Kansas’ attorney general is telling public schools they’re required to tell parents their children are transgender or non-binary even if they’re not out at home, though Kansas is not among the states with a law that explicitly says to do that.

Republican Kris Kobach’s action was his latest move to restrict transgender rights, following his successful efforts last year to temporarily block Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration from changing the listings for sex on transgender people’s birth certificates and driver’s licenses to reflect their gender identities. It’s also part of a trend of GOP attorneys general asserting their authority in culture war issues without a specific state law.

Kobach maintains that failing to disclose when a child is socially transitioning or identifying as non-binary at school violates a parents’ rights. He sent letters in December to six school districts and the state association for local school board members, then followed up with a public statement Thursday after four districts, all in northeast Kansas, didn’t rewrite their policies.

The Kansas attorney general’s letters to superintendents of three Kansas City-area districts, Topeka’s superintendent and the Kansas Association of School Boards accused them of having “surrendered to woke gender ideology.” His letters didn’t say what he would do if they didn’t specifically require teachers and administrators to out transgender and non-binary students.

  • Naja Kaouthia
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    389 months ago

    I’ve been trying (and failing) to understand why conservatives are so thrice damned obsessed with everyone’s genitals.

    • @jettrscga
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      359 months ago

      There’s always a boogeyman to distract from the actual grift.

      I think that’s literally it. Attacking gay rights is a losing battle so now they’ve moved onto a new minority group to target.

      • @[email protected]
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        59 months ago

        They’re also attacking gay rights, though, just not as aggressively as they are trans rights.

        • @jettrscga
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          29 months ago

          Oh yeah they’re still doing their best to infringe on gay rights.

          The fortunate part is all those stunts against gay rights that DeSantis pulled didn’t work out too well for him at the national level since he already dropped out of the presidential running.

      • @agent_flounder
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        59 months ago

        Sounds right. Stoke anger and fear so people are easy to control. Some are true believers in the hate but most are grifters.