Lawmakers in Missouri have introduced a bill that would punish teachers who are caught promoting transgenderism to young children.
House Bill 2885, sponsored by Missouri Republican State Rep. Jaime Gragg, states that a teacher or school counselor who encourages a child to get a transgender-related “social transition” could face felony charges and be placed on the sex offender registry.
“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 said.
The Republican claimed that this child transgender agenda is being pushed by a small percentage of teachers who view 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,” 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.”
Gragg said that a teacher who talks about matters of a sexual nature would meet the criteria of a level one sex offender and 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.
