Kansas Republicans delivered a decisive victory for women’s privacy and biological truth on February 18, 2026, when the House joined the Senate in overriding Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of House Substitute for Senate Bill 244.
The Republican-led Senate overrode Kelly’s veto with a 31-9 vote, and the House followed with an 87-37 tally, easily surpassing the two-thirds margin needed to send the bill straight into law.
The move came just days after Gov. Kelly vetoed the bill on February 13, 2026, calling the legislation “poorly drafted” and warning it would have “numerous and significant consequences.”
Republicans, however, had the votes and they used them.
Under the new statute:
- Restroom use in state government buildings, schools, and universities is restricted to the sex assigned at birth. Transgender Kansans who identify differently but who have not had surgery or whose IDs do not match their gender identity will be barred from using opposite-sex facilities.
- Government agencies will designate multi-occupancy restrooms as either male or female — eliminating “gender-neutral” bathrooms in state buildings.
- Driver’s licenses and birth certificates must reflect biological sex at birth, not self-declared gender identity — reversing any existing changes for residents.
- Penalties for violations include warnings for a first infraction, $1,000 fines for second violations and misdemeanor charges for repeated infractions.
House Speaker Dan Hawkins (R-Wichita) defended the override, emphasizing that clarity and reality should triumph over ideology, and that women’s privacy and safety in restrooms and locker rooms matters above all.
Sen. Kellie Warren (R-Leawood) hammered the point during debate, questioning why a man should ever be legally permitted into a women’s restroom.
Opposition was swift and forceful.
Civil liberties organizations, including the ACLU of Kansas, called the law intrusive and discriminatory, accusing lawmakers of gender policing and forcing Kansans into the wrong bathrooms.
“This bill is about forcing people into the wrong bathrooms and opening up all Kansans to scrutiny and gender policing by strangers,” said Logan DeMond, ACLU of Kansas Policy Director.
“Bathroom bans are grounded in prejudice and misinformation, and they don’t actually make anyone safer. Transgender people are already vulnerable to violence, especially in restrooms, and this bill layers prospective physical violence on top of the existing privacy violation of forced changes to identification documents. Transgender Kansas should have protection and dignity in our state instead of persecution. But rather than addressing the real problems everyday Kansans face and trying to make people’s lives better, politicians continue to focus their lawmaking powers on a minority, bending the very rules in the statehouse to do so.”
“This bill is exactly the kind of politicized, governmental overreach that the Kansas Constitution seeks to protect us against,” said Micah Kubic, ACLU of Kansas Executive Director.
“When Attorney General Kobach failed to see his extremist interpretation of a vague law accepted by the Courts last year, he ran to the legislature to try and to have another go at undermining constitutionally protected rights. We are disappointed to see a policy adopted that is based on misinformation against our trans and intersex family and friends, intruding into the most private corners of our lives.
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson issued the following statement:
“Instead of meeting the needs of their constituents, Kansas lawmakers have prioritized cruelty. As one of their first acts, they forced through this “bathroom bounty” bill under the cover of night and then overrode the governor just days later, denying LGBTQ+ Kansans and their allies an opportunity to even speak in defense of their dignity.
Forcing people into the wrong bathrooms, stripping them of accurate IDs, and allowing government-sanctioned harassment doesn’t make anyone safer — it targets transgender Kansans for no reason and will undoubtedly impact many others who are targeted with animus whether or not they are transgender. Meanwhile leaders ignore real challenges facing families. This was sadly politics over people, but we will keep fighting for dignity and freedom for all LGBTQ+ people.”
The following statement is from Governor Kelly regarding the overriding of her veto of House Substitute for Senate Bill 244:
“As I said in my veto statement, this is a poorly drafted bill with significant, far-reaching consequences.
“Not only will this bill keep brothers from visiting sisters’ dorms and husbands from wives’ shared hospital rooms, it will cost Kansas taxpayers millions of dollars to comply with this very vague legislation.
“It is nothing short of ridiculous that the Legislature is forcing the entire state, every city and town, every school district, every public university to spend taxpayer money on a manufactured problem. Kansans elected them to focus on education, job creation, housing, and grocery costs.”
WATCH:
BREAKING: The Kansas Legislature just OVERRODE the Democrat Governor’s veto and enacted a law that
– Bans MEN from WOMEN’S restrooms
– Defines male and female at birth
– Requires accurate listing of male or female on licenses and birth certificatesBoth the Senate and House… pic.twitter.com/ZvN5D4pKD7
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 18, 2026
The post Kansas GOP OVERRIDES Dem Gov. Laura Kelly’s Veto — Enacts Law that BANS MEN from WOMEN’S Restrooms, Defines Sex at Birth, Mandates Accurate Male/Female IDs appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.