Politicians attack transgender Kansans — and ignore health care experts | Opinion

For several legislative sessions now, Kansas lawmakers have devoted extraordinary attention to restricting the lives of transgender Kansans. The debates have grown louder, the rhetoric sharper and the political stakes higher. Yet through all of this, one basic fact has been almost entirely ignored: Every form of gender‑affirming care in Kansas is provided by physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists and medical specialists who are licensed by the state of Kansas itself.

These professionals are not fringe actors. They are not operating outside the law. They are vetted, credentialed and regulated by state boards whose sole purpose is to ensure that medical care in Kansas meets established standards of safety and professionalism. If a Kansan receives gender‑affirming care, it is because a state‑licensed professional determined that such care was medically appropriate.

This makes the Legislature’s current approach deeply inconsistent. If lawmakers truly believe that gender‑affirming care is harmful, fraudulent or scientifically unsound, then the logical place to focus their concern would be the licensing and regulatory systems that authorize these treatments. Kansas has well‑established mechanisms for evaluating medical practice: the Board of Healing Arts, the Board of Nursing and the Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board. These bodies exist precisely to review standards of care, investigate complaints and ensure that licensed professionals are practicing responsibly.

Yet the Legislature has not challenged these boards. It has not convened hearings to examine the science. It has not reviewed the licensing standards. It has not questioned the regulatory framework that governs medical practice in our state. Instead, lawmakers have chosen to target the patients — the people with the least power, the least institutional authority and the least ability to defend themselves in the political arena.

This approach is not about medical oversight. It is about political symbolism. Kansas cannot claim to respect professional licensing while simultaneously undermining the legitimacy of the professionals it licenses. We cannot claim to value limited government while inserting legislative power into private medical decisions already overseen by regulatory bodies. And we cannot claim to support Kansas families while stigmatizing children and adults who are simply following the medical advice of state‑approved experts.

If legislators believe the science is flawed, they should address the science. If they believe the standards of care are inadequate, they should address the standards. If they believe the licensing boards are failing, they should address the boards. But attacking patients — instead of the systems the state itself created — is not responsible governance. It is a refusal to engage with the actual structures of medical regulation.

Kansans deserve a Legislature that operates with logic, consistency and respect for the people it serves. We deserve leaders who address concerns at their source, not those who turn vulnerable residents of our state into political targets while ignoring the professionals and institutions they themselves empower. Kansas is better than this. It is time for our lawmakers to act like it

Pastor David Howard Wilkinson is digital prophet of Saint Tech Church of Jesus Inc. in Lawrence.