The
Kansas
Senate passed a bill Thursday to define a ”
woman
” as a biological female for legal purposes within the state.
The bill passed 26-10 in the state Senate, with no support from any
Democratic
state senators, and faces an uphill battle to override a likely veto from the Democratic governor.
The bill states that a woman is a female, which the bill defines as “an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova.” It clarifies for statutory purposes that “woman” and “girl” refer to females.
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State Sen. Renee Erickson (R) said the law aims to clarify definitions of what a
woman
is for single-sex facilities under state jurisdiction.
“What this does is simply codify in the law the definition of sex,” Erickson
told the
Washington Times. “It simply says that in existing statute or law, where there is a definition of sex, it means biological male and female as determined at birth. That’s very factual, it’s very objective.”
Kansas Senate Democrats
decried
the bill as “targeting trans Kansans” while saying it is “equally offensive to cisgender Kansans.” Democrats also took issue with the title of the bill as a “Women’s Bill of Rights,” claiming it is “part of a national push to put biologically essentialist language in statute so that legislators have basis to ban trans people from public spaces.”
The bill is widely expected to be vetoed by Gov. Laura Kelly (D), who has previously vetoed legislation regarding biological sex definitions. Last year, Kelly vetoed a bill that aimed to ban biological males from competing in women’s sports. The 2022 bill was overturned in the Senate but failed to get the required votes to override the veto in the House and died.
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Lawmakers in conservative states have pushed for bills enshrining biological sex as the law of the land, while liberal states have sided with transgender activists and opted for different policies. A lawmaker in California
recently introduced a bill
that would require all K-12 schools to have a gender-neutral bathroom, arguing it will “ensure the well-being of our LGBTQ+ and non-binary students.”
