Missouri鈥檚 2023 legislative session was dominated by efforts to restrict the lives of trans people. By year鈥檚 end, lawmakers passed bans on gender-affirming care for youth and student sports participation 鈥� and 2024鈥檚 session shows no sign of change.
Last month, lawmakers spent hours discussing trans-related bills that would go further than those passed in 2023. The proposed measures include bills that would target student bathroom access; another would allow medical institutions and doctors to
But when it comes to legislation targeting trans people, what happens in Missouri goes beyond its border. Erin Reed, a trans journalist and author of the , recently called the state 鈥済round zero for the firehose of anti-trans legislation鈥� in a column for .
Missouri鈥檚 bans have inspired bills in other states, and even other countries. Reed covers anti-trans legislation in statehouses across the U.S.; she told St. Louis on the Air that a Jan. 17 hearing, during which Missouri House members spent over eight hours discussing various proposals, was 鈥渢he most bills that have been heard in a single day targeting trans people in a single state.鈥�
Reed expects Missouri lawmakers to expand the scope of existing bans and to create laws that protect discrimination against trans people.
鈥淚 think that Missouri is going to continue to be one of the first,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 have not seen any indication that it is going to slow down. Other states like Florida [and] Texas have also sort of taken the first step to do things. And my eyes are on Missouri.鈥�
Along with Reed, trans journalist Evan Urquhart, founder of , joined Monday's St. Louis on the Air to talk about Missouri鈥檚 national role in anti-trans efforts. A key factor in Missouri鈥檚 influence is the case of Jamie Reed, a former caseworker at Washington University鈥檚 Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital.
In February 2023, Reed went public with a whistleblower complaint that the clinic鈥檚 doctors were 鈥減ermanently harming鈥� children by allowing them to medically transition. An internal investigation by the university found her allegations unsubstantiated.
During the Jan. 17 hearing, of proposed bills restricting gender-affirming care for kids; she insists it is not 鈥渃ompassionate鈥� to transition a child medically.
, and, in multiple interviews with the clinic鈥檚 patients and their families, he found the purported accounts of abuse fell apart.
He said that Reed鈥檚 status as a whistleblower changed the national conversation 鈥� and added fuel to the fire being stoked by those opposed to trans people鈥檚 existence.
When he first read Reed鈥檚 whistleblower statement, Urquhart said: 鈥淥n the surface of it, her allegations seemed quite plausible, something to take very seriously. 鈥� What I found out was that these were families who were devastated at having been included [in Reed鈥檚 allegations]. The center that they had really trusted was being misrepresented, was being presented as if it was damaging their children 鈥� when they knew their children were thriving, their children were trans, and that they had not in any way felt angry at the Transgender Center or felt like they had been harmed, which was the opposite of what Jamie Reed was saying.鈥�
Erin Reed (no relation to Jamie Reed) said that accusations made against the St. Louis gender clinic is one example of the ways that fear is being used to support anti-trans legislation.
鈥淚t takes longer to fact check [the allegations] than it does for the legislators to pick them up and run with them,鈥� Reed noted. 鈥淚t makes it so that we're very prone to moral panics. We are very prone to disinformation driving negative legislation targeting trans people.鈥�
To learn more about Missouri鈥檚 role in the national landscape of anti-trans legislation, and to explore insights from Erin Reed and Evan Urquhart, listen to St. Louis on the Air on , or or by clicking the play button below.
鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by , , , and . The audio engineer is . Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
