Last year, the Kansas state legislature passed a sweeping ban on transgender medical procedures for minors, including hormones, puberty blockers, and genital mutilation surgery. Other restrictions were included involving both schools and medical facilities. Democratic Governor Laura Kelly vetoed the bill as expected and the state GOP got to work preparing to override her veto. But yesterday, a surprising twist in the story turned up. The lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of overriding the veto, but not quite overwhelmingly enough. They fell two votes short of the required two-thirds majority, so the bill has effectively been killed off, at least for now. (Associated Press)

A proposed ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors in Kansas died Monday when two Republicans switched their votes and prevented the Republican-controlled Legislature from overriding the Democratic governor’s veto of the measure.

The Kansas House voted 82-43 to overturn Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill that also would have barred state employees who work with children from promoting social transitioning for kids who question or struggle with their gender identities. But supporters were two votes short of the necessary two-thirds majority.

Republicans who backed the bill argued that a ban would protect vulnerable children from what they described as experimental health care that could create long-term health issues. It would not only have banned surgeries for minors but also puberty blockers and hormone treatments. The Senate voted Monday morning 27-13 to override Kelly’s veto, the exact margin supporters needed there.

Support for the original bill was strong in both chambers, but the majorities seeking to override the veto were razor-thin. The eventual failure came about because two of the Republicans who initially voted in favor of the bill, Jesse Borjon and Susan Concannon, switched sides at the last moment and voted against the override. Both still support the bill's overarching goals, but said they were uncomfortable with the vague wording of certain portions of the proposed law.

That's probably understandable. The elements of the bill banning surgery and hormones or puberty blockers were spelled out clearly enough for the most part. But it included a provision that would ban "advocating for social transitioning." That portion made references to "preferred pronouns or manner of dress.” I remain completely in favor of banning these medical practices, but that sounds like a bridge too far even for me. I find the pronoun game obnoxious and pointless, but it's still speech. And regulating how people are allowed to dress should be a nonstarter in almost any courtroom unless we're talking about laws impacting nudity or indecency. The government can't justify rules forcing people to "dress like a boy" or "dress like a girl" in an era where such gender-based distinctions in garb have largely disappeared. The sole exception to that might involve school uniforms, but even those rules have been successfully challenged in the courts.

This defeat doesn't need to be the end of the road for the Kansas bill. There is still strong legislative support for the most important measures. The GOP needs to take the bill back for a fresh look and make a few adjustments. They will need to modify the social transition advocacy language or simply remove it entirely. There are plenty of other bills that have survived challenges in more than two dozen states that could be used as templates. 

Of course, the biggest change that Kansas voters could make to resolve situations like this would be to get rid of Governor Laura Kelly. If they could put a conservative Republican in office, they wouldn't need to worry about overriding vetos. Kelly will be leaving office after next year because Kansas governors are limited to two consecutive terms, but they are able to come back after a four-year break and run again. Then again, Laura Kelly is already 74 years old. She would be 80 by the time the 2030 elections roll around. That doesn't guarantee anything, as Joe Biden has demonstrated. But it seems as if there is a fair chance that she'll just retire. She won both of her gubernatorial races by pluralities, so the voters in Kansas really should be able to get their act together and elect a Republican next time.