Connect with us

Politics

Trans health care restrictions on adults alarm LGBTQ community

Published

on

[ad_1]


When Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey unveiled his emergency rules on transgender health care earlier this month, some were stunned to learn the guidelines affected adults as well as children.But Chelsea Freels said she wasn’t surprised.The 17-year-old Clayton High School student testified this year before the Missouri legislature against taking away gender affirming care from transgender youth like her. And she often had to explain to legislators that she didn’t need protection — especially since the care she received made her happier and improved her quality of life.“But you know, the goal is to erase trans people and score as much political capital while you can,” she said.Bailey said the rules, which are slated to go into effect Thursday, are meant to keep both parents of transgender children and transgender adults more informed before anyone receives gender-affirming care. He described it as an “innovative approach” for people to “have all the information necessary to make good decisions.”LGBTQ advocates see the rules as a dramatic and sudden escalation in GOP rhetoric, and an attack on transgender people. They also see an expected lawsuit as critical to not only keeping gender affirming care available for minors and adults, but to provide a disincentive for politicians in other red states to follow suit.“These people have zero experience in medicine,” said Danielle Meert, a former St. Louis chapter president of the TransParent support group. “This is not their job. Their job is to fix potholes, and make sure bridges aren’t crumbling and reopening schools five days a week. That’s what they need to be doing or not getting involved in my kid’s healthcare.”

Brian Munoz

/

St. Louis Public RadioNewly appointed Attorney General Andrew Bailey speaks to the media about his priorities last January after being sworn in as the state’s 44th Attorney General at the Missouri Supreme Court in Jefferson City.

Innovative or unprecedented?The emergency rules Bailey put forward are unusual for a number of reasons. For one thing, they didn’t go through the legislature but rather are based on his powers to oversee consumer protection issues in the state.Bailey’s guidelines came as Missouri lawmakers are considering several bills, including a gender affirming care ban for minors that’s slightly less restrictive than some other states. That’s because a Democratic filibuster in the Senate exempted children who are already receiving treatment, as well as a clause for the legislation to expire in four years. A pending House bill is more restrictive.The rules proposed by Bailey require someone to receive 15 separate hourly sessions of therapy over at least 18 months, be screened for autism or have documented gender dysphoria for three years.“These are intended to protect all patients and make sure that all patients have access to mental health services,” Bailey said.They also include a clause requiring that a provider must “ensure that any psychiatric symptoms from existing mental health comorbidities of the patient have been treated and resolved.” When asked to provide an example of what that meant, Bailey responded: “Treating these other mental health problems before we raced down the road of administration of experimental drugs.”Medical professionals like Brandon Hill strongly dispute Bailey’s characterization of gender-affirming care as experimental. The American Medical Association said in 2021 that gender affirming care is “medically-necessary, evidence-based care that improves the physical and mental health of transgender and gender-diverse people.”

Brian Munoz

/

St. Louis Public RadioChelsea Freels, 17, plays with “Sunny,” her 7-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, last Thursday outside her home in Richmond Heights, Mo. “I have a sense of duty to testify,” Freels said of her multiple visits to Missouri’s capitol to speak against anti-trans legislation. “Otherwise people are going to be harmed.”

Hill is acting CEO of Vivent Health, a Milwaukee-based agency with facilities in Missouri that provides health care, including gender-affirming care, primarily to LGBTQ people. He says what Bailey is doing is “unlike anything we’ve seen before, particularly in that it does include adult individuals over 18.”“When we move into the adult space, this is saying that your government gets to decide your existence and in what way you can access readily available medications that have been used for decades,” Hill said.And while Bailey’s rules exempt people currently receiving gender affirming care, Hill said they are so onerous that providers may stop providing treatments altogether.“This could lead to the discontinuation of that care if the healthcare providers are not able to meet all these new requirements that are both antiquated and not based in science at all,” Hill said. “It would leave thousands and thousands of adult trans and non-binary Missourians searching for a place to continue their care. Not start care. But continue their care.”Both Meert and her husband James Thurow, who have a 16-year-old transgender son, added that gender affirming care is already expensive. And requiring people to attend therapy sessions or get screened for autism adds additional costs that may make gender affirming care impossible to afford.“They’ve clearly had trans kids on the radar for a long time. And the way you get rid of having trans adults is you get rid of trans kids, you make it as difficult as possible for them to transition when they know who they are,” Thurow said. “I mean, I knew who I was, at their age. I knew I was not transgender. And they’re just trying to wage a war against transgender people.”

