We now have 10! Missouri lawmakers have filed 10 explicit attacks targeting transgender youth, adding Missouri to the list of states aggressively seeking to rollback the rights of our country’s kids. 

With a growing list of anti-trans bills in Missouri, we need your help to stop these 10 bills.

Right now, two types of dangerous anti-trans youth bills stand out: bills that ban transgender youth from participating in sports and bills that restrict access to their life-saving health care. 

HJR 56 (Burger R-148) and HJR 53 (Basye R-47) are joint resolutions that would put the rights of transgender youth on the ballot in the 2022 election. Missourians would vote whether or not to amend the state constitution to require student athletes to participate in sports according to their sex assigned at birth. HB 1184 (Cook, R-142) prohibits schools (including universities) to receive public funding if they allow transgender youth to participate in sports. Additionally, HB 1077 (Burger R-148), HB 1045 (Basye R-47), SB 503 (Moon R-29), and  SB 332 (Burlison R-20) all seek to overstep school policies that are already in place to treat kids fairly, by creating laws that will keep transgender kids from being part of sports where they and their teammates know they belong.

Transgender athletes participate in sports for the same reasons as everyone else—to learn teamwork, sportsmanship, leadership and self-discipline, and to build a sense of belonging with their peers. Our laws should protect transgender youth, not encourage discrimination against them. We need you to share why all youth deserve to play so we are ready to face the House Emerging Issues Committee to help stop these dangerous athlete bans!

HB 33 (Pollock R-123), HB 1128 (Coleman R-97), and SB 442 (Moon R-29) are bills that would criminalize life-saving, medically necessary health care for transgender youth. These bills have criminal penalties against medical providers and parents, including a requirement that they should be reported to Child Services for providing health care to transgender youth. These bills overlook best practices backed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other mainstream medical associations and penalize health care professionals and parents for doing exactly what they should be doing — making decisions together that help affirm, celebrate, and save the lives of some of our most vulnerable young people. These health care bans will only hurt transgender youth in Missouri!

We need you to join us – This session it is imperative we have opportunities to deliver your stories to lawmakers, given the risks and uncertainty of COVID-19. Legislators are seeing PROMO in the Capitol, demonstrating the vigilance, persistence, and expertise required to make certain Missouri laws protect and enhance the lives of all LGBTQ Missourians. And we can’t stop these 10 anti-trans bills alone. We need your help now. 

In Equality,
Stephen Eisele, Executive Director