KANSAS CITY, Mo. –Today, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed suit against Jackson County over a recently passed ordinance that infringes on the First Amendment rights of Missourians and jeopardizes the well-being of children seeking therapy. The ordinance censors licensed counselors and compels them to affirm views on sexual ethics, including radical transgender ideology, even when it conflicts with the counselor’s sincerely held religious beliefs.
“Our children have a right to therapy that allows for honest, unrestricted conversations, free from transgender indoctrination,” said Attorney General Bailey. “These ordinances represent a dangerous overreach, forcing children and counselors to conform to a radical transgender agenda. I will not stand by while Jackson County violates Missourians’ constitutional rights to free speech and religious liberty.”
The lawsuit challenges Kansas City’s Counseling Ordinance, passed in November 2019, and Jackson County’s Counseling Ordinance, passed in April 2023. These ordinances require licensed counselors to affirm transgender ideology, regardless of the counselor’s professional judgment or religious convictions. The ordinances also suppress free speech by banning consensual conversations and preventing counselors from addressing sensitive issues in a manner consistent with their beliefs or the needs of their young clients.
General Bailey is requesting the court declare these ordinances unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and to immediately halt their enforcement.
The lawsuit has been filed in the United States for the Western District Court of Missouri.
The full lawsuit can be read here.