On March 16, 2016 Kansas State Legislation introduced the Student Physical Privacy Act which would prohibit transgender students the use of restrooms for the gender they identify with; in public schools and universities. The act coincided with the recently passed house bill by the Committee on Federal and State Affairs, bill number 2737. The privacy act guaranteed that any person that claimed they had seen a transgender student in the bathroom could sue their school for $2,500.

    The act asserted that allowing students to use restrooms, locker rooms, and showers that are reserved for students of a different sex would create potential embarrassment, shame, and psychological injury. They bill also stated that that allowing students to use these rooms reserved for students of the opposite sex would create significant potential for disruption of educational activities and unsafe conditions.

    The bill stated that transgender students upon request can be given access to single stall bathrooms, unisex bathrooms, or use of faculty bathrooms. Universities with policies that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity may no longer be able to protect their transgender students against lawsuits.

    The bill follows already passed senate bill 175  that states that even if the university has a nondiscrimination policy on the books, it must still support student groups that discriminate against gay, and transgender students. These students would still pay fees towards discriminatory campus organizations they would not have an equal access to joining.

   Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas stated that “by supporting bill 175 the Kansas Legislature has signaled that it not only tolerates but embraces and encourages discrimination against Kansans based on race, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation.”