Since 1936, the ACLU has been a force for LGBTQ+ rights, and we are proud to keep that fight alive in Kansas. Even as the nation moves forward toward equality for all people, there are still many who seek to create unnecessary obstacles for people in the LGBTQ+ community. Kansans face discrimination because of their LGBTQ+ identities at their work, in their homes, and in the public sphere—and there are few laws in placed to protect them.
The ACLU of Kansas remains ready to fight discrimination against LGBTQ+ Kansans, whether that’s in the legislature, in the courts, or in the community. But we also know LGBTQ+ Kansans and advocates across the state are already in the fight, and we seek to be a resource and partner in that work where helpful.
This LGBTQ+ Advocacy Resource Hub houses various resources and information related to LGBTQ+ Kansans’ civil rights—including toolkits explaining what LGBTQ+ Kansans’ legal rights are and how they can go about enforcing those rights.
Know Your Rights and Resources
- Know Your Rights: LGBTQ+ Frequently Asked Questions
- Report: ACLU of Kansas 2022 LGBTQ+ Community & Advocate Survey Overview
- Blog: Expanding Protections for LGBTQ+ Kansans
- GLSEN 2021 National School Climate Survey State Snapshot: Kansas
- From Ally to Accomplice: This short guide seeks to help allies and accomplices strengthen their advocacy.
- Transgender 101 Guide: This guide seeks to provide you with the resources and information you need to feel confident communicating and advocating for trans and gender diverse Kansans’ civil rights. C
Identification and Gender Markers
- Identity Documents & Gender Markers: State and Federal Policy: This page summarizes the current status of gender markes on identification documents.
- Federal ID FAQs: U.S. Passport Cards: This guide provides information about getting a federal ID, which can be an alternative to state forms of identification like driver's licenses.
- Recorded Training Event: Kansas Name Change & Federal Gender Marker Change Virtual Clinic
Students' Rights
- Protecting LGBTQ+ Students’ Rights at School Toolkit
- KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: The Rights of Transgender Students
Litigation Information
- Motion to Intervene: Kansas v. Harper: This is the ACLU of Kansas's ongoing litigation over gender markers on driver's licenses.
- ACLU of Kansas Condemns AG Kobach’s Attempt to Erase Court Order for Correct Transgender Birth Certificates
Previous Legislative Session Information: 2024
- How we successfully stopped SB 233 in Kansas
- SB 233: Effectively banning gender-affirming care for minors by restricting use of state funds to promote gender-affirming care, prohibiting healthcare providers from treating trans children, authorizing a civil cause of action against healthcare providers for providing such treatments, requiring professional discipline against a healthcare provider who performs such treatment, prohibiting professional liability insurance from covering damages for healthcare providers that provide gender transition treatment to children and adding violation of the act to the definition of unprofessional conduct for physicians and nurses.
- HB 2791: Prohibiting life-saving, gender-affirming healthcare for trans kids; authorizing civil and professional action against healthcare providers. Read our testimony
- HB 2792: Prohibiting life-saving, gender-affirming healthcare for trans kids; authorizing professional action against healthcare providers. Read our testimony
- HB 2793: Prohibiting life-saving, gender-affirming healthcare for trans kids; authorizing professional action against healthcare providers.
- SB 353: Effectively Banning Gender-affirming Care
Previous Legislative Session Information: 2023
- National Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill Tracker: 2023
- Mapping Attacks on LGBTQ+ Rights: Kansas
- SB 12: Criminalizing providing gender affirming care for transgender people 21 years old and younger and SB 233: Creating a civil cause of action to revoke the medical licenses of healthcare providers who provide gender affirming care to minors. Read our testimony here.
- HB 2238: Banning transgender girls from sports and opening girls and women up to unnecessary scrutiny and potentially invasive examinations. Read our testimony here.
- SB 180: Attempts to legally and rigidly define “biological sex” and exclude transgender and intersex people from accessing spaces such as bathrooms, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, and more. Read our testimony here.
- SB 228 Amendment: Requiring sheriffs to categorize individuals held in Kansas jails. Read our testimony here.
