Republican lawmakers in Kansas have rushed through a new law that restricts people to use bathrooms aligning with their gender assigned at birth in public buildings.
The law requires government entities including schools and universities to ensure that everyone one uses the bathroom aligning with their birth gender and a fine of $1000 for any infractions. Repeated use of the ‘wrong’ bathroom could lead to criminal charges, and imprisonment.
The original bill was designed to make transgender people revert their identity documents including driver’s licenses back to their birth sex, but at the last minute additional clauses relating to bathroom usage was added.
The move has been criticised because the clauses about bathroom usage were not included in the legislation when the public were invited to give submissions and as it moved through public hearings.
Republican lawmaker Bob Lewis offered the bathroom amendment shortly after the committee began working HB 2426, drawing ire from committee Democrats. There was no public notice that the committee would take action on the bill, and no public notice that the bathroom restriction would be added to it.
The new law will still allow for parent spaces to be uni-sex but also calls on all bathrooms, changerooms and shared spaces to be designated specifically male or female.
The law also allows for individuals who believe they have encountered a person of a different birth gender to take civil legal action against those they suspect of being transgender. This has led to critics to dub the clause as a “bathroom bounty hunter” provision.
It has been argued that the law creates confusion as it only applies to public buildings, and people who are transgender may experience vigilante actions in places where the new laws to do apply. Advocates are also concerned that the law will lead to people needing to prove their sex in able to enter facilities.
The law will likely be vetoed by Democrat governor Laura Kelly, but there are fears that Republican will have the numbers to overturn her veto.
