Kansas Bill Barring Trans People From Changing Their Names Goes to Guv’s Desk
‘FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES’
The legislation, which is expected to be vetoed, also prevents transgender people from changing their name or gender on documents like their driver’s license or birth certificate.
Kansas lawmakers voted Tuesday to send a bill to the governor’s desk preventing transgender individuals from changing their name on public documents—like driver’s licenses and birth certificates—or using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. Democratic. Gov. Laura Kelly is expected to veto the legislation, but the Kansas Senate approved it by a margin of 28-12, clearing the bar needed to override her office by one vote. As the Kansas House met to consider the legislation last week, more than 200 people rallied outside the State Capitol to protest it. “We are in a fight for our lives,” an organizer there said, according to The Topeka Capital-Journal. A trans teenager told the Associated Press: “I am what they are scared of. I am a human being and I deserve to be treated as such, and I deserve to be happy. I shouldn’t have to argue for this.”
