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.”

 

 

 

Only a few athletes

 

Republicans have focused relentlessly on transgender participation in girls’ and women’s sports, even though few transgender athletes compete in female athletics.

 

The Kansas Reflector has done a great job covering the transgender sports ban and other anti-trans bills in Kansas.

The Kansas Reflector quoted members of the Kansas Senate during debate on the transgender sports ban earlier this year. 

 

 

Pat Pettey, a Democratic Senator from Kansas City, said only three transgender girls were known to have registered among 41,000 girls taking part in events administered by the Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA).   

Pettey said Republicans advocated for the bill despite a lack of complaints about transgender students.

She said research demonstrated adolescent participation in sports improved students’ grades, self-esteem, and aspiration in terms of a college education.

“Yet, we want to talk about denying that opportunity to a segment of our children,” Pettey said. “This bill is not about fairness or women’s sports. It’s about discrimination. It’s an insult to female athletes.”

 

 

Sen. Renee Erickson, a Wichita Republican, called arguments against the bill a “distraction,” and said not enough people understood the path to a college sports scholarship begins in elementary school.

“If a boy is allowed to take a spot away from any girl, and she doesn’t get that chance to participate, that’s not right,” she said. “The opponents don’t seem concerned about the trophies, placements and championships that are lost by Kansas girls if we don’t pass this.”

 

 

Kansas isn’t the only state with a small number of potential transgender female athletes.

In 2022, a similar Kentucky law prevented the state’s only known transgender student athlete, a 13-year-old middle school student, from playing on a field hockey team she helped create, according to the Washington Post.

 

 

 

Discussion

 

It’s possible to imagine scenarios where transgender women and girls could present challenges to fairness in female athletics.

But I believe it’s critical to consider the small number of transgender students whose participation are at issue in these debates.

It is so rare for trans girls and trans women to participate in school sports that it can be hard to know the exact number with certainty.

But I believe the state of Kansas can reasonably accommodate three students without meaningful impact on the competitiveness of girls’ and women’s sports.

 

Special considerations might need to be made when considering fairness in professional sports, regarding the inclusion of transgender athletes. I choose not to share a position on those issues at this time.

 

Republicans worry a trans girl could take away a spot on a sports team from a cis girl.

If that’s truly their concern, simply recruit one additional student for the team.

 

 

Republicans often express concerns about transgender girls sharing locker rooms with cisgender girls.

Transgender women and girls have never posed a threat to the safety of cisgender women and girls in public restrooms or locker rooms.

But I can easily understand privacy concerns, particularly in locker rooms that don’t offer athletes sufficient privacy from the wondering eyes of their teammates.

I see no problem with requiring a transgender athlete to change in a locker room 5 or 10 minutes before or after the rest of their team, if anyone raises privacy concerns.

A transgender athlete may prefer to change at the same time as their teammates, in the additional privacy of a closed bathroom stall.

Either of these methods should resolve any legitimate concerns surrounding locker rooms.

 

 

I can understand how someone who finished fourth might be upset if the participation of a trans athlete prevented them from medaling in a sport.

But I don’t believe it’s fair to require trans women and girls to choose between competing on the men’s or boys’ team, where they might not feel comfortable, or not competing in sports at all.

 

I believe creating institutions that are open to and accepting of transgender people is critically important.

There may be some tradeoffs involved in doing so, but I believe transgender people, and society, would ultimately be better off if trans people are able to fully, and openly, participate in public life.

Generally speaking, the tradeoffs required to allow transgender people to equally participate in public life are quite small.

 

 

 

Legislative History

 

After the Kansas Legislature passed the law, Gov. Kelly vetoed it.

Kelly said the law would be bad for both students and the state.

“As I’ve said before, we all want a fair and safe place for our kids to play and compete,” Kelly wrote in her veto message.

“That’s why I support KSHSAA, which was set up to ensure nobody has an unfair advantage on the playing field. The Legislature should let the Association do its job.

“Let’s be clear about what this bill is all about — politics. It won’t increase any test scores. It won’t help any kids read or write. It won’t help any teachers prepare our kids for the real world. 

"Here’s what this bill would actually do: harm the mental health of our students. That’s exactly why Republican governors have joined me in vetoing similar bills.

“This bill would also reverse the progress we’ve made in recruiting businesses and creating jobs. It would send a signal to prospective companies that Kansas is more focused on unnecessary and divisive legislation than becoming a place where young people want to work and raise a family.”

 

 

The Kansas House voted 84 to 40 to overturn Kelly’s veto.

The bill received the exact number of votes necessary to override the veto.

83 Republicans and 1 Democrat, Marvin Robinson, voted in favor of the bill.

38 Democrats and 2 Republicans, David Younger and Mark Schreiber, voted against the bill.

Louis Ruiz (D) was absent for the vote.

 

The Kansas Senate voted 28 to 12 to overturn Kelly’s veto.

The legislation received one more vote than it needed to successfully override the veto.

28 Republicans voted in favor of the bill.

11 Democrats and 1 Republican, Brenda Dietrich, voted against the bill.

 

With just enough votes in the House, the Kansas Legislature overrode Kelly’s veto, passing the transgender sports ban into law.

 

 

 

What now?

 

The law could be challenged in court if someone adversely affected by the policy files a legal challenge.

The Kansas Legislature never repeals anti-LGBT legislation, even after public opinion changes or a court strikes down a discriminatory law.

But there are always new ways the Kansas Legislature could harass transgender people.

If you would like to protect transgender rights in Kansas from future Republican anti-trans efforts, you can donate to Kansas Democrats running in competitive legislative races.

Doing so would help break the Republican Supermajority in the Kansas Legislature, and make it harder for Republicans to pass laws that harm transgender Kansans.