Say NO to SB 233

SB 233, an extreme bill restricting medical freedom and targeting trans youth, passed both Kansas chambers last month. Governor Kelly has vetoed the bill. The legislature is expected to attempt to override the veto later this month. If Gov. Kelly’s veto is overridden by the legislature in the veto session and SB 233 becomes law, Kansas will have passed have one of, if not the most, extreme and overreaching pieces of anti-trans legislation in the country.

On the medical side, this bill will effectively ban:
—access to all medically necessary healthcare (puberty blockers, HRT, etc.) for trans Kansans under 18 years old.
—state funds, including Medicaid, from being used to cover medically necessary healthcare and prescriptions for trans Kansans under 18.
—state facilities or individuals/entities receiving state funds from “promot[ing] or advocat[ing]” social transition or medically necessary health care to trans Kansans under 18.

Importantly, these exact same treatments are still available for use to youth who are not transgender—meaning this bill unfairly singles out trans youth.

This bill also has chilling free speech implications because it broadly prohibits state employees from “promot[ing]” social transitioning. This could encompass social workers, teachers, school guidance counselors, and more. This bill does not define what “promot[ing]” or “advocat[ing]” means. Simply allowing youth to dress as they wish or use preferred pronouns could be perceived to violate this restrictive law. Because this bill is written so broadly and vaguely, it could be weaponized against any number of people for any number of innocent actions—or perceived actions—to leverage punishment or retaliation.

In short—this bill will ban access to the best-practice, nationally recommended healthcare for one of the most vulnerable populations of Kansas youth, attack parent’s rights to control their child’s medical care, threaten Kansas medical providers and state employees who care for children, and make it harder for trans youth and their families to live and thrive in our state. 

You can help us stop this bill from becoming law.

First, contact your lawmakers and tell them to vote NO on a veto override.

Second, join our phone banks to help get out the word.

Finally, if you are impacted by this bill and want to tell your story, contact our Communications Director Esmie Tseng at [email protected].

We have stopped similarly harmful bills before, and we know we can stop SB 233, too—but only if we all make our voices heard. We hope you'll join us in doing exactly that.