Transgender youth in Kansas will soon be prohibited from receiving medically approved gender-affirming care within state borders.

The Kansas House and Senate both voted Tuesday to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the care ban, capping off a bitter three-year fight over whether trans minors should be allowed access to treatment options that help them live authentically.

Senate Bill 63 bans gender transition surgeries, puberty blockers and hormone treatment as care options for minors suffering from gender dysphoria.

It also prohibits the use of state funds “to promote gender transitioning,” a provision transgender advocates worry could limit school counselors’ and social workers’ ability to speak openly with children who are questioning their gender identity.

“Today, a supermajority of the Kansas Senate declared that Kansas is no longer a sanctuary state for the maiming and sterilization of minors,” Senate President Ty Masterson said in a statement released minutes before the House followed suit to officially override Kelly’s veto.

The bill also establishes that physicians can be sued and lose their licensure for providing treatments that have been deemed safe and effective by every major U.S. medical organization, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association.

In a statement announcing her veto, Kelly derided the care ban as “government interference” likely to drive families, businesses and health care workers from the state.

“Infringing on parental rights is not appropriate, nor is it a Kansas value,” Kelly said. “As I’ve said before, it is not the job of politicians to stand between a parent and a child who needs medical care of any kind.”

But unlike the last two years, when key Republican defections helped sustain the governor’s veto, the override effort sailed through the Legislature on the back of expanded GOP supermajorities. The Senate voted 31-9 to override the veto and the House voted 85-34 to secure the required two-thirds majority in both chambers.

The bill will be enrolled into law immediately upon its publication in the Kansas Register by the Secretary of State’s Office. The Legislature has previously adopted other anti-trans legislation over Kelly’s objection, including a bill in 2023 that barred trans people from single-sex spaces and another 2023 bill banning trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.

No compromises in ban

The only Democrat who voted in favor of the care ban last month, Sen. David Haley of Kansas City, joined his Democratic colleagues in voting to sustain Kelly’s veto. Explaining his initial vote last week, Haley told The Star that the voters who made him the longest serving member of the Senate are not in lockstep with his party on how best to protect transgender minors.

“My vote was a reflection of many — most of what I heard regarding gender-affirming care from my constituents,” Haley said. “I’m just echoing their voice.”

Lawmakers rejected an amendment proposed by Haley that would have lowered the age at which gender-affirming care is banned from 18 to 14.

Another amendment that would have preserved puberty blockers and hormone treatment while banning transition surgeries for minors also failed, as did a proposal to allow transgender youth who are already receiving gender-affirming care to continue doing so.

For trans teens currently receiving care, the bill gives physicians until Dec. 31 to wind down their treatment without risking their medical license.

In a joint press release, Loud Light, the ACLU of Kansas, Kansas Interfaith Action and several other pro-LGBTQ+ rights groups condemned the veto override and vowed to connect trans youth and their families with the resources they will need to continue care elsewhere.

According to the release, Equality Kansas and the Campaign for Southern Equality have partnered to expand the Trans Youth Emergency Project into Kansas, providing one-to-one financial and logistical support to affected families and emergency grants of $500 that are renewable up to four times per year.

Will Rapp, managing director for the Kansas chapter of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, said potential limitations to public employees' ability to discuss social transitioning with children are among the most concerning elements of the bill.

“I have firsthand knowledge of the importance of supportive and affirming educators, and this legislation will harm far more young people than it aims to ‘help,’” Rapp told a Star reporter in a text message.

“Our legislators voting for this bill refuse to have an extended conversation with a trans person, young or old. They are operating on irrational fear and in turn, creating fear and anxiety for some of our most vulnerable citizens.”

House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard, a Lenexa Democrat and the first openly LGBTQ+ lawmaker to serve in party leadership told reporters he expects the care ban to face legal challenges.

“I believe that anyone impacted would have a case there, and we’ll have to see how it plays out in court,” Woodard said.

Rep. Ron Bryce, a Coffeyville Republican, said enacting the care ban represents a triumph of social conservative values after years of failing to get the bill across the finish line.

“This is a fork in the road, I believe, in who we are as a people, as a state,” Bryce said. “We need to follow what is effective, what is safe, and not follow an ideology.”

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