State

Consensual sex between same sex couples aged seventeen (17) years is lawful.

Missouri Revised Statutes: Chapter 566 Sexual Offences

Section 566.032 Statutory rape and attempt to commit, first degree, penalties [L1.2]

566.032. 1. A person commits the crime of statutory rape in the first degree if he has sexual intercourse with another person who is less than fourteen years old.

2. Statutory rape in the first degree or an attempt to commit statutory rape in the first degree is a felony for which the authorized term of imprisonment is life imprisonment or a term of years not less than five years, unless in the course thereof the actor inflicts serious physical injury on any person, displays a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument in a threatening manner, subjects the victim to sexual intercourse or deviate sexual intercourse with more than one person, or the victim is less than twelve years of age in which case the authorized term of imprisonment is life imprisonment or a term of years not less than ten years.

Section 566.034 Statutory rape, second degree, penalty [L1.1]

566.034. 1. A person commits the crime of statutory rape in the second degree if being twenty-one years of age or older, he has sexual intercourse with another person who is less than seventeen years of age.

2. Statutory rape in the second degree is a class C felony.

Other offences involving sexual contact with persons under seventeen (17) and under fourteen (14), for example -

Section 566.062 Statutory sodomy and attempt to commit, first degree
Section 566.064: Statutory sodomy, second degree, penalties
Section 566.067 Child molestation in the first degree, penalties
Section 566.068 Child molestation in the second degree, penalties

Courts & Tribunals

In March 2003, St. Louis County Circuit Judge John R. Essner granted children's visitation rights to a nonbiological parent. It is the first ruling in Missouri to grant visitation to a third party such as a stepparent without declaring biological parents unfit to raise the child. [R1.3].

In December 1999, the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled a lesbian who lost custody of her daughter to her ex-husband would get a new hearing because Cole County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Brown III refused to remove himself amid allegations that his wife was also homosexual [R1.2].

On 22 September 1998, Missouri Supreme Court ruled 7–0 that an industrialist can keep custody of his three children, finiding that the fact that his ex-wife is a lesbian wasn't the sole reason for an earlier judge's decision giving him sole custody [R1.1].

State

In February 2010, the longtime partner of a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper killed on Christmas Day was fighting for his spousal death benefits, denied because the two aren't legally married in Missouri, though the state doesn't allow same-sex marriage [C1.2], [R1.1].

County

On 01 April 2003, Jackson County launched a Voluntary Civil Union Registry, available at the Jackson County courthouses in Kansas City and Independence, that is open to same-sex or opposite-sex couples who are at least 18 and reside in the county [R2.1].

Applicants must show valid identification and complete a confirmation of registry form. The county keeps the original; the couple receives a copy.

Cities & Towns

On 24 January 2012, effective immediately the City of Clayton passed an ordinance creating a domestic partner registry open to same-sex and opposite-sex partners. Registration will cost $50. Details of availability have yet to be announced [R3.4].

On 26 July 2011, the Olivette City Council passed an ordinance to establish a domestic partnership registry ordinance [R3.3].

On 10 May 2011, University City Council voted 6–1 to establish a Domestic Partnership Registry allowing same-sex partners certain privileges afforded married couples. Those include visitation rights in hospitals and jails and the power to make health care decisions [R3.2].

Columbia and Kansas City have similar laws [R3.2].

In March 1997, the St. Louis domestic partnership residents only registry opened. In the past five years, only 135 couples - 69 pairs of women, 63 pairs of men and three heterosexual couples - have made their relationship official [R3.1].

Registered partners have visitation rights at St. Louis hospitals and prisons and can apply for health insurance coverage in companies that offer domestic partner benefits.

State

The Missouri Revised Statutes, Human Rights provisions do not make discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity unlawful.

Cities & Towns

On 26 July 2011, the Olivette City Council passed an amendment to an anti-discrimination ordinance forbidding housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity [R2.2].

In September 2009, the city of Springfield was set to remove a 1976 anti-gay law that discriminates against gays and lesbians in making it illegal to solicit sex from someone of the same gender [R2.1].

Courts & Tribunals

On 19 July 2001, US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit in St. Louis upheld a lower court ruling that found Larry Phillips, a religious social worker, had been discriminated against because he opposed a Department of Social Services policy authorising placement of children with homosexuals [C3.2], [R3.1].

State

On 18 November 1998, the University of Kansas nondiscrimination and harassment policies were amended to include "gender identity or expression" [R1.1].

