ST. LOUIS – A couple of years ago, Daniel and Karen Bogard’s world changed.
“I was putting him to bed one night, and he asked me if God could make him over again as a boy,” Daniel said.
Since then, their son has begun transitioning, wearing more boyish clothes and cutting his hair short. It’s a topic that still brings about tears, especially following Wednesday’s news.
“The first thing you learn living in Missouri if you have a trans kid is that you have to protect them from the government,” Daniel said.
The Missouri Legislature banned gender-affirming care, meaning their son, who has not hit puberty yet, would be denied puberty blockers. A transition, his mom says, does not define him.
“He’s an amazing 9-year-old, and being trans doesn’t define him; it’s made to define him by our government,” Karen said.
Governor Mike Parson is expected to sign the bill into law on August 28.
“All we want is our government to not be inside our pediatrician’s office,” Daniel said.
If the bill is signed into law, the Bogards may have to move out of their St. Louis County home, which has been in the family for generations.
“This is a house my grandpa built, my dad grew up in, that I grew up in,” Daniel said. “My son is in my childhood room.”
Jordan Braxton works with trans parents like Daniel and Karen with TransParent USA.
“This is just one more thing to push people out of our state,” Braxton said.
She said she’s a fighter and will continue fighting for the rights of trans adults like herself and trans children.
“Trans rights are human rights, and I am a human being, and trans kids are human beings,” Braxton said. “When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he said everyone had inalienable rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, but at the end in parathesis, it doesn’t say except for trans people.”
Transgender minors already undergoing gender-affirming care would be grandfathered in and would not have to detransition.
