Rideshare company is offering a discount to trans Kansas residents
An international company is helping transgender Kansans move around after a new state law targeted approximately 1,800 trans residents’ driver’s licenses.
Rideshare service Lyft shared a discount code, along with heart and trans flag emojis, on its Threads account Saturday. The code TRANSJOY gives 50% (up to $10) off a ride through Monday, March 9.
This comes after the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas filed a lawsuit Wednesday attempting to block enforcement of a Kansas law that requires trans residents to change the gender marker on their driver’s licenses and to use public restrooms on government property in accordance with their sex assigned at birth.
The suit was filed on behalf of two anonymous plaintiffs affected by the law, who are trans men. One is a university employee whose job requires him to drive state-owned vehicles twice a day, and who regularly uses the men’s restroom closest to his office.
The other is a doctoral student who spends more than 60 hours a week on the university campus, where many buildings lack single-occupancy restrooms, the lawsuit says.
The ACLU’s petition argues that law’s requirements will limit transgender people’s ability to fully participate in society.
Isaac Johnson, an activist with the Trans Lawrence Coalition, said he was “stunned” and “genuinely blindsided” when he learned his driver’s licenses would be invalid less than 24 hours after receiving a notice letter in the mail.
Enacting the bill without a grace period has caused undue harm to residents, Johnson said.
“How am I supposed to drive to the DMV?” he said.
Johnson said he thinks lawmakers want to keep trans people out of public life.
“They’re punishing us so much because we have the audacity to just exist,” he said.
The Star’s Matthew Kelly contributed to this report.
