GOP lawmaker blasted by fellow Republican over proposed Missouri ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law

A Missouri lawmaker unloaded on a fellow GOP colleague behind a bill modeled after Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.

State Rep. Ann Kelley sponsored House Bill 634, which would ban sexual “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties relating to sexual orientation or gender identity shall occur.”

But under questioning from GOP colleague Phil Christofanelli, Kelley didn’t appear to understand the implications of her own bill.

Christofanelli, a conservative Republican who is openly gay, asked if under the law, Martha Washington could be identified as the nation’s first president’s wife.

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“Under your bill, how could you mention that in the classroom?” Christofanelli is heard asking Kelley in a video Heartland Signal posted on Twitter.

After Kelley replied that “to me that’s not sexual orientation,” Christofanelli asserted “so it’s only really certain sexual orientations that you want prohibited from discussion in the classroom.”

Christofanelli appeared to grow frustrated with Kelley, interrupting her as she said “we have language to make that better,” telling Kelley, “Lady, I didn’t introduce your bill and I didn’t write it, you wrote it, so I’m asking you what it means.

“Which sexual orientations do you believe should be prohibited from Missouri classrooms?” Christofanelli asked.

“We all have a moral compass, and my moral compass is compared with Bible,” Kelley said.

“Lady,” Christofanelli said, “in your testimony you said that didn’t’ want teachers’ personal beliefs entering the classroom, but it seemed a lot like your personal beliefs you would like to enter all Missouri classrooms.”

Kelley asserted that she could hold a belief without “putting that onto somebody with the way you behave,” which Christofanelli said he didn’t’ dispute, but returned to the Martha Washington example he cited earlier.

“I’m asking about your bill and how it would permit the mention of the historical figure Martha Washington. Could you explain that to me?”

Kelley asked whether Martha Washington was famous because of her marriage to the nation’s first president.

“It seems like that would be a relevant fact in her biography, yes,” Christofanelli stated.

“Could it be mentioned under the plain reading language of your bill?”

Kelley after a pause said “I don’t know, sir.”