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Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoes transgender athlete ban on school sports teams for girls, women
KMBC 9 ^ | Apr 22, 2021

Posted on 04/22/2021 2:26:33 PM PDT by george76

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced Thursday she has vetoed a proposed ban on transgender athletes from playing on school sports teams for girls and women.

The bill was originally approved by the Republican-controlled House and Senate in early April.

“This legislation sends a devastating message that Kansas is not welcoming to all children and their families, including those who are transgender -- who are already at a higher risk of bullying, discrimination, and suicide,” Kelly said in a news release announcing the veto.

“As Kansans, we should be focused on how to include all students in extracurricular activities rather than how to exclude those who may be different than us. Kansas is an inclusive state and our laws should reflect our values. This law does not do that.”

Kelly said the bill would have caused more harm than good.

“This bill would also undoubtedly harm our ability to attract and retain businesses,” she said. “It would send a signal to prospective companies that Kansas is more focused on unnecessary and divisive legislation, than strategic, pro-growth lawmaking.”

Kansas Republicans said Kelly's veto was disappointing.

“It’s not surprising but nonetheless disappointing that Governor Kelly opted to veto the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act and capitulate to the mistruths and extreme rhetoric offered by the left,” Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson and State Sen. Renee Erickson said in a statement.

“The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act is as simple as it sounds – it ensures fairness. It’s not about anything else other than that, and no state should allow itself to be intimidated by big corporations or the NCAA into pretending otherwise. We will continue to fight for fairness in women’s sports until this bill becomes law.”

Kansas is among more than 20 states that have considered such a ban this year, pushing back against an executive order from Democratic President Joe Biden aimed at preventing discrimination against transgender students. Idaho enacted such a ban last year, and Republican governors in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee have signed measures this year.

On Wednesday, the Missouri House advanced a bill that banned transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams.

“It's about scoring points in the culture wars,” said Democratic state Rep. Boog Highberger, of Lawrence, home to the University of Kansas. “Instead of finding new ways to persecute people for being the way that God made them, why don't we work on understanding -- increasing our understanding and compassion instead?”

Supporters argued that they’re trying to preserving decades of hard-won opportunities for “biological” girls and women to compete in K-12 sports and win college athletic scholarships. They suggested that failing to enact such a ban represented discrimination against girls and women.

Backers of the bill were eight votes short in the House and one short in the Senate of the supermajorities they would need to override a veto.

Erickson, a Wichita Republican and former college basketball point guard who led the push for the bill, said she hopes to get at least one colleague to switch to yes after Kelly vetoed the measure.

“I want girls and women to have a chance at a fair and equitable playing field in sports,” she said. “This bill protects that.”

With Idaho's ban on hold because of a federal lawsuit, the American Civil Liberties Union has promised to file a lawsuit if Kansas enacts a law.

The threat of a lawsuit -- and arguments that Kansas could lose collegiate sports tournaments or business development -- irritated some conservative lawmakers. They also bristled at LGBTQ-rights advocates' predictions that enacting the ban would increase bullying of transgender students.

“Saying, ‘If you don’t do what we like and do what we want or think different than us, we're going to hurt you by not coming to your state,' that is corporate bullying, and it's wrong," Erickson said.

Supporters of such bans have pointed to the 15 championships won between 2017 and 2019 by two transgender high school runners in Connecticut, which prompted a federal lawsuit. They argue that “biological boys” have innate physical advantages in girls’ and women’s sports that would ruin competition.

“It's discrimination to not pass this -- it's discrimination for women,” said Sen. Kristen O'Shea, a Topeka Republican.

Sen. Mark Steffen, a Republican from south-central Kansas, told colleagues last month that the bill was based on “indisputable physiological facts” that demonstrate “the male as a genetically and time-engineered superior machine.” He said Friday that the issue also is about “the chaos that's permeating our country.”

Supporters generally have been unable to cite local examples of problems. The association overseeing extracurricular activities in Kansas K-12 schools says it has been notified of only five active transgender athletes, and there is no known case of a transgender athlete having won a Kansas championship.

The debate in the Senate became emotional and heated. Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Kansas City-area Democrat, began to cry as she said the proposed ban “hurts vulnerable children.” Sen. Ethan Corson, another Kansas City-area Democrat, found himself accused of ageism after he suggested the bill's support resulted from many senators being 60 or older and fearing what's “different than the way we grew up.”

