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MISSOURI AG’S ANTI-TRANS RULE SUSPENDED

from SFGN 5/11/23 V14iss19

by South Florida Gay News

from SFGN 5/11/23 V14iss19, page 16

NEBRASKA SEN. KEEPS FILIBUSTER...

Kim Swan

Ajudge in Missouri extended her restraining order on a ruling that would require adults and children to undergo more than a year of therapy and fulfill other requirements before they could receive gender-affirming treatments.

Attorney General Andrew Bailey brought forth the ruling, wanting to implement it starting April 27, but a lawsuit was filed on behalf of trans people, according to ABC News. However, St. Louis County Judge Ellen Ribaudo granted a temporary restraining order and originally scheduled a May 11 hearing on the lawsuit.

The ruling would require people to have experienced an “intense pattern” of documented gender dysphoria for three years and to have received at least 15 hourly sessions with a therapist over at least 18 months before they could receive treatment. Prospective patients also would be required to be screened for autism, and any psychiatric symptoms from mental health issues would have to be treated and resolved.

Minors, but not adults, also would have

Attorney before treatments could begin.

Legal experts and advocates say that if this rule is enforced, it would make Missouri the first state to restrict gender-affirming care for adults and the first to enact such restrictions through emergency rule-making instead of through a new law.

Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthoo d of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, said the language in the ruling as written constitutes a ban, according to PBS.

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