Kansas legislators have introduced two bills, SB 513 and HB 2737, which aim to stop transgender students in public schools from using their preferred bathrooms. The bills follow in the footsteps of the North Carolina bill already signed by its governor, but they also take it one step dumber.

North Carolina’s bill requires all transgender citizens to use the bathroom for the gender they were assigned at birth, and prevents cities from introducing any nondiscrimination bills to protect transgender people. Thanks to this bill, women will now share bathrooms with people clearly now male, just because they were identified as female at birth. To protest this, many transgender males have been sharing masculine photos on social media stating that women will now get to see them in the bathroom.

In looking at Kansas’ bills, I see that they focus more on public school bathrooms. The bills require that all transgender students use the bathroom for the sex they were assigned at birth, like North Carolina’s. Unlike the other state’s bill, the Kansas bills now place a bounty on transgender students who disobey the new bills. If a student catches a transgender student using the bathroom not assigned to them at birth, that student can sue the school district for $2,500, not counting additional damages.

They couldn’t possibly propose this without realizing two students could stage a transgender grievance just to earn a quick two grand.

I have to ask, are Kansas lawmakers suffering from short-term memory loss? Are they forgetting about the $54 million school funding deficit that the state has been court-ordered to alleviate or Kansas public schools will shut down? How can the Legislature sit there scratching their heads on how to solve the deficit, but gleefully draft discriminatory bills that will kick the public school budget in the teeth? They’ve got by June 30th to find that extra money, but apparently they’re too busy finding ways to gut the state’s financials further.

No sensible lawmakers would prioritize discriminatory bills over a budget crisis. All opinions aside about the bills, there’s a fat chance of them doing anything if our schools don’t open.

The bills still have yet to pass, however, which means now is the time to stop them. I encourage Kansans to contact the Kansas Committee on Federal and State Affairs and Committee on Ways and Means, the two responsible for the bills, to voice disapproval with time that should be focused on the budget, instead of disgusting anti-transgender bills. Say no to discrimination and further debt.