In the House, freshman Democratic Rep. Stephanie Byers, of Wichita, the state's first transgender lawmaker, saw the bill as an effort to prevent trans students from being fully part of society.

"Trans girls are girls," she told colleagues. "Trans women are women.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Kansas
KEYWORDS: genderdysphoria; homosexualagenda; kansas; kelly; laurakelly; school; schools; transgender; transgenders
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1 posted on 04/22/2021 2:26:33 PM PDT by george76
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To: george76

Question: Will this get the females to vote our wa election time?

Answer: Fat chance.


2 posted on 04/22/2021 2:28:01 PM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (`)
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To: george76

Tolerance of insanity is not a virtue.


3 posted on 04/22/2021 2:29:03 PM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: george76

Dear Guvnor,

It sends the message that males are at a distinct advantage in sports competition and that it is unfair to females to pretend the playing field is now level because of their delusions.


4 posted on 04/22/2021 2:29:11 PM PDT by lastchance
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To: george76
[transgender]



There is no such person in existence. Only people pretending and those mutilated by surgery.
5 posted on 04/22/2021 2:30:15 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: george76

What is she? Meaning Democrat or Republican.


6 posted on 04/22/2021 2:31:49 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: george76

“”Trans girls are girls,” she told colleagues. “Trans women are women.”

BLECCCHHHHH gROSS


7 posted on 04/22/2021 2:32:25 PM PDT by max americana (FIRED LEFTARD employees at our office every election since 2008 and enjoyed seeing them cry.)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Well, Toto............this governor in Kansas is not in reality anymore. (no offense - for the thread)


8 posted on 04/22/2021 2:32:34 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: george76

Interesting how the article refused to answer the one question I had since the first paragraph. So I’ll answer it:

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is a Democrat. She was born in New York City, NY in 1950.


9 posted on 04/22/2021 2:33:05 PM PDT by fr_freak
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To: george76

Trans girls are not girls.

Trans women are not women.

I am SICK of this “inclusivity” garbage. Especially by hateful people like this governor that would happily shut down churches and force white people to give their money to the “inclusive” people she wants to let in.


10 posted on 04/22/2021 2:33:06 PM PDT by Skywise
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To: george76

How odd, no mention the governor is a member of the Democrat party.


11 posted on 04/22/2021 2:33:16 PM PDT by TheDon (Resist the usurpers)
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To: george76
The majority of women vote FOR this, so I guess they're OK with it.

In case you're wondering, this governor is a democrat.

12 posted on 04/22/2021 2:33:25 PM PDT by TwelveOfTwenty (Still praying for our country and President Trump)
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To: lee martell

Laura Kelly, Kansas Democrat.


13 posted on 04/22/2021 2:33:37 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: george76

legalizing mental illness and fantasy wishes helps no one


14 posted on 04/22/2021 2:34:41 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: george76

Sick O Rama Rama Rama.


15 posted on 04/22/2021 2:34:57 PM PDT by HighSierra5
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To: george76

It would be nice if the girls would just boycott those events; let the trans compete against each other.


16 posted on 04/22/2021 2:34:57 PM PDT by SkyDancer (To Most People The Sky's The Limit ~ To A Pilot, It is Home)
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To: Rurudyne

tolerance is not a virtue


17 posted on 04/22/2021 2:35:10 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: SaveFerris

Kansas? I guess if Repubs didnt get caught so often with their nose in the trough, we wouldnt have Dems in positions to pull this crap.


18 posted on 04/22/2021 2:35:57 PM PDT by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic...)
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To: george76
“It would send a signal to prospective companies that Kansas is more focused on unnecessary and divisive legislation, than strategic, pro-growth lawmaking.”

You are better off to keep companies out that would object to the law. Keeps them from interjecting themselves into state governance with idiotic,illogical, immoral values

19 posted on 04/22/2021 2:36:46 PM PDT by RatRipper ( Democrats and socialists are vile liars, thdieves and murderers - enemies of good and America.)
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To: george76
“This legislation sends a devastating message that Kansas is not welcoming to all children and their families, including those who are transgender -- who are already at a higher risk of bullying, discrimination, and suicide"

Suicide? Eh...survival of the fittest.

20 posted on 04/22/2021 2:36:58 PM PDT by dware (Americans prefer peaceful slavery over dangerous freedom)
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