Brian Munoz

/

St. Louis Public RadioSen. Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove) last January during the first day of the legislative session at the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. Moon introduced legislation that would push to ban gender-affirming care for transgender people under the age of 18. “The whole point of this initiative, this measure is to protect the most innocent, the most vulnerable among us,” Moon said of his legislation that passed the Missouri Senate last month.

Lawsuit could set precedentThe ACLU and Lambda Legal said in a joint statement after the rules were released that they would file a lawsuit to strike them down. Bailey said he’s confident the rules can withstand a legal challenge.“The rule was intended to not be under inclusive,” he said. “So we’re protecting all patients.”Thurow said it’s important for the suit to succeed and not just for Missourians.“The more it can get codified on a federal level, the better,” Thurow said. “Because it’s going to happen in every possible red state where they can jam this through.”It’s unclear whether Bailey’s rules could spark a political backlash. One key GOP official, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, said he supports the plan for minors but not adults.“There’s a difference between what I think and where I think the government should be involved,” he said.

Brian Munoz

/

St. Louis Public RadioSecretary of State Jay Ashcroft speaks in favor of bills that would, in part, ban the teaching of race-related concepts in schools las January during an Education and Workforce Development Committee hearing at the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City.

Some opponents of barring gender affirming care for adults and minors hope that the issue will backfire on Republicans especially as younger voters who support LGBTQ rights turn 18 and go to the polls.Chelsea Freels said her generation can help turn back policy that could affect people like her.“Make no mistake, we will probably lose this battle. but we will win the war,” Freels said. “The problem is how many casualties and how many bodies laid dead before we got there?”Freels isn’t staying around much longer to find out if there’s political change.“I do not want to be here anymore. I’m going to college soon,” she said. “And I’ve got a red state hole puncher and the map of the U.S. And those are places that are not on my list anymore. And Missouri is unfortunately one of them.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Politics

Poll: Support for Missouri abortion rights amendment growing

Published

on

[ad_1]


A proposed constitutional amendment legalizing abortion in Missouri received support from more than half of respondents in a new poll from St. Louis University and YouGov.That’s a boost from a poll earlier this year, which could mean what’s known as Amendment 3 is in a solid position to pass in November.SLU/YouGov’s poll of 900 likely Missouri voters from Aug. 8-16 found that 52% of respondents would vote for Amendment 3, which would place constitutional protections for abortion up to fetal viability. Thirty-four percent would vote against the measure, while 14% aren’t sure.By comparison, the SLU/YouGov poll from February found that 44% of voters would back the abortion legalization amendment.St. Louis University political science professor Steven Rogers said 32% of Republicans and 53% of independents would vote for the amendment. That’s in addition to nearly 80% of Democratic respondents who would approve the measure. In the previous poll, 24% of Republicans supported the amendment.Rogers noted that neither Amendment 3 nor a separate ballot item raising the state’s minimum wage is helping Democratic candidates. GOP contenders for U.S. Senate, governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer and secretary of state all hold comfortable leads.“We are seeing this kind of crossover voting, a little bit, where there are voters who are basically saying, ‘I am going to the polls and I’m going to support a Republican candidate, but I’m also going to go to the polls and then I’m also going to try to expand abortion access and then raise the minimum wage,’” Rogers said.Republican gubernatorial nominee Mike Kehoe has a 51%-41% lead over Democrat Crystal Quade. And U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley is leading Democrat Lucas Kunce by 53% to 42%. Some GOP candidates for attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer have even larger leads over their Democratic rivals.

