Kansas Republicans failed Monday night to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill that would have banned transgender surgical procedures for children.
Just hours after the Senate voted 27-13 to override the veto, the Republican supermajority in the House of Representatives fell two votes short of cementing its overthrow. Two Republicans disagreed in the final tally, which was 82-43.
“I’m extremely disappointed,” Sen. Mike Thompson told Fox News Digital Tuesday morning. “We have tried three times to get a bill to protect these children, so that they are not pushed into making a decision that changes their lives permanently.”
“The House has been a reliable partner thus far, so I don’t know what was going through the heads of these two representatives who caved yesterday, but it was another gut punch for us, unfortunately,” said he declared.
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Kansas Governor Laura Kelly recently vetoed a bill that would have banned transgender surgeries on children. (Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)
Kelly, who vetoed the bill earlier this month, said in a statement Monday that she was “pleased that bipartisan members of the Legislature stood their ground in saying that divisive bills like the House substitute for Senate Bill 233 have no place in Kansas.”
“The Legislature’s decision to uphold my veto is a victory for parental rights, Kansas families, and families seeking to call our state home,” she said.
The ban would have prevented officials from encouraging “social transition,” such as using pronouns or choosing clothing that matches a person’s preferred identity.
Substitute bill for Senate Bill 233 to prohibit transgender treatment of minors and authorize causes of action against healthcare providers who provided such treatment. The bill also would have restricted the use of public funds for transgender treatment.
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Young trans people demonstrate. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
“We are on the right side of history on this,” Kansas Senate Health Committee Chairwoman Beverly Gossage told her colleagues during Monday’s vote.
Republican state Rep. John Eplee said the “language put in the bill” that prevents is an effort to prohibit “state entities, state employees, from promoting “using different pronouns and, if you like, seeking a gender change”.
Republican state Sen. Mark Steffen said the bill aims to crush “woke” health care providers who perform such procedures on “confused” children.
“No more than we would tell an anorexic person that they are fat, we would tell a boy that he is a girl or a girl that he is a boy,” he said.
Meanwhile, Democrats decried the Senate’s vote for a waiver. State Sen. Mary Ware, a Democrat, said the bill “tramples” on “the rights of certain Kansas citizens to live peacefully, legally and free to make their own decisions about their lives.” own bodies. »
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Kansas Republicans voted to override the governor’s veto. (Thom Bridge/Independent recording via AP, file)
When the governor vetoed the bill, she said in a statement that the “divisive” legislation “targets a small group of Kansans by imposing government mandates on them and dictating to parents how to best raise and care for them.” of their children.”
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“I don’t think it’s A conservationist value, and it’s certainly not a Kansas value,” she said.
The bill comes as more than a dozen U.S. states have passed similar bans on surgical procedures and hormonal prescriptions for transgender youth. Idaho, North Dakota, Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama have passed laws making it a crime to change the sex of children.
