Kansas Republican Votes No On Trans Ban: "Govt. Involvement Is Not The Answer"

Representative Concannon, a Republican Representative, voted to sustain a veto of a gender affirming care ban in Kansas. Her vote, and others, signal a potential turning point among Republicans.

Representative Concannon Explains Her No Vote.

On Monday, the Kansas Legislature met to vote on Senate Bill 233, a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth and impose strict restrictions on social transitions in any publicly funded buildings, including schools. The Legislature had previously passed the bill, but it was vetoed by Governor Laura Kelly. Republicans, who had enough votes to override the veto, were expected to do so and ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth. However, at the last moment, two Republicans, Representatives Susan Concannon and Jesse Borjon, unexpectedly broke ranks and voted to sustain the veto, preventing the bill from being signed into law.

Representative Concannon, who had previously voted in favor of the bill, reversed her decision and stepped forward to explain why, stating, “We hear of bullying and ask authorities to make it stop. We hear about mental health, about suicide, and ask why. We’re not listening to the impacted youth. Government involvement is not the answer. I voted for this bill in the past due to concerns about the surgery. With further consideration, this bill is vague beyond the surgery. These decisions belong between the team of professionals and the parents. The youth need our help, not government overreach. For all those who reached out, I hear you, and vote to sustain the governor’s veto.”

See her speech and the failure of the bill’s passage here:

Kansas has been a lightning rod for anti-trans legislation in recent years, and the defeat of a gender-affirming care ban in the state is likely to be seen as a big surprise among those following anti-LGBTQ+ legislation nationwide. Previously, Kansas Republicans had passed a bill banning transgender individuals from bathrooms and ending legal recognition of their gender identities. This led Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach to force transgender people to have their driver’s licenses and birth certificates reversed. That law placed Kansas among the states with some of the harshest laws toward transgender people in the United States, leading some to view the passage of a gender-affirming care ban for youth as a foregone conclusion.

However, recent months have cast doubt on the willingness of Republicans nationwide to continue targeting transgender people using the legislative process, at least prior to the upcoming election, where such positions may be seen as ideologically extreme. Several other states that have led the charge in legislation targeting transgender and LGBTQ+ people failed to pass any significant anti-trans or anti-LGBTQ+ legislation this year, including Florida, West Virginia, Georgia, and Iowa. In a recent interview with Casey Parks of The Washington Post, Sarah Parshall Perry of the Heritage Foundation stated, “We’re finding this to be sort of a lightning rod issue...I think there is some legislative will to try to back off a little bit and possibly pump the brakes on what had been previously a more aggressive approach.”

Sensing such shifts, there has also been more effort in lobbying centrist and conservative legislators while appealing to values that resonate with conservatives, such as control of one’s health care, privacy rights, and personal liberty. One such group is GRACE For America, an organization that describes itself as focusing on “the movable middle” and “the middle right” in outreach and education. A recent video from the group, for instance, features a combat veteran who speaks about his advocacy for his own transgender child. When asked about the Kansas vote, a member of the organization stated, “We fully support these brave Republican legislators in Kansas for exemplifying the values of liberty, respect, and dignity—not just for transgender people but for parents and families who understand that decisions on health care belong with them and not government officials. Their actions demonstrate that transgender rights can be bipartisan, and we are grateful to see more Republicans adopting this approach and call on others to learn from these examples.”

One of the major groups in Kansas doing such outreach has been Equality Kansas, which was part of a coalition of statewide organizations lobbying the legislature to sustain the veto. These organizations include the ACLU of Kansas, Kansas Interfaith Action, Loud Light Civic Action, Mainstream, Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, Trust Women Foundation, and Transformations. Collectively, they led thousands of phone calls and emails to legislators in the state. Equality Kansas responded to the defeat, stating, “We are relieved that the House Republicans took time to listen to trans folks and take a step back to look at what is going on—that SB 233 and bills like it are founded in hate, not in fact. We need and will continue to work to engage Kansas community members and educate legislators.”

Had the bill passed, it would have been one of the most extreme bills targeting transgender youth in the United States. It not only would have banned surgery for trans teens, an exceedingly rare occurrence, but also hormone therapy and puberty blockers. Moreover, it would have barred state employees from "promoting social transition." Social transition usually includes simple things such as pronouns, names, hairstyles, and clothing. Many opposed to the bill interpreted it as potentially having far-reaching consequences for any teens who wished to go by different pronouns or names in schools, and could potentially have forbidden state employees from recognizing such transitions or expressions of gender identity.

Now with Republican defections, this bill will not become law in Kansas, giving Kansans who live under some of the harshest anti-trans laws in the United States some reprieve when it comes to their medical care.