Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach confirmed that transgender people are not able to change their gender on state records – including a driver’s license – under a new Women’s Bill of Rights law passed by Kansas Republicans, vetoed by the Democratic governor, then ultimately overridden by the conservative majority.
“It is a bill that simply defines male and female in Kansas law,” said Kobach, according to The Hutchinson Post. “It’s kind of amazing that we even need to have a law like this, but that’s where we are as a country. It simply states that, for all state recordkeeping and data that the state maintains, a man is someone who is a male at birth and a woman is a person who is a female at birth.”
Kobach also clarified that those who changed their legal gender thanks to the previous policy of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly will have the changes reversed.
The law will not apply “for 99% of us,” noted Kobach, but “individuals who are seeking to transition their sex, they will not be able to change their driver’s license or their birth certificate.” He clarified, “Those who have been able to under the Kelly Administration over the past few months, those data sets will be changed back to reflect the person’s biological sex.”
Kobach doubled down in a statement posted to Twitter.
“It’s kind of amazing that we even need a law like this, but that’s where we are as a country,” wrote Kobach. “It simply states that, for all state recordkeeping and data that the state maintains, a man is someone who is a male at birth and a woman is a person who is female at birth.”
It's kind of amazing that we even need a law like this, but that's where we are as a country. It simply states that, for all state recordkeeping and data that the state maintains, a man is someone who is a male at birth and a woman is a person who is a female at birth. #ksleg https://t.co/wRYF8TzRnt
— Kris W. Kobach (@KrisKobach1787) June 27, 2023
The matter became a heated issue in Kansas after four transgender people sued the state in 2018.
Kobach explained to the Hutchinson Post that “After the Kelly Administration took power, they came to a settlement with the plaintiffs and said, okay, we’ll go ahead and start changing birth certificates. That settlement is now in conflict with state law. That’s one of the things my office did on Friday is, filed a motion with the judge, asking that the settlement be modified to be consistent with state law now.”
The Post explained that “this law clarifies that the portion of the Topeka Correctional Facility that is set aside for women is confined to biological females.”
