The 2019-2020 legislative session will mark the 21st consecutive year that Missouri legislators were presented with the Missouri Non-Discrimination Act (MONA).
Currently, Missouri’s Human Rights Act offers protections based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age and disability. MONA would add protection for sexual orientation and gender identity.
Equality Day takes place on August 10th and is a statewide event where students and adults make the trek to their state capitals to speak to their legislators about LGBTQ+ legislation like MONA.
This year, the Gay Straight Trans Alliance (GSTA) was part of the hundreds of people in attendance.
“There were people from GLO, there were people from Central, there were people from St. Louis and Kansas City,” freshman El Backus said.
Despite bipartisan support, the bill currently remains unassigned to a committee and is not predicted to pass before the legislative term concludes at the end of May.