Teachers in Missouri who are caught promoting a child’s transgender-related “social transition” could face a felony charge and be placed on the sex offender registry under a proposed bill.
The proposed bill, House Bill 2885, sponsored by Missouri State Rep. Jamie Gragg (R), states that a teacher or school counselor who commits the offense of contributing to the social transition of a student under the age of 18 could face a class E felony and having to register as a sex offender, according to a report by KY3.
A Missouri teacher or school counselor caught offering a minor transgender-related material or other resources regarding child social transition would be considered as having contributed to the social transition of a child.
House Bill 2885 reportedly defines social transitioning as an individual adopting a name, pronouns, and expression of the opposite sex, such as clothing or a haircut.
“This bill was created and really submitted to help parents and families and to help teachers. I talk to parents every day who are frustrated with things that kids are being taught in school,” Rep. Gragg told KY3.
Rep. Gragg went on to say that this child transgender agenda is being pushed by a small percentage of teachers who see themselves as “social activists.”
“I would say the large majority of teachers in our state and also in our country do a great job; they do a fantastic job,” Rep. Gragg said. “This [bill] is to put the social learning development of our children back in the hands of the parents.”
“Schoolteachers and professionals are trained to teach a topic or subject matter and help our children and their parents by bringing them along in that topic or subject matter,” he added. “They’re not trained to do all the things that society has heaped on nowadays; teachers are underpaid already as it is.”
The state representative added that a teacher or school counselor caught assisting in a child’s social transition will have to register as a sex offender on the lowest tier under the proposed legislation.
“There are actually three tiers. The third tier of course, being the highest, one being the lowest,” Rep. Gragg said.
Tier one sex offenders are individuals who have engaged in non-penetrating sexual contact, public indecency, including exposure, simple possession of child pornography, and voyeurism of an unwilling victim, KY3 noted.
Rep. Gragg said that a teacher who talks about matters of a sexual nature, such as a student’s sex identity, would meet the criteria of a level one sex offender. He added that a teacher who puts LGBTQ literature or signs around the classroom “would fall into that same category.”
“Teachers are there in the schools to teach the topics that they’re trained to teach and to help those children grow in knowledge. They’re not there to necessarily push a total social agenda, things of a sexual nature,” Rep. Gragg said.
Meanwhile, if a teacher or counselor has a student who comes to them asking about sex identity and other transgender-related issues, that school employee should contact the student’s parents, the state representative added.
Aaron Schekorra, executive director of the GLO Center, an LGBTQ community center in Springfield, Missouri, told KY3 that the proposed bill is “a very extreme move,” and he doesn’t think it will pass.
“It is just another in a long string of pieces of legislation that are meant to incite hatred and violence against the queer community,” Schekorra claimed. “And it comes from a source that, frankly, has just been a bully to a lot of marginalized groups in our state.”
Schekorra went on to insist that such anti-grooming legislation discourages people from entering into the career of teaching.
“It is a very extreme move that in a time where we have a shortage of educators in our state, we’re not encouraging people to go into this career when we’re talking about, if they use the correct pronouns for a student, they’re going to be labeled as a sex offender.”
WATCH: “I Can’t Go Along:” Former Teacher on Schools Grooming “Especially” White Girls with Trans Ideology
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
