Missouri’s kids need protection from the Queer Education that is happening across the state. Vote Yes on Amendment 3
The growth of transgenderism has increased by 468% in 8 years from 2,500 in 2017 to 14,200 children in 2025, according to the UCLA School of Law Williams Institute. Queer Education is creating demand for gender procedures for minors.
Most Missouri parents have never heard of the Rainbow Library. Most have never heard of GLSEN, or the new name it took this year, Glisten. But if you have a child in a Missouri public school, you should know both names. One national organization has built a program to put gender identity books into school libraries and classrooms, starting with book lists for kindergarten. They are putting books into Missouri public schools to alter reality by saying men can women and women can be men. This is all in service to pushing costly gender procedures for Missouri’s kids.
None of this is secret. Here is what they say, in their own words, and why it matters when you vote on Amendment 3 on November 3, 2026.
Who Is GLSEN, Now "Glisten"?
The group started in 1990 as GLSTN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Teachers Network. In 1997 it became GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network. On February 6, 2026, it rebranded as Glisten and called itself the "Nation's Largest LGBTQ+ K–12 Education Advocacy Organization."
They are widely known as the organizers of the National Day of Silence protests in public schools. Several Missouri Suburban School Districts are part of the propaganda and child grooming event.
Rockwood – Marquette High School
What GLSEN Says It Wants
You don't have to guess what Glisten wants. Its 2025 National School Climate Survey includes a section titled "What can my school do to be safe and affirming?" Glisten says the list comes from students in its focus groups, and it publishes that list as its recommendations. Among the items:
School curricula that include "affirming intersex and trans identities in science classes" and "offering inclusive sex education."
"Disallowing LGBTQ+ book bans."
"Ridding schools of gender-specific dress codes."
"Allowing students to use chosen names and pronouns in all school interfaces especially class rosters and data systems, and mandating that these be respected."
"Allowing trans and intersex youth to participate in school sports."
In sports, locker rooms, and bathrooms, "giving trans and intersex students the autonomy for how they will be protected and treated."
For teachers and staff: "zero tolerance for their bigoted language or actions."
Read that list as a parent. It reaches into science class, sex ed, sports, locker rooms, dress codes, and school records, and nowhere does it say parents should be told first. And who decides what counts as "bigoted"? A teacher who simply agrees with Missouri law could end up on the wrong side of "zero tolerance."
Glisten has also aimed its message at Missouri directly. Its 2021 Missouri state snapshot says "it is critical that Missouri school leaders, education policymakers, and other individuals who are obligated to provide safe learning environments for all students" adopt steps including "supportive transgender and nonbinary student policies" and more "LGBTQ+-inclusive curricular resources."
Glisten's survey reports that "58% of students lacked LGBTQ+ inclusive readings, but 3 in 4 students said their school libraries provided such content." Note who was surveyed: about 2,800 LGBTQ+-identifying middle and high school students age 13 and up (median age 15), not all students and not parents. Glisten's takeaway: the school library is "a key resource."
The Rainbow Library: Starting in Kindergarten
That's where the Rainbow Library comes in. Glisten describes it as a program with "diverse book lists for grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12, lesson plans, resources for inclusive literary learning, and more."
The K–2nd grade list, for children as young as five, includes:
When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff
I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
My Rainbow by DeShanna and Trinity Neal
Not He or She, I'm Me by A.M. Wild
What Are Your Words? by Katherine Locke
The publisher, Lee & Low, describes When Aidan Became a Brother as a book that "celebrates the changes in a transgender boy's life, from his initial coming-out to becoming a big brother," for ages 4 to 8.
Glisten also sells a Rainbow Library Curriculum for 2nd and 3rd grade that includes a lesson called "When Aidan Became a Brother – Key Details." That is a classroom lesson plan for seven- and eight-year-olds.
To be fair: these are picture books. They don't talk about drugs or surgery. But they are not neutral, either. They teach young children a particular view of gender, and they come from an organization with the policy goals listed above. They're shaping how your kids think about gender, from kindergarten on.
There's one more detail parents should read for themselves. On its Rainbow Library page, Glisten advises schools: "We recommend against adding any additional sticker to the exterior of the book marking it as an LGBTQ+ affirming text." One reason it gives is that "it may not be safe for many young readers to display to others (such as peers or family members)" what they are reading. Family members. That's you.
