TOPEKA — As the Kansas Legislature renewed its yearslong assault on transgender children, Sen. Mary Ware told her Senate colleagues Monday she had a “simple” question for them.
“What is the acceptable number of youth suicides?” Ware asked.
Ware’s question set the tone for debate in the Senate, which voted 27-13 to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of Senate Bill 233, legislation that would ban gender-affirming care for anyone younger than 18. But the override attempt fell short in the House on an 82-43 vote, two short of the two-thirds majority required.
The bill would have blocked teenagers from receiving hormone therapy and other treatments recognized as necessary by medical professionals. And it would have banned state employees from supporting “social transitioning,” which is defined to include an individual changing their preferred pronouns or manner of dress.
Rep. Susan Concannon, R-Beloit, and Rep. Jesse Borjon, R-Topeka, flipped their votes from earlier in the month to sustain the governor’s veto. Two other Republicans — Rep. Mark Schreiber of Emporia and Rep. David Younger of Ulysses — also joined Democrats in blocking the legislation from becoming law.
“We hear about mental health, about suicide, and ask why,” Concannon said. “We’re not listening to the impact of youth. Government involvement is not the answer.”
On the Senate side, Sen. John Doll, R-Garden City, and Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, joined the chamber’s 11 Democrats in supporting the veto.
Opponents of the bill pointed to extensive medical research that shows transgender children, who are already at an elevated risk for suicide, are more likely to die from suicide if they don’t receive gender-affirming care.
“This bill ignores, or should I say tramples, on the rights of some Kansas citizens to live peaceably, lawfully and free to make their own decisions about their own bodies,” Ware said.
Republicans argued the bill would protect children from life-altering decisions they could end up regretting.
Sen. Beverly Gossage, R-Eudora, said she receives “beautiful cards” and emails from parents who thank her for pursuing the legislation.
“We all sympathize to those who are suffering from gender dysphoria,” Gossage said.
Sen. Mark Steffen, R-Hutchinson, said the predators in today’s society are “woke” health care providers who are preying on “confused” children and parents.
“No more than we would ever tell somebody with anorexia that they’re fat would we tell a boy that they’re a girl or girl that they’re a boy,” Steffen said.
In a teary speech, Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, D-Lenexa, said she has heard from hundreds of Kansans who see hormone treatment as a life raft — and are concerned the Legislature is about to rip that away.
