TOPEKA, Kansas (LifeSiteNews) – The Kansas Legislature has overridden Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of legislation to limit restrooms in government buildings to actual members of the designated sex, ensuring it will become law despite her objections.
Senate Bill 244 establishes that the administrators or overseers of “each public building shall designate each multiple-occupancy private space in such building for use only by individuals of one sex,” and “take every reasonable step to ensure an individual does not enter a multiple-occupancy private space that is designated for use only by individuals of the opposite sex.” It applies to any “building owned or leased by a governmental entity,” including state offices, schools, and universities. Single-occupancy unisex facilities would still be permitted.
“Any governmental entity that violates this section is liable for a civil penalty of $25,000 for the first violation and $125,000 for each subsequent violation,” it added. “Each day of a continuing violation of this section constitutes a separate violation.” Individual violators would also be subject to fines and lawsuits.
Kelly vetoed the measure February 13, calling it “poorly drafted” and declaring the “Legislature should stay out of the business of telling Kansans how to go to the bathroom and instead stay focused on how to make life more affordable for Kansans.”
But the Kansas Constitution allows gubernatorial vetoes to be overridden by two-thirds supermajority votes, which passed the Senate 31-9 and the House 87-37, enshrining SB 244 in law.
“School children, who are they going to encounter in the bathrooms at school?” Republican state Sen. Kellie Warren asked. “It’s not about economic impact. Yes, we need to address this.”
Critics have long warned that forcing girls to share intimate facilities such as bathrooms, showers, and changing areas with members of the opposite sex violates their privacy rights, subjects them to needless emotional stress, and gives potential male predators a viable pretext to enter female bathrooms or lockers by simply claiming transgender status.
The issue was famously highlighted in Virginia, where Loudoun County Public Schools superintendent Scott Ziegler set off a national firestorm for allegedly covering up the rape of a female student by a “transgender” classmate in a girls’ bathroom due to its damaging implications for the LGBT movement. He was convicted in 2023 of “using his official position to retaliate against someone for exercising their rights” by firing a teacher who testified about the situation before a grand jury, but prosecutors eventually dropped charges relating to allegedly lying about having no knowledge of the situation at a school board meeting.
The Kansas Legislature has overridden Kelly’s vetoes on numerous occasions over the past year, including on laws to protect foster parents from being forced to affirm LGBT ideology, require fetal development education in public schools, and ban gender “transition” procedures on minors.