The Kansas Equality Coalition is a unified statewide group of fair-minded people who are determined to end discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We seek to ensure the dignity, safety and legal equality of all Kansans.

http://twitter.com/KansasEquality

The Equality Coalition currently has chapters in KC Metro, Hutchinson, Northwest Kansas, Lawrence/Douglas County, Riley/Geary Counties, North Central Kansas, Southeast Kansas, Southwest Kansas, Topeka, Central Plains, and Wichita/Sedgwick County.

Our current membership stands at nearly 2000 Kansans from all walks of life.

We all know the reputation Kansas has around the country – tornadoes, crazy right-wing conservatives, and a whole lot of flat, open spaces. We also all know that some of this reputation is undeserved. We have the Flint Hills, which run nearly the full height of the state from Nebraska to Oklahoma, and we have the out-of-the-way, yet stunningly beautiful, Gypsum Hills along our southern border between Medicine Lodge and Coldwater. Sure, we have our share of tornadoes, but not nearly as many as Oklahoma.

Sadly, however, there’s no shortage of far-right, LGBT-hating social conservatives with axes to grind. Tragically, far too many of them won their elections to our state legislature in Topeka six months ago, and have begun an ideological takeover of Kansas government unprecedented in our history.

It has been a difficult year for many causes for which we all care deeply. Governor Brownback defunded the Kansas Arts Commission. Women’s rights were under unrelenting assault, with many anti woman bills signed into law. The voting rights of minority and low income Kansans were jeopardized with the passage of a “voter ID” bill. School funding was slashed. There was an outrageous attempt to roll back long held rights of minorities suffering from discrimination when Brownback proposed wiping away the Kansas Human Rights Commission.

The rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Kansans were equally under assault, but we are happy and relieved to report that Kansas Equality Coalition’s lobbying team held our ground this year:

• Notorious anti-gay state Representative Lance Kinzer, a Republican from the Kansas City area, tried to wipe out local laws, such as those in Lawrence, Topeka, Mission Hills, and Manhattan, that protect residents from being fired or evicted based on sexual orientation. After Kansas Equality Coalition’s forceful opposition, the Judiciary Committee, of which Kinzer is the Chairman, refused to let his bill come up for a vote!
• State Representative Jan Pauls, a homophobic Democrat from Hutchinson, blocked Kansas Equality Coalition’s work to remove the unfair same-sex relationship ban from our law books. Even though the famous 2003 “Lawrence v. Texas” decision by the US Supreme Court wiped out all same-sex relationship bans, ours is still the law in Kansas, and has been used repeatedly to harass gay and lesbian Kansans. Rep. Pauls is also known for writing the 2005 Kansas ban on same-sex marriages, and for regularly blocking our attempts to add sexual orientation and gender identity to our non-discrimination laws.
• Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s so called “Voter ID” bill would have immediately disenfranchised transgender Kansans by denying them the right to register to vote. Kobach’s allies in the Legislature claimed that because of transgender Kansans’ “personal choice,” they chose to disenfranchise themselves, and they should just accept the consequences! Kansas Equality Coalition’s powerful response forced a public apology, followed by acceptance of our amendments to this new law that allow transgender Kansans to register to vote, even when their birth certificates don’t match their identification.
• In an historic alliance with the Kansas NAACP, the Kansas Equality Coalition stood with our African American brothers and sisters and forced Gov. Brownback to abandon his plan to close the Human Rights Commission.

The news isn’t all bad. With the exception of Colorado, Kansas is far ahead of our bordering states in securing equal rights for LGBT citizens:

• Last month, the Kansas Equality Coalition’s Lawrence chapter successfully worked with the Douglas County Commission to provide domestic partner benefits to county employees.
• Domestic partnership registries, such as the one in Lawrence, are still legal at the local level, despite the efforts of the far-right to ban them.
• The anti-bullying law Kansas Equality Coalition worked to pass in 2007 continues to expand, with our Wichita and Lawrence chapters using it as a foundation to have sexual orientation added to their local school district’s anti-bullying policies.
• Even though there has been at least one attempt to take away our rights to be parents, LGBT families are still able to foster and adopt children in Kansas.

None of Kansas Equality Coalition’s successes are possible without the support of the Kansas LGBT community. Now, more than ever before, we need to you be active. We have eleven chapters around the state, and we are all focused on protecting the limited rights we have while pushing for full equality statewide. Without everyone’s voice joining in, the far-right will have their way and roll back LGBT equality in this state back to where it was 30, even 40 years ago. We must not let that happen!

Next year will bring more attacks on the rights of LGBT Kansans, and we must be in the fight to protect them. We need you to join our fight! Find a chapter near you – there’s a map on our home page, www.KansasEqualityCoalition.org – and check in to see what you can do to help. Working together, we can continue to block the far-right’s radical, anti-LGBT agenda, and continue our successful push for fair laws and equal treatment.