If Missouri lawmakers had their way, young people wouldn’t learn anything about LGBTQ+ people until they’re out of high school.
Lawmakers in Missouri are considering a Republican-proposed bill that would ban the discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation at all ages and grade levels.
Missouri Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee held a hearing at which the bill was to be discussed.
Any public or charter school staff member would be prohibited from discussing gender identity or sexual orientation unless they are a mental health professional and have parental consent if the bill passes.
The Missouri bill is more restrictive than Florida’s “don’t say gay” law passed last year. Florida prohibits instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation from kindergarten through third grade, but Missouri doesn’t specify a range.
The Kansas City Star reports that the Republican state Sen. Mike Moon was unapologetic about the possible restrictions.
Last month, legislation establishing the Missouri Parents Bill of Rights passed out of committee and is now in the state senate. The legislation requires Missouri school districts to provide parents with curriculum information and ban diversity-related topics like Critical Race Theory from being taught.
The Missouri bill also coincides with the introduction of another bill from Moon that would ban transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports and cut funding to any school that allows it. Similar bills have been proposed in Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kansas, Indiana, and other Republican-led states
In Florida, for example, Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration blocked the private organization The College Board from offering its new AP African American Studies course because elements of the course violated the Stop WOKE Act — a law that, according to conservative notions, bans the discussion of anything that might make white and straight children uncomfortable.
Critics of Missouri Bill
Critics argue that the broad bill would prohibit LGBTQ+ teachers from discussing their spouses due to the possibility that it might indicate their sexual orientation. In addition, it could prohibit teachers from teaching books that include LGBTQ+ characters or topics and forbid health classes from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity.
Similarly to homophobia and transphobia in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, critics argue that these bills are steeped in racism since they erase the Black experience and whitewash history.
What is Florida ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill
Nicknamed “Don’t Say Gay” by opponents, the legislation prohibits any discussion of LGBTQ+ sexuality or gender in the classroom and empowers parents to sue for violations. While “Don’t Say Gay” is a catchy phrase that’s intended to draw attention to the bill, the legislation is much worse than it sounds.
Ostensibly, HB 1557 is about protecting the rights of parents, which sounds laudable enough. But a close read of the text shows it to be an overly broad piece of legislation that requires school mental-health counselors to “out” LGBTQ+ children to their parents and makes any discussion of LGBTQ+ issues or identities practically forbidden because parents could start a state investigation and sue for damages any time they feel aggrieved. As a result, the bill endangers the lives of children who already suffer disproportionately high rates of houselessness and self-harm. Really, it’s the “Don’t Discuss Anything About Queer or Trans Existence and Don’t Counsel Trans or Gay Kids or Else Parents Can Force a State Investigation of the School, Get Money Damages, and Probably Get You Fired” bill.
The debates around the bill were a shocking throwback to the anti-gay crusades of the 1970s with conservatives casting gay people as child molesters and opponents of the bill as groomers of children to be gay or trans. DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw said in a tweet, “If you’re against the Anti-Grooming Bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4-8-year-old children.”
Missouri is not the only state following the DeSantis Path
A coalition of 14 GOP-led states wants a federal court to uphold Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act—known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law—signaling that more states could be on board with passing their own versions of the law despite all the controversy it’s drawn in Missouri and Florida.
State attorneys general, led by Texas, asked on December 7, 2022, to file an amicus brief defending Florida’s HB 1557 against a lawsuit brought by students, parents, and teachers in Florida, who argue the law is discriminatory and violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
The states defending the ‘Don’t Say Gay Law’ argued HB 1557 “does not discriminate” against the LGBTQ community and the plaintiffs didn’t provide strong enough evidence to show that it does, claiming that nothing in the text of the law itself is overtly discriminatory.
Full List of states defending HB 1557
The states that filed the amicus brief are Texas, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.
