Culture wars are not new. Throughout American history, ideological forces have clashed over Black, women, gay, immigrant rights, policing and much more.
Unfortunately, an effective tool in the arsenal of today’s attacks has been personalized propaganda, manufactured mistruths, and divisive, fear-inspiring stereotypes. Rarely are the human lives enmeshed in these debates ever presented fully or accurately.
An example is the political discourse on gender-affirming care. Missouri legislators employed cruel, bizarre rhetoric when they introduced dozens of anti-trans bills last year. Some were even adopted into law like the bill banning gender-affirming care for minors which includes blocking access to puberty blockers and hormones.
This is why a recent “St. Louis on the Air” program on KWMU served a valuable purpose. Host/Producer, Elaine Cha, brought human voices and experiences to life by simply inviting a group of trans kids and their parents on air to share their stories and address efforts in the Missouri legislature that impact their lives..
The 2024 legislative session is again stacked with GOP-driven anti-trans bills such as SB 49, the “Missouri Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act.” Sponsored by Senator Mike Moon (R-9th Senatorial District), the bill, if passed, modifies provisions related to public funding of certain gender transition procedures. A violation of the provisions will be considered “unprofessional conduct” and can result in legal action and the revocation of a health care provider’s professional license.
The ACLU is tracking 48 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in Missouri—more than any other state except Texas. Proposed gender-affirming care bills here and across the country are rife with untruths and fabrications such as: “Young people become transgender because it’s trendy”; Gender-affirming care will permanently alter the lives of children; Puberty blockers will cause permanent and irreversible side effects including infertility; Children who receive gender-affirming care are given ‘mutilating’ surgeries by doctors; and “Liberal parents and social media are making young people transition.”
The facts: Gender-affirming care is not about genital mutilation. It is decade’s old medically necessary, life-saving healthcare services for transgender people of all ages. It has always been delivered in age-appropriate, evidence-based ways, and decisions to provide care are made in collaboration with doctors, psychiatrists, patients, parents, and their children. Hormone therapy is typically only given to people aged 18 and older and has been proven to be safe with provider supervision and clinical management. Prior to puberty, “transitioning” is entirely social and includes things like changing names, pronouns, clothing, and hairstyles.
The fabricated claims have been debunked by medical professionals in the field yet, the myths take up more bandwidth than reality. Facts are defeated by falsehoods, stereotypes are used to blur statistics, making it easier for opportunistic politicians and gullible, biased voters to destroy what they don’t understand.
The NPR program, originally aired last year, featured three children-each trans boys (ages of 9 and 11)-who discussed gender awakening and how they “came out” to their parents, peers, teachers, and relatives. They talked about what it took for them to change their names and pronouns and accept the role in which they identified.
Their parents shared their thoughts on the difficult roles they play in helping their children “transit” and their frustrations with state legislators who won’t accept their children as they are, and how politics and misinformation is used to revoke the rights of trans children and their parents.
“So, I’m begging you…I don’t know how else to say it or what the magic words are, but I’m begging you to just leave us alone,” Rabbi Daniel Bogard pleaded.
Bogard was one of the fathers featured on Cha’s show titled, “It is hurting us: Trans kids and parents in Missouri speak out.” He has traveled to Jefferson City often to testify in favor of gun control and abortion rights, but over the past couple of years, he’s been showing up trying to block legislation targeting trans kids, like his 10-year-old son.
“My kid trying to go to the bathroom with dignity is not the issue. It’s bills like this (SB 49) that will drive my family from this state. I’m desperately fighting to stay…but I feel like I’m drowning, because it happens again and again and again…that we have to come here (Jefferson City) and fight for the basic dignity of our kids.”
A parent identified by her first name, “Rori,” commented on the false conception that parents force a trans life on children, like her son.
“This notion that being transgender is something that’s forced upon a child or it’s an agenda by parents…I find it so incredibly painful for so many reasons. “It builds on this narrative that ‘to be transgender is a choice people make’ as part of some kind of manipulation.’
“These ideas are so insidious because it absolutely undermines their identity, but it also seeks to explain something that I think a lot of people don’t understand,” Rori continued. “The most painful thing for me, as a mom, is that somebody would rather think we are part of a conspiracy than just understand that we are parents committed to our children living the best lives they possibly can. Isn’t that the goal of any parent?”
The children-who were not identified by name because their parents feared they’d be targeted-spoke intelligently and innocently about their worlds.
“My friends were very supportive of me…it hasn’t been such a big deal,” said one child who added that when he came back to school from break, he sported a “new haircut and a new set of clothes and no one questioned it.”
Another child elaborated on the difference between “coming out” to his peers versus doing it with adults: “Trying to explain something like this to a grownup takes a little more thinking,” the boy asserted. “You have to put yourself in their shoes thinking, ‘is this the best way to explain this?’ Whereas kids are more like ‘whatever’…they just take in the information…it’s nicer.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.
