Missouri AG Advances Anti-Trans Policy, Citing Disputed Whistleblower Claims
In an interview last week with聽Tony Perkins, leader of the anti-LGBTQ hate group Family Research Council (FRC), Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said he based his 聽emergency administrative regulation limiting access to gender-affirming healthcare on disputed accounts of a supposed whistleblower at a Missouri hospital.
The AG鈥檚 regulation, which was announced March 20, 鈥溾�� the state legislature, which had refused to pass model legislation known as the SAFE Act. Drafted by FRC, the SAFE Act seeks to ban gender-affirming care for minors. 叠补颈濒别测鈥檚 order came on the same day the extremist group Gays Against Groomers 聽a rally, promoted by FRC, at the state Capitol to pressure the Senate to end a filibuster blocking the ban.
In the interview, which was posted on FRC鈥檚 鈥淲ashington Watch鈥� YouTube show the day after Bailey announced his new regulations, the Missouri attorney general claimed 鈥渁t least one鈥� Missouri clinic 鈥渋s performing transgender procedures on minors without proper informed consent,鈥� citing a 聽report by a former case worker at a Missouri Children鈥檚 Hospital. Bailey seemingly admitted to uncertainty about the full accuracy of the whistleblower's claim, telling Perkins: 鈥淭hese are scary allegations. And if even 10% of these allegations are true, this is nothing short of child abuse.鈥� This, he argued, justified his emergency order . The World Professional Association for Transgender Health noted the dubious nature of 叠补颈濒别测鈥檚 claims, issuing a 聽saying that the evidence presented to justify the emergency regulations was 鈥渆ither taken out of context, cherry-picked, or from unverified sources.鈥�
叠补颈濒别测鈥檚 聽and Twitter thread announcing the new regulations heavily relied on debunked claims about transgender identity. The press release quoted one pseudoscientific article鈥檚 conclusion that many people 鈥渋ncorrectly believe themselves to be transgender.鈥� The study did not use data from transgender people, and the journal that ran it eventually issued corrections and . Its author, Lisa Littman, is an anti-transgender 聽who popularized the pseudoscientific claim that transgender identity spreads through 聽among young people. Littman serves on the board of the extremist group GenSpect, which 聽banning gender-affirming healthcare for young people and many adults. (Pseudoscience is a term that applies to conclusions we assume were produced by following the scientific method or best practices within a specific field of study but are not actually scientific.)
Perkins and Bailey amplified the pseudoscientific social contagion claim in their 鈥淲ashington Watch鈥� conversation. Bailey told Perkins, without citing any clear evidence, that 鈥渢here is a clandestine shadowy industry for gender mutilation鈥� and that he must 鈥減ut a stop to it.鈥� Such claims have fueled of children鈥檚 hospitals across the country, leading some to suspend patient care, increase security and even face . In an appearance on Fox News, Bailey accused healthcare professionals of a financial motives in offering gender-affirming care. He claimed patients would get "addicted" to "mental health procedures and mental health treatments." He did not offer any examples or evidence of such an occurrence.聽
In his appearance with Perkins, Bailey cited his religious beliefs as informing his emergency action. 鈥淎t the end of the day, God made man and woman,鈥� he said, adding that those who disagree with his religious views about gender identity are 鈥渦nhealthy 鈥� in the same way that it is unhealthy to deny the law of gravity.鈥� He said he intends for the state to intervene to 鈥減rotect kids from parents鈥� who affirm their children鈥檚 gender identity. He said such parents 鈥渨ant to make harmful decisions or don鈥檛 have the proper information.鈥�
On March 23, Bailey announced a tip line for people to report "questionable gender transition interventions."
Bailey did not respond to a request for comment directed to his office about his regulations and their potential impact.
FRC pushing anti-trans legislation
In the interview, Bailey notes the Missouri legislature had to that point refused to adopt a ban on gender-affirming healthcare. The ban, called the Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act, or SAFE Act, was drafted by FRC, who lobbies state legislatures across the country to implement the model legislation. Democratic senators in the state legislature had successfully 聽passage of SAFE Act in Missouri 聽the day after 叠补颈濒别测鈥檚 announcement. The act was introduced by Republican state Sen. Mike Moon.
FRC鈥檚 model SAFE Act would not only ban gender-affirming care for minors, but it would also strictly define the terms 鈥済ender鈥� and 鈥渟ex鈥� as immutable in state laws, promote anti-trans pseudoscience in legislative findings that courts use to interpret the intent of such laws, prohibit private insurers from covering gender-affirming healthcare, and create a 鈥渃ause of action鈥� against medical professionals who provide gender-affirming care. FRC has criticized such states as Tennessee, which adopted more lenient versions of the act.
PROMO Missouri, the state鈥檚 LGBTQ advocacy group, has criticized Moon鈥檚 bill for 鈥渙verlooking鈥� standard healthcare practices and ignoring recommendations from groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 鈥� which opposes such bans and 聽the connection between affirmation and positive health outcomes for transgender people.
The week before 叠补颈濒别测鈥檚 announcement, Sen. Moon also appeared on Perkins鈥� 鈥淲ashington Watch鈥� show and called for activists to attend a rally at the state Capitol the following Monday. That rally 鈥� which FRC鈥檚 website also promoted via a link 鈥� was billed as the Missouri Kids FIRST Rally, a framing popular with anti-LGBTQ groups that suggests transgender rights are harmful to children.
The protest was organized by anti-transgender activists, including the group 聽(GAG), and was intended to put pressure on state senators to end their filibuster of the SAFE Act. The rally organizer鈥檚 website, however, focused on a Missouri children鈥檚 hospital as 鈥渢he very source of the problem,鈥� and local news reports documented that many of the speakers also 聽critiques on the same hospital.
In remarks at the rally, GAG Missouri chapter leader Chris Barrett dismissed the very existence of transgender identity. He said most transgender kids are 鈥渏ust gay鈥� kids who are being forced to transition by their parents and permissive medical practices. GAG leadership, 聽the group鈥檚 director of chapters Mario "Presents" Estrada, has been tied to the hate group the Proud Boys, members of which have previously 聽with GAG鈥檚 Florida chapter leadership. GAG鈥檚 founder, , previously 聽gender-affirming healthcare for the 2022 murder of five patrons at Club Q聽in Colorado Springs, Colorado, saying violence targeting LGBTQ people will not stop 鈥渦ntil we end this evil agenda鈥� of gender-affirming healthcare.
Michael Edison Hayden contributed reporting.
Photo illustration by 澳彩开奖 (L-R, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, Missouri state Sen. Mike Moon and Tony Perkins)
