Taryn Jones, a lobbyist for Equality Kansas, has fought against similar legislation for years. She said she’s grateful for Kelly’s willingness to defend trans youth in the state, and that her veto gives them a fighting chance at defeating this legislation.

“Last year the health care bill passed and without her, it would have been law,” she said. “It’s so important – especially for young people who don’t have a lot of hope right now – to see a governor who is willing to stand behind them despite what the Legislature is doing.”

Twenty-two states, including Missouri, ban gender-affirming care for minors. The Kansas bill is the latest in a series of nearly 500 Republican bills targeting transgender individuals across the country, according to an American Civil Liberties Union bill tracker.

Opponents of the legislation warn this year’s bill restricting gender-affirming care is far worse than last year’s, and that it will cause irreversible damage to transgender youth.

Elise Flatland is a Wichita mother of two transgender children aged 11 and 15. She recently told The Star that if the bill is enacted in Kansas, she would leave the state and move to an area where her children could access gender-affirming care.

She said the health care saved the life of her 11-year-old, who was suicidal before he received treatment.

“If this passes, I would have to get medical treatment for my kids elsewhere,” she said. “ I have the means to do that at this point, and I will. If it was unsafe here, we would leave. And that’s what these laws do, they challenge the safety of my kids.”

The bill includes unclear language, opponents say. The bill says that “state employees” who work with children may not promote a trans child’s social transition, meaning they could be barred from using a minor’s preferred pronouns or allow them to dress in accordance with their gender identity.

Because “state employees” is undefined, it’s unclear whether it would prohibit people like public school teachers, social workers and foster care workers from supporting a minor’s social transition.

D.C. Hiergert, an attorney who is the LGBTQ+ fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said that while it’s clear the legislation would restrict gender-affirming care for transgender individuals under 18, there is a lot of gray area in the bill that would make other effects unclear.

“It doesn’t just restrict that gender-affirming care,” Hiegert said. “It has language that could impact mental health care funding, and language that would prevent trans children’s ability to wear the clothing they feel comfortable in or use the pronouns they feel good using.”

“Those are the parts of the bill that are written extremely broadly and we’re concerned about. There’s potential to be misinterpreted, or to cause fear among the community or be used in wrong ways by bad actors,” Hiegert continued.

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