Brian Munoz

/

St. Louis Public RadioHundreds of demonstrators pack into a parking lot at Planned Parenthood of St. Louis and Southwest Missouri on June 24, 2022, during a demonstration following the Supreme Court’s reversal of a case that guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion.

One of the biggest challenges for foes of Amendment 3 could be financial.Typically, Missouri ballot initiatives with well-funded and well-organized campaigns have a better chance of passing — especially if the opposition is underfunded and disorganized. Since the end of July, the campaign committee formed to pass Amendment 3 received more than $3 million in donations of $5,000 or more.That money could be used for television advertisements to improve the proposal’s standing further, Rogers said, as well as point out that Missouri’s current abortion ban doesn’t allow the procedure in the case of rape or incest.“Meanwhile, the anti side won’t have those resources to kind of try to make that counter argument as strongly, and they don’t have public opinion as strongly on their side,” Rogers said.There is precedent of a well-funded initiative almost failing due to opposition from socially conservative voters.In 2006, a measure providing constitutional protections for embryonic stem cell research nearly failed — even though a campaign committee aimed at passing it had a commanding financial advantage.Former state Sen. Bob Onder was part of the opposition campaign to that measure. He said earlier this month it is possible to create a similar dynamic in 2024 against Amendment 3, if social conservatives who oppose abortion rights can band together.“This is not about reproductive rights or care for miscarriages or IVF or anything else,” said Onder, the GOP nominee for Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District seat. “Missourians will learn that out-of-state special interests and dark money from out of state is lying to them and they will reject this amendment.”Quade said earlier this month that Missourians of all political ideologies are ready to roll back the state’s abortion ban.“Regardless of political party, we hear from folks who are tired of politicians being in their doctor’s offices,” Quade said. “They want politicians to mind their own business. So this is going to excite folks all across the political spectrum.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

Democrat Mark Osmack makes his case for Missouri treasurer

Published

on

[ad_1]


Mark Osmack has been out of the electoral fray for awhile, but he never completely abandoned his passion for Missouri politics.Osmack, a Valley Park native and U.S. Army veteran, previously ran for Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District seat and for state Senate. Now he’s the Democratic nominee for state treasurer after receiving a phone call from Missouri Democratic Party Chairman Russ Carnahan asking him to run.“There’s a lot of decision making and processing and evaluation that goes into it, which is something I am very passionate and interested in,” Osmack said this week on an episode of Politically Speaking.Osmack is squaring off against state Treasurer Vivek Malek, who was able to easily win a crowded GOP primary against several veteran lawmakers including House Budget Chairman Cody Smith and state Sen. Andrew Koenig.While Malek was able to attract big donations to his political action committee and pour his own money into the campaign, Osmack isn’t worried that he won’t be able to compete in November. Since Malek was appointed to his post, Osmack contends he hasn’t proven that he’s a formidable opponent in a general election.“His actions and his decision making so far in his roughly two year tenure in that office have been questionable,” Osmack said.Among other things, Osmack was critical of Malek for placing unclaimed property notices on video gaming machines which are usually found in gas stations or convenience stores. The legality of the machines has been questioned for some time.As Malek explained on his own episode of Politically Speaking, he wanted to make sure the unclaimed property program was as widely advertised as possible. But he acknowledged it was a mistake to put the decals close to the machines and ultimately decided to remove them.Osmack said: “This doesn’t even pass the common sense sniff test of, ‘Hey, should I put state stickers claiming you might have a billion dollars on a gambling machine that is not registered with the state of Missouri?’ If we’re gonna give kudos for him acknowledging the wrong thing, it never should have been done in the first place.”Osmack’s platform includes supporting programs providing school meals using Missouri agriculture products and making child care more accessible for the working class.He said the fact that Missouri has such a large surplus shows that it’s possible to create programs to make child care within reach for parents.“It is quite audacious for [Republicans] to brag about $8 billion, with a B, dollars in state surplus, while we offer next to no social services to include pre-K, daycare, or child care,” Osmack said.Here’s are some other topics Osmack discussed on the show:How he would handle managing the state’s pension systems and approving low-income housing tax credits. The state treasurer’s office is on boards overseeing both of those programs.Malek’s decision to cut off investments from Chinese companies. Osmack said that Missouri needs to be cautious about abandoning China as a business partner, especially since they’re a major consumer of the state’s agriculture products. “There’s a way to make this work where we are not supporting communist nations to the detriment of the United States or our allies, while also maintaining strong economic ties that benefit Missouri farmers,” he said.What it was like to witness the skirmish at the Missouri State Fair between U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce.Whether Kunce can get the support of influential groups like the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which often channels money and staff to states with competitive Senate elections.

