By Sherman Smith | editor-in-chief
Good morning! I am bracing for a busy June, as you can see by the calendar at the bottom of these daily emails.
I will be leading panel discussions in Topeka, Wichita and Emporia about the constitutional amendment on Supreme Court justices. The guests, which differ at each location, include retired justices, a former governor, an education leader, and a sitting House member.
We also have a town hall scheduled for Park City, where I'll talk about our journalism and answer any questions you have. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone, meanwhile, will be part of a panel discussion about William Allen White. All the details are listed below.
If you’re interested in hosting a town hall for us in July, send me an email!
Susan J. Demas/Michigan Advance
OPINION
‘My Name Was Baby’: How this Midwestern author came to write an intersex memoir
By Chris Arnone
On Jan. 20, 2025, Donald Trump took back the White House. On that same day, he signed executive order 14168, the natural progression of the GOP’s ongoing assault on transgender people. This order sought to define gender and sex as strictly binary: male and female.
And yet, I was not born into this strict binary. My genitals were ambiguous at birth. For three days, my parents called me Baby, while they awaited the results of chromosome testing. I am one of the roughly 1.7% of the population born intersex. That is, somewhere between the male-female binary of biological sex.
As this executive order was signed, I knew I couldn’t remain silent any longer. I couldn’t sit on the sidelines and casually be erased. Because buried in the bowels of this order was the attempt to do just that: erase intersex people.
Kansas Reflector
Telehealth access to abortion pill is lifesaving for domestic violence survivors, some say
Access to telehealth prescriptions of mifepristone, one of two drugs used to terminate a pregnancy in the first trimester or to treat miscarriages, is threatened by an ongoing lawsuit in Louisiana. That state government has sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, trying to strike down the agency’s 2023 rule allowing the medication to be dispensed without an in-person visit.
Researchers, advocates and survivors of domestic violence say it’s vital to keep telehealth access available for people in abusive relationships who need discreet abortion options. The Louisiana lawsuit, however, argues in part that mifepristone has been weaponized against pregnant women in abusive relationships and shouldn’t be available by telehealth.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
6:30 p.m. June 12, Kansas Museum of History in Topeka. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone will join a panel discussion: "From the Desk of William Allen White: What Can Journalism Today Learn from the Sage of Emporia?"
5:30 p.m. June 16, Bradbury Alumni Center at Washburn University in Topeka. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will lead a discussion on the proposed constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices. Host: Kansas Appleseed. Register here.
6 p.m. June 24, Groover Labs in Wichita. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will lead a discussion on the proposed constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices. Host: Kansas Appleseed. Register here.
6 p.m. June 25, Clint Bowyer Community Building in Emporia. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will lead a discussion on the proposed constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices. Host: Kansas Appleseed. Register here.
7 p.m. June 27, Park City Senior Center. Host: Park City Community Pride.
2 p.m. Sept. 27, Red Rocks Visitor Center in Emporia. Host: Red Rocks.
If you're interested in having us talk in your town, email Sherman Smith at [email protected].
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