Missouri Bill Would Make Trans-Supportive Teachers Sex Offenders

Missouri’s State House has just introduced a new bill targeting trans youth. This time, teachers who support trans students’ transitions socially would be forced to register as sex offenders.

Two weeks ago, Representative Jamie Ray Gragg (R) introduced H.B. 2885. The bill would “(establish) the offense of contributing to social transition and requires a person to be placed on the sexual offender registry if guilty of the offense of contributing to social transition.” In other words, teachers and counselors who provide trans students with transitioning resources, or even use their preferred name or pronouns, would have to register as Tier I sex offenders. This means that their names would remain in the state’s database for up to 15 years, and they would be required to check in with law enforcement at least once a year—the same tier of offense as possession of child pornography. They would also be convicted of a Class E felony, which in the state of Missouri comes with up to four years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.

According to the Movement Advancement Project, Missouri has one of the lowest scores in the nation when it comes to laws affecting transgender people. The state has consistently been at the forefront of the anti-trans panic that’s spread across the United States. Just last year, Missouri’s Republican-dominated legislature passed the nation’s first restrictions on gender-affirming care for adults, in a move that has given other states the confidence to explore doing the same. Missouri lawmakers also pushed to ban trans women from women’s sports early on.

Experts suspect such an extreme bill will die in committee. Nevertheless, it’s frightening to see conservative lawmakers become so confident with their expressions of hate: This year alone, the Missouri legislature has already debated eight other pieces of anti-trans legislation, affecting healthcare, bathrooms, legal recognition, and more.