Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) is among 33 Republican members of Congress who support the proposed 2022 Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, but there aren't enough votes to adopt the measure in the Democratically controlled legislature.
“I applaud them for putting forth the effort, but it's still got to go through and with the current administration, it's absolutely going to be vetoed,” said Andrew Wells, Missouri state chapter president of No Left Turn in Education. “We don't have a veto-proof majority in Congress.”
Hartzler is among supporters of the legislation that would prohibit federal, state, local governments, and private organizations from using federal tax dollars to expose children under 10 to sexually explicit material.
“I disagree with that language because it should not be 10 years old,” Wells told the St. Louis Record. “If we're talking sexually explicit material, there is not a state law that I have ever seen that allows minors to be exposed to sexually explicit material. Minors are anyone under 18, and not anyone under 10.”
The Stop the Sexualization of Children Act of 2022 was introduced by House Republican Conference Vice Chairman Mike Johnson (R-LA) who accused the Democrat Party and their cultural allies of being on a misguided crusade to immerse young children in sexual imagery and radical gender ideology.
The bill would prohibit federal funds from being used to host or promote events where adults dance salaciously or strip for children.
“There was a school board member who also owns an adult dancing establishment in the Kansas City area that had, in fact, made national news because they had transgender and drag queens out there stripping for minors to raise money while they were selling adult drinks in the establishment to the adults,” Wells alleged.
The Heartlander News reported in June that three drag queens accepted money in front of children at a brunch event in North Kansas City hosted by Nclusion Plus, an LGBTQIA+ organization.
“You absolutely have school districts that are promoting drag queen story hour, that have strippers or drag queens come in and perform shows within the schools themselves,” Wells said. “That is absolutely happening here in Missouri. It's happening not just with the public libraries, but it's also happening within the school districts.”
The legislation includes a provision that allows parents to sue and any organization that violates the law more than once in a five-year period would lose access to federal funds for three years.
"I wish someone would sue," Wells added. "That's what I'm actually pushing for but this bill isn't law yet."