Missouri family leaving state after anti-trans laws met with Biden at White House
Katherine Sasser, the mother of an 11-year-old transgender daughter, is packing her family’s bags and leaving Missouri after Gov. Mike Parson signed into law a pair of bills targeting the transgender community.
But, in what she describes as a moment of healing, President Joe Biden invited Sasser, her partner Kelly Simon and her three kids to the White House for a Pride Month celebration last weekend.
“It was probably the first time in a very long time that I have felt safe to just show up with my family, with my partner, with my trans daughter and not have to think about what people are thinking about us or where it’s safe to move freely,” Sasser told The Star on Thursday. “It truly was just a place where we could celebrate.”
Sasser, a Columbia resident, resigned from the Columbia School Board last month as Missouri lawmakers were poised to pass a ban on gender-affirming care for minors and a ban on transgender student athletes. Parson, a Republican, signed both of the bills into law last week.
Under the new laws, Sasser’s daughter, who she identified as O for her safety, is barred from receiving the care she needs and unable to compete on sports teams that match her gender identity. Sasser and her family made the decision to move just before lawmakers passed the legislation this year. They sold their house and are moving to Colorado where gender-affirming care is protected under state law.
She plans to make the move this summer so her kids can get situated before the next school year. And before the laws take effect on Aug. 28.
Sasser and her family were among hundreds of people at the White House last weekend for a celebration of Pride Month, which commemorates the struggle for LGBTQ rights. Sasser received a formal invitation from Biden and Jill Biden, the first lady, about a week before the event.
The celebration, which the administration described as the largest Pride event hosted at the White House, came amid a wave of anti-LBTQ legislation across the country.
“Too many people in the LGBT community are worried and afraid about their future and their safety,” Biden told the crowd. “So today, I want to send a message to the entire community, especially to transgender children: You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. And you belong.”
The speech was overwhelming for Sasser, who said she’s been fighting for years to prove to people that her daughter has a right to exist.
“It’s so simple and so easy and yet it was so absent for us these last months in particular in Missouri where it has gotten so, so bad,” she said.
Lawmakers in red states across the country are proposing legislation aimed at restricting transgender health care and regulating the trans community. Missouri at several points this year led the nation in the number of anti-LGBTQ bills filed, according to a legislative tracker from the ACLU.
After his speech, Biden walked off the stage and met with Sasser’s kids. He stopped and spoke with her daughter who was crying. Sasser doesn’t know what they said but it was a moment of connection between the two — of concern from Biden and of release for her daughter.
“I feel like he saw her and held space for her and she felt that,” Sasser said. “It was really overwhelming for her.”
