ACLU of Kansas in the News

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Mar 13, 2023

Statehouse scraps: Big support for voting rights, transgender ban numbers, homelessness bill paused - Kansas Reflector

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas released a poll on voting rights Friday. The civil rights advocacy group found that 70% of Kansans support measures to make voting easier, rather than adding...

Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone works Thursday at the Statehouse in Topeka. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

Mar 13, 2023

Kansas lawmakers shouldn't wait to eliminate juvenile fines and fees.

Across the ideological spectrum, numerous Kansas organizations and impacted citizens have come together on the problem of financially devastating our state’s minors and working families — and together, we’...

Mar 9, 2023

Republicans advance 7 anti-abortion, anti-transgender rights bills in Kansas

Lawmakers in Kansas have introduced seven bills in recent weeks focusing on abortion and transgender rights, such as SB 180, which received pushback from groups such as the ACLU of Kansas on the basis that...

Mar 8, 2023

Kansas push to define sex, ban trans athletes from girl sports slammed as 'discrimination'

Kansas lawmakers are moving forward with legislation that would define biological sex and ban transgender athletes from women sports. However, Aileen Berquist, Policy Director for the ACLU of Kansas, argued...

Screen of Aileen Berquist, Director of Policy from news segment

Feb 25, 2023

ACLU of Kansas to host Medical Marijuana Day of Action at Kansas capitol building this Wednesday

Kansas citizens face criminal penalties for using cannabis to ease their medical suffering. For example, according to the Kansas ACLU’s press release, last December a Hays, KS man who was terminally ill and...

Feb 25, 2023

Critics call proposed Kansas 'women's bill of rights' sexist, transphobic - Kansas Reflector

“My understanding is that they are jumping from state to state, pushing a very specific agenda,” Berquist said. “The people who are opponents of this bill are living, working, having children and fighting...

Caroline Dean spoke against a proposed women’s bill of rights during a Feb. 15, 2023 hearing, saying the legislation doesn’t actually benefit women. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)