Two transgender bills have been signed into law today. Gov. Mike Parson has signed one that would ban Missouri doctors from providing gender transition health care to children under the age of 18. It would also ban Medicaid from covering gender transitions for adults.
“Well, I think that was the legislative piece that was made in that. No, I think there’s still an option. If you want to have that care, you have that care, you know. Whether Medicaid covers it – Medicare don’t cover a lot of costs, you know, for a lot of people. Sometimes people have paid for things out of pocket,” Parson told reporters today at his Capitol office.
The other bill bans Missouri’s public and private K-12 schools, as well as colleges and universities, from allowing transgender student athletes from competing in women’s sports.
Parson recognized that some Missouri families have said they plan to leave the state because of these bills.
“I’d hate to think anybody leaves the state for that, but if they do that’s perfectly right to do that. You know, again, I want to be clear, and I’ll say this again, this is not about going after transgender people. As the media, some of the media has put that spin on it, that’s never been said. You know, they put that on there to act like everybody were supposedly opposed to that. What we’re simply doing is trying to protect children,” said Parson.
Sen. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City, said the fight is not over.
“Missouri Republicans in the legislature have now given the government new power to control people they’ve never met, over an issue they don’t understand,” Razer said in a written statement. “When these bills expire in four years, I plan on being there to make sure they never come back. During that time, people will have a better understanding of their transgender friends, neighbors, and family members, and they will see these bills for what they truly are: a desperate, calculated political game using a dangerous expansion of government to target people who just want to live their lives.”
Both bills are scheduled to become law at the end of August.
More information about Senate Bill 39 can be found here. More information about Senate Bill 49 can be found here.
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