51����

Before a House committee was a raft of that, broadly, would create new requirements related to bathrooms and locker rooms in public schools and workplaces, change sex-related definitions in state law, allow medical professionals to refuse gender-transition care, and make indefinite a ban on gender-affirming health care for minors.

At a meeting Wednesday, the committee advanced two measures: would allow health care professionals and institutions to refuse to provide “sex reassignment or gender identity transitioning” care if it contradicts “moral, ethical, or religious beliefs.” The measure would make a ban on hormones and puberty blockers for minors indefinite and applicable to all minors in the state. Both are now included in one bill.

Last year, lawmakers enacted a ban on gender transition surgery and the prescription of puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors. The prescription ban is currently set to expire in 2027, and has a grandfather clause that allows minors who were prescribed puberty blockers or hormones before last August to continue treatment.

Rep. Jamie Johnson, D-Kansas City, said she was disappointed the committee was advancing the legislation so early in the session, despite the fact that Republican leadership had said it wasn’t a priority.

“I want to put on record that I am deeply disappointed in the differences between our behavior and our words,” Johnson said.

Both House and Senate leadership the first week of session indicated they were satisfied with last year’s transgender health care ban and don’t intend to prioritize it this year.

Five measures related to bathrooms and sex-related definitions did not advance Wednesday, although committee chair Rep. Bill Hardwick, R-Dixon, said that they were being discussed.

“I think what the bill sponsor’s doing is important work. So we’ll continue to have that conversation,” he said.

Hardwick did not provide any detail about the nature of the discussions or who is involved when asked by the Post-Dispatch after the hearing.

Rep. Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, the ranking minority member on the committee, said that she wasn’t given information about why the other set of bills was held back but said it was likely because their wasn’t consensus in the committee about the content of the legislation.

Among proposals that have not yet moved to next step in process were two that would change Missouri’s anti-discrimination , known as the Missouri Human Rights Act. would limit definitions of sex and gender to either “male” or “female,” and as a result exclude transgender from any statutory definition of sex or gender. The would both exclude transgender from sex-related definitions in the state’s anti-discrimination statute and also impose gender requirements on public school bathrooms.

Katy Erker-Lynch, executive director of the Missouri LGBTQ advocacy group PROMO, said last week lawmakers, would “weaponize our state’s Human Rights Act, the very tool created to provide protections from discrimination for all Missourians.”

Two other not yet advancing would require public schools to designate multi-user restrooms and locker rooms as either “male” or “female,” which would prohibit transgender students from using multi-user restrooms. They would need written permission from a parent, and would be required to use “alternative accommodations.” would prohibit “employers from requiring employees to share multiple-occupancy restrooms or changing areas” with transgender people.

In addition to the House’s bathroom-related legislation, there’s also support in the Senate for bathroom restrictions in public schools. Senator Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, on Tuesday added a provision to his “Parents Bill of Rights” legislation that would prohibit transgender students from using multi-user restrooms in public schools.