LGBT advocate: Kansas transgender bathroom bills unlikely to get traction this year

Despite companion bills in Kansas House and Senate committees that would require transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender at birth instead of their gender identity, a lobbyist for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people doesn’t believe the legislation will get traction this year.

“Those fights typically don’t end well for the sponsors of these bills,” said Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas. “Political careers in Kansas have ended by promoting anti-LGBT bigotry. So there’s just not a lot of appetite in the Legislature this year for picking a fight.”

Witt made his remarks this past week after moderating a panel discussion at Washburn University about federal policies regarding the treatment of transgender people in the workplace. He said the bill that Rep. John Whitmer, R-Wichita, introduced at the beginning of the 2017 legislative session gives the Kansas attorney general “unlimited power to prosecute and sue these children and their families and the school districts” if a transgender student uses the bathroom that doesn’t align with his or her gender at birth.

“No matter what Whitmer says is in his bill, the plain language of the bill makes it clear that the AG has absolute discretion over the type and severity of any kind of action brought against these transgender kids and their families,” Witt said, adding that similar legislation last year capped any legal fines of violating the law at $2,500. This year’s bills, however, he said, have no cap.

Read more: http://cjonline.com/news/education/2017-02-26/lgbt-advocate-kansas-transgender-bathroom-bills-unlikely-get-traction-year#