Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has initiated legal action against Jackson County, challenging a local ordinance that he claims infringes on First Amendment rights and impacts the welfare of children in therapy. The ordinance requires licensed counselors to affirm specific views on sexual ethics, including transgender ideology, which may conflict with their religious beliefs.
Attorney General Bailey stated, "Our children have a right to therapy that allows for honest, unrestricted conversations, free from transgender indoctrination." He further criticized the ordinances as an overreach that forces conformity to what he described as a "radical transgender agenda."
The lawsuit targets two ordinances: Kansas City's Counseling Ordinance from November 2019 and Jackson County's Counseling Ordinance from April 2023. These regulations compel counselors to endorse transgender ideology irrespective of their professional or religious convictions and restrict free speech by banning certain consensual discussions.
Bailey seeks a court declaration deeming these ordinances unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and requests an immediate halt to their enforcement. The case has been filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.