Columbia, Missouri, Declares Itself an LGBTQ “Sanctuary City”
Columbia Daily Tribune.Under the language of the amended ordinance, law enforcement is expected either not to pursue charges, or deprioritize the enforcement of, any laws imposing criminal or civil penalties against individuals who seek out or assist others in obtaining gender-affirming care.This is in direct reference to Missouri’s law prohibiting minors from accessing such treatments, which Republican Gov.
Mike Parson signed into law last year.That law also prohibits adult Medicaid recipients from having the cost of any transition-related procedures covered, meaning they must pay for such services out of pocket.Authorities are also encouraged to deprioritize arresting, detaining, or transferring individuals to other states for seeking out gender-affirming care for themselves or their children, in violation of their own state’s laws.Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has been dogged in his insistence that the ban on health care for transgender minors be enforced, even demanding that local police, especially in Kansas City and St.
Louis, arrest individuals for violating it. This is despite the fact that the law only imposes civil, and not criminal, penalties.
Additional amendments to the ordinance deprioritize the enforcement of penalties against people who use public bathrooms that don’t match their assigned sex at birth.
