Kansas governor rejects transgender athletes ban amid national debate

Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed Friday a invoice that may ban transgender athletes in ladies’ and ladies’s sports activities, the second yr in a row she has made such a transfer.

Kelly once more raised issues concerning the impression such a coverage would have on transgender youth in Kansas.

“All of us desire a honest and protected place for our children to play and compete,” Kelly mentioned in her veto message. “Nonetheless, this invoice did not come from the specialists at our colleges, our athletes, or the Kansas State Excessive Faculty Actions Affiliation. It got here from politicians making an attempt to attain political factors.” 

She additionally argued the laws would damage the state’s potential to lure companies to Kansas in gentle of boycott threats from main firms and the Nationwide Collegiate Athletic Affiliation.

“It could ship a sign to potential firms that Kansas is extra centered on pointless and divisive laws than strategic, pro-growth lawmaking,” she mentioned.

Beforehand:Transgender athletes ban despatched to Gov. Laura Kelly with out a veto-proof majority

Senate Invoice 160 arrived at Kelly’s desk after fierce debate within the Legislature, with Republicans as soon as once more unable to safe the two-thirds supermajority wanted to overturn a veto.

Kelly joins her Republican counterparts in Indiana and Utah, who additionally vetoed related payments earlier this yr, in addition to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, who rejected his state’s model final week.

Critics have mentioned the hassle is merely a approach of attacking LGBT youth, pointing to the truth that the invoice may apply to student-athletes in center and even elementary college.

Beneath the invoice, governing our bodies, such because the Kansas State Excessive Faculty Actions Affiliation or the NCAA, could be unable to take motion in opposition to colleges for complying with the invoice. And any student-athlete who felt aggrieved may file a civil lawsuit to recoup damages and attorneys’ charges.

The highschool actions affiliation would even be required to develop rules on the matter, although the regulatory physique already has some insurance policies on transgender athletes.

Proponents of the hassle have framed the measure as a approach of defending the integrity of women and girls’s sports activities, noting the inherent organic variations between female and male athletes.

Whereas solely a handful of transgender athletes have competed in Kansas, advocates for the invoice argue it’s wanted to forestall the pattern from reaching the Sunflower State and level to transgender athletes in NCAA and highschool competitions nationally.

However legislative Republicans will as soon as once more wrestle to beat Kelly’s veto.

In 2021, members tried to override the veto however fell one vote shy within the Kansas Senate. That vote tally stays unchanged, regardless that Sen. John Doll, R-Backyard Metropolis, has waivered and mentioned he may help the invoice.

However even when the Senate can obtain the required 27-vote threshold, the Kansas Home will wrestle to observe go well with after 5 Republicans joined all Democrats in voting no.

“Folks have been voting their conscience all the way in which alongside,” Rep. Bradley Ralph, R-Dodge Metropolis, who opposed the invoice, mentioned. “That is the place I have been and I feel individuals perceive that … This can be a principled vote for anybody who makes this vote and it’s not a type of you sway forwards and backwards relying on the day or the week.”

Andrew Bahl is a senior statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He may be reached at abahl@gannett.com or by telephone at 443-979-6100.