ASAP — Protect Trans Kids; bills have been fast tracked

First, as I watch the news this morning, my heart goes out to the families on the flight from Wichita. The name and history behind this Six Degrees of Activism group reminds me of how interconnected we all are, which means there are likely some of you who may be personally connected in some way to this tragedy. I think I can say from everyone in this community that we are deeply saddened for your loss and we’ll continue to keep you in our thoughts.

I wish I didn’t have to shift my focus from this sad event to politics, but there are some vulnerable Kansans who could use our help today.

Protect Trans Kids — bill being voted on today

Like we are seeing at the federal level, the Kansas legislature is highly focused on the trans community that makes up only around 1% of our total population. As I’ve said before, this community needs some allies. That’s where we (and your friends) come in, and we need to act quick.

These bills have been fast tracked under emergency action procedures allowing them to skip some of the usual procedures — written testimony from Kansans hasn’t even been provided to legislators.

The Senate has already approved passing the bill. Knowing the bill was likely to pass, Democratic Senators Sykes, Holscher, and Haley proposed amendments to make it less harmful, but those were rejected. The Senate will take final action on the bill today.

The House will be debating their identical version today, which could allow for some amendments to make the bill less harmful, or I believe leadership could decide to just vote on the Senate version that was not amended.

ASAP — Use this EASY link to email legislators before they take their final votes. The link contains information about the bill and talking points, but don’t worry too much about the content of your email. We just need legislators to know Kansans oppose these bills. Pretty much a click and send.

About the bill

For those wanting to better understand the bill and why it is so harmful, I’m just gong to let some others speak to that to save some time.

First, you can read about it in the link above.

Second, I’ll just share these succinct words from Representative Nikki McDonald (D-Olathe):

And lastly, this well written post from Rabbi Moti Rieber:

From the federal level to states across the country, the trans community is under full attack. Just the rhetoric alone is so harmful. Trump even blamed his freezing of funds on the need to get rid of gender wokeness (or something to that effect). I may write about the chaos he caused with the freezing of funds another day, but I just hope the majority of Americans can recognize that this extremely small community is being used as a scapegoat and distraction from real issues we should be concerned about. Please be an ally.