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Missouri's House Bill 2885 would send teachers who use students' chosen names and pronouns to prison for up to five years.
A new bill proposed in the Missouri House of Representatives is one of the most extreme pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation against educators yet.
House Bill 2885, introduced by Republican Rep. Jamie Gragg, would charge teachers who support a transgender student's social transition with a class E felony, threatening them with a fine of $10,000, up to five years in prison, and forcing them to register as a sex offender.
The bill defines social transition as "the process by which an individual adopts the name, pronouns, and gender expression, such as clothing or haircuts, that match the individual's gender identity and not the gender assumed by the individual's sex at birth."
"A person commits the offense of contributing to social transition if the person is acting in his or her official capacity as a teacher or school counselor and the person provides support, regardless of whether the support is material, information, or other resources to a child regarding social transition," it reads.
Missouri lawmakers proposed more anti-LGBTQ+ legislation than any other state in 2023, when over 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced across the U.S. and 80 were passed into law. The state currently has 35 anti-LGBTQ+ bills advancing, all of which were first introduced this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Attorney and activist Alejandra Caraballo called the legislation "insane" in a post on X, formerly Twitter, writing: "A teacher in Missouri could be charged with a felony and put on the sex offender registry for using they/them pronouns for a student. This is insane."
Journalist Erin Reed added that it's "rare" to see "anti-trans bills that haven’t been written before.” She said that while she doesn’t believe “something like this could pass" even in the Republican-dominated state legislature, "in a much more fascist, right-wing, anti-trans government, should they win, it wouldn’t surprise me."
