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Missouri House proposes their version of 'Don't Say Gay' bill

A House bill on banning classroom instruction related to gender identity and sexual orientation in Missouri had its first public hearing on Wednesday.

Republican Representative Ann Kelley of Lamar has proposed a bill that would prohibit LGBTQ+ related instruction in Missouri classrooms, saying that “exposure to such topics is inappropriate for children."

While only two individuals testified in favor of the bill, dozens spoke in opposition, including a life-long Missouri resident Brigite Sheridan, a mother of a non-binary child.

“We've hired you; we have elected you to do a job, and you waste our time, and you waste our money on things like this and you should be ashamed. Do the right thing vote no on this.”

The Missouri Senate education committee just passed a similar bill known as Missouri’s version of ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ which will now head to the full Senate for debate and voting.

Sarah Petrowich studies cross platform editing and producing within journalism, as well as political science at the University of Missouri - Columbia.