TOPEKA — A bill that would ban gender changes on Kansas driver’s licenses and birth certificates drew hundreds of opponent comments despite appearing on a committee agenda just 24 hours before the Tuesday hearing. 

The House Judiciary Committee heard public testimony about House Bill 2426, introduced by committee chair Rep. Susan Humphries, R-Wichita, that would make the terms “gender” and “sex” equivalent in state law. 

Opponents asked lawmakers to vote down the bill, citing concerns about the safety and mental health of transgender individuals. Proponents focused on challenges for law enforcement and medical personnel when the gender isn’t correct on the driver’s license.   

Under HB 2426, transgender Kansans would be barred from changing their gender on birth certificates and driver’s licenses. The bill would invalidate documents already issued with new gender markers and require anyone who previously changed their gender to get new documents stating their biological sex at birth. 

Attorney General Kris Kobach, who lost a court case on appeal after defending a 2023 bill that banned gender changes on driver’s licenses, reserved 12 seats in the crowded committee room and spoke first to push for the bill’s passage. 

Kobach walked legislators through what happened with the lawsuit that was overturned on appeal and how this bill would keep the state from returning to court. He also claimed Kansas statutes have “always” used the terms sex and gender interchangeably, a sentiment the Court of Appeals did not agree with.

“Now today, in the midst of the trans issue and the controversies that surround it, sometimes people have taken to using those words as referring to different things, gender referring to a subjective mental assessment of what one is,” Kobach said.

Gender is a social and personal identity or expression, while sex refers to reproductive systems. 

Bill proponents

Two medical professionals, retired plastic surgeon Richard Bosshardt, a fellow at Do No Harm, and Wichita physician Michelle Baalmann, spoke in favor of the bill. Do No Harm is a national organization focused on identity politics and its effects on medical care. 

A spokeswoman for the Kansas Catholic Conference, representing the Catholic bishops of Kansas, also spoke in favor of the bill. 

“There are differences in medical emergencies and differential diagnosis of pathologies. Gender does matter,” Baalmann said. “It is like a vital sign when treating a patient, especially in a life-threatening emergency. If we were to remove this from the driver’s license and change it to a subjective choice that the person is making, you’re essentially blinding emergency responders and emergency physicians.”

Bob Stuart, executive officer for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, told the committee that accurate information on a driver’s license makes the job of law enforcement easier in terms of identification and de-escalating situations. 

“Not having the right sex on a driver’s license is one of those things that makes it more difficult for law enforcement to do their job correctly and to do it safely, not only for law enforcement, but for the subjects that we’re trying to either arrest or clear and let go on their way,” he said. 

Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat, questioned the validity of that statement, pointing out that one of his constituents is a transgender male with a full beard. 

“He is, by all appearances, a man,” Carmichael said. “How would putting an F on his driver’s license help you out? … If you look at his picture, you stop him on the road, he gives you his driver’s license. He’s a hairy-faced man. That’s what shows on his driver’s license. That’s what the officer sees in front of them right now. His driver’s license says he’s an M and it all fits together.”

“It helps make the correct decision,” Stuart said, repeating a phrase he had used to answer a previous question. 

Carmichael responded, “That’s the best you can do, Bob, I guess that’s the best you can do.”

The exchange earned an admonition from Humphries to be respectful of people who were testifying.   

Opponent testimony

Opponents of the bill were peppered throughout the crowded committee room, and Rep. Brandon Woodard, D-Lenexa, said his office received more than 300 written comments before the hearing. 

Elise and Jay Flatland of Olathe testified about the importance of accurate gender markers for two of their four children, who are transgender. 

“Some people have taken the approach that my kids are confused, that they should fix the wiring,” Jay Flatland said. “There’s no fixing the wiring in my kids. So I want to correct that. I hear that a lot, that these kids are confused and people are confused. It’s not the case.”

A driver’s license is an “artifact of expression” about her gender that makes his daughter feel good, he said. 

