For 22nd year in a row, push to outlaw anti-LGBTQ discrimination fizzles in Missouri
It was supposed to be a debate about taxation.
But Thursday morning, a little more than a day before the Missouri Legislature adjourns for the year, Democratic state Rep. Greg Razer of Kansas City and Republican Rep. Tom Hannegan of St. Charles County had other ideas.
“You and I pay taxes in Missouri,” Razer said to Hannegan , careful not to violate the Missouri House rule requiring discussion stick to the topic of the legislation being debated.
“Yet as tax-paying citizens,” he continued, “we don’t have all the same rights as all the other citizens in this state.”
Razer and Hannegan are two of only four openly gay members of the Missouri General Assembly.
In frantic final days of the 2020 session, they wanted to take a moment to remind colleagues that under Missouri law a person can legally be fired from a job, evicted from an apartment or kicked out of a restaurant for being gay or simply perceived to be gay.
And that the bills they both sponsored to change that didn’t even get assigned to a committee — marking the 22nd year that the idea of outlawing anti-LGBTQ discrimination failed to gain any traction in the Missouri House.
Meanwhile, Razer noted, a bill prohibiting discrimination against Israel is on its way to the governor’s desk. And the House dedicated time to debating legislation barring local governments from regulating specific breeds of dogs.
“It’s important for our colleagues to look us in the eye and tell us why it was worth spending an hour to talk about discrimination against dogs,” he said, “but it’s not worth any time to talk about discrimination against you.”
Some local governments around the state – including Kansas City and Jackson County – have passed ordinances targeting anti-LGBTQ discrimination. But neither state nor federal law offers discrimination protections for the LGBTQ community.
In October, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit asking whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination in employment, also applies to transgender and gay people.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs, who were fired for being gay or transgender, say it does.
Lawyers for the defendants and a handful of Republican attorneys general, including including Missouri’s Eric Schmitt, say it does not.
The court is expected to issue its ruling in the coming months.
Hannegan said most are surprised that anti-LGBTQ discrimination isn’t already illegal, especially so many years after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage.
“People can’t even fathom,” he said, “that we would be in a situation in 2020 where we don’t have the same rights.”
Both Hannegan and Razer vowed to continue to push the issue should they return to the legislature after the November election. And both remain optimistic they will eventually prevail.
“Whenever we have these conversations,” Hannegan said, “I always see a little headway.”
This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 8:44 AM.
