On Monday, Missouri lawmakers advanced the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act (MONA) to the Floor calendar of the House. After languishing in the Children and Families Committee for several weeks, Rep. Hannegan, with 54 other representatives, exercised a discharge petition with bipartisan support in an attempt to further protections for LGBTQ Missourians. Its prospects for floor debate appear dim as of this moment.
The next day, beginning at 4:00 pm on Tuesday, in the same moment our country realized a level of accountability as the verdict was read in the police killing of George Floyd, the elected leaders of Missouri chose to advance harmful attacks on the dignity of trans youth by banning them from participating in school sports. Similar to HJR 53, the House attached Amendment 2, to HB 1141 (a bill protecting students whose GPA was adversely affected by COVID-19) in a vote of 100-51. This bill would now ban transgender youth from participating on a sports team that corresponds with their gender identity. Make no mistake, the advancement of policy to ban trans kids from playing sports is a retaliation on the procedural advancement of MONA to have a House debate.
Support PROMO as we work quickly and diligently to STOP these attacks and advance equality with a gift of $5, $20, or $50 right now.
Immediately following the vote, the attacks worsened as another amendment to HB 1141 was debated to pursue a policy that bans Missouri teachers from integrating curriculum that discusses the role of race and racism in our nation’s history, by banning The 1619 Project’s curriculum in our public schools. This attack erases accurate history and appropriate representation, thus creating an unsafe environment for our state’s most vulnerable kids and restricting their opportunity to thrive.
Representation matters. We commend the lawmakers who spoke up for LGBTQ Missourians and Black and brown Missourians. Missouri cannot make progress to eradicate a culture of violence if our elected leaders continue to perpetuate the dangerous stigmas of transphobia, racism, and misogyny, that fuels a culture of violence and suppresses the authenticity of all LGBTQ kids, kids of color, and all QTPOC.
As debate continues, we expect the Missouri House to soon vote on HB 1141, which now includes these horrendous amendments. We expect this bill to pass the House if a vote is taken.
As stated in debate by Rep. Crystal Quade: “These bills are not necessarily about the policy. They’re about primaries.”
Text “HJR53” to 472472 to call your Representative making sure they oppose ALL attacks against transgender youth including HJR 53, HB 1141, and any attempt to ban trans kids from being able to play school sports.
As this bill moves to the Missouri Senate, we need our entire community to help stop this cruel legislation and protect the Missouri youth this bill vilifies. This legislation has no basis in facts, and legislators across the country have neglected to name any examples of issues in grade school sports that this legislation is attempting to solve. Missouri legislators should be working to address the challenges that are actually faced in our state. Support PROMO as we work quickly and diligently to STOP these attacks and advance equality with a gift of $5, $25, or $50 right now.
In Equality,
Stephen Eisele, Executive Director
