Missouri’s New Speech Police

Free Speech

from the criminalizing-speech dept

Republican state Rep. Jamie Gragg of Ozark is a freshman lawmaker with no discernible accomplishments on his record. However, it isn’t to say that the man doesn’t break from the party line when it comes to the Republican Party’s fascistic campaign against transgender rights.

Gragg introduced House Bill (HB) 2885. It makes it a sex crime – yes, a sex crime – if a school psychologist or teacher “contributed” to a trans child’s social transition in some capacity.

A social transition is the socio-environmental element of a gender-divergent person transitioning to the gender they identify as. Social transitioning includes adopting someone’s name, appropriate pronouns, physical appearance, and behavioral expression.

These are crucial elements to successful outcomes for individuals who transition – especially as it relates to positive mental health outcomes.

Rep. Gragg wants to take the Missouri Republican Party’s ongoing war on the transgender community further in a manner that is beyond appalling, even by Missouri standards.

If HB 2885 became law, educators could be charged with a Class E felony. They would be forced to register as a Tier I sexual offender for simply recognizing a student by their preferred pronouns and gender identification. He presents this bill as a child protection measure – a cruel joke.

Social transition and the affirmation of an identity in transgender youth is healthy – it’s crucial. The Journal of Adolescent Health published the findings of a landmark study that found social transition to provide strong mental health outcomes in the short term.

The study’s authors go on to encourage clinicians to ensure trans youth are in safe and affirming social environments – like schools. Overwhelming evidence also shows the necessity of including everyone involved in the child’s life – especially the parents, if possible – to ensure success and health outcomes.

It’s like Gragg wants the government to be a speech police. It’s ironic.

For years, Republicans have criticized political correctness and speech codes on college campuses. They say leftists are the “speech police” – a woke force of tyranny suppressing freedom of expression. Indeed, a large part of the modern culture war against trans individuals was kicked off by claims that people were going to “force” people to use preferred pronouns.

Gragg’s bill has no realistic chance of getting passed. It’s a statement bill to show his far-right benefactors that he’s doing something.

While the bill is most definitely extreme, the right wing’s effort to restrict social transitioning is steeped in the misleading claim of parental rights. Extremist organizations like Moms for Liberty tout this definition of parental rights. The types of people who are attracted to groups like these believe that leftist elites perpetrate a secret plot to sexualize children.

This is not only not true, it shows how infatuated a lawmaker like Rep. Gragg is with this conspiracy theory. A bill like this doesn’t protect kids. All of the research shows that it harms kids. It harms their families. It harms teachers and administrators. It harms Missouri.

Teachers, especially, are leading figures in a student’s schooling. Restricting their use of language violates the First Amendment, regardless of whether it is being used to support a social transition or not. Parental rights shouldn’t violate an individual’s rights – no matter their age.

If a bill like this were to be law, it would signal to teachers that they shouldn’t do their jobs and aren’t even allowed to utter simple pronouns.

Lawmakers like Gragg want to criminalize the use of “he,” “her,” and “they.” They want to limit expression and personal liberty. How does that help? Simply put, it doesn’t.

Michael McGrady covers the legal and tech side of the online porn business, among other topics.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, free speech, hb 2885, jamie gragg, missouri, pronouns, sex crime, social transitioning