What’s next, after Kansas Republican Legislature’s anti-trans bathroom bill? | Opinion
The Kansas Republican Legislature has probably solidified its veto-proof majority for another two years with its latest foray into punishing transgender people for being the way they are.
The only salient question left now is, “What’s next?”
Once a political movement embraces the demonization and persecution of a powerless minority to acquire and hold power, it’s practically impossible to turn away from that course.
No matter what they do, there will always be those demanding they do more.
And there will always be a politician more demagogic, more opportunistic, more ruthless, waiting in the wings to seize power from anyone who tries to say “enough’s enough.”
It wasn’t that long ago, about three years or so, that the Republican Legislature banned transgender women from competing in women’s sports — which they had never watched or cared a whit about until it became a booster step to more political power.
But the popularity high from that wore off, so the lawmakers needed to come up with another legislative club to beat up on trans people.
This time around, it’s banning them from the bathrooms that align with their gender and revoking drivers’ licenses and birth certificates that have been amended to reflect their current identity.
That, and setting up a bounty system where you, the private citizen, can collect up to $1,000 for turning in people for using the “wrong” restroom.
Pro tip: The next time you’re at a concert and women storm the men’s room because the lines outside the women’s are too long, don’t just shrug it off, take pictures. You can turn them in and pay for your concert tickets that way.
This year, Republican legislators were so concerned that their anti-trans street cred was wearing off that they bypassed public hearings to rush through the bathroom bill, and overrode a veto by Gov. Laura Kelly earlier this week.
Whew, that was a close one. And it’s probably enough to keep them safe for the time being.
But again, we need to ask, “What’s next?”
Maybe next could be banning transgender Kansans from working as schoolteachers. Kansas Republicans have made an industry of spreading lies about trans people being a threat to children, and there might still be some water left in that well.
Maybe the next after that could be banning them from any public job where they might come in contact with what Republican legislators reckon as “normal” people. (It’s probably worth noting here that President Donald Trump has already banned them from working as soldiers.)
Maybe the next after that could be requiring them to sew symbols on their clothing, so the “good” people of Kansas can identify them on sight.
Maybe the next after that could be requiring them to live in specific areas, you know, among their own kind.
Maybe the next after that could be special camps, where they can sew camouflage nets behind barbed wire on a windswept plain (we certainly have plenty of those).
There are indeed historical precedents for all these things. And it’s worth noting that each of them was done with popular support in the country where it occurred.
Now, I could be completely misreading all of this.
The Republican Legislature could just as easily decide that transgender people have been punished enough and move on to a new minority to persecute.
Just south of us in Oklahoma, Republican politicians are basking in newfound popularity from demonizing their Muslim citizens.
Maybe the Kansas Republican Legislature will try that next. Who knows?
But the one thing I do know is there will be a “next.”
There always is.
Maybe that “next” will be you.
This story was originally published February 20, 2026 at 1:39 PM.
