‘Legislators don’t see me as human’: Missouri trans youth fight to survive anti-LGBTQ+ bills
GOP lawmakers have made the state hostile for trans youth. These teens and their parents vow to ‘assert themselves’
Some parents have stockpiled medications in hidden locations. Some have stopped socializing with neighbors. Some have made plans to flee the state.
In Missouri, transgender youth and their families are grappling with an onslaught of attacks on their rights. Last year, Republican lawmakers outlawed critical healthcare treatments for trans youth and banned many trans athletes from school sports. Local school districts worked to censor LGBTQ+ books and prohibit trans children from using bathroomsthat match their gender identity.
And the state’s attorney general has become a national leader in anti-trans policy, seeking to gain access to trans kids’ medical records, fighting to restrict trans adults’ healthcare and attacking trans adults who use public locker rooms.
