Show Me My Rights Guide: Discrimination and Harassment

Employers with 15 or more employees are prohibited by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act from discriminating on the basis of sex, and the U.S. Supreme Court held in 2020 (Bostock v. Clayton County) that firing someone on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is sex discrimination.

Missouri state law does not currently include explicit statewide protections against employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. For more than 20 years, the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act (MONA) has been filed in the Missouri House and Senate. MONA would add sexual orientation and gender identity to Missouri’s Human Rights Act, which currently prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations for other protected categories, including race, sex, and national origin. The state legislature has delayed MONA’s passage since it was first introduced by Rep. Steve McLuckie in 1998. It is beyond time for Missouri to pass MONA to protect people from discrimination based on who they are or who they love.

However, several Missouri cities and counties—such as Columbia, Kansas City, and Kirkwood—have local nondiscrimination ordinances that protect LGBTQ+ employees in both public and private workplaces (often applying to employers with as few as one or more employees). For more information on specific cities and counties, visit this website.

If your rights are violated at work:

• If you are experiencing discrimination in employment due to your sexual orientation or gender identity, you can file a complaint with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights (MCHR) or the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Try to document everything, such as emails or HR documents that might be relevant.
• If you’ve been discriminated against based on gender identity or sexual orientation at work, the ACLU of Missouri may be able to help. Contact us by filling out our online complaint form.

There is currently no federal law that explicitly prohibits discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation in public accommodations such as public schools, restaurants, stores, hotels, or theaters.

Missouri state law also does not include statewide protections for transgender people (or LGBTQ+ people generally) in public accommodations.

However, several Missouri cities and towns have local nondiscrimination ordinances that make it illegal for businesses open to the public to deny service or otherwise discriminate based on gender identity or sexual orientation. To find information about specific cities and towns, click here. These local ordinances vary, so your specific protections depend on where the discrimination occurs and which city’s laws apply.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 bans discrimination on the basis of sex by public schools, and the Supreme Court held in 2020 (Bostock v. Clayton County) that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is sex discrimination. Thus, Title IX should be interpreted to prohibit discrimination against students on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Many federal courts have held that Title IX requires public schools to respond to harassment based on appearance or behavior that doesn’t conform to gender stereotypes: boys who wear makeup, girls who wear pants, or students who are transgender or non-binary.

In June 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court held that it does not violate Title IX and the Constitution to bar transgender girls and women from playing on girls' and women's sports teams at school. However, the nation's highest court did not rule that states must ban transgender girls and women from participating on girls' and women's sports teams at school. This distinct question of whether schools may allow transgender girls and women to participate on girls' and women's sports teams is currently the subject of litigation in some lower courts. While the law in this area is evolving, a number of courts have also found that Title IX and the U.S. Constitution protect transgender students’ right to access other sex-separated programs and facilities like restrooms consistent with their gender identity.

Missouri does not currently have a statewide law explicitly protecting transgender (or LGBTQ+ generally) students from discrimination in schools. Instead, Missouri is one of just two states with a law that prevents schools or districts from adding LGBTQ+ protections to anti-bullying policies. RSMo. § 160.775.3. However, several local school districts have adopted inclusive policies that seek to protect and affirm trans students. These protections can vary, so your rights may depend on where you go to school.

In addition, the First Amendment right to free expression can apply to school dress codes, especially when there are different rules for boys than for girls. The First Amendment protects your right to express yourself in public schools. That includes bringing a same-sex date to prom or any school event and talking about LGBTQ+ topics. Your right to be yourself in school includes the right to be transgender or nonbinary, and to transition at school.

If your child’s rights are violated at school:

• Document everything. Take notes and keep copies of any emails with school administrators, relevant school forms, etc. If there isn't a preexisting paper trail from emails or official documents, make your own. Take notes and write down dates, places, times, what happened, and who was there.

• If anyone at school is harassing or threatening your child, it’s crucial that you report every incident to a principal, teacher or counselor. Usually, schools must be put on notice before they can be held legally responsible for protecting you.

• If you have reported harassment or any other kind of discrimination to your school officials and they have done little or nothing to stop it, you can contact the ACLU of Missouri for help weighing your options.

Additional resources:

• See our “Students' Rights” page for more information.

• Check out the national ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project’s open letters on a variety of LGBTQ+ issues that you can use when advocating for your rights with school administrators.

Currently, Missouri law prohibits schools from allowing student athletes to compete in athletics that are designated for the "opposite biological sex.” In 2023, Missouri passed the “Save Women’s Sports Act.” RSMo. § 163.048. This law applies to all schools in Missouri: private and public elementary, middle, and high schools; public school districts; and private and public institutions of postsecondary education, including universities, trade schools, and colleges. The law threatens to penalize non-compliant schools by revoking their state funding.

The law includes one exception: a female student may be allowed to compete in an athletics competition designated for male students if no corresponding competition for female students is offered (e.g., football)​. For example, if a school has both a girls’ and a boys’ tennis team, a trans boy is allowed to play only on the girls’ team. Further, according to a recent House amendment, if a trans boy is on hormone therapy, he would be barred from playing tennis on both the girls’ and the boys’ teams.

This law is set to expire in August 2027, but the Missouri House of Representatives has passed a permanent ban on trans athletes in school sports (see H.B. 1663, Sponsor: Seitz)​.

On June 30, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can ban transgender athletes from playing on women's and girls' sports teams at school. This means that laws like Missouri's “Save Women’s Sports Act” (RSMo. § 163.048) can remain in effect.

