Meet the Missouri Residents Fighting Against Anti-Trans Bills
Read the rest of this series here. Harry Castillow, the founder of Central Trans Action Bloc, took to the podium at a Columbia, Missouri protest on March 1. The crowd roared with laughter and cheers as he introduced himself as a cisgender, straight, white male. Castillow is the father of a child who is transgender. He said, “I’m here because I care about people here.” “I am here because I care about people, and I can’t understand why more people aren’t doing the same.”
The demonstration was part of an effort by the Missouri Democratic Party LGBTQ+ Caucus to promote equality in the state. Castillow’s speech was delivered to more than 200 LGBTQ+ members and allies who huddled together between the Roger B. Wilson Boone County Government Center (Boone County Courthouse) and the Roger B. Wilson Boone County Government Center. Every spring, Missouri legislators file a number of bills that target the LGBTQ+ community. The groups affected are then left to decide what they will do next. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, 39 anti-LGBTQ+ laws are currently being considered or moving through the legislative process in Missouri. Many of the potential policies are aimed directly at transgender Missourians.
Some of the major bills include proposals to cement bans on transgender minors’ access to gender-affirming care and ability to participate on sports teams that align with their gender identities. One bill targets drag acts and drag shows.
“It is exhausting,” Mel Constantine Miseo said, a member of the Center Project’s board, mid-Missouri’s only LGBTQ+ community center. Constantine Miseo paid for top surgery a few years ago. They described feeling dissociated from their body before the surgery, and they said that afterwards, they felt more confident and willing to be more open with any sort of relationship.
“I just keep thinking, ‘Okay, they can’t take that away from me,'” Constantine Miseo said. They immediately start thinking about those who haven’t had surgery. “And it’s scary to think about the possibility of that being taken away from them,” they said.
Surgeries aren’t the only form of gender-affirming care. Gender-affirming hormonal therapy (also known as hormone replacement therapy) can help manage hormone levels in the body by increasing estrogen and decreasing testosterone. Some people use estrogen and testosterone blockers. In 2023, Missouri passed laws that prohibited transgender children from receiving gender affirming care or playing on sports teams because of their gender identity. The Associated Press reported that Republicans and Senate Democrats compromised to make the law expire in 2027. However, Senate Bill 10 aims at removing the expiration date from these laws as well as more than 20 other laws. In a vote that was largely divided along party lines, the Missouri state senate passed the bill by a margin of 22-12. Four of the bills would remove the deadline for the ban on transgender minors accessing gender affirming treatments such as hormones and puberty blocking drugs. The uncertainty surrounding these bills is a major cause of concern. In response, protests and demonstrations, like the one Castillow spoke at, have popped up across the state since the 2025 Missouri legislative session began.
Abigail Landwehr/Rewire News Group
At the Center Project, on the morning of Columbia’s protest, a breakfast spread was laid out on the kitchen counters. In one room community members held markers and pens above brightly colored signs of protest. Ashley Bramon is the mother of two transgender children, one a boy and another a girl. She wrote “trans rights are Human Rights” on a poster. She wore an handmade necklace that displayed the word “ally” in beads. “It’s very important for them to be able to exercise their rights,” Bramon stated. “And I think it’s important to show legislators that they have an obligation to us, too … for them to realize how many of us they’re affecting.”
Organizers stood in the other front room of the Center Project, going over the lineup of speakers.
“I’m absolutely terrified about the LGBTQ+ related bills,” said Nik, a co-organizer of the protest who asked to only be identified by her first name. “Specifically, the trans bills which are beginning.” But I think that people don’t realize that a lot of legislation is targeting the trans community right now, because they seem like the most ‘other’ compared to the majority of voters.”
Local entertainer and drag queen Veronika Versace, former Miss Gay Missouri USofA, also spoke to the crowd on March 1. Versace highlighted SB 295, which targets drag performers and drag shows.
“The language of these bills not only impacts just me doing my shows or reading to kids at a story hour, but it impacts our community as a whole in a negative way,” Versace said on stage.
According to the bill, an “adult cabaret performance” includes things like topless and exotic dancing, stripping, and drag shows. These performances are referred to as “entertainment which appeals sexual or prurient interests” by the bill. The bill was prompted by criticism of a 2023 event where drag queens were performing at a City of Columbia Diversity event that included middle school students. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey wrote letters to the mayor of Columbia and the superintendent of Columbia Public Schools, accusing them of violating state law by allowing middle school students to watch an “adult-themed” drag show.
However, some worry the wording of the bill is vague enough that it could target drag performers and transgender community members at large.
“The language in that bill is so vague that they could sit here and justify that what I’m doing in front of you is a misdemeanor offense. Versace told the crowd that a second offense could result in felony charges. “You’re saying that a trans person walking down the street in the clothing that they feel comfortable in could be … criminalized.”
Every summer, the Center Project hosts fundraisers to raise money for its emergency fund. “Some people are seriously thinking about leaving the state. It’s a shame, because this is also their home,” Constantine Miseo stated. “Not only trans people, but also people in same-sex queer relationships are worried now about the safety of their families, their rights over their kids and their marriages, and all of that.”
Constantine Miseo added that in times of distress, they’re an organizer, noting that with support and connections, it ultimately comes down to community. Nik says that this isn’t the first time groups have been forced to fight to protect their rights. “We have always been able to overcome this by working together as a group and asking people who are not directly affected to speak up.”
