Free Speech Falls Victim to Avalanche of School Gag Laws
In Iowa, GOP State Rep. Sandy Salmon wants to make it illegal for districts to require that teachers discuss current events or controversial issues of public policy or social affairs.
A bill written by Republican Georgia State Sen. Carden Summers prohibits formation of any student clubs or activities that condition participation on certain identity characteristics.
In Missouri, pending legislation bars teachers from using any material that identifies people, groups or institutions as sexist, racist or oppressive.
These are a few of the 95 school gag order bills that were introduced in 24 states over the last nine months. The suppression of speech is part of an overarching national Republican effort that has largely focused on removing books about people of color, issues of race and racism and LGBTQ+ themes.
At the same time as books are being banned, state legislators are introducing educational gag orders to censor teachers, proposals to track and monitor teachers, and mechanisms to facilitate greater ease of book banning in school districts, according to a new report, an “Index of School Book Bans” and accompanying report, “Banned in the USA,” written by literary and free expression organization PEN America.
Since January 2021, gag orders include:
* 175 educational gag order bills have been introduced in 40 different states.
* Fifteen have become law in 13 states; 103 are currently under consideration.
* Of these, 97 target K-12 schools and 42 target higher education.
Many of the gag orders prohibit any discussion of the so-called, 1619 Project, a groundbreaking report on the continuing effects of slavery in the U.S and any use of critical race theory instruction, a curriculum used primarily for college-level study.
The states leading the way include Missouri with 21 proposed gag orders, Oklahoma with nine and Alabama with five, followed by Alaska and Georgia with four each and Arizona with three.
For example, in Michigan, a pending bill introduced by Sen. Lana Theis, would prohibit public K-12 schools and college curriculum from including anything related to critical race theory or the 1619 Project or other “anti-American and racist theories.”
Thies has been a senator since 2019 and was previously a member of the Michigan House of Representatives. Theis expressed her homophobic views at an April 14 session of the state legislature.
“Dear Lord, across the country we’re seeing in the news that our children are under attack. That there are forces that desire things for them other than what their parents would have them see and hear and know. Dear Lord, I pray for Your guidance in this chamber to protect the most vulnerable among us,” Theis said.
In Arizona, state Rep. John Fillmore introduced legislation barring K-12 schools from including certain ideas about race, sex and ethnic groups.
In 2020, Fillmore proposed legislation to “prevent public schools from penalizing employees who use incorrect pronouns for transgender students. It would also prohibit schools from requiring that employees use correct pronouns for students, unless the pronoun ‘corresponds to the sex listed on that student’s birth certificate.’”
Fillmore also has been a strong supporter of trump’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
A bill in Georgia offered by state Sen. Carden Summers prohibits the establishment of student clubs or activities that condition participation on certain identity characteristics. Summers, 60, is a farmer and real estate broker who also has proposed a bill to ban homeless encampments.
Illinois’ state Rep. Adam Niemerg, wants to require that subjects involving sex, race, ethnicity, religion or natural origin must “provide additional balance or factual basis, or correct any factual bases found to be incorrect or biased.”
A member of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Niemerg claimed there were “credible questions” about the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Iowa state Rep. Sandy Salmon has authored a bill that would bar schools from requiring teachers to discuss “current events or widely debated and currently controversial issues of public policy or social affairs.” The bill also would prohibit teachers from awarding course credit or for requiring any form of political activism. A farm manager and Marine veteran, Salmon home-schooled her children.
State Rep. Dodie Horton of Louisiana submitted a bill that would punish schools, teachers and administrators for discussing any topics in classrooms that related to LGBTQ individuals, their lives and their families. The bill also would prohibit public school employees from covering the topics of sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-8.
“My bill is an attempt to protect our most innocent from indoctrination of any kind,” Horton said.
In Missouri, state Rep. Brian Seitz has written a proposal that bars teachers from using any material that identifies people, groups or institutions as sexist, racist or oppressive while also prohibiting use of the 1619 Project. An Army veteran, Seitz has worked as a pastor and manager of Splash Carwash. Last march, he introduced a bill to ban the of abortion pills for ectopic pregnancies.
Another bill in Missouri by state Sen. Rick Brattin forbids districts from requiring teaches to discuss “controversial” subjects. A high school graduate, Brattin joined the Marines after the Sept.11, 2001, attacks. In 2013, he sponsored legislation that would afford equal treatment in textbooks for intelligent design and evolution. In 2015 he proposed a bill that would strip college athletes of scholarships if the athlete “calls, incites, supports or participates in any strike or concerted refusal to play a scheduled game.” And in 2021, Brattin proposed a bill that would target unlawful assemblies, including the use of deadly force against protesters on private property.
