AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
- A Missouri bill would stop school staff talking to children about LGBTQ issues without parental consent.
- It goes further than Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law, introduced last year.
- One state lawmaker called it "the most disrespectful bill I've ever seen."
A new bill being considered in Missouri would restricts how schools can talk to students about LGBTQ issues and would go further than Florida's controversial "Don't Say Gay" law.
The bill, sponsored by Republican State Sen. Mike Moon, would prohibit any school nurse, counselor, teacher, principal, or other member of staff at a public or charter school from talking about gender identity or sexual orientation with a student unless they are a licensed mental health provider and have permission from the students' parents.
The bill is similar to Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by critics. That law blocks discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity with students. Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed it into law in March 2022.
But while the Florida law technically only applies to teachers of students in kindergarten through third grade, the Missouri bill would apply to students from kindergarten all the way to the 12th grade, according to the Missouri Independent.
Local LGBT rights group PROMO Missouri called the bill "dangerous" and said it goes further than Florida's law by "aiming to stop faculty, staff, and students from talking about these and related topics at all."
The group's senior director of public policy and advocacy, Shira Berkowitz, told the Riverfront Times that it would mean that students could not get help if they were bulled for their gender identity or sexual orientation.
"It's a book ban, a curriculum ban and it encourages an environment of bullying," she said.
Sen. Greg Razer, a Kansas City Democrat who is gay, called the bill "the most disrespectful bill I've ever seen in my seven years in this building," according to the Missouri Independent.
Razer made the comments as the bill was introduced to Missouri's Education and Workforce Development Committee on Tuesday, where it was debated but not voted on.
Moon said at the the hearing that he only meant to ban talking about LGBTQ relationships, according to the Missouri Independent. But he was challenged by other lawmakers, who said the bill does more far than that, the report said.