With gender-affirming care for minors now banned in Kansas, the weight of their transgender care falls largely on mental health providers.
Providers at Interpersonal Psychiatry in Lawrence say the new Kansas law coupled with national anti-trans efforts by President Donald Trump paint a grim picture for the next four years.
Ruby Mae Johnson, CEO of Interpersonal Psychiatry, said the practice is expecting an influx of therapy appointments for LGBTQ+ patients, especially transgender patients.
“Everybody I know in the trans community in particular has, if they have access to it, increased their own therapy,” Johnson said. “As a transgender woman myself, I’m feeling empathy. I’m feeling the same things that our patients are feeling. There’s simply just a lot of fear — not just about what’s in the statute, but what it might signal going forward.”
Senate Bill 63 bans gender-affirming puberty blockers, hormone therapies or surgeries for minors. State employees are not allowed to “promote” social transitioning or gender-affirming medical care.
Interpersonal Psychiatry is a private practice and doesn’t receive any state funding. Johnson expects more transgender minors in Kansas to look at private mental health practices for care, because she sees state-funded practices as vulnerable to funding cuts or future bans.
“That’s going to increase the need for services, and more costly interventions, too,” Johnson said. “Without support, people will die. This will cost lives. We know that one of the surest ways to prevent death by suicide among queer youth in general and transgender youth specifically, is simply to support and acknowledge who they are. And when the political fabric of the state or the country is dedicating a pretty significant amount of energy to saying, ‘No, you’re not that person,’ that’s going to cost lives.”
Emily Feingold is a therapist at Interpersonal Psychiatry. She says that while the new law will have detrimental mental health effects on the LGBTQ+ population, it lacks “teeth.”
The law outlines repercussions for medical providers who provide gender-affirming care, but Feingold says nobody can police what a therapist talks to their client about.
“Nobody is controlling what I do with my clients. And in terms of insurance coverage, it all has to do with what I write in my notes. I’m going to continue to meet the needs of my clients,” Feingold said.
Feingold said while she’s no longer allowed to recommend medical care, the symptoms of gender dysphoria still exist.
“Instead of treating these kids with hormones, we’re going to treat them with psychotropic meds,” Feingold said. “Do we want that? Is that better? We’re just kicking the can farther down the road, because that person’s gender identity is not going to change.”
Johnson said trans kids will deal with the impact for the rest of their lives: “It sucks to have never looked in the mirror and seen a young woman.”
The law was passed after a years-long effort as a result of the expanded Republican supermajority. After Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed it, her veto was overridden 85-34 in the House and 31-9 in the Senate.
Rep. Mark Schreiber of Emporia was the only Republican who supported Kelly’s veto. Schreiber’s daughter was born with birth defects, and while she’s not transgender, Schreiber said he empathized with parents of transgender minors.
“A parent that has a child that needs specialized care of any kind will go to great lengths to see that the child gets that care, whether it’s physical, mental, whatever it might be,” Schreiber said. “I don’t think trans kids are any different than our daughter.”
Schreiber voted against the law when it first came to the House floor, then again in support of Kelly’s veto. Schreiber said that after his first vote, he heard feedback from Kansans.
“The first thing that they conveyed to me was fear that they’re not going to be able to provide care for their child,” Schreiber said. “As a parent of a child that had major medical difficulties, I cannot fathom that.”
Wichita Republican Sen. Renee Erickson, who introduced the bill, told Kansas Reflector she’s “not interested in talking to anyone” about the law.
In 2023, Erickson supported Senate Bill 180 — which defines a person’s gender as “biological sex, either male or female, at birth.” She also championed legislation that banned transgender athletes from school sports, and a proposed law this year that would police the use of preferred pronouns in schools.
The city of Lawrence responded to attacks on the transgender community by passing an ordinance declaring Lawrence as a transgender safe haven. Johnson, the Interpersonal Psychiatry CEO, testified in support of the ordinance, crediting the Lawrence community with providing a space comfortable for her transition.
After the 2024 presidential election, Johnson worried her gender identity would make Interpersonal Psychiatry a target. She considered leaving the country but decided to stay — in large part because of the LGBTQ+ community in Lawrence.
“We have always been committed to the LGBT+ population,” Johnson said. “We are just going to double down on our commitment to show up for our communities.”
The practice sponsored an LGBTQ+ prom, and Johnson is running for Lawrence City Commission.
“I won’t say it gets better, because I never tell anybody that anything will be OK — because I don’t know. But I will say, we’re all here,” Johnson said. “We’ve got your back.”
Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com. Follow Kansas Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
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