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Kansas legislature overrode veto to enact HB2238 transgender sports ban

On April 5, 2023, the Kansas Legislature overrode Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of HB2238, the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," enacting a ban on transgender girls and women competing on female athletic teams at public schools and colleges. The House voted 84-40 and the Senate 28-12 to override, both margins along party lines. The law defines team eligibility by biological sex determined at birth and takes effect July 1, 2023.

Jurisdiction
Kansas
Location
Topeka, Kansas

Abuses documented

Actors

On April 5, 2023, the Kansas Legislature voted to override Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of HB2238, the "Fairness in Women's Sports Act," enacting a statewide ban on transgender girls and women competing on female athletic teams sponsored by public educational institutions. The House overrode the veto 84-40 (with one member absent) and the Senate 28-12, with both chambers voting largely along party lines. Kelly had vetoed the measure the previous month — the third transgender sports ban she had rejected in three years — calling it politics that would "harm the mental health of our students."

The law requires that female student athletic teams sponsored by public K-12 schools, colleges, and universities include only members who are "biologically female," defining biological sex by a student's reproductive anatomy, chromosomes, and endogenous hormone profiles at birth and expressly excluding gender identity. It bars students of the male sex from female teams and took effect July 1, 2023. Republican House leaders said in a joint statement that the act "protects the rights of female athletes" by limiting female teams to members who are biologically female.

At the time of enactment, the Kansas State High School Activities Association reported that three transgender female students were eligible to compete in the state that school year. The law made Kansas one of a growing number of states restricting transgender students' participation in school sports according to sex assigned at birth.

Updates

2026-06-30 — Supreme Court upheld state transgender sports bans [4, 5]

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in West Virginia v. B. P. J. that states may exclude transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports teams, a decision that directly upheld Idaho and West Virginia bans and, according to the Kansas News Service, is expected to make Kansas's HB2238 substantially harder to challenge in court. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said the ruling confirmed the position his office had argued.

Why we recorded this

Equal protection bars government from disadvantaging people because of who they are. Kansas enacted a law barring transgender girls and women from female K-12 and college sports teams, defining eligibility by "biological sex" at birth and expressly excluding gender identity. Legislating a protected class out of public athletic programs writes discrimination into state law, singling out transgender students for exclusion from a public benefit.

Sources

  1. HB 2238 — Creating the fairness in women's sports act — Kansas State Legislature primary accessed July 16, 2026
  2. HB 2238 Bill History — veto override votes — Kansas State Legislature primary accessed July 16, 2026
  3. Kansas lawmakers override governor's veto to enact anti-trans sports ban — CNN secondary accessed July 16, 2026
  4. West Virginia v. B. P. J., No. 24-43 (June 30, 2026) — Supreme Court of the United States primary accessed July 16, 2026
  5. Kansas law banning transgender athletes reinforced by U.S. Supreme Court ruling — KCUR / Kansas News Service secondary accessed July 16, 2026

See also