[ad_2]

Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

As Illinois receives praise for its cannabis equity efforts, stakeholders work on system’s flaws

Published

on

[ad_1]


Medical marijuana patients can now purchase cannabis grown by small businesses as part of their allotment, Illinois’ top cannabis regulator said, but smaller, newly licensed cannabis growers are still seeking greater access to the state’s medical marijuana customers.Illinois legalized medicinal marijuana beginning in 2014, then legalized it for recreational use in 2020. While the 2020 law legalized cannabis use for any adult age 21 or older, it did not expand licensing for medical dispensaries.Patients can purchase marijuana as part of the medical cannabis program at dual-purpose dispensaries, which are licensed to serve both medical and recreational customers. But dual-purpose dispensaries are greatly outnumbered by dispensaries only licensed to sell recreationally, and there are no medical-only dispensaries in the state.As another part of the adult-use legalization law, lawmakers created a “craft grow” license category that was designed to give more opportunities to Illinoisans hoping to legally grow and sell marijuana. The smaller-scale grow operations were part of the 2020 law’s efforts to diversify the cannabis industry in Illinois.Prior to that, all cultivation centers in Illinois were large-scale operations dominated by large multi-state operators. The existing cultivators, mostly in operation since 2014, were allowed to grow recreational cannabis beginning in 2019.Until recently, dual-purpose dispensaries have been unsure as to whether craft-grown products, made by social equity licensees — those who have lived in a disproportionately impacted area or have been historically impacted by the war on drugs — can be sold medicinally as part of a patient’s medical allotment.Erin Johnson, the state’s cannabis regulation oversight officer, told Capitol News Illinois last month that her office has “been telling dispensaries, as they have been asking us” they can now sell craft-grown products to medical patients.“There was just a track and trace issue on our end, but never anything statutorily,” she said.

Dilpreet Raju

/

Capitol News IllinoisThe graphic shows how cannabis grown in Illinois gets from cultivation centers to customers.

