ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – The St. Louis County Executive Office is working with a local advocacy group to promote diversity and inclusion through a new task force, which was announced Wednesday.
County Executive Sam Page is collaborating with PROMO, and they stated that the current main topics are transgender concerns and state-wide bills regulating gender-affirming healthcare.
The new LGBTQ task force was announced Wednesday morning.
“I want to make sure that we are providing seats at the decision-making table for everyone, and that’s why I’m establishing an LGBTQ taskforce,” Page said. “The task force will advise my administration on areas of concern to ensure that country agencies are fairly and equitably addressing the LGBTQ community.”
The new task force is in the very early stages, but Page said St. Louis County should be a safe haven for everyone. This announcement comes as lawmakers in Jefferson City are filing more bills to restrict healthcare access for transgender children.
“Trans parents and their families have my support, and they deserve the support of our community as well,” Page said. “Across the country, we’re seeing a troubling trend to pass laws that marginalize communities that have historically struggled to gain rights.”
He’s partnering with PROMO, a Missouri LGBTQ advocacy group.
“He wants LGBT St. Louisans and their lived experiences to inform him on the decisions that he makes when deciding on policy, and that’s extraordinarily impactful,” said Robert Fischer, director of communications for PROMO.
The next steps are to figure out who will serve on the task force.
“To figure out what voices do need to be heard within the county council and what voices should be there because diversity in those is an extremely important topic for us,” Fischer said.