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Minutes for SB180 - Committee on Public Health and Welfare
Short Title
Establishing the women's bill of rights to provide a meaning of biological sex for purposes of statutory construction.
Minutes Content for Wed, Feb 15, 2023
Jenna Moyer, Staff Revisor gave an overview of SB180. (Attachment 1) She took questions from committee members.
Riley Gaines spoke in support of SB180 and shared her experience of being a 12-time NCAA All-American Swimmer on the University of Kentucky Women's Swim and Dive Team and being forced to complete against a biological male names Lia Thompson. (Attachment 2) After Thompson had been a member of a men's swim team for three years, he was allowed to compete in the women's division. He swam to a national title in the 500-yard freestyle, beating out the most impressive and accomplished female swimmers in the country, including Olympians and American record holders. Not only were the female swimmers forced to give up their awards, titles and opportunities, they were also forced to share a locker room with him. There was no forewarning and they were not asked for their consent. In recent past, this behavior would have been understood as an obvious violation of Title IX, but today, unelected bureaucrats want to redefine "sex" to include gender and gender identity. SB180 does not change any existing laws. It merely establishes a legal definition of sex-based terms so we are all speaking a common language when it comes to the implementation of laws that are already on the books.
Jennifer Braceras (Attachment 3) gave proponent testimony by stating that the basic premise of men and women being legally equally, but not the same is being threatened in two distinct ways, 1) by activists who want to redefine common sex-based words in a manner that separates sex from biology, and 2) by those who think that when it comes to sex, separate is inherently unequal. The Women's Bill of Rights (WBOR) addresses these twin threats by codifying long-standing legal precedents along with the original public meaning of words used in statutes already on the books. WBOR doesn't change current law, it simply fortifies existing law.
Lauren Adams Bone gave testimony in support of SB180. (Attachment 4) She stated that SB180 would ensure that any debate about male access to women's spaces absolutely must officially acknowledge their sex, that they be identified, in aggregate, as factually male. The WBOR will also help preserve the accurate collection of vital statistics, supporting the ongoing efforts to achieve parity between men and women and, aging, protecting women's safety.
Taryn Jones testified in opposition of SB180. (Attachment 5) She said in her testimony that in SB180 it has this idea of "fairness" and an equal playing field, especially in sports, but the truth is, sports can never be an equal playing field. SB180 also erases peoples who are intersex. It is scientifically incorrect that there are only two sexes. She also said that SB180 is blatantly discriminatory of the trans and intersex communities.
Reverend Caroline Dean spoke as an opponent to SB180, saying that SB180 is part of an deluge of legislation targeting trans individual, which includes the sports bill and the gender-affirming healthcare bill that was heard previously. (Attachment 6) Numerous pastors submitted testimony against all of those bills because they oppose the vilification and victimization of the trans population.
Liz Hamor gave opposition testimony stating that SB180 doesn't make any sense unless the authors of the bill erase 1.7% of the populations. The authors believe that sex is binary with only two narrowly defined options; male or female. (Attachment 7) She said please don't erase intersex people and please don't support bills that dehumanize trans people. She distributed to committee members the booklet titled "The Biology of Sexual Identity and Gender Identity". (Attachment 8)
Tammy Quayle testified as an opponent to SB180 saying that the proponents of this bill say it is to "protect women because they are vulnerable". SB180 goes to particular lengths to emphasize the vulnerable part - based on their physical attributes and violence and discrimination by men. There are many examples in history where it is true that bad men have inflicted all sorts of harm on women. But SB180 does nothing to actually address those harms. (Attachment 9)
Questions were asked by committee members.
Proponent, written only testimony was submitted by:
Brittany Jones, Kansas Family Voice (Attachment 10)
Lucrecia Nold, Kansas Catholic Conference (Attachment 11)
Opponent, written only testimony was submitted by:
D.C. Hiegert, ACLU of Kansas (Attachment 12)
Jennifer Parson, Human Services Professional (Attachment 13)
Stephanie Byers, Former Kansas Representative (Attachment 14)
Ellen Bertels, Kansas Legal Services (Attachment 15)
Samuel Paunetto-Rivera, Health and Wellness Coordinator in the Health Sector (Attachment 16)
Jennifer Pearson, Wichita State University (Attachment 17)
Reverend Melissa Woeppel, Bethany College (Attachment 18)
Dr. Isabel Call, Private Citizen and Pastor (Attachment 19)
Valerie Daugherty, Private Citizen (Attachment 20)
Amanda Mogoi, APRN, Wichita (Attachment 21)
Jennifer Day, Private Citizen (Attachment 22)
Larry "Lara" Crow, Attorney (Attachment 23)
Reverend Susan Candea, Evangelical Lutheran Church (Attachment 24)
Reverend Joanna Harader, Peace Mennonite Church (Attachment 25)
Leslie Jones, Private Citizen (Attachment 26)
Carol Williamson, Retired Teacher (Attachment 27)
Chairperson Gossage closed the hearing on SB180.
