Missouri Seeks To End Secret Transitioning of Children at School

In a decisive move to shield Missouri’s children from radical gender ideology, freshman State Senator Joe Nicola (R-District 11) has introduced SB 1085, a bill that slams the door on school staff secretly “socially transitioning” minor students, even if one parent approves.

The legislation couldn’t be clearer: public school employees are prohibited from encouraging or assisting a child in presenting as the opposite sex. That means no preferred pronouns, no new names, no bathroom or locker-room switches, and no hiding it from parents.

Key provisions of SB 1085:

• If a student asks a teacher or counselor for help “transitioning,” the staff member must report it to the principal within 24 hours.
• The principal must notify both parents within 72 hours.
• Any licensed educator caught knowingly violating the act faces mandatory termination proceedings and potential revocation of their teaching license.
• Whistleblowers who expose violations are explicitly protected.

“This is about protecting kids from irreversible harm and ensuring parents—not activists in the classroom—remain in charge of their children’s upbringing,” Senator Nicola declared.

A Navy veteran and pastor who kept his church open throughout COVID lockdowns, Nicola has never shied away from defending biblical truth. Earlier this year he made national headlines when he told a pro-trans medical student testifying in committee:

“I’m not going to listen to doctors that say one thing that disagrees with the God of creation.”

Thankfully, Nicola isn’t standing alone in this fight as his bill has earned swift praise from fellow Republicans.

Candidate for state representative of District-12, Chris Barrett, called Senator Nicola personally to thank him for his bill, following with a post on X saying: “Medical transition is obviously the worst, but even social transition interferes with a child’s normal development. We ban things like child abuse because a responsible society does that. And social transition is child abuse folks.”

Missouri’s conservative wave doesn’t stop at the statehouse either. Back in October, U.S. Rep. Bob Onder demanded Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent end federal tax subsidies that effectively underwrite transgender surgeries and hormones for minors.

And just last month, a major Department of Health and Human Services report delivered a devastating rebuke to the “gender-affirming care” industry, documenting “significant, long-term, and too often ignored” harms including:

• Infertility and sterility
• Sexual dysfunction
• Bone density loss
• Cardiovascular and metabolic disorders
• Psychiatric complications
• Lifelong regret

The evidence keeps mounting, and Missouri Republicans are listening.

With SB 1085, Senator Joe Nicola is drawing a line in the sand: Missouri public schools will no longer be laboratories for gender ideology, and parents will never again be the last to know.

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