JEFFERSON CITY — The House on Tuesday chose to head for a potential fight with the Senate as it gave preliminary approval to bills limiting transgender rights.

Rep. Brad Hudson, R-Cape Fair, made the differences clear as he proposed an amendment to his bill — a House version of legislation limiting gender-affirming health care.

Hudson detailed how his bill does not include the sunset or grandfather clauses that were included in the Senate bill as a compromise with Democrats. The Senate had agreed that the bill would sunset in four years and had allowed those who have already begun taking hormone blockers to continue.

The Senate spent weeks, in addition to an overnight filibuster by Democrats, to come to a compromise on its bill and Senate Republican leaders have expressed little interest in reopening those discussions.

Ironically, the House General Law Committee held a public hearing for the Senate bills immediately after the House adjourned on Monday. Dozens of witnesses in opposition to the bills gathered to testify and their numbers did not wane despite a delay of over two hours as the House debated its own transgender bills.

Many of the witnesses have been at the statehouse on multiple occasions this year, as anti-transgender legislation has been designated a top priority by Republican leaders and has taken up a large part of this year’s session.

Neon Liebson, a 16-year-old trans non-binary person from St. Louis, said they were stressed not just about the legislation that would personally affect them, but about the pre-calculus and Mandarin tests they had to study for that night.

Despite having to worry about their grades and other typical teenage concerns, Liebson said they feel compelled to speak out.

“I’m here because they need to hear voices of trans youth and I am sick and tired of what they keep doing to our community,” they said. “They’re using us as political pawns.”

Liebson, who is currently applying for colleges, hopes to go to Washington University in St. Louis, but has doubts about staying in Missouri.

“Depending on how these hearings go, I probably won’t have the right to exist in my own state, and that is terrifying.”

Other witnesses included Rabbi Daniel Bogard, parent to a transgender child, who has repeatedly testified against this legislation and voiced his frustration.

“They aren’t listening to experts, they aren’t listening to parents, they are waging a culture war on trans kids,” he said.

The likelihood of any legislation passing without the Senate compromises is considered lower because of the potential for another Democrat filibuster in the Senate. Leadership in the House and Senate have disagreed over how to move forward with these bills.

The second piece of legislation approved, from Rep. Jamie Burger, R-Benton, would prohibit people from competing on athletic teams that do not coincide with the sex assigned to them at birth. There was little debate before a vote was forced by the Republican floor leader.

Floor debate on both bills reflected the same sentiments that have been expressed since the bills began with committee hearings earlier this session.

Rep. Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, read a letter from a transgender constituent on the floor.

“I would be dead by now if I thought I wouldn’t be able to transition until I was 18,” Aune read to the assembly.

Democrats chastised Republicans for not listening to the voices of the families who would be affected by this legislation and for being “willfully ignorant” on the subject, as Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, phrased it.

Supporters for the legislation continued to say this is the right thing to do because it is meant to protect children in Missouri.

Rep. Justin Sparks, R-Wildwood, who sponsored his own legislation relating to gender transition procedures said “If I’m wrong, they (transgender youth) lose time. If they’re (Democrats) wrong, they lose the ability to have a family forever.”

Minority Floor Leader, Rep. Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, attempted to use House rule 79 to suspend conversation on the bill indefinitely but the motion failed to pass a roll call vote. Quade claimed that the “members of this body are refusing to actually listen and have these discussions” and wanted more time for everyone to educate themselves on the subject.