ST. LOUIS — Dr. Jeffrey Schulman has been a child psychiatrist for 50 years. The Creve Coeur physician admits that halfway through his career, he was skeptical of helping children identify as a different gender.
But that changed, Schulman said, as he learned more about the patients and the science. He expects the approval Wednesday of a Missouri bill to ban the use of gender-affirming medications for minors to have devastating effects.
“By passing legislation, all they are doing is stymieing the development of individuals who need to develop into themselves and be whole and genuine,” he said. “It’ll cause them to more depressed, more likely to commit suicide and have to move out of the state of Missouri.”
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Schulman, 75, joins other providers who care for transgender youths and families who say they are reeling from the final passage of the legislation, expected to be signed into law by Gov. Mike Parson, that will put in place a four-year ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors.
Republican legislators argued that minors lack the capacity to understand their gender dysphoria and will eventually regret their life-altering medical decisions as adults. Instead, they say, the youths should be encouraged to seek therapy and counseling.
House lawmakers also signed off on legislation requiring athletes to compete on sports teams aligned with their sex assigned at birth.
Passage of the bills was expected, especially after Parson threatened a special legislative session if lawmakers did not act.
“It’s still such a punch in the stomach,” said Christine Hyman, 53, of St. Charles, who has a 17-year-old transgender son, Corey.
Though the final version of the bill allows current patients to continue treatment, her family fears legislators in the future will seek more severe restrictions. They also worry about discrimination as Corey looks to go to a technical school, find a job and buy a home.
Corey said, “This puts a target on my back for harassment. With this legislation, trans people like me look less than human. It says it’s OK.”
The issue was made a top priority by Republican-led legislatures this year. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is also trying to impose regulations that would severely restrict gender-affirming medications for all ages.
It overwhelmed Corey, his mom said. He stopped eating because he was so despondent and had to spend 12 days in the hospital in early March.
Christine Hyman said her first call after Wednesday’s vote was to a real estate agent.
“It’s your kid. He’s a human being. I’m a parent, and the one thing we are going to do is die on the hill for things that protect our kids,” she said. “I’ve done everything I can do to fight, but you cannot win where we live no matter what you do. I don’t know what’s left.”
On Tuesday, just a day before the vote, the partnered with other organizations to host a transgender “healing space” at the Delmar Divine health care collaborative that included support groups, massage, name-change help and art therapy.
About 30 people were able to attend, organizers said, including Vicky, 23, who only wanted to provide her first name. Despite living in Troy, Illinois, in a state with no restrictions, Vicky said Metro East residents like her rely on receiving transgender care in Ƶ.
The rhetoric around the legislation as well as Bailey’s restrictions, which are being held up in court until July, is taking its toll on her mental health, she said.
“For the first time in years, I’ve grown to be suicidal again because of these new laws and the terror they’re putting me in,” Vicky said. “I feel like my world is crumbling around me right when I was finally building up the life I deserve to have.”
Rabbi Daniel Bogard, 40, of Ƶ County, said even though the vote was expected, it still feels surreal and terrifying.
“It’s this profound sense that we can’t keep our child or our family safe from our government,” Bogard said.
Bogard has a transgender son who is 10. His son now faces a future where he will not be able to access puberty blockers and eventually the male hormone testosterone should their family and medical providers decide that’s the best course of care.
Access to such care is supported the major medical organizations in the United States, and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health provides detailed guidelines that include screening, parental consent and monitoring.
“I don’t know what his future holds,” Bogard said, “but he will be blocked out of from best-practiced medical care.”
Brandon Hill, CEO of , which provides HIV prevention and support services in the Ƶ and Kansas City areas, said on Wednesday that the legislation prevents people from accessing life-saving care and reinforces prejudices that lead to poor health outcomes.
“People — including children with the support of their parents — who enter into gender affirming care do not do so lightly,” Hill said, “and health professionals providing this care do so with the best interest of their patients in mind.”
Bogard said his family is not making any plans to move, but they will uproot their lives if they find themselves needing to protect their child.
“This is about fighting to be able to stay in our home,” Bogard said, “which is my family home, it was my parents’ home and my grandparents’ home. … I work at my childhood synagogue.”
Jennifer Harris Dault, 40, of Maryland Heights, has seen her 8-year-old transgender daughter thrive for the past two years since using pronouns, styling her hair and wearing clothes that correspond to her gender — all under the advice of her medical providers.
Harris Dault worries about her daughter not being able to get medications she might need in the future or to be able to play a sport with her friends.
Despite her daughter being supported in her gender by her school, church and neighborhood, Harris Dault said she is contemplating moving her family.
Her daughter has already said she’s scared from the little she knows about why her mom goes to Jefferson City to talk to politicians.
“There just aren’t words for this,” Harris Dault said. “As a parent, what I most want is to support my kids in being who they are, and helping them thrive and grow, and help them achieve to the best of their abilities.”
Schulman, the psychiatrist, said he and other area providers of gender-affirming care take a thoughtful and cautious approach when it comes to prescribing medications to transgender youth; and lawmakers inserting themselves into the decision-making sets a dangerous precedent.
“Politicians are not trained in medicine or psychiatry or psychology,” he said. “They need to practice law and not practice medicine.”