Wasinger did not respond to questions from BuzzFeed News about possible genital exams, but said in a statement: “Sports physicals are performed on every athlete participating in school sports. Every child in Kansas must provide a birth certificate to attend school in Kansas. Both should be enough for any student.”
While supporters of the bill argue that such a law would promote fair competition among cisgender women and girls, the actual numbers show that transgender female athletes are an extreme minority. According to the Kansas High School Activities Association, only three trans girls currently play sports at the high school level.
Kansas also passed a separate bill Tuesday. SB 180which ties together a series of restrictions on the movement of transgender people of all ages in public places, including a ban on transgender people using public restrooms and locker rooms, and a ban on changing the name and gender markers on driver's licenses.
The bill, which Republicans are calling the “Women's Bill of Rights,” defines gender in binary terms as “male or female at birth,” and its supporters say it would lead to the legal elimination of transgender, gender nonconforming and intersex people.
Republicans in the state have more than two-thirds of the vote to override Kelly's veto.
Kansas' sweeping bill is the latest in a string of anti-trans bills that combine many restrictions or have broad definitions of where they might apply.
Last week, Kentucky's Republican-controlled Legislature similarly overrode the Democratic governor's veto of “Omnibus Anti-Trans Bill,” which banned gender-affirming care for trans youth, barred them from using restrooms that matched their gender identity, and gave school officials the power to refuse to use student pronouns.
Unless blocked by a judge, the Kansas sports ban will go into effect July 1.
