Bills extending gender-affirming care restrictions spark passionate testimony

By Sterling Sewell and Mary McCue Bell, Missouri News Network

JEFFERSON CITY — Bills extending restrictions on transgender Missourians drew passionate testimony that lasted for hours at a House committee hearing Monday evening.
The proposed bills would make permanent the state restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors and transgender student participation in athletics, which are set to expire in 2027. An additional bill heard by the committee would increase requirements for individuals wishing to change their gender on state-issued identification.
Witnesses, both for and against the bills, included medical professionals, transgender private citizens, parents, veterans and representatives of faith organizations.

Four of the eight bills proposed by Republican House members would make invalid prescriptions made for minors before Aug. 28, 2023, for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. The prescriptions were grandfathered into the law, which blocks the prescription of puberty blockers and transition surgery by doctors. These four bills remove a sunset clause that would end the current restrictions in 2027.

The consent of minors to undergo this treatment with "proven profoundly irreversible consequences" is an ethical issue for Rep. Ben Baker, R-Neosho, one of the bill sponsors. Reps. Brian Seitz, R-Branson; Jamie Gragg, R-Ozark and House Majority Whip Hardy Billington, R-Poplar Bluff, sponsored identical bills and echoed Baker's concerns for the health of minors.

During questioning, the sponsors pointed to a lack of FDA approval for gender-affirming drugs and potential cases of regret for those who transition.
Kenneth Haller, a retired pediatrician, and Sharon Dunski Vermont, another pediatrician, spoke in opposition to the bill. Haller and Dunski Vermont both cited studies that transgender individuals who received gender-affirming treatment were at a lower risk of suicide than those who didn't receive care — a sentiment repeated by others.

"I can't think of any other procedure, any other treatment that kids undergo that might be painful or might be exhausting, where a legislature has felt they need to take this away," Haller said.
Jamie Reed, a whistleblower who previously worked as a caseworker at the Washington University Transgender Center, spoke in favor of the bills. Reed's story helped launch the push to outlaw gender-affirming care in the state and led investigations by the Missouri Attorney General's Office.

"I saw directly the patients who were harmed by these interventions," Reed said. "Patients whose mental health got worse after initiation and patients who mourned, not regretted, mourned the permanent changes to their bodies."

Reed and others who testified in favor of the bill pointed to a recent ban on puberty blockers in the U.K.
May Hall, a Columbia resident, spoke against the bills. Hall argued that Republicans do not want to protect children.
“I see education spending cut. I see health care spending cut, and ... I have seen a child marriage bans shot down by the GOP,” Hall said. “So forgive me if when you say you want to protect children, I'm not eager to believe that.”
Hall was one of the transgender individuals who spoke against the bill. Many who opposed the bill told poignant stories of struggles — whether their own testimonies or loved ones — to understand and live with their gender identity. The majority of testimony heard by the committee, which lasted almost five hours, was opposed to the legislation.
Three other bills would remove a 2027 sunset clause in a state law that requires students to participate in sports based on the biological sex as listed on their birth certificate. 

Billington, Seitz and Rep. Bennie Cook, R-Houston, cited scientific biological differences between the sexes and a necessity to level the playing field as driving forces behind such legislation. Proponents of the bill specifically cited how female athletes' safety can be jeopardized when playing against transgender women.
“Allowing biological males to compete in women's sports destroys fair competition and women's athletic opportunities,” Cook said. 

Cait Smith, director of LGBTQI+ policy for the Center For American Progress, spoke against the bills.
"What we see when we look at the data shows that really, on a global scale, trans folks are not negatively impacting women's sports," Smith said. "Equality is an issue in women's sports, but trans people aren’t the reason why women's sports are underfunded and under-resourced."

Witnesses against the bills expressed concern that laws restricting transgender individuals would lead to increased numbers of LGBT Missourians to leave the state. 
Committee Chair Brad Christ, R-St. Louis, described the issue as "black-and-white," predicting the legislation would be a party-line vote. He inquired if any Democrats worked with the sponsors to find a middle ground, none said that had been done.
The sunset provisions for both sports and gender-affirming care came following a 13-hour filibuster and negotiations by Democratic senators in 2023. Former Sen. Greg Razer, the only openly gay senator in Missouri history, spearheaded the filibuster in 2023.

Senate Assistant Minority Floor Leader Steven Roberts, D-St. Louis, said that if the bills reach the Senate, Democratic leadership would oppose them.
"A lot of those provisions had sunsets in them and those were part of a negotiated deal within the Senate," Roberts said in a statement to the Missourian. "I would expect me and my colleagues to make sure that those deals continue."

Driver's Licenses
A bill proposed by Rep. Brandon Phelps, R-Warrensburg, would create increased requirements for individuals seeking to change the gender listed on their driver's license. Individuals seeking a change would need to provide medical documentation of gender reassignment surgery or a court order declaring a gender designation.
Rep. Wick Thomas, D-Kansas City, and other legislators met before the hearing to protest the bills. Thomas is a freshman legislator and the first nonbinary and transgender legislator in Missouri history. They also sit on the House Committee on Emerging Issues, which heard Monday's proposed bills.
"I have called Missouri my home all my life. I love our state and I am trans," Thomas said in a statement during the rally. "The Missouri legislature, through its overwhelming attack on the gay and trans community, has put the focus on my identity rather than what we should be doing, focusing on the welfare of the people of this beautiful state."