Lawmakers in Missouri have passed two bills that would ban transgender surgery and drugs for children, as well as the participation of male trans athletes in women’s sports at school.
Missouri could soon become the latest U.S. state to ban transgender operations for children, with lawmakers passing two bills on Wednesday banning the practice, as well as the participation of trans athletes in school sports events for the opposite sex. What some euphemistically call “gender-affirming care” is defined in one of the bills passed as “gender transition surgeries… cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs”.
The state’s attorney general, Andrew Bailey, had already implemented an emergency law banning transgender medical treatments for children earlier this year, causing fury amongst activists when he also opened a hotline for people to report medical institutions that ignored the ban.
According to a report by CNN, the Republican-majority state congress has now passed a bill banning trans surgeries for minors, as well as the prescribing of puberty blockers for the vast majority of under-18s, with an exception being made for those already on the drug prior to the bill’s effective date of August 28, 2023.
“All children, regardless of their gender or orientation, are invaluable and should not be subjected to potentially irreversible surgeries and treatments prior to adulthood,” Republican governor Mike Parson remarked regarding the legislation, which he is set to sign into law in the near future.
The other bill will forbid individuals in both state and private education institutions — including colleges — from legally taking part in sports events designated for the opposite sex, effectively banning so-called “trans” athletes from participating in women’s sports.
If the two bills do end up becoming law, Missouri will officially join well over a dozen other red states that have banned medical transgenderism for children at a time when Democrats are pushing for further acceptance of children changing their gender.
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