LGBTQ rights advocates called Tuesday for a Kansas state lawmaker to be formally censured after she publicly said she didn’t want to share the women’s restrooms at the Statehouse with a transgender colleague.
The Kansas House’s top Republican called GOP state Rep. Cheryl Helmer’s comments “unfortunate” and Democrats condemned them. The state’s leading LGBTQ rights lobbyist saw “a new level of toxic bigotry” in Helmer’s emailed remarks to a University of Kansas student and subsequent interviews about Democratic state Rep. Stephanie Byers.
The furor over Helmer’s remarks shadowed GOP lawmakers’ attempt to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill that would ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s K-12 and college sports.
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