Gov. Mike Parson signed two bills into law that the Missouri General Assembly approved, which LGBTQ advocates and St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones consider to be anti-trans.
Senate Bill 49 prohibits prescribing hormone or puberty-blocking pharmaceuticals to those under 18 years of age while SB 39 penalizes schools if they allow athletes to compete on sports teams that are not their biological sex.
"We must protect children from making life-altering decisions that they could come to regret in adulthood once they have physically and emotionally matured," Parson said in a statement online. "We, along with the vast majority of the General Assembly, agree that women and girls deserve fair sports competition without intrusion from biological men."
Also known as the SAFE Act, SB 49 also bars Missouri's Medicaid program from providing payment for gender transition surgeries, cross-sex hormones, or puberty-blocking drugs for the purpose of gender transition.
In direct opposition to the law, Jones issued an order requiring that sports programs operated by the city refrain from asking students about their gender identity.
Her order also commits the city health department to coordinate a conference for gender-affirming care providers to discuss best practices.
“I've heard from trans youth and their families who feel like hateful attacks from Jefferson City Republicans will force them to leave our state,” Jones said in a statement online. “This order sends the message that St. Louis will fight to protect our trans community in the face of bigotry."
But at least one former St. Louis alderman believes Jones could do more.
“She has quite a bit of discretion about where to direct financial resources,” said Michael Gras, an attorney who served as an alderman until March of this year. “It’s one of the responsibilities of being a blue city in a red state.”
Jones' Executive Order No. 77 on Trans Rights also increases access to information both about gender-affirming care and how to access gender-affirming care.
“This hateful persecution of vulnerable children through government overreach usurps and intrudes upon private family medical decisions, and in so doing makes this state more dangerous for children,” the order states.
An existing local ordinance outlaws housing, employment, and public accommodation discrimination based on gender identity and expression, according to a City of St. Louis press release.
“I think that the city needs to fight Jefferson City every way we can when they're trying to limit the rights of St. Louisans,” Gras added.