To the Editor:
Re “The War on Trans People Reignites in Kansas,” by M. Gessen (column, Aug. 16):
The Kansas that invalidated driver’s licenses when the gender didn’t match the holder’s sex assigned at birth is a far cry from the rural Kansas where I grew up in the 1960s. It was not the fantasy of old-fashioned rural America, but community-minded folks with flaws and secrets who lived by the adage “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
I moved back to Kansas in 1996 and obtained a Kansas license. Four years later, I went in to renew it, wearing a skirt and on my way to work. I moved through the line and passed the eye test, and the woman at the final station handed me a document and said slowly, “I want you to review this very carefully.”
I reviewed it and said, “It shows that my gender is male. Can I change it to female?” (By now everyone was paying attention.) She said, “Honey, you can be whatever you want — we aren’t allowed to ask.” The people in line chuckled. I wondered how neither I nor anyone else had ever noticed the “M” on my license.
I believe my grandfather who served as a Republican in the Kansas House of Representatives and Senate has rolled over in his grave at the mean-spirited actions of present-day legislators.
Can’t we just go back to treating others as we wish to be treated? Or put another way: “You can be whatever you want — we aren’t allowed to ask.”
Kathy Perkins Lawrence, Kan.
To the Editor:
M. Gessen’s alarm should ring even more loudly since the Republican legislature’s override of Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the bill that invalidated the driver’s licenses of many trans people. The real issue is the extrajudicial making of rules and the arbitrary enforcement of them by federal or state functionaries.
This is a playbook we have seen many times before in the United States, particularly during the Jim Crow era across much of the South. The harsh treatment of women and nonbinary people in Iran and under the Taliban in Afghanistan are other examples of authoritarian control over personal morality and civil rights.
The usually friendly Kansas citizens who care about their communities need to stand up and express their moral and legal objections. Perhaps Kansans will vote to unseat incumbent Republicans in defense of civil rights and common sense.
Michael M.J. Fischer Somerville, Mass. The writer is a professor emeritus in the humanities, anthropology and science and technology at M.I.T.
Fixing Health Care’s Delivery System
To the Editor:
Re “He Saw Specialist After Specialist. He Died When No One Gave Him a Flu Shot,” by Aaron E. Carroll (Opinion guest essay, Aug. 12):
As a general pediatrics resident, I spend more time coordinating care than treating disease. My days are largely spent making sure that insurance approves medications, confirming that parents can pick them up, ordering medical equipment and making referrals for specialists booked through the next calendar year.
This essay captures something I see daily: Patients can see the best specialists at the most elite institutions and still fall through the cracks. Drug innovation matters, but a new cure means little if patients can’t get access to basic preventive care. Even the most medically literate parents struggle to navigate our system, and families facing language or insurance barriers struggle far more.
What we need in our health care system is investment in care coordination, including case navigators, accessible health records and systems that flag missed basic needs like a flu shot. Innovation should mean delivering care, not just inventing it.
Sara Kaswan Philadelphia
Breeding Ugly Dogs That Suffer
To the Editor:
Re “It’s Clear Why This Winning Dog Screams at Her Reflection” (news article, Aug. 17), about the winner of the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest:
What’s ugly is breeding dogs to suffer for a look.
Pugs’ squashed faces and bulging eyes aren’t harmless quirks. Generations of breeding for increasingly extreme features have left many struggling with serious health problems. Their shortened airways can make it hard to breathe, sleep, exercise and regulate body temperature, and their eyes are highly prone to injury and often heal poorly.
Jinny Lu, the winning dog, was rescued, and she deserves to be adored exactly as she is. But the best way to honor dogs like her is to stop deliberately producing more dogs whose bodies work against them.
Melissa Rae Sanger Norfolk, Va. The writer is a senior writer for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
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