Trans youth are under severe attack around the country. Sixteen states have enacted laws restricting access to gender-affirming care for young people. At least 15 others are considering similar laws. Missouri is one of those states: State Republicans are pushing legislation that would ban transition-related surgeries, puberty blockers, and hormone therapy for young people, though unlike other states, the bill passed by the state senate allows those already undergoing treatment to continue receiving such care. Last week, the attack on trans people in Missouri escalated when the attorney general proposed new rules that would restrict gender-affirming healthcare for not only young people but adults as well. Rori Picker Neiss—the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St Louis and the mother of a trans son—is one of the people fighting back against Missouri’s anti-trans legislation. Over the last several years, her family’s life has been upended by repeated trips to the state capitol in Jefferson City to testify against such laws. Picker Neiss joined Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel to discuss the nationwide assault on trans rights, how her Jewish community has responded to such attacks, and what it’s like talking to legislators who are trying to harm her child.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).” 

ARTICLES MENTIONED

“Everything That Happened in Anti-Trans Legislation This Week: April 15-21,” Trans Formations Project, THEM

“The Anti-Trans Lobby’s Real Agenda,” Jules Gill-Peterson, Jewish Currents

“When Parents Hear That Their Child ‘Is Not Normal and Should Not Exist,’” Megan K. Stack, The New York Times