Transgender individuals’ rights are front and center once again in Missouri. A committee meeting in Jefferson City stretched into the night, as individuals showed up to testify against a slate of proposed bills affecting trans rights. We sat down with a Missouri-based LGBTQ advocacy group to see just how far-reaching these bills could be.
Gridlock in Missouri politics in recent years, and this session, House Republican leaders have said they want to focus on getting work done to battle issues that affect all Missourians. In Lee’s Summit, Republican John Patterson, the House Majority Floor Leader, said on day one here in Missouri, we’ve got a good number of kids that can’t read at their grade level.
One-fifth of kids are obese. We have 40 kids a year that are killed by gun violence, adding, if we really want to help kids, I think we will do things that address crime and educational opportunities. His response came after a question about a bill affecting transgender rights in Missouri, something Patterson said wouldn’t be much of a focus this session. Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case now. I believe that it is not a waste of time to use bandwidth to protect kids.
Wednesday, in a marathon session that stretched into the night, House lawmakers heard testimony on a batch of new bills sponsored by Republicans curtailing transgender rights on a number of issues, some of which they addressed last session. One bill looks to cement the definition of sex into state law, trying to equate it to gender, and a number of measures affect who can use bathrooms and locker rooms in public schools and even private businesses. There’s even enforcement language, pitching that the state attorney general, apparent or apparent on behalf of a student that isn’t their child, could sue school districts they believe are violating the rules. Perhaps the biggest bill would eliminate an exception in the Safe Act passed last year that bans gender-affirming care for minors. This change would erase a sunset provision, essentially making it illegal for people who were still undergoing treatment to continue. Family members and allies pleaded with lawmakers not to pass these measures.
The amendment that you are considering making to the so-called Safe Act will add my grandson to the list of victims already suffering from your misguided attempts to impose your religious beliefs on others.
When we discuss people’s very ability to exist, we give people license to discriminate. We give kids license to bully. We give teachers the ability to out kids. We create a space that is inhospitable for people to live as their authentic selves.
Trans advocates excoriated Republicans for their efforts and told the committee the rules already on the books are forcing people to pick up and leave their lives in Missouri to move out of state. It is a deeply personal issue, and now a deeply political one. Please welcome Robert Fisher with PROMO, Missouri statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization.
Thank you so much for being here. Uh, first off, let’s talk about these proposed changes to the Safe Act, because this would, in effect, create a permanent ban, really cementing that permanent ban on gender-affirming care, even for people who fell under the exception last year. Exactly. The first thing I want to address is that, you know, as they name it, the Safe Act. Ironically, it’s actually the quite opposite.
It puts a lot of youth at risk of dangerous harm, not only mentally, but also we know that transgender individuals that don’t receive that care are at a higher risk of potentially committing suicide. And we know that your executive director, we just heard from a little bit, said Wednesday. In essence, that care is already ending in Missouri because of fear of prosecution. Can you explain that a little bit? Absolutely. So the two primary providers, University of Missouri Medical System, and then the Washington University Transgender Clinic, both have ceased operations for care for minors because of the fact that the way the bill is written, it increases the exponential liability that those systems have to take on in order to provide that care, which means that malpractice insurance, those premiums go skyrocketing, and force providers to decide whether or not they’re going to take that liability and that risk on should someone decide to later on sue them.
And we heard from medical professionals too on the other side of this issue, who we’re talking about a bill that would basically protect them, making decisions based on their beliefs as well. We have a little bit of sound from the hearing, the ability to say no to certain medical procedures, whether they be about transgender medicine or just in general, needs to be in the purview of the physician.
So this bill, if it passed, would let medical professionals object to that care. And then that’s the biggest argument, right? Well, if I’m not comfortable with it, then I shouldn’t have to do it. What’s your response to that? I think that the current, the way that the current system is set up is that medical providers are specialized. They typically specialize in areas that, you know, you wouldn’t go to an OBGYN necessarily for a routine, you know, physical or you wouldn’t necessarily go to someone who specializes in cancer treatment for, you know, something that’s wrong with your foot. There is a reason why people specialize in areas, and already it’s common practice for a doctor to say, I don’t specialize in this area, but let me refer you to other people that can.
So there’s already ways that doctors can say, you know what, this isn’t my area of expertise and therefore let me give you some options that you can explore on your own and make that decision for yourself.
There were a number of bills discussed last week. Many of the same themes that we heard a lot of last year when it came to the bathrooms, showers, locker rooms, this time even involving private businesses.
Do you expect any of these to pass through the General Assembly? And then what? What happens then? It’s really hard to say. Quite honestly. We had the GOP leaders at the very beginning of session mentioned that, you know, these aren’t LGBTQ. Plus issues. You’re going to take a back seat.
There are multiple other issues that we have that are affecting children. But so it’s really hard to say whether or not they’re going to prioritize this because there is a small group of legislators known by the Freedom Caucus that specifically are trying to push the push. These issues as hard as they can. All right. And the session is just getting started. So we’ll see what happens. And we’ll be following closely to Robert Fisher with PROMO. Thank you so much. KMBC Nine News is watching this and other important issues making their way through Jeff.
