I am a very proud Kansan. I was born and raised in Olathe, Kansas; a suburb just south of Kansas City. I wear a belt buckle with the Great Seal of the State of Kansas almost everyday, I can quote the Wizard of Oz like it was my job, I am a loud advocate of Kansas sunsets and Kansas City style BBQ, and for better or for worse, I decided to attend college in-state at Kansas State University.

While attending K-State (go 'cats, amiright?), I realized I was passionate about politics. There was something about it that drew me towards it, and I realized that our politicians have an immense ability to help those they represent. I got involved in student government, where I learned that the opinion of my constituents superseded my own opinions. Some of our legislatures in #KSLeg apparently have yet to learn this lesson.

As of this morning the Kansas House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 175 81-41. Despite the fact that the KU, K-State, and WSU student senates opposed it. .

Before I go into why this bill is completely deplorable, let's go over what exactly it entails.

* SB 175 deals with religious-based student organization's membership requirements at Kansas's Board of Regents Schools (KSU, WSU, KU, Emporia State, Fort Hays State, Washburn, Pitt State)

* Currently no club/organization can exist or be recognized by a public university in Kansas unless it allows any and all students who wish to join to do so.

* Organizations can request funding for events from student senates pending the event is open to all students and has educational merit.

* SB 175 changes the 'all are welcome' rule allowing religious-based student organizations to deny membership due to their "sincerely held religious beliefs".

So let's recap, this bill allows student groups to discriminate membership based on their sincerely held religious beliefs. This bill allows student groups to bar admittance to students for an event that could very well be paid for by ALL students' fees and tax payers' money.

While the 81 representatives that voted yay claim this protects student organizations from having to allow members that might have different views/go against their "sincerely held religious beliefs" to join their club, this bill opens the gates to a whole lot of bigotry.

Groups that could exist and receive funding from a university under this bill:

* Neo-Nazi "christian group" that excludes jews, people with brown hair/eyes.

* Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster that excludes anyone who wears the colors red and blue on Tuesdays.

* Catholic based group that doesn't allow those who are LGBTQ.

* Church of Tina Fey, all those who do not own Mean Girls can not be admitted.

While some of those examples may be extreme, could you prove that they aren't "sincerely held religious beliefs"? No. You can't and that is why this bill is so terrifying.

Along with being a proud Kansan, I also am a member of the LGBTQ community. Under this bill I could very easily be told that I can't join a christian club, simply because of my sexual identity, I can be told that I can't join a religious organization simply because I am pro-choice, I can be told I can't join a religious based organization for any number of reasons, and I wouldn't be able to do anything to stop them from using a portion of my student fees to continue to slam the door on my face.

The minute Governor Sam Brownback signs this bill into law, every single student attending college in the once great state of Kansas can fall victim to discrimination for any number of excuses a religious based organization can come up with. Students have a right to join a club if they are partly funding it/paying for the facilities that host their meeting, unfortunately the members of Kansas government disagree and didn't seem to find the voices of students to be important enough to listen to.

Now if you all will excuse me, I need to go start a new club on campus.

ALL HAIL TINA FEY, OUR LORD AND SAVIOR