Transgender woman defies Kansas bathroom law inside state Capitol

A transgender woman in Kansas has staged an act of civil disobedience inside the state Capitol, using a restroom that state law bars her from accessing based on sex assigned at birth.

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Trans Liberty Executive Director Samantha Boucher entered a second-floor restroom in the Kansas State Capitol on Tuesday, in an act of civil disobedience, The Topeka Capital-Journal reports. She took the action in protest of a state law that restricts bathroom use in government buildings based on a person’s sex assigned at birth.

“I’m more than happy to put myself at that risk if it means that somebody else doesn’t have to, because eventually someone would try this,“ Boucher said.

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She took part in the protest on Transgender Day of Visibility.

Capitol Police declined to arrest Boucher, according to The Lawrence Times. In fact, one officer directed her to the restroom. A Times reporter also documented a brief exchange between Boucher and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly. In February, the Democrat vetoed the measure, but the Kansas House and Senate overrode the veto. She was in the Capitol for a separate press conference when she ran into Boucher.

“I am very sorry that you and others have been put in this situation,” Kelly told Boucher.

The Kansas law does more than restrict restroom access. It also requires the state to define sex based on a person’s sex assigned at birth, a change that has already had immediate consequences for transgender residents. Since the measure took effect in late February, Kansas has begun invalidating driver’s licenses and birth certificates that reflect a person’s gender identity, with some residents receiving official notices that their IDs are no longer valid and must be surrendered and replaced.

Related: Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoes anti-trans 'bathroom bounty' bill

Boucher called the vetoed bill the most aggressive anti-trans bill in the country. She now wonders if Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, an anti-trans Republican, will treat the incident differently.

"I'm really interested to see what the attorney general chooses to do here," she said.

Other states that recently passed bathroom laws have taken enforcement action when transgender people engaged in similar acts of protest. Florida Capitol Police last year arrested activist Marcy Rheintgen after she used a restricted restroom in the state Capitol; she was charged with trespassing, though her case was later dismissed after state prosecutors failed to properly charge the Illinois woman.

Boucher, like Rheintgen, committed her act of protest in a different state than the one she calls home. Boucher lives in Colorado. “I think this would be extremely dangerous for a Kansan to do,” she said.

And that danger is impacting trans Americans living in a growing number of states. The Movement Advancement Project shows 21 states now have some form of bathroom law on the books, with Idaho Gov. Brad Little signing a 22nd one into law on Tuesday. That law includes felony penalties for repeat violations of restroom access restrictions.