Two transgender people in Kansas have filed a lawsuit to block a new state law that invalidated hundreds of residents’ driver’s licenses by requiring they reflect the holders’ biological sex rather than their gender identities.
The law, which took effect Thursday, allows those in violation of the law to “surrender” their licenses in exchange for new ones that match their biological sex.
Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, vetoed the legislation, but was overridden by the Republican-led Legislature earlier this month.
“This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans,” Monica Bennett, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas said in a statement. “It undermines our state’s strong constitutional protections against government overreach and persecution.”
The two plaintiffs, identified by the pseudonyms Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe, are asking the court to declare the law unconstitutional and block its enforcement.
The law deprives transgender Kansans “of their ability to operate vehicles or utilize their identification with no notice or opportunity to be heard,” the suit says.
The law also applies to birth certificates, declaring those that don’t align with a person’s biological sex to be invalid; and it requires that bathrooms, locker rooms and other “multiple-occupancy private spaces” in state buildings be designated for use according to people’s biological sexes, establishing steep penalties for government agencies that violate the requirement.
The law allows people “aggrieved” by the presence of someone of the opposite sex in single-sex spaces like restrooms to sue them for damages of $1,000.
State officials estimate as many as 1,700 licenses will be canceled and 1,800 birth certificates will be reissued, the Associated Press reported.
The lawsuit claims the new law violates “guarantees of personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and free expression” under Kansas’ state constitution. The complaint also says the plaintiffs and other transgender people in Kansas “will immediately suffer harm” if not allowed to drive with their current licenses or use restrooms that align with their gender identities.
The complaint claims the law effectively bars the plaintiffs from using restrooms in public buildings and will allow “aggrieved” parties to sue them whether they are using bathrooms aligning with their gender identity or with their biological sex.
If the plaintiffs “continue to use the restrooms that they have been using for years without incident, they will be breaking the law, can be fined or charged with a class B misdemeanor, and can be sued by anyone who is ‘aggrieved’ by their presence,” the complaint says.
“If they begin using the restrooms associated with their sex at birth, they will be forcibly outed as transgender, may be harassed and targeted for violence, and may still be sued by individuals who are ‘aggrieved’ because they think they’re in the wrong restroom,” it adds.
In a statement when she vetoed the bill, Kelly called the law “poorly drafted” and said it would have unintended consequences, such as prohibiting individuals of the opposite sex from visiting their family members in shared dorm rooms or in shared rooms in nursing homes.
“I believe the Legislature should stay out of the business of telling Kansans how to go to the bathroom and instead stay focused on how to make life more affordable for Kansans,” Kelly said.
The Kansas law comes as state legislatures across the country have sought to target transgender individuals in recent years.
According to the ACLU, more than 70 bills targeting members of the LGBTQ community were passed into law in states across the country last year.
Many of the laws include bans on transgender athletes playing in sports leagues or using school bathrooms that align with their gender identities.
At the national level, President Donald Trump and his administration have supported policies targeting transgender people, including state-level bans on transgender athletes playing in leagues that align with their gender identities. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has also sought to curb transgender related care for minors nationwide.
In November, the conservative-majority Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with a plan to limit gender labels on U.S. passports to biological sex, not gender identity. Earlier last year, the court allowed the administration to enforce their policy banning transgender people from serving in the military.
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