Thread by @RavBogard

A reflection thread on yet another traumatic, inspiring, bigotry-fueled, and gratitude-filled day spent in the Missouri Capitol 🧵 #ProtectTransKids #OmnibusBillOfHate #MOLeg

Tuesday in the Missouri Capitol was awful. We left our homes at 5am to testify at an 8am hearing on the #OmnibusBillOfHate. But dozens and dozens of us (myself and a whole bunch of students included) were prevented from testifying by the Committee Chair, who shut off testimony

The afternoon was much, much worse. We had hearings on EIGHT bills targeting trans kids, with testimony starting at 4:30pm and going past midnight (and for those in STL/KC, that means a 2h drive after that.)

I cried multiple times because it just hurt so damned much. Listening to the most powerful people in our State, again and again, question the basic human dignity of your kid is trauma that sticks with you. It has come to color my whole life and how I see the world.

@rmneiss spoke for all of the parents there when he told our legislators that it felt like they were torturing us. And the torture continues. Tuesday there will be another half dozen bills targeting trans kids, this time in the Missouri Senate.

And so two weeks in a row, trans kids with their families and friends will take off of school & work, drive hours to the Missouri State Capitol, and hopefully get two minutes to try to convince our legislators to stop hurting us.

I'm not going Tuesday (though my 11yo is) because I'll be there Wednesday to 'lobby' Reps who we hope might be swayable. It's tough, often degrading work, pleading with your elected reps to treat your kid with basic human dignity. But it's the best chance we have.

Tuesday the Missouri Senate will hear a half dozen bills trying to prevent trans kids from participating in youth athletics. That's more bills then there are trans kids in all of Missouri who have asked to participate in HS athletics in the last 5 years!

But the worst bill this Tuesday is SB14, which would make it impossible for trans people born in Missouri to change the gender maker on their birth certificate. It's wild: your civil rights your entire life are different when you're born in a Red State.

Born in Illinois? Changing your birth certificate gender marker is $15 and a note from your doctor. Missouri's SB14 would make that impossible for any trans person born in this State.

But when we go to lobby on Wednesday, it's the healthcare bans which I will talk about. Because those are the bills that terrify me; those are the bills that fuel my nightmares of having to flee the State.

I'm raising my kids in my childhood home, that my grandpa built, that my dad grew up in, that I grew up in. And I'm terrified that we are going to have to flee; that Missouri is going to pass a bill classifying gender affirming care as child abuse, and we will have to leave.

I want to stay so badly. I love my job, and my shul, and my community. My folks and my brother and his family are here. And yet, we decided not to upgrade our roof, and not to landscape our yard, because of the war the Missouri Legislature is waging on our family.

The most commonly repeated commandment in the Torah is some variation on: "you shall not oppress the stranger... for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." It's a morality that demands that we respond to our own traumas by protecting those more vulnerable than ourselves

And wow, if you want to see "for you were strangers" morality in action, look to @shiraberk and @StacyCaySlays and so many other trans adults who are showing & fighting for the next generation of trans young people. They are fierce, and loving and determined.

In our house we call the Missouri State Capitol "Pharaoh's Palace", because the deeper you walk into it, the closer to touching supernal evil that you get. But the Democrats...My god are they inspiring! They are a super minority, and yet they fight with all that they have.

Under the leadership of Missouri's great hope @crystal_quade, Reps @RepKeriIngle & @PeterforMO & @Emily4Mo & @aaroncrossley and so many others fought for our kids with a passion, a determination, and an intelligence that is unmatched.

I don't think I'll ever forget watching Minority Leader @crystal_quade step off the dais to hug a kid who was in teers in their seat because of the abject cruelty of the GOP reps in that hearing room.

My personal highlight was getting to meet Rep. @JamieforMO in person, who hung around the hearing room for hours and hours (she's not on that committee) just to support all of the kids and parents and trans folk who were there. She's a mensch of a human being ♥️

Off to sleep now; Tuesday and Wednesday are coming soon, and I never sleep the nights before having to head to Jeff City. #ProtectTransKids