Transgender women and girls in Kansas will no longer be allowed to compete on sports teams from kindergarten through college consistent with their gender, after state lawmakers on Wednesday overrode a veto from their governor to enact the restriction.
The law is set to take effect on July 1.
Gov. Laura Kelly had vetoed HB 2238 – dubbed the “The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” – last month, marking the third time in three years she had rejected a transgender sports ban passed by the legislature. Of the latest effort, she said in her veto message: “Let’s be clear about that this bill is all about – politics.”
“It won’t increase any test scores. It won’t help any kids read or write. It won’t help any teachers prepare our kids for the real world. Here’s what this bill would actually do: harm the mental health of our students,” she said.
But on Wednesday, Kansas’ Republican-controlled legislature voted overwhelmingly along party lines – 84-40 in the House and 28-12 in the Senate – to bypass the governor.
“The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act protects the rights of female athletes in the state by requiring that female student athletic teams only include members who are biologically female,” Speaker of the House Dan Hawkins, Majority Leader Chris Croft and Speaker Pro Tem Blake Carpenter said in a joint statement.
Advocates of such measures have argued that transgender women and girls have physical advantages over cisgender women and girls in sports. But a 2017 report in the journal Sports Medicine that reviewed several related studies found “no direct or consistent research” on trans people having an athletic advantage over their cisgender peers, and critics say this legislation adds to the discrimination that trans people face, particularly trans youth.
Democratic state Rep. Heather Meyer, who…
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