ST. LOUIS — Missouri's Attorney General Andrew Bailey stood side by side with Riley Gaines during a news conference in St. Louis Thursday morning.
Gaines is a former University of Kentucky swimmer who's been against the inclusion of transgender women in women's sports.
She comes to Missouri as an advisor with Independent Women's Voice and brings a women's bill of rights.
Gaines also has a recent children's book released and an upcoming book coming out this summer.
"I've been traveling state to state really to advance legislation to uphold and preserve our safeguard of women, our opportunities and privacy of undressing," Gaines said. "Our spaces and equal opportunities are at risk because of a radical agenda to erase sex and replace it with gender identity."
She explained the Bill of Rights covers three items:
- It defines common terms.
- It would make clear the important interest in protecting certain single safe spaces.
- Ensure accuracy of private data collection.
"I'm thankful states like Missouri and Andrew Bailey have taken action to protect women's sports," Gained said.
Bailey signed the pledge and he said it was his personal commitment to the preservation of women and girls in the state of Missouri.
Bailey outlined how he's already investigating a St. Louis pediatric transgender center.
Bailey announced the investigation into the Washington University Transgender Center in February 2023. The accusations are after a whistleblower said the center used experimental drugs on children, distributed puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones without individualized assessment, and bullied parents into "consenting" to giving their children life-altering drugs.
In April 2023, the university said after careful consideration over the course of more than an eight-week period, the university concluded that allegations of substandard care causing adverse outcomes for patients at the center are unsubstantiated.
That lawsuit continues and Bailey said they'll be back in court this month.
He also said they've defended SB 49, a law against transgender health care, and there will be a trial this summer.
Bailey acknowledged the lawsuit against Wentzville School District's Board of Education. The lawsuit claims the board concealed a transgender student bathroom usage policy, which is a direct violation of Missouri's open meeting law.
"This month a court denied Wentzville’s motion to dismiss the suit giving my office the green light to keep moving forward," he said.
Organizations like PROMO, Missouri's LGBTQ public policy and advocacy organization, are against this stance.
Director of Communications Robert Fischer believes this was a campaign stunt since Bailey is running in the 2024 election.
"He's flown someone in that's not from Missouri to do a photo op. It was grandstanding what he considers victories and marginalizing a small portion of Missourians and using that to elevate his campaign. It's telling that he is fine with telling people you can't have bodily autonomy and choose which medical care to receive," Fischer said.
Fischer said there are better ways to help women and children from increasing pay gaps to improving education.
He said there is still more work that needs to be done in Missouri.
"We are going to continue to fight against this anti-LGBTQ bills," Fischer said.
Christine Hyman is a trans rights advocate and mom of a transgender child in St. Charles.
Hyman shared this statement:
“After listening to Attorney General Bailey’s press conference, I am disappointed in the bold lies and misinformation he is sending out to Missourians. As the mother of a transgender child in Missouri, my son and I have fought the past six years against hundreds of anti-LGBTQ pieces of legislation pushed by extreme “bill mills” full of half-truths, and unscientific data.
"We will continue to litigate where necessary, to allow our children to have the same rights as any other child who lives here. Unfortunately, Missouri taxpayers will foot the bill with their hard earned tax dollars in order for our Attorney General and/or school boards to defend hate.
"My hope is that someday we have leaders in place that see all Missourians equally as humans.”
Becky Hormuth is also a Missouri mom and a transgender advocate.
Hormuth shared her thoughts following the news conference:
"The AG’s action today is nothing more than a continuation of his quest of denying parental rights to parents ultimately trying to make life saving decisions for their children. In addition, he is blatantly dehumanizing our transgender children, along with the entire transgender community. His words and actions are nothing less than discrimination. His end result is not protection… he is harming human beings! Because individuals who are transgender, ARE human beings!"