'Google what police do': Missouri's AG mocked for telling cops to enforce trans care ban

Missouri's Republican Attorney General, Andrew Bailey, is facing pushback from police after ordering law enforcement in Kansas City to enforce the state's new ban on gender-affirming care for people under 18, reported The Kansas City Star.

"Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves has already said that the ban, which has not yet been signed into law by Gov. Mike Parson, does not include criminal penalties and would be outside of the police’s jurisdiction," according to the report.

"Bailey, in a letter to the board Wednesday, said his demand comes after the Kansas City Council approved a resolution to declare the city a sanctuary for people seeking gender-affirming care. The move by the city council was in defiance of the transgender health care ban."

Unlike all other cities in Missouri, which appoint their law enforcement officials directly, Kansas City's police department is overseen by a five-member board of commissioners, with four named by the governor and the remaining seat named by the mayor, Quinton Lucas.

"The gender-affirming care ban passed by the legislature would ban all 'gender transition procedures' for people under 18," said the report. "It would allow minors to continue hormone therapy or puberty blockers if they were already prescribed them. The restrictions on hormone therapy and puberty blockers expire in 2027. The ban on gender-affirming surgeries does not expire. It does not include criminal penalties that could be enforced by the Kansas City police. Doctors who violate the ban could lose their licenses and health care providers could face civil lawsuits."

Some GOP officials had actually wanted to go further and curtail gender-affirming care for even adults. Bailey issued an emergency order restricting and adding new rules to such care; however, a state judge temporarily blocked the order earlier this month, and the state terminated the order a few weeks later with no explanation.

Bailey issued a letter to the commission demanding they enforce the policy: “It is the Board’s constitutional duty to enforce the law and ensure that children are protected from these dangerous, experimental gender transition interventions. As Missouri’s top legal officer, I will take any legal action necessary against the City to ensure our state laws are enforced.”

But Graves has made clear that is not her job. “These provisions are outside the jurisdiction of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department,” she said. “I want to assure Kansas City, we will continue to serve all the members of the community equitably regardless of race, ethnicity, age, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation.”

Democratic state Sen. Lauren Arthur, who represents Kansas City, agreed, saying in a statement, “Sounds like Andrew Bailey needs to Google what police do instead of making them waste their time explaining to the state’s top lawyer that police handle criminal cases, not civil actions.”