On August 8, police arrived on the scene of Long Branch Lagoon Water Park in Dodge City, Kansas, to the sight of three self-described “bearded, burly men” who had been in the women’s bathroom and changing area. The manager of the municipally run property allegedly screamed and rushed children out the door.
The men knew this was likely. They didn’t agitate any of the women; they didn’t remove their clothes or make crass comments. They simply used the gendered spaces that the state of Kansas requires them to use by law, because these men are transgender.
“Supporters of SB244, including Attorney General Kris Kobach and Senate Majority Leader Ty Masterson, billed it as a way to keep men out of women’s spaces; it clearly requires some men to enter women’s spaces,” a press release sent to news outlets reads. So, these men took action—using malicious compliance to prove their point.
At the library, at least one patron complained; at other places, the men used the bathroom and received dirty looks, and simply left the space without confrontation.
But at Long Branch Lagoon, members of the Kansas Compliance Crew resorted to having to describe their genitals to police in order to resolve the matter and avoid arrest.
“The men had a discussion with the manager and police and explained the situation, including uncomfortable descriptions of their bodies,” the press release said. Furthermore, both the manager and the police reportedly said “they had never heard of SB244 nor been notified by any government entity of its passage.”
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Meanwhile, in states like Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, South Carolina, and Louisiana, transgender and cisgender people alike have been accosted by law enforcement and/or civilians determined to enforce bathroom sex segregation, even in places where no such law applies. It has resulted in multiple arrests and physical altercations.
In February, the ACLU of Kansas sued the state on behalf of two transgender men who had their driver’s licenses invalidated due to SB244, which a senior attorney for the organization called “a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”
In the aftermath of Saturday’s action, Theodore, another demonstrator who is a case manager and transgender man in his 30s, said he was surprised by the sheer level of vitriolic backlash. But for the most part, in his experience, it wasn’t in the bathrooms. It was on social media.
When news broke of their small but mighty protest, there were threats of rape and violence, of people calling them pedophiles, of people spewing anti-trans conspiracies and hatred.
“I’m just a boring dad,” Theodore said, looking at some of those comments. “I’m out here trying to keep my kids safe, too.”
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