“I don’t think we’re emphasizing enough why people want this,” Jay Flatland said. “This is why.” 

Melissa Stiehler, advocacy director for Loud Light Civic Action, spoke against the bill, challenging the idea that being transgender is a “new thing.” 

“This idea that it is one or the other is a fairly isolated worldview,” Stiehler said. “Historically, in Judaism, they have recognized more than just male or female. While that may not be the current modern practice, that goes to show that what is new right now, in this moment in time, is this trans-panic hysteria that’s coming from a small but very vocal minority of narrow-minded proponents.”

Increasing violence

Stiehler said hate-based violence against transgender individuals has increased 340% since 2015. She and others who testified raised concerns that not allowing gender on the driver’s license to match the appearance of individuals would open them to violence.

“This has become so much of an issue that, because state legislatures such as this one are passing laws based on propaganda, based on misinformation, based on Twitter conspiracy theories – this national trend of legislating based on this is alarming enough that globally renowned scholars have issued a warning this week that the United States is in early stages of genocide against trans Americans,” Stiehler said.

Matthew Obold-Geary, who testified against the bill, said transgender Kansans already face disproportionately higher rates of discrimination, harassment and barriers to health care. 

“Legislation that undermines their legal identity contributes to stigmatize and can exacerbate mental health challenges,” he said. “Bills like this send a message that their identities are not respected or recognized under state law. Thirdly, HB 2426 has some practical problems and some legal uncertainty.”

Obold-Geary questioned how the state would handle the cost of re-issuing driver’s licenses and birth certificates, and the confusion if a person has federal documents with their correct gender but their biological sex at birth on their driver’s license. 

Humphries said the fiscal note for the bill has not been completed. 

Rushing through

The hearing was scheduled at 3:58 p.m. Monday, just under the required deadline for giving notice, according to Woodard.

Humphries said she had been hopeful to hear the bill during a special session in the fall, which did not occur. 

“When that didn’t happen, we said, well, we just need to get it done as soon as possible,” she said. “The first week, I have a lot going on in Judiciary. I don’t have any bills ready to be heard this week, but this was ready.”

Carmichael disagreed with that explanation. 

“This is happening so quickly because it’s a railroad job,” he said. “The committee chair wants to move her bill as fast as possible. She introduced it on the first day of the session yesterday; we heard the bill today. We heard the bill without the benefit of the written testimony of hundreds of Kansans who took the trouble to write to the committee to express their opinions.”

Humphries said the bill would not be voted on Wednesday so that committee members would have time to read all of the testimony submitted. While Carmichael said he appreciated the time to read submissions, he thinks the legislation will “pass the House within the next week.”

Carmichael also challenged the testimony Kobach gave before the committee about the Kansas Court of Appeals decision regarding changing gender markers on driver’s licenses. 

The Court of Appeals determined Kobach showed no irreparable harm to the state if gender markers were changed.

“That was one of the most astonishing parts of the Court of Appeals opinion, because we did present evidence of irreparable harm,” the attorney general told the committee. “We presented evidence from law enforcement officers both from Shawnee County and Johnson County, indicating actual examples of where people who had an arrest warrant out for them had attempted to either change the sex or appear to change the sex, or taken steps to so the arrest warrant is out for a male to hold themselves out as female.”

Carmichael said after the hearing that the attorney general “terribly mischaracterized the Court of Appeals decision.” 

“If you read the opinion, you will find that there are five to 10 pages in the 56-page opinion describing each witness’s testimony and explaining why the Attorney General’s witnesses did not meet the burden of proof because, in the end, those witnesses actually ended up supporting the state’s position,” he said.

Carmichael and Rep. Lindsay Vaughn, D-Overland Park, were the most critical of the attorney general’s testimony. 

Carmichael said it’s likely “this very bad bill” will pass.

“That does not mean that this bill will survive appellate scrutiny,” he said. “I could sit here and write a fine legal brief showing multiple problems with this, not only constitutional problems, but just simple, basic lawyerly drafting problems as well. This has been rushed.”

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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