No notice has been posted, but Johnson’s verbal guidance comes almost two years after the first craft grow business went online in Illinois.It allows roughly 150,000 medical patients, who dispensary owners say are the most consistent purchasers of marijuana, to buy products made by social equity businesses without paying recreational taxes. However — even as more dispensaries open — the number available to medical patients has not increased since 2018, something the Cannabis Regulation Oversight Office “desperately” wants to see changed. Johnson said Illinois is a limited license state, meaning “there are caps on everything” to help control the relatively new market.Berwyn Thompkins, who operates two cannabis businesses, said the rules limited options for patients and small businesses.“It’s about access,” Thompkins said. “Why wouldn’t we want all the patients — which the (adult-use) program was initially built around — why wouldn’t we want them to have access? They should have access to any dispensary.”Customers with a medical marijuana card pay a 1% tax on all marijuana products, whereas recreational customers pay retail taxes between roughly 20 and 40% on a given cannabis product, when accounting for local taxes.While Illinois has received praise for its equity-focused cannabis law, including through an independent study that showed more people of color own cannabis licenses than in any other state, some industry operators say they’ve experienced many unnecessary hurdles getting their businesses up and running.The state, in fact, announced last month that it had opened its 100th social equity dispensary.But Steve Olson, purchasing manager at a pair of dispensaries (including one dual-purpose dispensary) near Rockford, said small specialty license holders have been left in the lurch since the first craft grower opened in October 2022.“You would think that this would be something they’re (the government) trying to help out these social equity companies with, but they’re putting handcuffs on them in so many different spots,” he said. “One of them being this medical thing.”Olson said he contacted state agencies, including the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, months ago about whether craft products can be sold to medical patients at their retail tax rate, but only heard one response: “They all say it was an oversight.”This potentially hurt social equity companies because they sell wholesale to dispensaries and may have been missing out on a consistent customer base through those medical dispensaries.Olson said the state’s attempts to provide licensees with a path to a successful business over the years, such as with corrective lotteries that granted more social equity licenses, have come up short.“It’s like they almost set up the social equity thing to fail so the big guys could come in and swoop up all these licenses,” Olson said. “I hate to feel like that but, if you look at it, it’s pretty black and white.”Olson said craft companies benefit from any type of retail sale.“If we sell it to medical patients or not, it’s a matter of, ‘Are we collecting the proper taxes?’ That’s all it is,” he said.State revenue from cannabis taxes, licensing costs and other fees goes into the Cannabis Regulation Fund, which is used to fund a host of programs, including cannabis offense expungement, the general revenue fund, and the R3 campaign aiming to uplift disinvested communities.For fiscal year 2024, nearly $256 million was paid out from Cannabis Regulation Fund for related initiatives, which includes almost $89 million transferred to the state’s general revenue fund and more than $20 million distributed to local governments, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue.Medical access still limitedThe state’s 55 medical dispensaries that predate the 2020 legalization law, mostly owned by publicly traded multistate operators that had been operating in Illinois since 2014 under the state’s medical marijuana program, were automatically granted a right to licenses to sell recreationally in January 2020. That gave them a dual-purpose license that no new entrants into the market can receive under current law.Since expanding their clientele in 2020, Illinois dispensaries have sold more than $6 billion worth of cannabis products through recreational transactions alone.Nearly two-thirds of dispensaries licensed to sell to medical patients are in the northeast counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will. Dual-purpose dispensaries only represent about 20 percent of the state’s dispensaries.While the state began offering recreational dispensary licenses since the adult-use legalization law passed, it has not granted a new medical dispensary license since 2018. That has allowed the established players to continue to corner the market on the state’s nearly 150,000 medical marijuana patients.But social equity licensees and advocates say there are more ways to level the playing field, including expanding access to medical sales.Johnson, who became the state’s top cannabis regulator in late 2022, expressed hope for movement during the fall veto session on House Bill 2911, which would expand medical access to all Illinois dispensaries.“We would like every single dispensary in Illinois to be able to serve medical patients,” Johnson said. “It’s something that medical patients have been asking for, for years.”Johnson said the bill would benefit patients and small businesses.“It’s something we desperately want to happen as a state system, because we want to make sure that medical patients are able to easily access what they need,” she said. “We also think it’s good for our social equity dispensaries, as they’re opening, to be able to serve medical patients.”Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, who was the first statewide project coordinator for Illinois’ medical cannabis program prior to joining the legislature, wrote in an email to Capitol News Illinois that the state needs to be doing more for its patients.“Illinois is failing the state’s 150,000 medical cannabis patients with debilitating conditions. Too many are still denied the patient protections they deserve, including access to their medicine,” Morgan wrote, adding he would continue to work with stakeholders on further legislation.Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.

[ad_2]

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending