A Senate bill proposed in the Missouri legislature would forbid conversations about sexual identity in schools unless the teacher or staff member is a licensed therapist and has parental permission. Senate Bill 134 was introduced by Republican state senator Mike Moon and is currently in front of the Senate Education and Workforce Committee.
Many members of the LGBTQ community and their allies headed to Jefferson City to testify against the bill. Robert Fischer, director of communications for PROMO, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization, was one of those people, and tells KMOX that Moon’s bill goes further than Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
“It goes further than just banning from curriculum, but banning conversations about sexual orientation or gender identity completely,” Fischer said on Tuesday’s Total Information AM.
He said one person who testified was a school counselor in Kansas City whose job it is to work side by side with parents to help them build trust between them and their child.
“A child has to trust a trusted adult, to have these conversations first, say ‘this is how I'm feeling, how do I approach my parents and tell them that?’” Fischer said. “Because there's a lot of fear and isolation that a LGBTQ+ student feels when they're trying to discover themselves and their identities and how to accept themselves. Bringing it to someone that they love is very terrifying sometimes.”
Hear more from PROMO’s Robert Fischer on Sen. Mike Moon’s bill limiting conversations of gender and sexuality in schools:
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