Kansas bans gender-affirming care for minors...

[Jessica_Rose]

Kansas bans gender-affirming care for minors after GOP lawmakers reverse the governor's veto

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kansas-bans-gender-affirming-care-for-minors-after-gop-lawmakers-reverse-the-governor-s-veto/ar-AA1zjPoE?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=c6d39051a4df4fe0aa2b1f1f85e8f8b2&ei=73

Story by JOHN HANNA (18 Feb 2025)

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas became the latest state to ban gender-affirming care for minors Tuesday after the Republican-controlled Legislature overrode the Democratic governor's veto of the measure.

Kansas is the 27th state to ban or restrict such care. GOP lawmakers reversed Gov. Laura Kelly's veto less than a month after President Donald Trump issued an order barring federal support for gender-affirming care for youth under 19.

"I just held my 16-year-old daughter, and we cried while we watched them try to erase her existence," Elise Flatland, a Kansas City-area mother of two transgender children, said in a text message after livestreams of the votes.

"This is a fork in the road," said Republican state Rep. Ron Bryce, a southeastern Kansas doctor who backed the ban. "This is who we are as a people, as a state."

The Kansas law will prohibit puberty blockers, hormone therapies or surgery for a minor to transition away from their gender assigned at birth. State employees caring for children won't be allowed to provide or encourage such treatment — or encourage social transitioning.

Groups backing transgender rights immediately announced that they would provide financial assistance and other help to families seeking care for transgender youth outside Kansas.