Courts & Tribunals

On 28 February 2000, Boone County Circuit Judge Gene Hamilton denied a name-change request by Amanda, a male-to-female preoperative transsexual [R2.2].

The Missouri common law recognizes the right to change names "by usage and habit" [R2.1]. The Missouri Revised Statutes Section 527.270 enable a name-change by petitioning the Court [L2.1].

Courts & Tribunals

In August 2000, the Pleasant Hill Public School District agreed to pay $72,500 in settlement of the suit of a former student, harassed for four years by his peers because they thought he was gay, and to set up a program to protect students from antigay harassment [R1.2].

In July 1999, a federal appeals court in St. Louis pointed to the Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services Inc ruling, finding against a woman complaining of harassment by men.

In Oncale, Justice Antonin Scalia for the majority wrote that for harassment to violate Title VII it must be directed at the person "because of" his or her sex. Also important is that the behavior be severe, so that the federal law isn't expanded into a "civility code" [R1.1].

State

In August 1999, Governor Mel Carnahan signed Missouri Senate Bill 328, known as the Hate Crimes Bill, into law, expanding the definition of a hate crime to include criminal acts motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation or disability, commencing 28 August [R1.1].

Cities & Towns

In 2002, Kansas City has a hate-crimes ordinance [R2.1].

State

In 2006, the criminal law in Missouri prohibiting consensual sex between same-sex couples was repealed [R1.1].

Courts & Tribunals

The June 2003 US Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence & Garner -v- Texas that a similar the law in Texas was an unconstitutional violation of privacy is thought to have nullified or invalidated the Missouri law [C2.4], [R2.3].

On 31 August 1999, the Western District Missouri Court of Appeals declined to reaffirm the state law against homosexual conduct leaving in place an 06 July opinion that called the law into question. The court in that opinion ruled that consent was a defense to the crime of first-degree sexual misconduct, a misdemeanor [R2.2].

In August 1999, Attorney General Jay Nixon asked a state appeals court to clarify a state law that makes homosexual sex illegal in Missouri. The law was called into question after the appeals court in July overturned a Kansas City man’s conviction on a sexual misconduct charge [R2.1].

In July 1999, the Western District Court of Appeals overturned the first-degree sexual misconduct conviction of William Cogshell, accused of sex acts with a boy who was 13 and 14 when the acts occurred. The Court ruled that the boy's consent to the acts voided Cogshell’s conviction on the sexual misconduct charge. The ruling was significant as it was thought to allow consent to be an issue in any case brought under the law, which is the only Missouri statute that attempts to make homosexual acts illegal regardless of age [R2.1].

State

Missouri Revised Statutes, Chapter 451 [L1.4]

Public policy, same sex marriages prohibited--license may not be issued.

451.022. 1. It is the public policy of this state to recognize marriage only between a man and a woman.

2. Any purported marriage not between a man and a woman is invalid.

3. No recorder shall issue a marriage license, except to a man and a woman.

4. A marriage between persons of the same sex will not be recognized for any purpose in this state even when valid where contracted.

In May 2004, the House approved a proposal to amend the state Constitution to say that the only marriage recognized under Missouri law is one between a man and a woman, preventing the recognition of same-sex marriages. The proposal was to put be to a statewide vote November 2004 [R1.3].

On 13 July 2001, Missouri governor Bob Holden signed a bill banning recognition of same-sex marriages [R1.2].

Former Missouri governor Mel Carnahan signed similar legislation in 1996, but it was thrown out on a technicality.

The new law reads, "It is public policy of this state to recognize marriage only between a man and a woman. Any purported marriage not between a man and a woman is invalid. No recorder shall issue a marriage license, except to a man and a woman."

On 06 February 2001, the Senate Aging, Families and Mental Health Committee voted 7–0 in favour of Bill SB180 declaring that Missouri recognizes marriages only between men and women and would not recognize same-sex marriages that were contracted in states where such unions are valid [R1.1].

In 1996, Missouri passed a same-sex marriage ban, but a constitutional technicality invalidated the legislation [R1.2].

Courts & Tribunals

In April 2008, a judge was deciding whether a lesbian married in Massachusetts can get an annulment in Missouri [R2.1].

State

In 2001, the Missouri Department of Social Services authorised placement of children with homosexuals in line with the State's policy of licensing homosexuals as foster parents [R1.1].