COLUMBIA – On Friday afternoon, St. Louis judge Steven Ohmer ruled that a law will take effect on Monday, which prohibits health care providers from providing gender-affirming care to children. Medicaid will also no longer cover treatment for adults, and the state will not provide gender-affirming surgeries to prisoners.
Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri, Lambda Legal and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner filed a petition to halt the law from going into effect after Gov. Mike Parson signed it in early June.
According to the Associated Press, Parson called gender-affirming treatments and hormones “harmful, irreversible treatments and procedures” for minors.
Following Friday’s ruling, the deputy director for communications of the ACLU of Missouri, Tom Bastian, expressed the organization’s willingness to continue its case against the Missouri law.
“While we are disappointed in and disagree with the court’s ruling, we will not stop fighting to protect the rights of transgender people in Missouri,” Bastian said. “The case is not over and will go to a full trial on the merits.”
The law will go into effect on Monday, Aug. 28, as previously scheduled.
“We are enraged — not only has our government and elected officials failed us, but now our justice system has failed to do its job in protecting the most vulnerable of our population,” PROMO, a Missouri LGBTQ+ public policy and advocacy organization, said in a statement issued Friday.
“Not one single person who is in favor of this legislation understands how this law truly impacts the transgender community … They cannot fathom the best part of gender-affirming health care, which is being able to look into the mirror and see in the reflection the person you always knew yourself to be. Today, you have robbed us of this immense joy and our ability to thrive within this state as our authentic selves.”
The next hearing for the ACLU’s case against the Missouri law is scheduled for Sept. 22.