Missouri bill would require teachers and counselors to register as sex offenders if they assist a student’s social transition

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - A proposed bill filed this week in the Missouri legislature is already turning heads.

House Bill 2885, sponsored by Republican Representative Jamie Gragg, who represents Christian County, states that a teacher or school counselor commits the offense of contributing to the social transition of a student under the age of 18 if they provide support material, information, or other resources regarding child social transition.

The offense would be a class E felony.

The bill classifies social transition as a person who adopts the name, pronouns, gender expression, clothing, and haircuts that match the person’s gender identity, not the gender they were at birth. Aaron Schekorra, executive director of the GLO Center in Springfield, says its important not confuse social transitions with the medical transitions.

“So a lot of people, when they think of the transgender community, oftentimes those conversations centered around medical transitions. Social transition is the other aspect of that, which is often what we see when we’re talking about students changing their name, and then going by the correct pronouns that are along with the gender that they identify as, rather than the gender that was assigned to them at birth,” said Schekorra.

“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,” said Rep. Gragg.

Gragg says a small percentage of teachers who classify themselves as ‘social activists’ are pushing that agenda. He says those conversations need to go back to the parents.

“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. This (bill) is to put the social learning development of our children back in the hands of the parents,” said Rep. Gragg.

Schekorra says he doesn’t think this bill is serious or 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. And it comes from a source that, frankly, has just been a bully to a lot of marginalized groups in our state,” said Schekorra.

Gragg says children should be having conversations about gender identity at home or with an outside counselor, not with a teacher or school counselor.

“School teachers 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. They’re not trained to do all the things that society has heaped on nowadays; teachers are underpaid already as it is,” said Gragg.

If a teacher or counselor provides support to the student, they will have to register as a sex offender, on the lowest tier.

“There are actually three tiers. The third tier of course, being the highest one being the lowest. There have to be some repercussions of discussing things of a personal nature with students that we shouldn’t be teaching or shouldn’t be talking with them about. So if you are having that discussion that you should not be having, there are repercussions for having those,” Rep. Gragg said.

Gragg adds the bill would include if a teacher has LGBTQ+ literature or signs around the classroom.

“I think that 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,” he said.

Gragg says that a teacher talking about things of a sexual nature, like a student’s gender identity, would meet the criteria of a level one sex offender.

The charges for the tier 1 sex offender are currently, non-penetrating sexual contact, public indecency, including exposure, simple possession of child pornography, and voyeurism of an unwilling victim.

“It’s frustrating that we have leaders in our state who continue to waste taxpayer resources, time, and money going after our community. We want to be left alone, and we see a lot of progress happening nationwide in terms of people understanding that the queer community, we’re not the threat that some people have tried to paint us as,” said Schekorra.

If a child does come to a teacher or counselor with questions about their gender, Gragg says it’s the unsigned contract of a teacher to contact the parents.

“Teachers should say, ‘That’s that’s a very important topic. That’s something that I can’t discuss with you because there are certain rules. However, I would encourage you to talk with your parents and if you are having difficulty with that, we can we can assist with that,’” said Rep. Gragg.

Schekorra says that a relationship between a student and teacher is important and hard to build up that trust.

“So if there is an actual issue in that child’s life, having that trusted adult to go to if they’re experiencing bullying or harassment, it’s dependent on having those safe relationships. And this further creates a situation where we don’t let that happen. We don’t let those teachers become trusted individuals,” says Schekorra.

“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. That’s not incentivizing anybody, but it can’t make anybody become a teacher. And we need more teachers, we need good teachers, not this,” said Schekorra.

Gragg adds many other details of the bill will be discussed in the upcoming legislative session and says some aspects of it could change. The bill has not yet been scheduled for its next hearing.

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