ST. LOUIS — LGBTQIA+ advocates are pushing back after another emergency regulation targeting the transgender community.
Several organizations hosted a "Rally for Expression" filled with speakers, performances and discussions.
It comes two days after Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced more restrictions impacting the transgender community.
This emergency order would require 18 months of therapy before receiving gender-affirming health care for adults and minors in Missouri.
The rule would be in effect from April 27, 2023, to Feb. 6, 2024.
Advocates said they are disappointed and upset.
"When human rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back," advocates yelled.
Dozens gathered on Kiener Plaza on Saturday with umbrellas up and ponchos on.
The rain on their signs did not stop their fight.
Felecia Kempen was one of the organizers of the rally.
"If we don't wake up and get those around us to wake up to what is happening, what will our future look like," she said.
LGBTQIA+ advocates came together to rally against anti-LGBTQIA+ bills, anti-Drag Queen bills, and the Attorney General's emergency rule all coming out of Jefferson City.
Harley Camryn, another organizer, described it as a "bombardment."
"It’s repeated. It’s over and over. It’s hit after hit after hit. It is traumatizing, especially to these children," she said.
Performances on the plaza celebrated their community, while Alderman Rasheen Aldridge of the 14th Ward, expressed his concerns.
"The attacks on trans lives, it has been tough these past few weeks," he said.
The AG's emergency regulation would effectively ban gender-affirming care in Missouri for children and adults.
Dr. Colleen McNicholas, Planned Parenthood St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri Chief Medical Officer, said the regulation is full of "misunderstanding and misconception."
"More than a dozen academic and medical institutions support the need for gender-affirming care. There is an ever-growing body of literature to say that it is so crucial that providing this care can reduce, for example, suicide and risks particularly to young folks," she said.
Planned Parenthood is expanding capacity, with the ruling taking effect in less than two weeks, according to Dr. McNicholas.
"Every single day between now and April 27 we are going to open up some space in our schedules to make sure that we can see as many patients as possible for this particular service, so that when that day comes, we’ve done everything we can to get as many folks in as we possibly could," she said.
Despite the constant attacks, advocates said, no one will knock them down.
"Our communities are only going to keep coming together more, the more that you continue to drive us into the margins. We are marginalized peoples, and we are coming together because we are all being attacked and together, we are stronger," Camryn said.
"We are not going to stop fighting because you can’t. People's lives matter more than people’s opinions on their lives. I’m not going to stop. Just love each other, you know what I mean, accept people for who they are," Kempen said.
Planned Parenthood is offering more appointments and pop-up clinics to new gender-affirming care patients starting on Monday, April 17.
These will be taking place in Springfield, Missouri, Fairview Heights, Illinois, and their Central West End Location in St. Louis.
Dr. McNicholas said walk-ins are welcome at their Central West End location.
To schedule an appointment, call 314-531-7526 or go online here.
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