TOPEKA — For many trans Kansans and allied activists, Friday wasn’t their first time in the state Capitol building in Topeka.

Years of commitment to the cause led to the day’s event, which organizers called a “pee-in.”

A group of about 50 people gathered in the Statehouse to demonstrate their opposition to a recently passed bathroom ban.

Republican legislators don’t want men in women’s bathrooms and women in men’s bathrooms, said Jaelynn Abegg, one of the demonstration’s organizers and a trans woman.

“So we’re going to give it to them,” she said.

The GOP-led House and Senate passed a bill on Jan. 28 that requires people to use restrooms in public buildings that match their sex assigned at birth. Violations would be punishable by criminal charges and steep fines. House Substitute for Senate Bill 244 applies to libraries, state office buildings, city halls, public pools and other government-owned properties. It also requires the state to ensure a person’s driver’s license and birth certificate match their sex assigned at birth, a law that has been tried before and litigated.

Trans men and women entered their bathrooms of choice throughout the building for roughly 30 minutes Friday afternoon. “Malicious compliance” is the point, Abegg said.

Many activists carried signs as they lined the first floor’s corners and halls. Amy Bucher-Long, a 63-year-old woman from Prairie Village, held open the door to the first floor men’s room as people filed in and out.

She called the bill ridiculous.

Claven Snow, a 47-year-old from Lawrence, said he and the group cause more disruption by obeying the bill’s demands rather than disobeying them. Snow, a trans man, and his husband, Kevin Elliott, 60, said they have been advocating for trans rights for years. Elliott said he has spent decades as an activist, making his voice heard during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and the attacks on LGBTQ+ communities today.

“It’s always been the same people fighting for the same thing,” Elliott said.

He added: “We’re not fighting for our rights. We’re fighting for our lives.”

The couple sat in on a committee hearing along with other activists following the bathroom demonstration to ensure visibility.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly could veto the bill. It passed both the House and Senate with two-thirds majorities, which is the required ratio needed to override the governor’s veto.

The legislation requires governments to “take every reasonable step to ensure an individual does not enter a multiple-occupancy private space that is designated for use only by individuals of the opposite sex.”

Any reported violations must be remedied in 15 days or entities could face a $25,000 fine, according to the bill. Each subsequent violation prompts a $125,000 fine.

“With everything going on in our government right now, why was Kansas’ main priority to target marginalized communities?” asked Matthew Neumann, executive director of the LGBTQ Foundation of Kansas.

The foundation provides resources and mutual aid to LGBTQ+ Kansans, and Neumann has focused on lowering the suicide rate within the community. The bill causes problems — it doesn’t fix them, said Neumann, a 44-year-old from Larned.

“I am a bearded man being put into a women’s restroom,” he said.

He said that isn’t what he wants, and he speculated that’s not what Republican legislators want either.

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.

Latest state news:

MORE …