Currently, Missouri law does not prohibit transgender people from using restrooms that align with their gender identity. However, if you are concerned about your safety, it may be helpful to have someone accompany you to the public restroom. (You can also use free resources like Refuge Restrooms for help finding a safe, accessible restroom near you.)

State lawmakers have introduced multiple bathroom bills (including advancing three anti-trans bills in one night during the 2026 legislative session), but thankfully, none have passed yet. Some local school districts also have policies affirmatively allowing transgender students to use the school bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

In 2025, the Missouri Supreme Court heard a case about a transgender student’s right to use public school restrooms and locker rooms consistent with his gender identity. In R.M.A. v. Blue Springs R-IV School District, a transgender boy sued his school district under the public accommodations provision (§ 213.065) of the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA), alleging that the school district discriminated against him based on his male sex by denying him access to male-designated restrooms and locker rooms. The central issue in this case was the legal definition of the term “sex” as used by the Missouri General Assembly in § 213.065 of the MHRA. Missouri’s highest court ultimately interpreted the term to limit unlawful sex discrimination in public accommodations to "biological sex," which the court reasoned is determined exclusively by a person's external genitalia. In June 2025, the Missouri Supreme Court issued its decision, holding that public schools may require transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms based on their sex assigned at birth. However, the R.M.A. decision does not require all Missouri school districts to discriminate against trans students in restroom and locker room use. In other words, Missouri school districts remain free to retain affirming policies allowing for trans students to use school bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.

Please be aware that outside of Missouri, your right to use restrooms that correspond to your gender identity may vary by state. In some places, state and local laws that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression should protect transgender people’s right to use public restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. In other states (e.g., see Kansas), lawmakers have banned transgender people from using some facilities consistent with their gender identity. Visit this website for more information on which states have banned trans people from using public bathrooms and facilities according to their gender identity.

On February 26, 2026, an extreme anti-trans two-part bill (known as Senate Bill 244) took immediate effect in Kansas. The bill’s first provision prohibits transgender people from updating their driver licenses or state ID cards to reflect their gender, and also invalidates transgender people’s existing driver licenses, state IDs, and birth certificates if those documents were issued in Kansas and reflect a gender different from a person’s sex assigned at birth. The second provision requires transgender people to use the restrooms and other sex-separated facilities in government buildings associated with their sex assigned at birth, while creating new civil and criminal penalties to enforce those restrictions.

*Note: In August 2026, a Kansas judge granted a temporary injunction for a transgender woman whose driver license was invalidated by SB 244. Please be aware that this injunction applies only to this specific person’s license. The ACLU’s lawsuit challenging SB 244 more broadly remains ongoing.

For the most up-to-date information on SB 244, visit the ACLU of Kansas’s website here.

If you or a loved one has been impacted by SB 244 becoming law, contact the ACLU via aclu.org/KS_SB244.

Missouri’s Sunshine Law promotes openness and transparency in government. The law protects access to public records and meetings that are retained by the entity from which the documents are sought. The law states that, “[i]t is the public policy of this state that meetings, records, votes, actions, and deliberations of public governmental bodies be open to the public unless otherwise provided by law. Sections 610.010 to 610.200 shall be liberally construed and their exceptions strictly construed to promote this public policy.” See RSMo. § 610.011. Missouri’s Sunshine Law applies to state, county, and local public governmental bodies within Missouri, including city councils, school boards, and state agencies. The governmental entity does not have to create documentation in response to your request, but they do have to provide you with all open records in their possession that are responsive. They may close or redact certain records as permitted under the law.

If you would like assistance making (or reviewing/supporting) an open records request under the Missouri Sunshine Law, the ACLU of Missouri may be able to help. Please feel free to email us your situation at: showmemyrights@aclu-mo.org.

If your question isn’t addressed above, you may submit it to showmemyrights@aclu-mo.org. Submissions are used to develop general guidance for the public and do not constitute individualized legal advice. This inbox is monitored regularly, but due to volume, we cannot guarantee an individual response to every email received.

This is one section of a multi-part guide. You can find the full guide here:

Trans Justice in MO

Trans joy is a form of resistance. It reminds us that, despite everything, trans people lead full, complex, and beautiful lives.

The ACLU of Missouri's Show-Me Trans, Gender Non-Conforming, & Intersex Missourians Belong Storytelling Project is amplifying stories of joy and allyship from people like you!

TGNCI Missourians (ages 18+): Share your story

Loved ones & allies: Show your support

If you are being harassed, intimidated, or bullied in school, keep a record of each incident and report them to your principal or counselor. To talk to someone outside of your school or to get more information on strategies to stop harassment, contact these organizations:

• The Trevor Project
• Trans Lifeline
• The Missouri Commission on Human Rights (MCHR)

If you are being discriminated against or harassed in places of public accommodation (e.g., restaurants, stores, hotels, theaters), in employment, or in housing because of your gender identity, keep a record of each incident and check here to see if your local city has a nondiscrimination ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity. You can also check out the resources below.

For affirming mental health support:

• Trans Lifeline
• Call BlackLine

For help finding safe restrooms near you:

• Refuge Restrooms
• HavenMap
• RestMap

For employment and discrimination legal assistance:

• Lynne Jaben Bratcher
• Missouri Kansas Queer Law
• Edelman, Liesen & Myers L.L.P.
• TGH Litigation

If you feel you have been the victim of discrimination based on your gender expression or identity, please consider contacting the ACLU of Missouri for help.