Missouri lawmakers unlikely to ban discrimination of sexual orientation, gender identity in 2024

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - The Missouri Non-discrimination Act, or “MONA,” doesn’t currently ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The 2024 session represents the 25th consecutive year state lawmakers have tried to add those protections. On Wednesday, state senators debated a bill to ban that type of discrimination in the Senate’s General Laws committee, during which some opponents suggested such a ban is no longer needed.

“I think the need for this is probably much, much less than it was 20 years ago, and the cost of it potentially, to small employers particularly, worry me,” said State Senator Mike Cierpiot, a Republican from Lee’s Summit.

That cost, Cierpoit said, would come from a flood of civil lawsuits they believe would bury the court system and threaten vulnerable businesses with burdensome legal defense costs.

“Sexual orientation and gender identity is defined as a perception, one’s own perception of themselves,” said Ray McCarty, the CEO of Associated Industries of Missouri. “Because of that, it’s very difficult to defend yourself if someone makes that claim in an employment dispute.”

The bill’s sponsor, Democratic State Sen. Greg Razer of Kansas City, said that concern is commonly and severely overblown, as the legal burden would still rest on the employee to prove that’s why they were fired or weren’t hired.

“All it says is you can’t look somebody in the eye and say you’re fired because you’re gay – or – you’re not getting this apartment because you’re a lesbian,” State Senator Razer said.

State Senator Razer is currently the only openly gay Missouri state senator and has sponsored this bill for years.

“The General Assembly has said explicitly that we want this to be the way the law exists,” State Senator Razer said. “It’s 2024, we can be better than that.”

The other point of opposition came from the Coalition for Jewish Values and other religious groups in Missouri, which argued that not being able to discriminate against gay or transgender people prevents them from freely practicing their religion and free speech.

“Discrimination is not always wrong,” said Rabbi Ze’ev Smason with the Coalition for Jewish Values in Missouri. “I believe that discrimination is like fire, in some contexts and kills – but in other contexts, it gives heat and sustains life.”

Supporters said any religious practice that harms someone else or deprives them of rights is not, and should not be, a protected religious practice.

“It boggles the mind that 25 times this has failed,” said Mindy Carney, a MONA supporter. “It also boggles the mind that anyone has anyone else’s human rights in their fist to vote on. That’s wrong.”

With less than five weeks left, the policy’s path forward in a General Assembly controlled by a Republican super-majority is unclear.

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