trans youth

Anti-Trans Bathrooms Bills in Kansas

There are two new bills pending in the Kansas legislature.

Both will ban trans students in Kansas public schools from using the bathrooms that align with their gender. Trans girls will be forced to use the boys’ bathroom. Trans boys will be forced into the girls’.

As written, these bills will provide special “accommodations” through allowing trans kids to use “alternative” facilities. The backers of this bill call this “privacy,” but the actual consequences will be to “out” and isolate trans kids who are just trying to do what we all do: Go to the bathroom. Instead, they will be subject to additional isolation, harassment, bullying, and potential injury. These bills will also apply to adult college students, no matter their age, no matter their surgical status.

You can see the bills, House Bill 2737 and Senate Bill 513 and their full history on the Kansas Legislature’s website.

SB 513 has been referred to the Senate Education Committee. Since we are getting close to the end of the regular legislative session, the Senate Education Committee can no longer meet and hold hearings.  Unless the bill is pulled from committee and assigned to a committee exempt from regular deadlines (unlikely), SB513 is dead for the year.

The House version of the bill, HB2737, is still very much alive. It was referred to the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, which is one of a handful of legislative committees that can hold hearings any time the committee chair pleases. That committee is always chaired by a radical-right, anti-LGBT conservative, and this year, that chair is none other than Representative Jan Pauls, the most vocally anti-LGBT legislator in Kansas’ history.

 

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Community Reading of Children’s Book “I Am Jazz”

iaj-cover

Creating welcoming spaces for transgender and gender-expansive children and youth can start with something as simple as a conversation — between colleagues or neighbors, among educators in the teacher’s lounge, in classrooms and hallways, or in more formal settings like a community forum or schoolwide assembly. We know there’s a hesitancy sometimes to address transgender themes in schools, but it’s important to note that the U.S. Department of Education supports the rights of transgender children and youth across the country.

What is important is making sure that these conversations happen in safe and productive ways. Please join us for a public reading of the book “I Am Jazz,” the true story of transgender teen ambassador Jazz Jennings. This reading is open to everyone in the Kansas City metro area and will be followed by a time for respectful questions and answers.

Readings are being organized across the country, inspired by the Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, community who came together for a public reading of the book after an anti-LGBT group threatened to sue the local school for its plan to share the book in support of a young transgender student.

We invite you to come with an open mind to hear Jazz’s story and to ask questions you have about transgender youth and how they are being supported in and around Kansas City.

 

Event Details:

Thursday, January 14th, 7-8pm

Country Club Congregational United Church of Christ

205 W 65th St, Kansas City, Missouri 64113

 

RSVP for the event on the Facebook page!

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