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A new Kansas law has come into effect, nullifying changes made by transgender residents to the gender markers on their driver’s licenses and birth certificates. This legislation, known as Senate Bill 244, mandates that all state-issued identification documents reflect the gender assigned at birth.
The law, impacting over 1,000 individuals as reported by Reuters, prohibits any future amendments to gender markers on these documents. Kansans seeking new licenses will incur a fee, capped at $8, which will be determined by Secretary of Revenue Mark Burghart.
Furthermore, under this legislation, transgender individuals are required to use facilities in government buildings, such as restrooms and locker rooms, that correspond to their sex assigned at birth.
Violating this law comes with significant penalties. Individuals who breach it twice will face a $1,000 civil fine, while a third or subsequent violation escalates to a class B misdemeanor. Government bodies found in violation will be fined $25,000 for the first infraction and $125,000 for any following offenses.
Individuals who violate the law twice will face a civil penalty of $1,000, while those who commit a third or subsequent violation will be charged with a class B misdemeanor. Government entities in violation will be penalized $25,000 for first infractions and $125,000 for each subsequent infraction.
The GOP-led Kansas Legislature passed the bill last month. While Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) vetoed it, the legislature overrode that veto earlier this month.
When that occurred, the ACLU of Kansas denounced the legislation as “intrusive” and an attack on transgender Kansans.
“This bill is about forcing people into the wrong bathrooms and opening up all Kansans to scrutiny and gender policing by strangers,” said Logan DeMond, ACLU of Kansas Policy Director, in a release. “Bathroom bans are grounded in prejudice and misinformation, and they don’t actually make anyone safer.”
Harper Seldin, a senior staff attorney with the LGBTQ and HIV Project at the ACLU, told Reuters that the organization plans on filing a legal challenge to the law by the end of Friday.