Missouri governor signs transgender sports, gender treatment bans

Missouri Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed two bills on Wednesday barring male athletes from competing in women's sports and forbidding gender transition treatments for minors.

The first bill, Missouri Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act, forbids health care providers from performing any gender surgeries on minors and imposes a four-year block on the prescription of puberty blockers and hormone treatments, the Washington Times reported.

The second bill addresses the transgender sports issue. Its signing made Missouri the 22nd state to require male athletes to compete on sports teams that align with their biological sex.

"Women and girls deserve and have fought for an equal opportunity to succeed, and we stand up to the nonsense and stand with them as they take back their sport competitions," Parson said. "In Missouri, we support real fairness, not injustice disguised as social righteousness."

His signature came the same day that the Louisiana House approved legislation to bar gender treatments for minors, setting up a potential showdown with Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards after the Senate ok'd the legislation earlier this week.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.