Kansas families can now request support, including grant funding and patient navigation services. The expansion of the project comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is considering the bans, leaving families in limbo and forcing many to travel long distances and navigate a complex, expensive landscape to access care.
Today Equality Kansas and the Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE) announced that the Trans Youth Emergency Project (TYEP) would expand into Kansas, providing financial and logistical support to the families of transgender youth impacted by Kansas’s law prohibiting access to transition-related care for minors.
A ban on transition-related care for minors, SB 63, passed through the Kansas legislature in February 2025. After years of the ban failing to advance or become law, anti-LGBTQ+ extremists this week overrode Governor Laura Kelly’s veto, forcing the discriminatory bill into law.
The Trans Youth Emergency Project is the only project of its scale and scope supporting families of transgender youth impacted by bans on gender-affirming care. The project provides 1-on-1 custom patient navigation services and supports families of transgender youth with emergency grants of $500, renewable four times per year, to help them travel out of state for care.
Since launching the Trans Youth Emergency Project in March 2023, the Campaign for Southern Equality has distributed more than $600,000 in direct emergency grants to 1,200 families and individuals, in close partnership with state organizations in every state with a ban. Click here to view all partners.
Since 2021, 26 states across the country, including Kansas, have passed legislation restricting or banning access to gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth; prior to 2020, no state had advanced a law like this. Click here for a nationwide map of where bans have passed and where they are in effect or on hold pending litigation. An estimated 38% of transgender youth nationwide live in states with a ban. As a result, many families have been forced to make challenging decisions about how to support their children who depend on this medical care that is now prohibited or inaccessible.
Taryn Jones (she/her pronouns), Policy Director of Equality Kansas said today:
“Transgender youth, like all people, deserve the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies. Kansas politicians tried to take that away when they moved to ban gender-affirming care for youth in 2023 and 2024 – and now, sadly, this ban will become law. But we know our people are stronger than politics. We are proud to be a part of the Trans Youth Emergency Project, which will work to ensure trans youth in Kansas are still able to get the healthcare they need to thrive – safely and legally.”
Melissa Stiehler, (she/her pronouns), Director of Advocacy for Loud Light, which fought against the bill, said today:
“People across Kansas fought so hard against this legislation – because we know that no one should be banned from accessing the healthcare that they need and deserve in our home state. We are heartbroken about the pain and chaos that this ban will cause for Kansas families. We want to ensure every transgender young person and their loved ones know that they belong in Kansas, and that so many Kansas support their dignity and humanity – no matter what this law says.”
Allison Scott (she/her pronouns) of the Campaign for Southern Equality said today:
“Southern hospitality is about helping your neighbor and sharing your resources and strategies – and over the past two years our team has developed a scalable, impactful project that tangibly supports families of transgender young people. No one should feel helpless in the face of oppressive legislation – and no one should be forced to leave their home state to access healthcare – but as these bans continue to wreak havoc on the lives of so many families, the Trans Youth Emergency Project will be here to help.”
Van Bailey (they/them pronouns), a patient navigator for CSE’s Trans Youth Emergency Project, added:
“Every day I speak with families of transgender youth who are worried about the future. Many are panicking, unsure of where or when they’ll get the medicine that their child needs to continue leading a healthy, happy life. These laws are cruelly thrusting families into impossible choices, and it is deeply unfair. I’m honored that we can provide some measure of relief and support, talking families through their options and reminding them that there’s a whole community behind them, ready to pitch in and help them through this crisis.”
In the summer of 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court granted review in United States v. Skrmetti, a challenge to Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care. Oral arguments were heard in December of 2024, with a decision expected by the summer of 2025. In the meantime, families in many states with bans will be forced to travel two to four times a year in order to access their care.
Families of transgender youth in any state with a ban on gender-affirming care can contact the Trans Youth Emergency Project at www.transyouthemergencyproject.org. Supporters can make a donation at www.transyouthemergencyproject.org/supporttransyouth.
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Equality Kansas was established in October 2005. Originally formed by the merger of independent LGBT advocacy groups in Topeka, Manhattan, and Wichita, Equality Kansas is a chapter-based grassroots organization. Our mission is to end discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We work towards our mission through education, public policy advocacy, and political action. More at eqks.org.
Loud Light engages, educates, and empowers individuals from underrepresented populations to build community power that has an impact on decision makers.
Based in Asheville, NC, the Campaign for Southern Equality works for full LGBTQ equality across the South. Our work is rooted in commitments to equity in race, gender and class. Through our Trans Youth Emergency Project we provide rapid response support – including emergency grants and patient navigation – directly to the families of trans youth who are impacted by anti-transgender healthcare bans.
