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A recently enacted state law bans most such care for minors but allows those already receiving it to continue — but the university ceased providing the care altogether.
Two transgender boys have sued the University of Missouri over its denial of gender-affirming care.
A recently enacted Missouri law bans most gender-affirming care for trans minors but allows those already on treatment to stay on it. However, University of Missouri Health and Washington University in St. Louis have quit offering this care due to potential legal consequences.
The boys are identified in the lawsuit by their initials only. J.C., a teenager, began receiving testosterone through University of Missouri Health last year, but since that provider quit providing the hormone, he has not been able to find any other doctor or clinic to refill it, The Kansas City Star reports.
The other, K.J., came out as trans before reaching puberty and began taking puberty blockers through the institution last year but also has been unable to find another provider to refill the medication. Both boys will run out of their prescriptions by February, according to the lawsuit. Both live in Boone County, which includes the city of Columbia, where the university’s main campus is located.
“Untreated gender dysphoria often intensifies with time,” their attorney J. Andrew Hirth wrote in the suit. “The longer an individual goes without adequate treatment, the greater the risk of debilitating anxiety, severe depression, self-harm and suicide.”
The suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, argues that the boys are being discriminated against because of their gender and because they have a disability, namely gender dysphoria. This violates the Affordable Care Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the suit contends.
It seeks to bar the university from denying gender-affirming care and “such other relief as the court deems just and proper.”
A spokesman for the university told the Star and other local media that officials are still reviewing the suit, then declined further comment.
The state law is being challenged in a separate suit.