In 2017, Brattin made his beliefs on homosexuality clear.
“When you look at the tenets of religion, of the Bible, of the Qur’an, of other religions, there is a distinction between homosexuality and just being a human being,” he said.
The Kansas City Star called his position intolerant and said in an editorial “It betrayed a stunning lack of understanding of theology and self-government: The Constitution protects all Americans from the tyranny of any single faith-based approach to secular law.”
Missouri State Rep. Hardy Billington, 75, wants to outlaw teaching the 1619 Project. While campaigning in 2012, he said that a “gay lifestyle” was more dangerous than smoking and he warned that homosexuals need “tough love” to “steer them away from self-destructive behaviors.”
In New Hampshire, a bill has been introduced to bar teachers from advocating for any doctrine promoting a negative account of the founding of the U.S. without also including “the worldwide context of now outdated and discouraged practices.” The bill is sponsored by Reps. Alicia Lekas, Glenn Cordelli, Keith Ammon, Tony Lekas and Erica Layon.
Layon said legislation that teaches about slavery and its impacts is part of the “Democrat’s worship of victimhood. I don’t want my sons living in a world where it is taught that one race is inherently racist.”
Lekas also has sponsored a “Teachers Loyalty” bill that would ban any teacher from promoting a theory that depicts U.S. history or its founding in a negative light, including the idea that the country was founded on racism.
Ammon was previously involved in the Free State Project, a political migration movement founded in 2001 to recruit at least 20,000 libertarians to move to New Hampshire, in order to make the state a stronghold for libertarian ideas. In 2012, the Concord Police Department applied for $258,000 in federal government funding to buy a Lenco BearCat armored vehicle for protection against terrorist attacks, riots, or shooting incidents. The application mentioned “Free Staters” alongside Sovereign Citizens and Occupy New Hampshire as groups that “are active and present daily challenges”
Pending legislation in North Carolina requires that in classroom discussions, “the viewpoint of the alternative political party shall also be presented and given equal weight during the same instructional unit.” The bill is sponsored by Sens. Chuck Edwards, Lyce Krawiec and Ralph Hise.
In 1977, Edwards began work behind the counter at McDonald’s in Hendersonville to supplement his family’s income. Today, he and his wife own seven McDonald’s franchises in Haywood, Henderson, and Transylvania counties.
Oklahoma state Rep. Jim Olsen’s proposal bars curricula from the 1619 Project or related ideas about the history of slavery in America. Elected in 2018, Olsen has degrees from the University at Albany, SUNY and the Free Gospel Bible Institute in Export, Pa. Olsen has compared abortion with the Holocaust and introduced legislation to criminalize anyone performing abortions. He claimed Antifa was responsible for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and joined other lawmakers urging Congress not to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Another proposed bill in Oklahoma, sponsored by state Sen. Shane Jett, prohibits schools from discussing or administering any survey or questionnaire related to gender or sexuality. Schools may not include in their libraries or make part of a curriculum any books whose primary subject is “the study of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender issues or recreational sexualization.”
And Oklahoma state Sen. Rob Standridge authored a proposal to bar grades K-12 schools from employing or contracting with any person who “promotes positions in the classroom or at any function of the public school that is in opposition to closely held religious beliefs of students.” Standridge, a pharmacist, also has pushed to ban COVID-19 vaccine mandates and has proposed legislation to prohibit schools from having or promoting books regarding sex, sexual identity, or sexual orientation.
Parents could request removal of questionable books and if it is not removed, the school librarian would be fired and prohibited from working in a public school for two years. Parents are also would be awarded $10,000 for every day the challenged book is not removed.
Standridge also introduced “Students’ Religious Belief Protection Act” which would allow students to sue teachers for an upwards of $10,000 if they promote material that is held in opposition to the students’ beliefs. The fine would be paid from the teacher’s personal funds. If unable to pay, the teacher would be fired.
In Pennsylvania, a proposal by state Rep. Russ Diamond, bans schools and universities from “hosting, playing or providing avenue for a speaker who espouses advocates or promotes any racist or sexist concept.” Diamond, who acknowledges he is an alcoholic, was elected in 2014. He opposed public health measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and supported trump’s claims of voter fraud and called for the state’s certification of presidential electors to be withdrawn.
