Oh, the hysteria! The Kansas legislature just overrode the governor’s veto of an “anti-trans” bill! From the Washington Post story:
Kansas lawmakers on Thursday passed what critics call one of the most sweeping anti-trans bathroom bills in the nation, overriding Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto as conservative state lawmakers are increasingly embracing culture war policies.
Sounds bad. So, what’s really in it? First, the terms male and female are defined with biological accuracy. From the Women’s Bill of Rights:
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. (a) Notwithstanding any provision of state law to the contrary, with respect to the application of an individual’s biological sex pursuant to any state law or rules and regulations, the following shall apply:
(1) An individual’s “sex” means such individual’s biological sex, either male or female, at birth;
(2) a “female” is an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova, and a “male” is an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female;
(3) the terms “woman” and “girl” refer to human females, and the terms “man” and “boy” refer to human males;
(4) the term “mother” means a parent of the female sex, and the term “father” means a parent of the male sex.
That seems both innocuous and logical to me. When possible, statutory definitions should be objectively crafted and not based on subjective personal beliefs.
But the new law also protects women’s intimate spaces from intrusion by males, making it doubly objectionable to gender ideologues:
Notwithstanding any provision of state law to the contrary, distinctions between the sexes with respect to athletics, prisons or other detention facilities, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, locker rooms, restrooms and other areas where biology, safety or privacy are implicated that result in separate accommodations are substantially related to the important governmental objectives of protecting the health, safety and privacy of individuals in such circumstances.
Laws and policies preventing rapes, assaults, and intrusions of privacy in places where women are unclothed or otherwise vulnerable used to be unremarkable. I look forward to a time when they are again welcomed.
Anti-trans? Hardly.