Kelly vetoes Kansas ban on trans athletes in girls sports, setting up override fight
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly Friday vetoed the GOP-controlled Legislature’s third attempt at banning transgender athletes from girls and women’s sports.
The Democratic governor reaffirmed her belief that the legislation was unnecessary and divisive when the Kansas High School Sports Association already had policies designed to address transgender athletes seeking to compete on teams that match their gender identity.
“Let’s be clear about what 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,” Kelly said in a veto message.
Kelly vetoed roughly identical bills in 2021 and 2022, but both times the GOP-controlled Legislature failed to override her. This year, however, both chambers appeared to have a veto-proof two-thirds majority when they sent the legislation to Kelly’s desk.
Enacting the policy has been a key priority of GOP leadership in the House and Senate this year. The bill will be the first override fight in Kelly’s second term.
Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, declared in a statement that “candidate Kelly is gone” and vowed to override the governor.
“Now that she no longer has to face the voters, the Governor has done another about face. The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act was passed in the Kansas House and Senate with broad support to protect the rights of female athletes in the state by requiring that female student athletic teams only include members who are biologically female. This is common sense,” Hawkins said.
Proponents of the bill frame it as a matter of fairness. Athletes who are not born female, they say, have an inherent advantage over those who are.
Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, said Kelly was siding with “the most radical elements of her party.”
But opponents say it is a blatant attack on transgender youth. According to the Kansas High School Activities Association, just three transgender girls have sought to compete in girls sports.
They point to other bills targeting transgender youth — including a bill banning hormone therapy and transition surgery for minors — as evidence that fairness was never the goal.
The sports legislation in Kansas is part of an onslaught of anti-LGBTQ legislation, which has been filed in statehouses nationwide. A tracker from the American Civil Liberties Union has indentified 426 state bills targeting the LGBTQ community nationally, including 12 in Kansas.
Thomas Alonzo, chair of Equality Kansas, said the LGBTQ rights organization would work diligently to sustain the veto.
“Here we go again, three years in a row,” Alonzo said. “The Legislature doesn’t need to be sticking their fingers in on this again. I thought they were supposed to be about keeping out of our lives as much as possible.”
In the House, two Republicans voted against the bill. But one Democrat voted for the legislation. If no votes change, and Republicans absent from the first vote vote yes, the House will have 84 votes to override a veto.
However, there is likely to be immense pressure from activists, party leaders and colleagues on Rep. Ford Carr, a freshman Democrat from Wichita who voted yes, to change his vote.
Carr said Friday he had no plans to change his vote and didn’t expect much pressure from his colleagues.
“I haven’t considered it any further,” he said.
Brittany Jones, a lobbyist for Kansas Family Voice who has pushed for the legislation, pointed to the vote count as evidence that the bill would become law despite Kelly’s opposition.
“It’s long past time we get this done,”she said.
This story was originally published March 17, 2023 at 3:09 PM.
