Topeka, United States. Two transgender men in Kansas filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking to strike down a new state law that invalidated the driver’s licenses and birth certificates of more than 1,000 transgender people. The American Civil Liberties Union is representing the plaintiffs in the Kansas state-court case.
Lawsuit challenges new Kansas requirements
The plaintiffs argue the law violates their rights to equality, due process and privacy under the Kansas constitution, according to the lawsuit. They filed under pseudonyms.
The law, which took effect on Thursday, requires Kansas residents to change their gender identification on driver’s licenses and birth certificates to the sex they were assigned at birth and bars future changes to gender markers on those documents.
Broader restrictions and enforcement provisions
The law also prohibits transgender people from using multi-occupancy bathrooms in government buildings that do not correspond to their sex assigned at birth and authorizes private citizens to sue people who violate the law.
The plaintiffs said the law will require them to disclose their transgender status each time they present identification and could expose them to harassment and violence when they use public bathrooms. They said they would seek an order temporarily blocking the law while the case proceeds.
State response and other legal challenges
Kansas officials said on Thursday that identification documents had been invalidated for more than 1,000 state residents and that affected residents must pay for new driver’s licenses.
The office of Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The defendants named in the lawsuit are Kobach’s office and state agencies that issue identification documents and maintain government buildings.
The law makes Kansas the only U.S. state to invalidate previously approved changes to gender markers on identification documents, according to the lawsuit. At least eight other states, including Texas, Florida and Indiana, have prohibited such changes going forward, and several of those laws are being challenged in court.
National context
Transgender people in the United States have faced increasing restrictions at the state and national levels. Republican President Donald Trump has issued a series of executive actions targeting transgender rights since returning to office last year.
How do you think the Kansas lawsuit could affect policies on gender markers and access to government facilities in your state?