‘To live, I had to leave’: Trans pastor who fled home state has ‘nightmares’ about Trump’s America

“I mourn the Missouri I knew and the community I had, but it doesn’t exist now because so many had to flee,” trans pastor Lazarus Justice Jameson tells PinkNews. “I mourn a thing that is no longer allowed to be.”

Jameson, who uses they/them pronouns, left Missouri last year after a wave of proposed legislation aimed at restricting trans rights. In the summer of that year they headed to Portland, Oregon, in search of a safer life.

To mark Trans Awareness Week, which runs until Tuesday (19 November), Lazarus spoke about the harsh realities of being forced to leave their home simply for being trans.

Missouri was listed among the worst US states for LGBTQ+ people last year because of a raft of bills targeting the community. By early 2023,

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