Missouri is one of 28 states that do not include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals within their non-discrimination policies.
For the second consecutive year, a state Democratic senator is trying to change that.
Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, filed the Missouri Non-Discrimination Act (MONA), legislation that would prohibit LGBT people from being terminated from their jobs, rejected for a loan or denied housing based on their gender identity or sexual orientation. Earlier this month, the bill passed through the Senate's Progress and Development Committee, which Keaveny chairs. Debate wasn't held on the bill last year, but Keaveny said he will fight for it in 2016.
The bill has received "staunch opposition" for years, but LGBT advocates continued promoting the legislation, and support is increasing little by little, he said.
"Even if it doesn't pass this year, the discussion has gotten a bit further and further along, and that's how you work through some of these difficult issues," Keaveny said.
Supporters of the bill include the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and PROMO, a statewide LGBT rights organization, as well as the St. Louis and Kansas City chambers of commerce. Two of the largest businesses lobbying organizations in the state, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Associated Industries of Missouri, have consistently opposed the legislation.
Both testified including LGBT individuals in Missouri's non-discrimination act would make businesses susceptible to lawsuits.
Currently, the Missouri Human Rights statute forbids employers from discriminating against individuals based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability.
Ray McCarty, executive director of AIM, told the News Tribune his organization is against the state mandating any new protected class of people to that statute. He said many companies AIM represents already have internal non-discrimination policies relating to LGBT people.
Steph Perkins, interim director of PROMO - a nonprofit group advocating for LGBT equality - is transitioning from female to male and said transgender and transsexual people face an increased risk of discrimination. As society becomes more accepting of gay individuals, trans people are not as understood, Perkins said in a committee hearing.
"Even if someone has not faced discrimination, it is always in the back of our minds that this is a possibility and a probability, and no one is immune to it," Perkins said.
Perkins said his wife was discriminated against and, though her employer had a "good" non-discrimination policy, her superiors weren't aware of that policy but knew the state's non-discrimination law didn't include LGBT people.
McCarty said employees not in the LGBT community could claim to be gay or transgender if they anticipate being fired and file a discrimination lawsuit against their employers. Unlike gender, race or disability, McCarty said it's difficult for employers to know if their employees are in the LGBT community. Therefore, the burden of proof - knowing whether an individual is in the LGBT community during the time of termination - falls on the employer when a lawsuit is filed, he said.
"We don't support discrimination of any kind, but because it is such an area that's going to require decision-making at the company level, it should be something a company does with its own policy that they can change policy in order to adapt," McCarty said. "The law is not so easy to change, and somebody can abuse the law by bringing a lawsuit against an employer."
For Keaveny, that's a "shallow argument."
"If somebody is being discriminated against, the person ought to be sued anyway," he said. "Closing your eyes to (discrimination) - I'm not sure that's a way to run a business."
Brian Bunten, a lobbyist with the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, testified earlier this month the chamber would not support the bill until the discrimination standard changes from contributing to motivating - in other words, going from an employee's sexual orientation or gender identity being one of the reasons for termination to it being the sole purpose for dismissal.
Keaveny said that would make the discrimination standard stricter, and the law could deny help to those who have endured discrimination.
"By making it a motivating factor, we're possibly denying people who are being discriminated against access to the courts," he said. "Why would we want that? We shouldn't be discriminating against anybody."
Among lawmakers, Keaveny said, those who are older and more conservative were raised to oppose the idea of same-sex relationships and have a "generational bias." Legislators who are "extremely right wing," he said, are resistant the idea of MONA, but some Republicans are willing to work with him on the bill.
"For some of the middle-of-the-road Republicans, they come in with an open mind," Keaveny said. "They see LGBT people in their own communities and realize they're not that different, so why should we allow discrimination? I think that resonates very well."
Republican leaders, House Speaker Todd Richardson and Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, told the News Tribune they don't see MONA gaining traction this session.
Richard said he doesn't think it will pass if it leaves the Senate floor, but he's open to having conversations with Keaveny. Richardson said he doesn't have an idea if it would receive bipartisan support in the House.
"I think there's probably some sentiment for it; I think there's probably some sentiment against it," Richardson said. "To be honest, we haven't spent a whole lot of time talking about it as a caucus or as a leadership team, but I know there have been some bills filed on it. I expect at some point we will have some committee chairmen who want to hear it, and if they do, that would be fine."
Looking long term, Keaveny remains hopeful MONA will pass in the near future.
"History will be on my side," he said. "If it doesn't get passed this year, it's going to get passed (eventually). We'll get there, I'm confident."