Douglas County judge sets hearing over Kansas anti-trans ‘bathroom bill’ for Sept. 29 

Douglas County District Judge James McCabria, shown here during a March 6, 2026, court proceeding, on Monday set a September hearing on Kansas' new law forcing people to use bathrooms matching their biological sex at birth. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA — A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Kansas’ new law regulating bathroom use in government buildings and forcing Kansans to hold documents reflecting their biological sex at birth won’t have its next hearing until September. 

A Douglas County judge scheduled a Sept. 29 hearing to address a temporary injunction for Senate Bill 244, which became law in February. The law forces people to use bathrooms in Kansas government buildings that match their biological sex at birth and stops anyone from changing gender markers on driver’s licenses and birth certificates. 

Two transgender men using the pseudonyms Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe filed a lawsuit saying SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process and freedom of speech, according to a news release from the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas. 

Douglas County District Court Judge James McCabria denied a motion March 10 for a temporary injunction while the case played out in court. 

“This law has already forced transgender people to decide whether they can stay in Kansas now that their driver’s licenses must out them as transgender and they cannot use the restrooms in government buildings on the same terms as other people,” said Harper Seldin, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. 

Some transgender Kansans have said they’re leaving Kansas, while others have said they’re staying to fight for their rights to use the restroom and hold documents that match the way they live.