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Public Statements
Hays Pride is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit community organization based in Hays, Kansas dedicated to serving and uplifting LGBTQIA2S+ individuals and allies in northwest Kansas. As a (c)(4) social welfare organization, it’s structured to engage in community advocacy and public policy-related activism, in addition to education and community-building work, rather than being strictly a charitable 501(c)(3).
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Hays Pride regularly issues public statements on activism and civic engagement that support queer folx and challenge efforts it views as harmful to LGBTQIA2S+ people’s rights and inclusion. It uses its platform to advocate for free expression, raise awareness around civil rights issues, and foster inclusive dialogue in and around Kansas, aligning with its mission to promote acceptance, equality, and community empowerment.
March 2, 2026
Statement from the Board of Hays Pride on SB 244
The Board of Directors of Hays Pride strongly condemns the passage of House Substitute for Senate Bill 244 (SB 244) and urges Kansas citizens to work together to repeal this unjust and discriminatory ordinance.
SB 244, passed into law without a public hearing and over Governor Kelly’s veto on February 18, 2026, requires that individuals use only those gender-separated public facilities, including restrooms and locker rooms, that correspond to their sex assigned at birth, and it immediately invalidates any Kansas driver’s license or birth certificate that has been amended to reflect the holder’s gender identity.
SB 244 places transgender, intersex, and gender-variant Kansans at significant risk each time that they need to use a gender-separated restroom or other public facility, which is often the only facility available. Using the restroom or other facility that corresponds to their gender identity will subject them to legal penalties, while using a facility that corresponds to their sex assigned birth will expose them to harassment and the very real threat of physical violence.
SB 244 places another significant burden on transgender, intersex, and gender-variant Kansans by depriving them, abruptly and without any grace period, of legal identification and of any and all legal rights and public services, including voting, driving, and a wide range of routine commercial transactions, that are contingent upon the ability to present legal identification.
The inability safely to use public facilities or to engage in essential daily activities that require legal identification will directly and significantly undermine the health, safety, and social and economic well-being of transgender, intersex, and gender-variant Kansans, who have committed their lives and their livelihoods to our state and who make valuable contributions to our economic growth and stability in multiple areas, often in vital and underserved sectors such as teaching, special education, nonprofit and arts leadership, and social services.
Kansas is already rated as one of the least hospitable states for transgender, intersex, and gender-variant people. SB 244, by imposing penalties on routine and essential daily activities and by fostering unwarranted surveillance and invasions of privacy, will encourage transgender, intersex, and gender-variant Kansans to consider moving elsewhere while further undermining the already compromised quality of life of those who choose or have no choice but to remain.
The Kansas Constitution reminds us that our state government has been established “to insure the full enjoyment of our rights as American citizens” (Preamble), and it affirms that all Kansans are “possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Bill of Rights, Section I).
Hays Pride calls on our civic leaders and on all Kansans to take the words of our constitution to heart and to join in building a future in which all Kansans may enjoy and exercise their basic, equal, and inalienable rights.
October 29, 2025
Statement of the Board of Directors of Hays Pride on Free Expression
Hays Pride honors the memory of the activists and advocates who have spoken fearlessly, in defiance of public opinion and often at great personal risk, to advance the cause of civil rights and to ensure that the voices of oppressed communities are heard.
The Black lesbian feminist and poet Audre Lorde (1934-1992) wrote, “when we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed,” but she notes that “when we are silent we are still afraid, so it is better to speak.”
Freedom of speech, even of unpopular speech, and the ability to share perspectives that challenge dominant social, political, and cultural assumptions are essential to the civic health and well-being of our local, regional, national, and global communities.
Efforts to penalize individuals for speaking up and speaking out, in the cause of justice, contribute to an atmosphere of fear that stifles the free exchange of ideas essential to expanding the circle of civic discourse, enfranchising historically marginalized communities, and ensuring that all members of our community have a place at the table.
Hays Pride condemns efforts to penalize individuals for advocating, in a personal capacity, for justice or for sharing critical perspectives, drawn from lived experience, that would otherwise be absent from discussions that are critical to our collective well-being and growth as a community.
Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), a gay man and a leader in the Civil Rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, argued that “we need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.”
Hays Pride upholds and celebrates those who trouble the still waters of received opinion in order help us to see, to speak, and to live more freely and more inclusively.