ACLU of Kansas in the News

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Apr 4, 2024

Wichita reaches settlement in gang list lawsuit pending council approval | KMUW

The City of Wichita has reached a settlement with the ACLU of Kansas and Kansas Appleseed in a federal lawsuit regarding the police department’s gang list. The agreement awaits the City Council’s approval...

Mar 29, 2024

Here's what I learned after four years as a litigator at the ACLU of Kansas • Kansas Reflector

Kansas is a state filled with people unafraid of asking each other hard questions and continually pushing one another for better answers. There is a landscape of smart, committed people who are tenacious...

Sharon Brett, who for the past four years was the legal director for the ACLU of Kansas, argues in front of the Kansas Supreme Court in 2022. (Thad Allton for Kansas Reflector)

Mar 28, 2024

Kansas Legislature Bans Trans Kids From Accessing Gender-Affirming Care | Truthout

“This bill places politicians’ feelings above the expert medical advice of hundreds of thousands of doctors, and strips patients and families of their ability to make informed healthcare decisions,” the...

Kansas House Speaker Daniel Hawkins, left, and Senate President Ty Masterson speak before the State of the State address at the Kansas State Capital on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Topeka, Kansas. Emily Curiel / the Kansas City Star / Tribune News Service

Mar 26, 2024

Kansas legislators pass a bill to require providers to ask patients why they want abortions | The Hill

Republican legislators gave final approval Tuesday to a bill that would require Kansas abortion providers to ask their patients why they want to terminate their pregnancies and then report the answers to...

Mar 22, 2024

PolitiFact | What is ‘sex’? What is ‘gender’? How these terms changed and why states now want to define them

Scientific and legal interpretations of these words have evolved considerably in the past century. Today, medical experts understand biological sex assigned at birth as more complex and consider it distinct...

Transgender rights advocates rally at the Kansas capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024. In 2023, the state enacted a measure that says there are two sexes, male and female, based on a person’s “biological reproductive system" at birth. (AP)

Mar 21, 2024

Kansas inmates wait in jail for months for mental health treatment. That might change | KCUR - Kansas City news and NPR

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and local mental health care providers are launching a new program next month. The ACLU of Kansas sued the state over its waiting list, arguing that the backlog is...

The Douglas County Jail houses about 10 inmates who are on a waiting list to receive mental health services the Larned State Hospital. They must receive care there before they can stand trial. They can sit on the waiting list for more than a year. Dylan L