Health care workers, trans community protest efforts to restrict gender-affirming care

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - As debates over gender affirming care continue in Missouri and Kansas, some healthcare professionals showed their support for the transgender community in a demonstration on Sunday.

The demonstration drew doctors, nurses, medical students and others who believe in the importance of access to counseling, surgical and hormonal treatments for people in transition.

Charlie Adams, a medical student who identifies as trans, stressed the importance of those treatments for the mental health and overall well-being of transgender people.

“I think these laws are happening because it’s a political ploy...people are paying for it with their lives,” Adams said. “Gender affirming care is lifesaving care.” Lawmakers in Missouri and Kansas have proposed laws that could restrict access to gender affirming care for adults and children.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey imposed a rule in April requiring transitioning patients to undergo counseling for more than a year before they could receive further treatment.

That rule was temporarily blocked by a judge in early May, with a hearing on the issue scheduled this week. Bailey responded to the judge’s order with a statement reiterating his position that gender affirming care is experimental.

“We remain confident in our position because the Court even acknowledged that it deferred its consideration of the science until a later date,” he wrote.

Many of the speakers at the demonstration shared their experiences of transitioning, with some noting that they had felt severely depressed before receiving treatment.

Adams had felt that shift, too, after his transition. “I’m afraid for my community because not as many people have the opportunities that I’ve had. I already see people are hurting,” Adams said.

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