Missouri House Bill 2051, now commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, is a backward, discriminatory piece of legislation that is good for nothing but political pandering to a certain ideological agenda, and agendas have no place in public education.
The bill would remove all discussion, except when concerning human reproduction, of sexual orientation from Missouri public schools and effectively ban extracurricular groups that discuss LGBTQ issues from the school campuses.
That means that high school groups similar to the MU LGBTQ Resource Center, Triangle Coalition and Four Front would be disbanded, and the students who consider those organizations a part of their community would have to go without them. On an individual level, the bill would mean Missouri students in public education who are of different sexual orientation would be prohibited from discussing in the classroom that aspect of their lives or even seeking help from school officials in cases of bullying based on sexual orientation.
To put it bluntly, they would be discriminated against. Discriminated against and silenced in an environment that is supposed to foster educational discussion on issues important to society, one of which is the fact individuals can be of different sexual orientations.
Public education is supposed to teach students the knowledge and skill sets they need to contribute to society and HB 2051 is an antithesis to that purpose. Missouri students would be well behind students in the rest of the nation. Even if they don’t hear about it in school they’ll see it in the media, and why not take the chance to properly educate them? Students should realize that there are different sexual orientations and know how to create an inclusive society even if they don’t agree with the validity or morality of different sexual orientations.
School is where students of varying sexual orientations can find support and comfort in groups of their peers. This bill would eliminate those support groups and could leave students who may often be targeted for bullying more vulnerable, isolated and in some cases, susceptible to suicide. The National Education Association opposes the legislation and said it interferes with teachers’ efforts to prevent bullying.
Even if individuals think that a sexual orientation other than heterosexual is somehow immoral, it is never allowable to legislate on morality. Why not seek to ban discussion and education on drug and alcohol usage?
This bill goes against current national trends. Federal agencies such as the U.S. Office of Personal Management forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation and the FBI considers hate crimes motivated by bias against sexual orientation a violation of civil rights.
Rep. Steve Cookson, R-District 153, who introduced HB2051, said schools should focus solely on core education issues in a time when they are struggling financially, and should leave topics “better left for discussion in the home at the discretion of parents” alone. That may be true, but in that case, it can be argued that schools could be further prohibited from discussing other topics relating to social justice issues like race, gender, etc. Targeting sexual orientation specifically is discriminatory.
Yet none of those topics should be banned from discussion in public education. They are all pertinent to creating an inclusive society. Students who suffer from bullying based on sexual orientation won’t be able to focus on core academic subjects when they are struggling personally. The argument that this bill is financially or academically beneficial is a cop-out.
Instead of writing discriminatory legislation meant to pander to a certain ideology, Missouri politicians should focus on writing legislation to help fix serious issues, like job creation, facing the state. If anything, politicians should focus on cultivating discussion on pertinent social topics.
The fact this bill was even written and proposed in the first place casts a negative light on the state of Missouri, but the fact that so much of the Missouri community has spoken against it shows we won’t accept censorship of education and discrimination against members of our community. Say no to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