Two women also were granted court protection from Diamond, who allegedly had threatened to kill one of them “if she disconnected the cable.” Another woman claimed that Diamond had knocked her down and dragged her after pushing and scratching her.
In Rhode Island, a proposal by state Rep. Patricia Morgan orders that schools may not focus on the history, literature or cultural contributions of individual identity groups nor may they center on “any race, ethnicity, gender, religion or viewpoint.” Also, sex education shall not explore sexual preference, gender dysphoria or sexual lifestyles. Morgan ran for Governor of Rhode Island in 2018 and lost in the GOP primary.
South Carolina state Sens. Linda Bennett and Stewart Jones have proposed a law that would prohibit providing course credit for students for lobbying or being public policy advocates. In 2020, Bennett lost a bid for Congress despite having trump’s endorsement. She lost the primary to Madison Cawthorn, who won the general election.
So far, the past 12 months has seen a record number of 1,586 book bans in 86 school districts in 26 states between July 1, 2021 and March 31. The districts represent 2,899 schools with a combined enrollment of more than 2 million students, according to the PEN America report.
The report “documents the alarming spike in censorship of books in school districts across the country over the past nine months, with individual books and even whole categories of books — many related to race, racism, sexual orientation and gender identity — disappearing from school library shelves and barred from classrooms and curricula.”
The organization said the widespread censorship was “unparalleled in its intensity and frequency and represents a serious threat to free expression and students’ First Amendment rights.”
The major findings include:
* The bans have targeted 1,145 unique book titles by 874 different authors, 198 illustrators and 9 translators, impacting the literary, scholarly and creative work of 1,081 people altogether.
* Texas led the country with the most bans at 713; followed by Pennsylvania (456); Florida (204); Oklahoma (43); Kansas (30); and Tennessee (16).
Banned titles include:
* 467 titles (41 percent) included protagonists or prominent secondary characters who were people of color;
* 247 titles (22 percent) directly address issues of race and racism;
* 379 titles (33 percent) explicitly address LGBTQ+ themes, or have protagonists or prominent secondary characters who are LGBTQ+;
* 184 titles (16 percent) are history books or biographies and 107 have explicit or prominent themes related to rights and activism (9 percent).
* 42 children’s books were censored, including biographies of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Ruby Bridges, Duke Ellington, Katherine Johnson, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cesar Chavez, Sonia Sotomayor, Nelson Mandela, and Malala Yousafzai.
* Most of the books targeted have been works of fiction, however 28 percent are non-fiction and include history books, analytical and/or personal essays, and children’s reference and informational works.
* The top three banned titles all are centered on LGBTQ+ individuals or touch on the topic of same-sex relationships, including: “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe banned in 30 districts, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, banned in 21 districts, and “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison, banned in 16 districts.
“Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Pérez, a love story between a Black teenage boy and a Mexican-American girl set in 1930s Texas, was banned in 16 districts. “The Bluest Eye” by the late Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison is the fifth most banned book, in 12 districts.
Book bans have become a favorite tool for state-wide and national political mobilization, departing from prior patterns whereby such bans tended to originate locally and spontaneously. National conservative groups with strong Republican support, including “Moms for Liberty,” “No Left Turn in Education” and “Parents Defending Education,” are collating lists of books that they view as “racist” and “indoctrination” to mobilize under the banner of “parents’ rights” and press their case to disaffected parents and responsive school authorities.
“Moms for Liberty” is a conservative nonprofit organization that says it advocates for parental rights in schools The organization has campaigned against COVID-19 restrictions in schools, including mask and vaccine mandates, and against school curricula that mention LGBT rights, race, critical race theory, and discrimination and multiple chapters have campaigned against sexuality issues.
“No Left Turn in Education” has become one of the leading groups fearmongering about the teaching of critical race theory in schools. The group has used toxic and bigoted rhetoric on social media and in right-wing media, including comparing the efforts of educators to that of Pol Pot, Vladimir Lenin, and Adolf Hitler; claiming that “black bigotry towards whites’’ is a “very real problem”; complaining that an educational video doesn’t cover violence by Black people; and promoting anti-LGBTQ rhetoric such as telling people to go “back to Trans-sylvania.”
“Parents Defending Education” opposes the teaching of critical race theory and related left-progressive ideology in K-12 public schools. Founded in 2021, the group has filed racism complaints with the U.S. Department of Education against several school districts that have supposedly admitted to engaged in “systemic racism.”