(Missourinet) – Missouri could execute the first transgender person in U.S. history next week.
Missouri is scheduled to execute a transgender inmate next week for the 2003 kidnapping, raping, and murdering of Beverly Guenther of Earth City in St. Louis County. Scott McLaughlin, who now calls himself Amber, would be the first transgender person executed in the United States if the execution moves forward on January 3.
Missouri Department of Corrections Spokesperson Karen Pojmann says the state provides hormone therapy and gender-affirming items to transgender prisoners but does not cover sex change surgery. She says McLaughlin began identifying as transgender about 18 months ago and has not pursued a legal name change. McLaughlin has asked Governor Mike Parson to block the execution.
