A Missouri state senator is under fire for questioning a teenager about their genitals in a meeting regarding transgender students playing sports.
Video of the discussion that prompted this questioning was later posted to the subreddit /r/PublicFreakout, where it has amassed over 36,000 upvotes in less than 24 hours.
The edited version of the video posted to Reddit was originally shared on Human Rights Campaign’s Twitter page on March 16.
For context, the woman questioning the child in the video is state Sen. Elaine Gannon, a Republican politician in the Missouri State Senate. These questions were asked as part of a hearing held on March 1 concerning State Senate Bill No. 781.
The bill, introduced by Republican state Sen. Mike Moon, would ban trans women and girls from participating in sports teams that match their gender identity as opposed to assigned sex. The text of the bill reads as follows: “No athletic team or sport designated for females, women, or girls shall be open to students of the male sex as assigned at birth.”
No mention is made of people who were assigned female at birth who do not identify as such.
State Senate Bill No. 781 was being discussed on March 1 when Avery, a 14-year-old from Kansas City, decided to share their story and answer questions. According to an article from earlier in the month published by the Advocate, Avery identifies as nonbinary and has been testifying against anti-trans bills with their mother “for years.”
The recording of Gannon’s comments appears to begin mid-sentence, but what is audible is still questionable.
“You’re in the ladies’ room and then you realize somebody else in there doesn’t have a female’s … has a male body instead of a female’s body. I mean, it just causes some issues there,” Gannon says. She did not specify what issues it may cause.
“No, it doesn’t,” Avery answers. “You should let people go to the bathroom.” Someone off-camera asks, “Plus it has stall doors, right?”
“They probably don’t realize because you have such long hair,” Gannon tells Avery. She then asks, “Are you going to go through the procedure?” (referring to gender affirmation surgery).
The video then cuts to comments from Avery, who says, “You think we’re going around forcing our genitalia in people’s faces? We’re trying to go to the bathroom. … No one is looking at your genitals.”
Gannon responds by saying she was “seriously just curious.”
Avery’s mother, Debi Jackson, then steps in to clarify what she just heard.
“You’re asking a 14-year-old on public record about genitals and if people could see that? How would anyone know?” Jackson asks.
On Reddit, users did not take too kindly to Gannon’s comments.
“Why the fuck are you looking in somebody else’s bathroom stall and claiming they’re the pervert?” a user questioned.
Others agreed with this sentiment. Another highly voted comment asked users how often they’ve seen other people’s genitals in a public restroom. The overwhelming consensus was that it was a rare occurrence.
Besides Gannon’s comments on genitalia, some redditors also took issue with her thoughts on Avery’s long hair.
“The ‘long hair’ comment is disgusting,” one user wrote. “Your hair doesn’t dictate what genitals you have. I mean, look at [their] mother sitting right next to her defending [them]! She has SHORT HAIR! Does that mean she automatically has a penis according to that lawmaker?”
In a statement to Daily Dot, Debi Jackson provided details about the events leading up to the video.
“First, this was an exchange after Avery and I had both testified,” Jackson said. “My testimony was a request that people actually see Avery as more than a trans person, to see their humor, intelligence, creativity, empathy, and so on. So it was particularly upsetting that after asking senators to see my child as a whole person, Gannon didn’t just focus on their being trans but further reduced them to nothing more than their genitals.”
Jackson then accused committee chair Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin of not being impartial during the discussion, as the senator had sponsored a similar bill two years prior.
Her impartiality was on display during their time with the committee, Jackson argued.
“Avery had said that they were sure what we were all saying wouldn’t make a difference because the senators had already made up their minds. O’Laughlin interrupted because she was offended at Avery’s assertion and that what Avery had said was ‘too personal.’ But she didn’t seem to think that Gannon’s line of questioning was too personal and allowed it to continue uninterrupted.”
Jackson also revealed that Avery “went up to her after the hearing to let her know that she deserved an apology for both, but O’Laughlin answered that Gannon is ‘new to the topic’ and needs time to learn.”
Finally, Jackson asserted this video is one part of a bigger issue.
“I need folks to make the connection between this exchange and what is happening — and has been happening for the last few years — across the country,” Jackson told the Daily Dot. “They started with bathroom bills seven years ago. That didn’t work out well, so they moved on to other attempts at using transgender children as scapegoats for all the ills of the world and as a divisive issue to get votes. Gannon showed that this bill (SB 781) is in fact, not about ‘protecting’ girls’ sports. Her concern about Avery wasn’t that Avery might be too fast or too strong. Her concern was about her own discomfort in thinking about another person’s genitals while using a restroom. The Don’t Say Gay Bill in Florida isn’t about ‘protecting’ children, about not ‘sexualizing’ children, or a concern about children being ‘groomed.’”
“This exchange proves which legislators are doing the sexualizing and grooming of kids. And it’s also connected to what is happening in Texas. The feigned concern there is that kids Avery’s age—adolescents and teens—shouldn’t receive affirming medical care because they are too young to know who they are or to make decisions. I think Avery proved the level of maturity that trans youth have…especially when adults challenge who they are.”
In Missouri alone, a bill in the Senate seeks to prohibit gender-confirming hormonal and surgical treatments for minors, while a bill in the House would prohibit altering the sex designation on a birth certificate.
Gannon did not immediately respond to Daily Dot’s request for comment via a contact form.