When I was 12 years old, my perception of life was limited to choices like what colorful hair clips I had in my hair that day and what my after-school snack would contain. 

  Not once did the idea of marriage cross my prepubescent mind outside of the grand proposals my dolls made to one another. 

  In an effort to endorse a widespread ban on transgender healthcare for individuals under the age of 18, Missouri Senator Mike Moon advocated for a 12-year-old’s right to marry.

  In 2018, Missouri passed a law that raised the minimum marriage age in the state from 15 to 16 with parental permission. Moon opposed the bill and made efforts for the room to let child marriage be “something to ponder.” 

  Now, in 2023, Moon is presenting a bill that would destroy the lives of transgender youth in Missouri, eliminating their access to healthcare needs and procedures that would allow the youth a longer and healthier life. 

  During the present hearing, Moon was questioned about his vote in 2018, in which he made clear that his vote fit his belief system. 

  Not only is Moon single-handedly destroying the thousands of trans lives in Missouri, but he is also advocating that seventh graders have the right to marry; which oftentimes confines the child into a non-consensual sexual or romantic pedophilic relationship with an adult.

  Moon states, “Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They’re still married.”

  What Moon does not address is the fact that these children were forced to legally marry on behalf of their own parents due to the surprise pregnancy of the young girl. This further proves that child marriages only stay “together” due to force and deep-rooted childhood trauma. 

  Moon explains the context of his child-marriage-afflicted peers as “tragic circumstances such as these can only be overcome through one avenue, the grace and mercy of God.”

  God has no place in the marriage between pre-pubescent children, and God does not exist within transphobic legislation that only inflicts pain and hinders the beautiful and fulfilling life a person is seeking for. 

  I am ashamed and horrified to live in a state represented by a man who hides behind “God” to disguise the bigotry and disdain he wishes to inflict upon children. 

  Moon uses his own personal definition of trans healthcare by labeling it as “child mutilation” when in the next moment he encourages the assault and disfigurement of childhood.

  After his statements, Moon tweeted, “There is a difference between marriage and mutilation. Marriage is reversible and mutilation is not.”

  Moon continues to push for the passing of his transphobic legislature that would ban physicians from performing gender-affirming surgeries on minors, as well as prescribing or administering hormones or puberty-blocking medications for a gender transition.

  Furthermore, these bills promise to ruin the lives of trans youth and all youth entirely. 

  Children are not safe in the hands of Missouri legislation, nor do I believe they ever will be.

  My hope for a justified government is tainted by the bloodied hands of Mike Moon. 

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