Republican bill would throw Missouri teachers who transition students on sex offender registry

There are policies in place in various schools across the country that prevent educators and administrators from informing parents that their children are undergoing so-called transitions at school. In many cases, teachers and staff are actually encouraged to covertly aid confused students in masquerading as members of the opposite sex.

Missouri could soon do things a whole lot differently.

Rather than afford educators cover to transition kids behind parents' backs, Republican state Rep. Jamie Gragg and a few of his peers want to put them on a sex offender registry.

Gragg, of Christian County, introduced House Bill 2885 last month. The bill, which has since been co-sponsored by Republican Reps. Jeff Farnan, Hannah Kelly, and Brian Seitz, would amend state law concerning the registry of sex offenders and introduce a penalty for "the offense of contributing to social transition."

"Social transition" is defined in the legislation thusly: "the process by which an individual adopts the name, pronouns, and gender expression, such as clothing or haircuts, that match the individual's gender identity and not the gender assumed by the individual's sex at birth."

Under the proposed law, a teacher or school counselor acting in official capacity who "provides support, regardless of whether the support is material, information, or other resources to a child regarding social transition," can be charged with a Class E felony.

In Missouri, Class E felony convictions can land offenders a fine of up to $10,000 and four years in prison.

Offenders found guilty of socially transitioning students would have to register as a sex offenders. While grouped on the lowest tier, offenders would nevertheless be required to report to the chief law enforcement official annually.

Presently, Missouri bars most sex offenders from loitering within 500 feet of a school when one or more minors are present; approaching or contacting children near a child care facility building; knowingly being present in or loitering with 500 feet of a public park or playground equipment; and knowingly coaching a sports team in which a minor is a member. Consequently, a conviction under this proposed law would likely amount to the end of an offender's career in education.

Gragg told KYTV-TV, "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."

"I would say the large majority of teachers in our state, and also in our in our country, do a great job, they do a fantastic job," said Gragg. "This [bill] is to put the social learning development of our children back in the hands of the parents."

The Republican added in a statement to Newsweek, "Education begins at home, and it's time for the few liberal activists who've infiltrated the education system to stop interfering in the relationships between parents and their children. We need to make sure our teachers, those who spend their lives helping our children grow and prepare for the world, can focus on teaching. HB 2885 does just that."

LGBT activists have denounced the Republican proposal to protect kids from grooming efforts at school.

Aaron Schekorra, the executive director of the GLO Center, an LGBT activist establishment in Springfield, suggested to KYTV that HB 2885 "is just another in a long string of pieces of legislation that are meant to incite hatred and violence against the queer community. And it comes from a source that, frankly, has just been a bully to a lot of marginalized groups in our state."

Alejandra Caraballo, a radical transvestite and Harvard Law School clinical instructor, called the bill "insane."

LGBT activist Erin Reed noted it was unlikely that "something like this could pass, even in Missouri, but it's worth noting as it's rare we get 'new' anti-trans bills that haven't been written before." He added, "And in a much more fascist, right wing, anti-trans government, should they win, it wouldn't surprise me."

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