Missouri has proposed a law that will fire teachers, nurses, and social workers if they call a child by any name other than that on their school records -- so, for instance, Tim instead of Timothy -- or if they fail to "report" any child's deviant gender performance. These fired people will be suspended from being rehired for four years.
Transphobes have gone from "We shouldn't silence people!" who want to call kids by "wrong" names or pronouns to "We MUST silence people!" who call kids by names and pronouns we don't like.
"That's unenforceable!" nice liberals insist, but they're forgetting how laws work in the US. Of course no teacher will be fired for saying "Tim" instead of "Timothy." (Unless, of course, they're a black teacher or a gay teacher or a trans teacher or a teacher the principal just doesn't like.) Instead, this law will be used to go after trans kids and after teachers, nurses, and social workers who support trans kids.
That's the purpose of the law. To punish and harass trans kids and those who support them. To stop anyone from supporting trans kids, and to make those trans kids afraid.
And if you think this stops with kids, you're pretty fucking delusional. It's just like Roe v. Wade. Once the reactionaries won with abortion, they moved on to birth control. Once they win with birth control, they'll move on to policing what sort of jobs the gestating can hold, what sort of food they can eat, where they're allowed to be -- fascism doesn't stop, y'all. It's goal is total control, and there is always a new neck to step on.
ETA: More on the subject:
School officials - a category that includes teachers, counselors, and nurses - would be required by this law to out kids to their parents. There's no provision or exception made for cases where this would endanger the child. Disgusting. https://t.co/AQJkWtq3J2 pic.twitter.com/H0uPf4JzVD
— Barry makes comics. Find me on Bluesky! (@barrydeutsch) December 17, 2023
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