Child sex changes prohibited by Kansas legislature

Republican legislators in Kansas have approved a bill that would end medicalized gender transitions for transgender youth, joining a wave of other states with GOP legislatures.

The bill, passed by the Kansas House 70-52 and by the Senate 23-12, requires the state's medical board to revoke the licenses of doctors who provide so-called "gender-affirming" care to minors. Thirteen other states have enacted laws against gender-affirming care for minors, though federal judges have blocked enforcement of them in Alabama and Arkansas, according to the Associated Press.

Supporters of the Kansas ban argue that it is about protecting children from medical care that comes with side effects or cannot be reversed later. They contend that only an adult — and not a minor’s parent — can consent to the treatments.

The care falling under the bill would include puberty-blocking drugs and hormone therapy. While the bill would not keep transgender youth from receiving counseling or psychiatric therapy, the measure applies to acts performed or "causing" acts "to affirm the child’s perception of the child’s sex" if it differs from the gender assigned at birth.

The Kansas vote came after its lawmakers on Thursday passed a parents’ rights bill allowing families to pull their children out of lessons and activities involving LGBTQ-themed materials and another measure restricting rooming arrangements for transgender students on school trips.

Republicans on Tuesday approved a broad bathroom bill that would prevent transgender people from changing the gender on their driver’s licenses. On Wednesday, they overrode Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill banning transgender female athletes from girls’ and women’s sports.