BY: ANNA KAMINSKI
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a bill that bans policies requiring adopted and foster parents to affirm a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity if it conflicts with the parents’ religious or moral beliefs.
House Bill 2311 would forbid the secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families from placing children in homes based on a guardian’s beliefs on sexual orientation or gender identity, which opponents said could leave LGBTQ+ young people in Kansas’ foster care system vulnerable to prejudicial households. The legislation also would allow people to sue DCF for damages and attorney fees if barriers to foster care or adoption were enforced after July 1, when the bill was set to go into effect.
The governor said Monday the bill detracts from the state’s “best interest of the child” standard.
“Children in need of care already face unique and complex challenges. I will not sign legislation that could further complicate their lives,” Kelly said in a news release. “I also have concerns that this bill could expose the state to frivolous lawsuits and hinder the agency by taking time and resources away from critical services.”
Republican leadership saw the bill differently, characterizing it as a way to ensure foster parents aren’t discriminated against for their religious beliefs.
In a joint statement, House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, and Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, called the veto “perplexing” because, in their view, the legislation would extend First Amendment protections to foster parents.
The veto cannot stand, they said.
“Our foster care system depends on strong and stable families to care for the children in our system,” they said. “The last thing any administration should be doing is discriminating against qualified families due to their religious and moral beliefs.”
The bill has been framed as a freedom of religious expression issue, but it also targets LGBTQ+ children in the state’s foster care and adoption systems. Proponents argued religious foster parents shouldn’t have to bury their beliefs to adopt or act as foster parents, but opponents say LGBTQ+ kids in the foster care system deserve loving, accepting families.
House Minority Leader Rep. Brandon Woodard, a Lenexa Democrat, thanked Kelly for the veto, describing the bill as “potentially harmful” because it would “allow adoption and foster care agencies to prioritize religious beliefs over the best interests of children.”
LGBTQ+ youths report disproportionately higher rates of depression, suicide and bullying than their peers. The Trevor Project, one of the nation’s leading LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations, conducts an annual national survey on the mental health of LGBTQ+ youths, which in 2024 showed that 63% of LGBTQ+ young people surveyed in Kansas said they’ve been discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity in the past year.
“LGBTQ+ young people who reported living in very accepting communities attempted suicide at less than half the rate of those who reported living in very unaccepting communities,” the organization’s 2024 survey found.
The Legislature’s veto session is set to convene Thursday, when Republicans with expanded supermajorities can override any of the governor’s vetoes with two-thirds of votes.