FILE - A protester outside the Kansas Statehouse holds a sign after a rally for transgender rights on the Transgender Day of Visibility, March 31, 2023, in Topeka, Kan. Kansas will no longer change transgender people's birth certificates to reflect their gender identities, the state health department said Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, citing a new law that prevents the state from legally recognizing those identities. TOPEKA, Kan.
“This is something that I’ve been grappling with my entire life. As far back as I can remember, I have wished that I was that I was a woman,” Abegg said. “And being able to embrace that and take that for myself has been has been life changing.” “People with a myopic view or a misunderstanding or misapprehension about trans people want to ensure that trans people are not seen by government and the world at large,” he said.
From 2019 through June 2023, more than 900 Kansas residents changed the gender markers on their birth certificates and nearly 400 changed their driver’s licenses. Both documents list a person’s “sex.” Four trangender residents represented by Lambda Legal sued the state in 2018 over that policy, and months after taking office, Kelly settled that lawsuit. A federal judge signed off on a settlement agreement requiring the state to change transgender people’s birth certificates.