M. Gessen, a Times Opinion columnist who recently won the Pulitzer Prize in opinion writing, has reported from war zones and refugee crises around the world. This week they reported from closer to home. Kansas, to be precise. What brought them there was Senate Bill 244, one of the nation’s most extreme efforts to restrict the rights of transgender people. The law mandates that trans people’s driver’s licenses must be marked with the gender that they were assigned at birth. It bans gender-neutral bathrooms in public buildings. And it empowers Kansans to sue any trans person — for “actual damages or liquidated damages in the amount of $1,000, as well as declaratory and injunctive relief” — if they suspect that person used a bathroom that did not align with their state-designated gender. The law, M. found, has resulted in a lot of anguish among trans Kansans, some of whom transitioned decades ago — and many of whom are still struggling to navigate the confusing way the rules have been written and enforced. It has also resulted in what one person M. spoke to described as “a state-created refugee crisis,” as people pack up their lives, say goodbye to their friends and co-workers, and move across the state line to Colorado. But if these laws catch on in other parts of the country, is anywhere really safe? Amid the fear and sadness M., who is trans, also encountered something else: “a kind, loving Kansas where neighbors accept one another and churches offer sanctuary to immigrants and create summer camps for queer kids.” They found two Kansases occupying the same state boundaries at the same time. The question now is which one will prevail, and whether the state’s trans residents will stick it out long enough to find out.
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