In the ongoing war for what is billed as the rights of transgender Americans — which apparently include allowing children to make life-altering decisions — officials in Kansas City Missouri have declared that city to be an LGBTQ+ and Transgender sanctuary city. This means that the city will provide a safe haven for transgender people who are seeking so-called gender-affirming care, as well as those who would provide that care. Such care would include puberty blockers, hormones, or surgery.

The resolution, approved 12-1 by the city council, was signed by Democrat Mayor Quinton Lucas on Thursday. Lucas stated that he wants Kansas City to be a “welcoming, inclusive, and safe place for everyone, including our transgender and LGBTQ+ community.” Also, in a sort of nose-thumbing to GOP state officials, the city resolution also states that if the state would pass any laws or resolutions regarding criminal or civil punishments, fines, or professional penalties, the city would essentially not enforce those laws, or make them “their lowest priority.”

I think #moleg should make KCMO a safe haven from any taxpayer dollars in next years budget. Taxpayers should not be funding policy that not only allows but encourages maiming children for life. https://t.co/hYbD8IsLGe

— Ben Baker (@BenBakerMO) May 12, 2023

The resolution comes just one day after the Missouri Legislature finalized a bill prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors and putting restrictions on care available to adults. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, is expected to sign the bill. The legislature is also controlled by Republicans. At the same time, a judge is considering an emergency order from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, also a Republican, that would mandate a full year of therapy and other requirements for both adults and children before receiving any gender-affirming care.

The whistle was blown, at least in Missouri, in February by a former employee at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital named Jamie Reed. Reed described herself as a “queer woman, married to a transman, politically to the left of Bernie Sanders,” hardly a dyed-in-the-wool conservative. But after four years of working at the clinic, she took very serious concerns to AG Bailey. Reed described such things as lack of protocol, very little in the way of testimony from other medical professionals when considering whether to put children at the clinic on opposite-sex hormones, and a sharp increase in the number of cases that came into the clinic in her role as intake and case manager. She also stated that she came to realize the children who came to the clinic were in no way able to understand concepts like being infertile for life when being told about possible side effects of taking hormones. But what might have been Reed’s most shocking revelation — yet also the most telling — was that patients from the inpatient psychiatric unit of Children’s Hospital began to be referred to the clinic.

I live north of Kansas City, Missouri which is now a sanctuary city encouraging little kids to cut off body parts to change gender. Insanity. The Woke Mind Virus is everywhere.

— Kevin Westerlaken (@westerlaken2) May 12, 2023

Merrique Jensen is a transwoman, and founder of Transformations KC, a non-profit advocacy group for transgender women of color. She said of the resolution:

This resolution is an entrance into a conversation and shows a commitment where trans people’s presence in Kansas City is valued. It would minimize the legal violence toward trans people in accessing gender-affirming care.

Officials in Kansas City either don’t know about Reed’s revelations, or have chosen to ignore them, joining other cities like Austin Texas, Chicago, Minneapolis, and West Hollywood California. California, Minnesota, and Washington have declared their entire states sanctuaries for gender-affirming care. But the resolution in Kansas City poses a few issues. Currently, the Kansas City Police Department is overseen by a state-appointed Board of Police Commissioners. So any prosecution of violation of the new state law would be filed by a county prosecutor, not city. That could make enforcing the resolution in Kansas City difficult. But an even deeper question is raised by the fact that Kansas City is a blue area in a red state. There are plenty of red areas in blue states that have declared the entire state a transgender sanctuary. Certainly, the tables can turn, and those red areas can declare themselves separate non-sanctuary areas from the rest of the state. Either way beware, blue sanctuary cities could be coming to a red state near you.

Kansas City is lost. Let’s go see how many of Kansas City’s hospitals offer child mutilation services, shall we? Let’s also examine the Mayor and the City Council’s campaign donors while we’re at it. Oh, and what does Governor Parsons and the MO AG intend to do about this?

— John Chamberlain, MHA, LFACHE🍊 (@misterchambo) May 12, 2023