J Valencia-Cheng moved to Lawrence to attend the University of Kansas in 2023, seeking an inclusive haven. Now, as a trans/nonbinary grad student and teacher at KU, their daily routines are being criminalized.

House Substitute for Senate Bill 244 went into effect immediately on Wednesday, Feb. 18, after the Kansas House and Senate both voted to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto. The bill is considered one of the more brutal pieces of anti-transgender legislation passed in America, issuing a two-pronged and instantaneous attack on the human rights of trans people throughout Kansas.

SB 244 strikes down trans people’s opportunity to change their gender markers on Kansas drivers licenses or identification cards, and invalidated documents overnight that had already been updated. It also criminalizes trans people who use bathrooms that align with their gender identity over bathrooms that align with their sex assigned at birth in public buildings.

The new law has come under harsh critique for the “gut and go” tactics representatives used to push it over the finish line, its violation of the Kansas Constitution, and its vague wording that leaves looming questions on enforcement methods unanswered.

KU is one of the many Lawrence institutions that falls under the new bill’s shadow.

“My life is metaphorically crumbling around me,” Valencia-Cheng said.

Historically, Valencia-Cheng felt safest using the women’s restroom close to their on-campus office and within their department, where they’d run into female faculty.

“I finally got to experience girl talk, which is really fun and the kind of solidarity that women have when you go to the restroom,” they said.

Now that SB 244 has passed, they beeline for a two-stall women’s restroom in a nearby department because undergrads don’t frequent it. They said it’s ironic that their “malicious noncompliance” feels safer than going to the men’s restrooms, where they’ve encountered racial and gender-based harassment on campus and throughout the state. 

When asked if there’s an accessible, gender-neutral, single-stall restroom near their office, Valencia-Cheng said that it “depends on your definition of accessible.”

The nearest option would require them to leave their part of the department building, cross an outdoor courtyard and enter a second part of the building hosting large undergrad lectures. Between the walk and long bathroom lines, this “solution” is out of the question since they have a physical disability and often use a cane.

This is the kind of tedious, fatiguing mental math that many trans people have been doing for years anytime they use the restroom in public. But now, SB 244 has added more draconian stakes for folks like Valencia-Cheng, who are weighing physical urgency against accessibility and safety every time they must exercise a simple bodily need.

‘If you can’t be in public … you can’t be a full participant in society’

SB 244 casts a wide net, affecting public buildings at KU, Haskell Indian Nations University, the Lawrence Public Library, Lawrence Public Schools, and any other government facility, such as police and fire stations, City Hall, the DMV and the county treasurer’s office.

Trans people who use bathrooms in these buildings that align with their gender identities can face civil and criminal penalties, which can lead to hefty fines or even jail time. Civilians can also act as “bounty hunters,” suing any transgender person who shares a restroom with them for up to $1,000 in damages.

Harper Seldin, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, also said legislation like SB 244 pushes trans people out of public life.

“And if you can’t be in public and be in public buildings, you can’t be a full participant in society,” he said.

Seldin is one of 12 attorneys who filed a case on behalf of two trans men in Lawrence to challenge SB 244. The men, who are going by the pseudonyms Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe, both work at KU. They are arguing that the anti-trans bill is unconstitutional and that it puts their rights, autonomy, livelihoods and safety at stake.

Douglas County District Judge James McCabria will preside over a hearing Friday, March 6, to decide if he will delay enforcement of the law as the case proceeds.

Seldin said the plaintiffs and attorneys hope trans people can keep their licenses and ID cards and that a judge will strike down criminal restrictions on restrooms.

In the meantime, trans Lawrencians are left in a tailspin.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty about how this law is going to play out on the ground,” Seldin said. 

Laura McCabe, spokesperson for the Lawrence Police Department, said she wasn’t aware of any people calling with bathroom usage complaints thus far. Much of the bill is up in the air as it moves through the courts, but for now, she said commanders reviewed LPD’s policies and “see no need for updates.”

A spokesperson for the city added that “LKPD has no intention of developing proactive enforcement campaigns.”

Valencia-Cheng has started to wonder if, as a state employee, they will be held to task for enforcing the regulations. They’ve asked around with colleagues, but KU has been silent on the issue.

“I think it’s egregious in the way that there has been no legal counsel guidance from KU whatsoever about what this is impacting,” Valencia-Cheng said.

When asked if KU has sent out any guidance to faculty, staff or students on the bill, university spokesperson Erinn Barcomb-Peterson wrote via email that KU is aware of the law and “currently reviewing the legislation to ensure full understanding of its scope and implications.”

“Existing KU policies largely align with current law, and no immediate changes are anticipated,” she continued. “As always, KU will continue to comply with all relevant legal obligations while upholding our values of safety, compliance and respect across the university system.”

Barcomb-Peterson did not respond when asked to clarify which policies were in line with SB 244.

Haskell Indian Nations University is managed by the federal Bureau of Indian Education, and staff members are generally barred from speaking to the press without prior approval from the BIE. A spokesperson for the BIE responded to multiple questions about policy and enforcement on behalf of Haskell with one sentence: “The Bureau of Indian Education and Haskell Indian Nations University operate in compliance with all applicable laws and policies.”

Brad Allen, director of the Lawrence Public Library, said LPL doesn’t currently have plans to introduce new policies and procedures. 

SB 244 prevents public institutions from making multi-stall restrooms gender neutral, but Allen said a plan to convert multi-occupant restrooms into single-stall, gender-neutral facilities was already underway for the lower level of the library.

He added it’s unfortunate that the design of the lobby restrooms makes them difficult to similarly convert, but there is currently a gender-neutral, single-stall restroom in the children’s area open to all on the library’s main level.

In 2023, the Lawrence City Commission unanimously passed Ordinance 9999, a safe haven law to create more protections for transgender and gender-nonconforming people. Current Mayor Brad Finkeldei was on the commission at the time.

We emailed Finkeldei on Monday to ask how he thinks the city could enforce Ordinance 9999 in the face of the anti-trans bill; whether the city will police transgender people’s use of restrooms in City Hall; and if the commission would take any action to address SB 244 beyond the safe haven ordinance. 

Finkeldei did not respond and forwarded emails to Cori Wallace, a city spokesperson.

“This is an unfunded mandate, which means we have the certainty of language, but the rest, i.e. application and enforcement, is driven to the local level,” Wallace said via email.

Per the city, the bill increases administration and litigation costs for the state government and potentially every public agency in Kansas. Under SB 244, people can make complaints against public agencies for not complying. The entities can then face significant penalties, including fines of $25,000 for a first violation and $125,000 for a second violation, for not coming into compliance.

The city will need to review facilities and procedures to comply with the law. “That is the process that we are in now,” an email from the city reads.

She said the city is still exploring and doesn’t know how SB 244 will impact Ordinance 9999 or vice versa.

‘It’s about extending government control’ 

A nonbinary person who is a member of Trans Lawrence Coalition requested anonymity for safety concerns. They work in a public building and are a lifelong Kansan.

“It feels heartbreaking to know that a place where you’ve grown up is so vehemently opposed to your simple existence,” they said.

They added that fear of trans identity often hinges on a single image of “what a trans person is.” Often, there’s a stereotype of a big, cisgender man wearing a dress, going into a women’s bathroom with nefarious intent.

“That’s the boogeyman version of a very complex social issue that just does not exist in reality,” they said.

As a result, the law creates Catch-22s. Now, trans men who have undergone years of testosterone replacement therapy, who have beards and baritone voices, are required to use women’s restrooms in public buildings.

“It kind of creates an impossible situation for them, where they will be accused of committing crime no matter what they do,” the TLC member said.

Trans people will bear the brunt of the bill, but cisgender people will still face consequences that Kelly outlined in her veto.

“There’s this myth that is very popular, which is ‘you will know a trans person when you see them,’” the TLC member said. “I mean, trans people are people, and we have all different kinds of presentations, and there’s also a wide swath of the population of cis folks … who have androgynous aspects to them, or maybe they’re not perfectly ‘gender conforming’ with the social idea of the general public.”

Seldin said that now every Kansan, trans or cis, may be subject to a stranger’s assessment of their presentation in a bathroom.

“It’s about extending government control into how people order their lives,” Seldin said. “… And if the government can do that to trans people, there’s no reason the government can’t do that to everybody.”

“I think that that’s going to fall on different candidates differently, also based on factors related to race and class, right?” he continued. “I don’t think this is going to be evenly applied.”

Valencia-Cheng knows this bill will hit them all the harder as a multiracial person and child of immigrants, and retreating to the closet isn’t an option. 

“I am a Chinese-Taiwanese-Latiné person who uses they/them/elle pronouns. I don’t subscribe to a strict androgyny that people want to impose on trans/nonbinary people,” Valencia-Cheng said. “… And I’m also disabled, so I also walk around physically with a marker on me. There’s no way for me to actually go covert, because going covert is impossible.”

‘A thriving community of trans and queer people’

The member of TLC said the lack of outreach or guidance in their workplace has been taxing.

“There is no support, there is no social awareness of the issues that are affecting folks,” they said. “So, in that way, it can be an extremely isolating experience where maybe you feel like … your world is kind of collapsing and you’re the only one who’s aware of it.”

Still, they have hope. They’re cherishing small interactions with loved ones and taking time to appreciate the Pride flags in business windows or waving from the stoops of Lawrence homes.

As Valencia-Cheng channels their feminine rage into their creative writing, they said they’re grateful for the community of advisers at KU who have gone to bat for them. They’re also taking heart in the support that has rallied around Anthony Alvarez, a trans student who alleges that he was fired from KU in the wake of speaking out against the university’s decision to end Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall’s gender-inclusive housing.

“I see that there is a thriving community of trans and queer people in Lawrence, and I don’t think this is going to affect that and in any dramatic way,” the TLC member said. 

“And if anything, it’s only going to cause folks to become more active in their circles, more connected, get to know their neighbors even better,” they continued. “And because it is now everybody’s issue, it is a conversation that’s going to take place on many more radars than it would have if legislation like this hadn’t passed in the way that it did.”

Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at wulfe@lawrencekstimes.com.

Read their complete bio here. Read their work for the Times here.

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