The Missouri Connection: MASL and AASL
On November 16, 2022, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association, announced: "Acting upon a resolution submitted by the Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL) the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) formally commended the Rainbow Library."
MASL's president at the time, Melissa Corey, said in that release: "The Rainbow Library is a program sponsored by GLSEN that provides collections of LGBTQ+ affirming texts to schools free of charge. Librarians and other school staff members may apply to receive a set of books according to grade level, including ranges K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Rainbow Library is currently serving 26 states, including Missouri." She added: "The Rainbow Library is literally saving lives, one book at a time."
AASL President Kathy Lester said: "The Rainbow Library collaborated with the Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL) to support LGBTQ+ learners across the state."
Missouri's own school librarian association put this program forward for national praise, and by its president's account the free sets were already serving Missouri. Librarians and staff apply for the sets. Parents aren't part of that process.
Despite laws trying to stop this, organizations and school districts refuse to comply. Kirkwood R-7 School District, for example, refuses to comply with laws regarding sexually explicit materials.
Why Amendment 3
Missouri has already acted to protect kids. The Missouri SAFE Act bans gender-transition surgery for minors, and it bans puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors. On January 13, 2026, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the law in E.N. v. Kehoe.
But under the law's own text, the ban on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors "shall expire on August 28, 2027." Without further action, that part of the protection has an end date.
There's another threat. The 2024 amendment, now Article I, Section 36 of our constitution, protects "all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to" a list of services. It also says any restriction "shall be presumed invalid." Those are broad words. National activists already link these issues: Planned Parenthood Action Fund has written that "Reproductive rights include trans rights." Language that broad invites lawsuits aimed at taking apart the protections Missourians have passed.
Amendment 3 (HJR 73) settles the question. According to the Secretary of State's fair ballot language, a "yes" vote will "prohibit gender transition procedures for minors including gender transition surgeries, cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs, with exceptions for specific medical conditions." It will also "require informed and voluntary consent for an abortion, including parental or judicial consent for minors," and it replaces the 2024 amendment.
Put simply: Amendment 3 moves these protections out of a statute with a sunset date and into the Missouri Constitution, where a court can't brush them aside and no future deadline can quietly end them. And it restores a basic principle: parents belong in life-altering medical decisions for their minor children.
—————————
Sources
1. Glisten, "Nation's Largest LGBTQ+ K–12 Education Advocacy Organization Rebrands From GLSEN to Glisten" (Feb. 6, 2026): https://glisten.org/news/nations-largest-lgbtq-k12-organization-rebrands-glsen-to-glisten/
2. Glisten, The 2025 National School Climate Survey: https://glisten.org/nscs2025/
3. Glisten, Rainbow Library program page: https://glisten.org/campaigns/rainbow-library/
4. Bookshop.org, "K-2nd Grade Rainbow Library Books" (list by Glisten Rainbow Library): https://bookshop.org/lists/k-2nd-grade-rainbow-library-books
5. Lee & Low Books, When Aidan Became a Brother: https://www.leeandlow.com/books/when-aidan-became-a-brother/
6. Glisten Shop, "Rainbow Library Curriculum: 2nd Grade – 3rd Grade": https://shop.glisten.org/products/rainbow-library-curriculum-2nd-grade-3rd-grade-1
7. American Library Association, "AASL Commends the Rainbow Library" (Nov. 16, 2022): https://www.ala.org/news/2022/11/aasl-commends-rainbow-library
8. GLSEN, 2021 National School Climate Survey State Snapshot: Missouri: https://maps.glsen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GLSEN_2021_NSCS_State_Snapshots_MO.pdf
9. Revised Statutes of Missouri, Section 191.1720 (SAFE Act): https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=191.1720
10. Missouri Attorney General, statement on E.N. v. Kehoe (Jan. 13, 2026): https://ago.mo.gov/attorney-general-hanaway-issues-statement-after-court-upholds-ban-on-sex-change-procedures-for-minors/
11. Missouri Constitution, Article I, Section 36: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=I++++36&bid=55&constit=y
12. Missouri Secretary of State, 2026 Ballot Measures (Amendment 3, HJR 73): https://www.sos.mo.gov/petitions/2026ballotmeasures
13. Planned Parenthood Action Fund, "Psst! Politicians Working to Ban Abortion and Gender-affirming Care Are One and the Same" (Apr. 18, 2023): https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/blog/psst-politicians-working-to-ban-abortion-and-gender-affirming-care-are-one-and-the-same