Kansas Republican attorney general Kris Kobach is suing Gov. Laura Kelly (D-KS) over her new law that allows transgenders to change the sex on their driver’s license.
The lawsuit comes as Kelly allows changes despite a new anti-trans law, arguing that the law needs to apply in the same way birth certificates do.
“The Governor cannot pick and choose which laws she will enforce and which laws she will ignore,” Kobach said in the lawsuit.
While Kelly isn’t named as a defendant, the lawsuit still holds her responsible for the policy on driver’s licenses.
Last month, Kobach issued an advisory opinion saying state agencies should follow a law passed by the Kansas legislature, which defines a person’s sex as male or female based on the “biological reproductive system” identified at birth, and applying that definition to any state law or regulation.
In a statement to CNN, Kelly disagreed with Kobach’s lawsuit, saying the state will “instead keep in place their policies regarding gender markers on birth certificates and driver’s licenses.”
Kobach argued that Kelly was “violating her oath of office to uphold Kansas law."
More than 900 people in Kansas have changed the listing for sex on their birth certificates in the past four years, while 400 people have changed their driver’s licenses in that same time frame.
The Democratic governor is a strong supporter of the woke LGBTQ movement and vetoed legislation that protects transgender people from using whichever bathroom they desire.
Kelly said the bill’s language is broad enough to apply to any separate spaces for men and women, vetoing three more bills regarding transgender issues in April. However, the GOP-led state legislature pushed the bill through.
“By stripping away rights from Kansans and opening the state up to expensive and unnecessary lawsuits, these bills would hurt our ability to continue breaking economic records and landing new business deals,” Kelly claimed.
The lawsuit argues that someone must stand up for the law even if the governor refuses.