A bill to protect Kansas children from gender transition procedures failed by two votes on Monday, when two Republicans in the Kansas House, who had previously voted for the bill, flipped their position and voted with Democrats. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly (D) vetoed the bill last month, and the bill needed a two-thirds majority of both houses to override the veto.
Kansas Reps. Jesse Borjon (R) and Susan Concannon (R) voted to pass the Forbidding Abusive Child Transitions Act on March 27, when it passed the House (82-39, with four members absent). Yet on Monday they voted against the bill, which fell two votes short of overriding the veto (82-43).
Both members had been targeted by LGBT lobbying over the past four weeks, explained Brittany Jones, director of policy and engagement for Kansas Family Voice, to The Washington Stand. Activists even went door-to-door in one of their districts, distributing literature to their constituents. Door-to-door campaigning is a lot of effort to lobby a state legislator over a single bill.
Jones also explained that some Kansas hospitals had before remained neutral but weighed in against the bill after Kelly vetoed it. Hospitals who provide gender transition services to minors stand to make a lucrative profit while turning the children into patients for life. Among the hospitals that opposed the measure was Thurmont Vail Health, which brags about being “LGBTQI+ inclusive” and has a robust DEI bureaucracy.
Concannon acknowledged this far-left pressure in a speech denouncing the bill, “to all who have reached out, I hear you, and vote to sustain the governor’s veto.”
Both members criticized the bill — for which they previously voted — for totally different reasons. Concannon complained that the bill was “vague beyond the surgery” and insisted that “government involvement is not the answer.” Borjon said that parts of the bill “go too far.” Not only do these curious responses contradict the members’ previous support of the bill, but they also don’t accurately reflect the text of the bill passed by the legislature. The only possible explanation for this change of mind is that LGBT activists succeeded in confusing these legislators about the text and effect of this bill.
“We are extremely disappointed that two legislators decided to choose profit over the good of children,” said Jones. “They voted against the will of their constituents who will hold them accountable. This bill will be back. In the end, Kansas kids will win despite the wishes of those who are seeking to profit off them. We will not stop fighting for Kansas kids.”
Governor Kelly has now twice vetoed bills to protect minors from harmful gender transition procedures. In both 2023 and 2024, the legislature passed the bill but then failed to override the veto. However, despite falling short of the two-thirds threshold yet again, proponents of the bill to protect children did see a significant increase in support. This time around, many more legislators were familiar with the topic and enthusiastically supported it, whereas some legislators voted against it in 2023 simply because they didn’t understand it, Jones related. This year, the bill also enjoyed much broader grassroots support.
Thus, in 2023, the Kansas Senate passed a bill to protect minors from gender transition procedures (23-12), and the Kansas House passed it (70-52). Both votes were far short of the margin needed to override the veto. The Senate tried to override the veto, but they came one vote short (26-14). In 2024, the Senate both passed the bill and overrode the veto (27-13), and the House passed the bill by a much wider margin (82-39). The House still fell two votes short of a veto override (82-43), but the bill still earned the support of one more senator and 12 more representatives than in the previous year.
Kansas Senate Health Committee Chair Beverly Gossage (R) also expressed optimism that the Kansas legislature will eventually succeed in protecting minors from gender transition procedures, insisting, “We’re on the right side of history on this.”
The Kansas legislature did succeed in overriding other gubernatorial vetoes on Monday, before the end of their 2024 legislative session. After a deceptively-worded ballot initiative put abortion into the Kansas constitution two years ago, the legislature has sought ways to regulate the practice. On Monday, the legislature overrode two vetoes to enact laws that would protect pregnant women from being coerced into an abortion and that would collect data on women’s primary reason for seeking an abortion. “These bills work together to provide a safety net for women and promote life across our state,” Jones explained.
Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.
