LGBTQ+ activist says SB 180 bill is causing confusion

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Transgender activists say Kansas lawmakers are causing confusion in their fight over a new state law defining biological gender.

Kansas Attorney General, Kris Kobach issued his official opinion Monday on the so-called Women’s Bill of Rights. He said birth certificates and driver’s licenses must reflect the gender assigned at birth and any that had been changed must be changed back.

“The idea is to protect the definition of women as one that reflects the biological fact of one either being a male or female at birth,” says Kobach.

LGBTQ-plus activist and President of Loud Light, Davis Hammet says the bill is confusing and unnecessary.

“Right now this week a bunch of Kansans are having to think about transgender Kansans and what are their rights and try to think about birth certificates and what do they mean but really most folks should have never had to think about this. This was a settled thing it was adjusted, it wasn’t impacting anyone’s life it was accommodating transgender folks and now the legislature has blown this up,” says Hammet.

Kansas Governor, Laura Kelly says her administration disagrees with Kobach’s opinion.

Kelly issued a statement Thursday stating agencies like KDHE and the Revenue Department will continue to follow their existing policies under a 2019 federal court order, transgender Kansans may obtain birth certificates affirming their gender identity.

Her office also says the law cannot apply retroactively so existing documents don’t have to be changed back.

Kobach called Kelly’s statement nonsense stating she can’t ignore a law passed by the legislature and pushed through her attempt to veto it.

He promised to see the governor in court.

Senate President, Ty Masterson also weighed in saying he supports “aggressive action” from Kobach against what he calls “radical” ideology from the governor.

Hammet believes the bill will cause more issues.

“Did the state have a reason that they needed to do this that is not malice? It’s not being confused or scared because someone is different than you does the state have a governmental justifiable reason to do this and did they narrowly tailor the law to achieve that outcome and the answer here is clearly no! The state doesn’t have a reason to throw transgender’s lives into chaos,” says Hammet.

The law is set to take effect on July 1st.

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