ACLU appeals ruling that Kansas ban on gender marker changes doesn't violate trans rights

Four transgender Kansans represented by the ACLU of Kansas are appealing a judge's ruling that the ban on gender marker changes to state-issued identification cards does not violate their rights.

The ACLU filed a notice of appeal after Shawnee County District Court Judge Teresa Watson sided with Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach's request for a temporary injunction against Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's administration.

The law at issue, known as Senate Bill 180, strictly defines sex based on reproductive anatomy at birth. The so-called "women's bill of rights" was enacted by the Republican-led Legislature last session by overriding Kelly's veto, and Kobach interpreted it to ban gender marker changes on state documents, including drivers licenses.

"The Kansas Constitution's Bill of Rights guarantees all Kansans, including those who are transgender, rights of personal autonomy, privacy, and equality," D.C. Hiegert, the ACLU's LGBTQ+ legal fellow, said in a statement. "The Court has mistakenly adopted the Attorney General's overbroad interpretation of SB180, which provides no language whatsoever requiring the state to force Kansans to carry inaccurate identification cards, against their fundamental rights.

"But perhaps most importantly, the Court has decided that the state's administrative interest outweighs the threat of harassment, discrimination, and violence to individual Kansans. This is clearly dangerous, and it wholly contradicts the tragic reality of current trends."

The ACLU intervened in the lawsuit to represent the interests of transgender people, but Watson was dismissive of their arguments.

She wrote that the intervenors "demonstrated no constitutional infirmity" with their arguments that the law violates constitutional rights. She said it would be "an unreasonable stretch" to apply the Kansas Supreme Court's landmark 2019 ruling on abortion rights.

Her order formalized a pervious temporary restraining order that had been in place since July that blocked the Kansas Department of Revenue from changing gender markers on IDs.

Watson's Monday ruling came two months after she heard oral arguments in a Topeka courtroom.

There, Kobach brought in Shawnee County Sheriff Brian Hill and a Johnson County deputy to testify about using state IDs to identify suspects and make jail housing decisions. Watson wrote that Kobach "demonstrated that there is a reasonable probability of irreparable injury to the State."

The ACLU had several transgender Kansans testify, as well as a doctor who has treated about 100 transgender patients. But Watson viewed their testimony as talk of "feeling embarrassed, humiliated, or unsafe" but not about "any actual threat to their personal safety."

The ruling came the same week that the Legislature pursued another anti-transgender bill to ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youths. That bill passed the House two days after Watson's decision was released, and the Senate was expected to take it up by the end of the week.

More: Laura Kelly indicates she'd veto GOP bill to ban gender-affirming care for trans youths

More: Kansas must deny gender marker changes on IDs after judge sides with Kobach over Kelly

Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: ACLU appeals Kansas judge's order banning gender marker changes on IDs