When Keeley Kromat talks about how her daughter started hormone replacement therapy, she describes it as when she “got my child back.”
Before, Kromat’s daughter, Rowan McGrew, was “sullen and withdrawn,” and it was difficult to get her to talk. Now, two years after starting hormone therapy, McGrew’s “bright.” She has a huge group of friends. She’s a competitive skateboarder.
“She’s just blossomed,” Kromat says.
But Kromat and McGrew are worried other trans kids in Missouri won’t get that same opportunity. Missouri’s Republican legislators have proposed dozens of anti-LGBTQ+ bills this session. One bill, Senate Bill 49, would ban minors from receiving gender-affirming care.
“The whole time everything’s been going on, it’s been a constant fear of, oh, are we going to have to figure out some workaround?” McGrew, 17, says.
McGrew and her mom traveled from St. Louis to Jefferson City to protest on Wednesday. They were part of a large crowd; hundreds gathered around the Capitol steps carrying signs with messages such as “Trans rights are human rights!” and “Love thy neighbor.”
Protestors came to the Capitol for a multitude of reasons. Some, like Kromat and McGrew, have traveled to Jefferson City before to testify against bills, and once again returned to raise their voices. Some were allies, standing in solidarity with their trans friends and relatives. Others came because they didn’t know what else to do. At a time when the state seemed so against them, raising a sign and shouting “Protect trans lives!” outside the Capitol, as legislators who did not respect their wishes deliberated inside, felt almost like a duty.
Even so, PROMO, the state’s LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, organized the protest with specific and imminent threats in mind. Senate Bill 39 and Senate Bill 49 passed in the Senate last week. Senate Bill 39, dubbed the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” would require transgender athletes to play on sports teams according to the gender they were assigned at birth.
“I don’t know what the legislature’s been thinking,” says Nancy McKerrow, of Columbia, Missouri. McKerrow came to the protest for her 11-year-old niece, who’s transgender and would be ineligible to receive care under Senate Bill 39’s proposal. “The way the Missouri legislature is moving, we’ll have to leave the state.”
The bill didn’t pass without a fight. Democrats have spent hours filibustering against such measures, and the gender-affirming care bill was ultimately changed to exclude transgender Missourians already receiving care. Still, if passed by the House and signed by the governor, the bill would place a four-year ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors who haven’t already started the care.
Senator Greg Razer (D-Kansas City), the only openly gay member of the Senate, spoke passionately on the Senate floor last week and again at yesterday’s protest.
“We protect trans lives, we protect our children,” Razer said. “We’re going to continue to do that because in the LGBT community, we not only bring rainbows, we bring sunshine.”
Yesterday was the second time in a week Rachel Stout had returned to the Missouri Capitol to protect trans rights. The week before, she counterprotested a rally held by conservative groups to “protect” trans kids, which in their view meant limiting gender-affirming health care.
But Stout hasn’t lost any steam. She and a friend spent hours patrolling the Capitol yesterday as security for the protest. On the steps of the Capitol yesterday afternoon, Stout looked militant; she wore black pants and a black shirt. A utility vest strapped around her chest held pepper spray.
Minutes after the protest, a man on his way into the Capitol building asked Stout why she was dressed like that. “You look pretty dumb,” he said.
“Cry about it!” Stout shouted back. Stout's friend, dressed in the same outfit, told the man his jacket looked “pretty.”
This is the type of bigotry she deals with every day, Stout says. But when hateful comments turn into threats of physical violence against trans people — that’s what motivates her to show up to protests like this, ready to defend people from threats. It’s a calling she didn’t wish was necessary.
“I don’t want to do this,” Stout said. “I want to be collecting Super Nintendo cartridges and playing Magic: The Gathering. That’s what I was doing before all this.”
By “this,” Stout means protesting the multitude of threats she can’t ignore. Thirty-four anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been proposed in Missouri this legislative session alone, according to the ACLU. That’s just a small chunk of a nationwide trend — 44 states have introduced a total of 435 bills targeted at the LGBTQ+ community.
Knowing that, Kromat and McGrew stood in front of the Missouri Capitol with much more than their own futures in mind.
“Fortunately, it looks like she will be in the loophole, provided her doctors will still be able to provide her care,” Kromat says of McGrew continuing her gender-affirming care. “But we want that care to be available to all trans kids in Missouri. We don't intend to give up fighting no matter where this goes.”
Hundreds more had the same resolve yesterday in Jefferson City. They won’t back down, PROMO board of directors member Kendall Martinez-Wright said.
“Let it be known, for days, weeks, months, possibly years to come, we will be in this fight,” Martinez-Wright told the crowd. “At the the end of the day, joy comes in the morning, and we will win.”
Coming soon: Riverfront Times Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting St. Louis stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.@riverfronttimes ♬ original sound - Riverfront Times
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
