There is no single “best” way to respond to Republican hate. We can mobilize voters, yes. We can raise awareness. We can recommend books, movies, TV shows, and music that help reach across the metaphorical aisle. We can—and do—share impassioned stories to try and appeal to kernels of empathy and compassion rooted somewhere in those who are trying to enact discriminatory and exclusionary bills against our most marginalized.
Those stories often rely on the bravery of those (potentially) affected by such legislation. For example, Daily Kos has covered brave trans youth addressing committees about anti-trans sports bills, as well as parents speaking up on behalf of trans children and teens needing to receive safe, age-appropriate, gender-affirming health care. We’ve seen authors, readers, and community members speak out against book bans in public schools and libraries. And we’ve seen openly queer people share their deepest hurts in an attempt to earn respect and decency from conservatives.
Including the (relatively few) openly queer people who actually hold office. Especially in states like Missouri, where our story centers today.
RELATED STORY: Anti-trans North Dakota Republicans want to change the definition of gender (yes, literally)
Missouri state Sen. Greg Razer, the only openly gay person in the Missouri Senate, spoke to The Kansas City Star in an interview about the slew of anti-queer (and especially anti-trans) bills coming out of Missouri this year already.
Razer, who represents Kansas City, told the outlet the bills hurt for him, especially because he himself was a “suicidal gay kid” at 17. “I know what that pain feels like,” he said. “It hurts.”
How many bills are we talking about? Several dozen, coming in at a whopping 27. All have been introduced by Republicans, surprising no one.
Bills to bar gender-affirming health care include attempts to ban all gender-affirming care for people under 18 as well as efforts to bar physicians from providing such care, threatening them with potential lawsuits. One variation of the bill wants parents or guardians who try to help their minor access gender-affirming care to be charged with child abuse. It would also punish physicians by taking their medical licenses away.
Other bills include variations of the infamous Don't Say Gay bill, which, similarly to Florida’s, aims to bar discussions of LGBTQ+ identities and histories from public school classrooms. In Missouri, however, this would actually apply to all grades, not just elementary school, making it even more extreme. Another bill seeks to allow public school teachers to misgender and deadname trans students provided they’re going by their legal name.
Anti-trans sports bills are still in the works, too, in spite of the fact that there is reportedly just one openly trans-student-athlete in the entire state in the 2021-2022 school year. Bills seek to limit sports teams to those that match one’s sex as assigned at birth, not their actual gender.
“What I have to do is make sure that those kids out there and their parents and the people that love them know that somebody in the Senate is standing up for them,” he continued to the outlet. “I may not be able to stop everything,” he added. “But there’s going to be a fight.”
Conservatives in the state are also going after drag shows, which seem to be the latest conservative frenzy. Conservatives want minors to be banned from drag shows (in spite of the fact that some are explicitly family-friendly) and from being held in public spaces, like parks. What happened to parental rights and parental consent, anyway? Who says parents can make decisions for their own family, right?
“They let us die in the ‘80s and behind closed doors laughed,” Razer told the outlet. “Now they’re going after kids. It makes me sick to my stomach.”
He’s absolutely right, and it should make all of us sick. And motivated to keep working to change and save lives.
You can check out a short but meaningful address to LGBTQ+ folks in general in light of Missouri’s anti-queer efforts below.