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Harper Seldin, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) representing the plaintiffs said that Kansas was singling out trans residents “for unique social stigma”.

An ACLU attorney told Salon that a new law places trans Kansans in an "impossible position"

By the time you read this, those swept up in ICE raids may already be filling some of the 1,000 beds at a troubled for-profit prison in Leavenworth now turned federal detention facility.

A Douglas County District Court judge ruled that the law may be enforced during an ongoing lawsuit by transgender Kansans and the ACLU.

“SB 244 is a cruel and craven threat to public safety all in the name of fostering fear, division, and paranoia,” said Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police. Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”

Harper Seldin, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Rights Project, stated, “The harm of this law has already had sweeping impacts on the lives of transgender people like our clients, threatening their ability to hold a job, go to school, or go about their daily lives. We all deserve the freedom to be ourselves without politicians interfering in our lives, and we will keep fighting SB 244 until it is erased from state law entirely.”

"This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans," Monica Bennet, legal director of the ACLU of Kansas, said in a statement. "It undermines our state's strong constitutional protections against government overreach and persecution."

Harper Seldin, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Project, told Reuters that the mismatch between a person’s presentation and their driver’s license “puts them at risk of discrimination or violence” when interacting with law enforcement, employers or housing providers.

“This is a devastating, but hopefully temporary, setback for our clients and transgender people across the state of Kansas,” said Harper Seldin, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “The harm of this law has already had sweeping impacts on the lives of transgender people like our clients, threatening their ability to hold a job, go to school, or go about their daily lives. We all deserve the freedom to be ourselves without politicians interfering in our lives, and we will keep fighting SB 244 until it is erased from state law entirely. We look forward to demonstrating at a temporary injunction hearing that this law is unconstitutional and deeply harmful and should be enjoined.”