ST. LOUIS (CN) — Protecting Missouri children has become a rally cry for the state’s Republican-dominated Legislature as it pushes through measures that would ban transgender medical treatments for minors, but that cry rings hollow to some.
Two weeks ago, the state Senate passed a pair of comprehensive bills that would ban biological males from playing in female sports, prohibit gender transition surgeries for minors in Missouri and ban the use of hormones for the purpose of gender transition for minors. The bills, which are expected to become law with passage from the House and the signature of Republican Governor Mike Parson, do allow a provision for minors who are already undergoing such treatment to continue their care.
At the time, Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden lauded his party's efforts, tweeting, “There is no cause more important than standing up for Missouri kids.”
But LGBTQ advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers claim these laws are actually hurting kids.
Others see hypocrisy in the GOP’s decision earlier in the session to strike down a provision in a public safety bill because it prohibited minors from carrying a gun in public unsupervised, claiming it violated their Second Amendment rights.
Contrasting Agendas
House Bill 301 is a public safety measure sponsored by Representative Lane Roberts, a Republican from Joplin.
But his party members balked at a provision in the measure that would ban minors from carrying a firearm in public without parental supervision. Currently, there is no age limit to carry a gun unsupervised in Missouri.
“I knew that it was going to be a challenge on my side of the aisle regardless,” Roberts said in an interview. “Any time you say guns, people tend to become wary right away with concerns about whether or not we're going to infringe on the Second Amendment.”
Roberts argued against his own party that minors don’t have the life experience to carry a gun in the streets.
Ironically, that is the same logic state Republicans are using to defend their prohibitions on transgender treatment.
Democratic Senator Greg Razer said it is a hypocritical stance.
“I've heard it said that Missouri Republicans here in the Capitol should change their logo from an elephant to a pretzel because they can find ways to twist anything,” Razer said. “It's gotten to a point where we allow 8-year-olds to walk down the street with AR-15s. And we're legislating health care decisions on kids, and we don't understand what the health care needs are.”
Razer said this isn’t the only time this session that Republicans have contradicted themselves on parental rights versus government overreach.
“A few weeks before we pass this anti-trans bill that usurps the power of parents in making these decisions, we passed a bill that they called the parental bill of rights, which essentially said parents know best always about their child's education, not the educators, the parents, always, in every circumstance,” Razer said. “This time [with transgender health care], they said parents never know best, we need to limit their power.”
Roberts, who calls himself a staunch proponent of the Second Amendment, said the issue of prohibiting minors from carrying guns unsupervised is more complicated than it appears on the surface, with rural needs being much different than urban needs.
“Particularly in the urban areas where there really is no place to hunt, the question of why a 12-year-old has a 40-caliber Glock in his waistband...probably not for something good,” Roberts said. “Finding language that somehow mitigates that concern without treading on the Second Amendment has just been kind of an elusive thing.”