Trans Kansans appalled by bathroom, driver’s license law: ‘They’re punishing us’

Avery Rowland shook as she walked into the Crawford County courthouse in southeast Kansas at 8 a.m. to change the gender marker on her driver’s license.

“I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to come to work today, because I was so nervous,” she said.

The Girard, Kansas, resident was worried she would meet a transphobic employee. Instead, the clerk was just confused.

“She said, ‘Well, you’re a woman. It says woman on your passport. I don’t know what to do.’”

Rowland’s early morning DMV visit was caused by a new state law, which targets transgender people.

Under the law, roughly 1,800 transgender Kansans are required to surrender and replace their driver’s licenses and birth certificates. In addition, anyone using the restroom in a government-owned building in Kansas must use the one that corresponds to their sex assigned at birth or risk legal penalties.

This law took effect just eight days after Kansas’ Republican supermajority overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto.

The Star spoke to five Kansas LGBTQ activists, including three trans Kansans affected by the ID change. They told stories of anger, exhaustion and solidarity amidst attacks from their own state government.

Pushing out of society

While the trans people the Star spoke with knew about the new law, they assumed it would take effect in July, like a lot of Kansas legislation.

They didn’t expect their driver’s licenses to be affected so quickly, less than 24 hours after people opened their mailboxes to see a notice from the Kansas Department of Revenue.

Some people, like Rowland, are hurrying to change their IDs to avoid driving with an invalid license. Others are waiting, hoping a legal challenge comes before they get pulled over.

Isaac Johnson, an activist with the Trans Lawrence Coalition, said when he learned about the letters he was, “stunned” and “genuinely blindsided.”

He believes that enacting the bill without a grace period has caused undue harm to residents.

“How am I supposed to drive to the DMV?” he said.

Johnson said he thinks lawmakers want to keep trans people out of public life.

“They’re punishing us so much because we have the audacity to just exist,” he said.

Riley Long, a Shawnee trans activist, said he is especially worried for young people being told to use a different bathroom at school.

“I feel so helpless in all of this and I hate that it’s happening. … It’s just terrible.”

Long said he wants to debunk the idea that trans people are “some kind of alien trying to take over the world.”

“I’m really boring,” he said. “I go to bed at 9 o’clock.”

Long called for the Kansas trans community to stand together.

“We’re going to exist, no matter what laws are put in place.”

‘Don’t take this lying down’

The activists hoped to see a lawsuit against the driver’s license and bathroom restrictions.

Tom Alonzo, leader of Equality Kansas, said his nonprofit is already working with organizations like the ACLU and Loud Light to fight back through legislation or lawsuits.

“All these laws do is give permission for people to abuse and harass other people,” the Kansas City, Kansas, resident said.

Jae Moyer, a nonbinary activist in Overland Park, said that even though the law is already in effect, “there are still going to be people in the community that don’t take this lying down.”

In October, courts overturned SB 180, which blocked the Kansas Department of Revenue from accommodating gender marker change requests for over two years. Rowland of southeast Kansas said she was one of the first in line.

She called it “the greatest feeling ever, to be seen and respected and be able to be myself in Kansas.”

But the Kansas government constantly attacking Rowland’s identity is “exhausting.”

She said she’d move abroad if things became dire in the Sunflower State. But Rowland is running for state representative first.

“I don’t want to leave, I want to help the people.”

How can I support trans people in Kansas?

Tom Alonzo suggested people contact their state legislators, and Jae Moyer encouraged people to donate to a mutual aid fund organized by the LGBTQ Foundation of Kansas.

If you need mental health support, contact the Trans Lifeline by calling 877-565-8860 or the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling 988.

In addition, here are some trans and queer centered organizations that serve Kansas residents: