Friday, April 20, 2012

Joplin legislator co-sponsors bill preventing classroom discussion of sexual orientation

First term Rep. Bill Lant, R-Joplin, is among the 19 legislators co-sponsoring a bill filed Wednesday by Rep. Steve Cookson, R-Fairdealing, which would prohibit any discussion of sexual orientation in the classroom, unless it has to do with a lesson on reproduction.

As I noted in a post Thursday, HB 2051, which has been sent to the House Education Committee, would prohibit discussions on such issues as Don't Ask, Don't Tell, or gay marriage, even if those become key issues in the presidential campaign.

It also would prohibit any teachers addressing the problem of students being bullied because of their sexual orientation.

Im addition to Lant, the bill's co-sponsors include Speaker of the House Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, and Majority Leader (and likely next year's Speaker of the House) Tim Jones, R-Eureka.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

We're gonna be a lot better off if Bill will get back in his feed store and sell chicken feed instead of getting involved in chickensh** like this.

Anonymous said...

Is he afraid or ignorant or both?

Anonymous said...

I'd throw "pandering" into the mix as well.

Sean Grove said...

The bill as it is written would not prevent students from being punished for bullying. Your statements are misleading.

Randy said...

At no point did I write anything about bullies being punished. My point is that with this bill you cannot even have the kind of discussion that might prevent the bullying in the first place.

Sean Grove said...

I still think there are ways you could discuss bullying and it's implications even if this statute was passed. That being said, the legislature should be asking tough questions and lots of ideas should be considered. There are plenty of opportunities for bills to be amended, especially this one that hasn't even been passed out of a committee yet.