KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A day after Missouri lawmakers passed legislation banning gender-affirming care for minors, the Kansas City, Missouri, City Council voted to make the city a safe haven city.
Under the legislation, puberty blockers, hormones or gender-affirming would no longer be available to transgender minors. The law, which still requires Missouri Gov. Mike Parson's signature, would be in effect until 2027.
Kansas City's ordinance — sponsored by Mayor Quinton Lucas and councilmembers Andrea Bough and Eric Bunch — passed 11 to 1. Council member Heather Hall was the lone no-vote.
Under the ordinance, those seeking gender-affirming care or organizations providing it will not be criminally prosecuted, among other things.
Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Jean Peters Baker released a statement moments after the council passed the ordinance.
"I firmly support the Kansas City Council's action today," Peters Baker said. "All forms of government should firmly stand against discrimination. My office does."
Peters Baker encouraged residents to continue to report harm or harassment to police. Her office also maintains a link to report harassment.
"We will continue to take all legal and appropriate steps under Missouri Law to protect trans people, who are increasingly targeted for violence and exploitation," Peters Baker continued. "Rather than focusing on criminalizing trans individuals, the criminal justice system should seek to protect them.
"Each person needs to know they can seek health care for their needs and that those needs will be addressed," she continued.
The Kansas City ordinance stipulates that the city would not assist state prosecutors should they attempt to prosecute someone violating the state law.
The governor has not set a timeline for potentially signing the bill, but it's likely he will.
Parson previously said he'd call a special session if lawmakers hadn't passed bills on the issue by the end of the legislative session.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who spearheaded efforts in March to ban gender-affirming care, slammed the KCMO City Council's ordinance.
“The City Council of Kansas City has decided to jeopardize the safety of Missouri’s children in favor of experimental, ideologically-driven quackery disguised as public policy," Bailey said in a statement. "I will never stand down in my fight to protect children across the state from the capricious whims of the woke left.”
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