Push against trans athletes in girls' sports fails in Kansas
Source: Associated Press
By JOHN HANNA
14 minutes ago
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Conservative Republicans in Kansas failed Monday to overturn the Democratic governor’s veto of a proposed ban on transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports, unable to convert successes in other states or Caitlyn Jenner’s support into enough momentum.
The state Senate voted 26-14 to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto, leaving supporters a single vote short of the necessary two-thirds majority. Senators’ decision blocked a vote in the House.
Kansas became the second state within two weeks, after North Dakota, where a legislature with Republican supermajorities failed to override a GOP governor’s veto of such a measure. Lawmakers in more than 20 states have considered such bans, and they’ve become law in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia after Idaho enacted one last year. Florida lawmakers recently approved such a measure, and South Dakota’s governor imposed a policy by executive order.
The vote in Kansas came two days after Jenner, the former Olympic decathlon champion and reality television figure who came out as a transgender woman in 2015, said she opposes transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports as a “question of fairness.” Kansas conservatives seized upon her comments to a TMZ reporter in arguing that they were trying to protect fair competition and opportunities for female athletes.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/kansas-government-and-politics-9393276adde526a5afbd7e0b9ff05067
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