Across the United States, new bills are constantly being introduced that push an anti-LGBTQ+ agenda. As of March 15, 2024, the ACLU has tracked at least 479 bills restricting the rights of the queer community, and that number is only growing. Most of these bills, directed at transgender youth, are only doing more harm than good for the majority of children.
Despite the copious amounts of research showing that the education of diversity in schools has a positive effect, these people in power are still consistently pushing bills forward that restrict what can and can’t be spoken about in school. It’s come to a point where they’re not just restricting the curriculum, they’re restricting a teacher’s right to have a voice. It’s crazy how well these bills are being twisted enough to get passed, regardless of the fact that a lot of them are going against our First Amendment rights.
Just this year, over 50 bills have been introduced that attempt to censor the curriculum in schools to no longer allow educating students about the LGBTQ+ community.
One of these bills, which has now been passed into law, takes place in Wyoming. In summary, S.F.0009 requires schools to give any and all information about the children to their parents and give them full control over decisions regarding the information given. This includes the change of pronouns, name, and reflection of sexual or gender identity.
Another bill that is advancing from the House of Reps. is H.B.105 in Alaska. This bill puts parents in control of what their child is being taught. Rather than the professionals, they’re now pushing to allow parents to decide what is going to be taught to children about sexual orientation and the diversity within it.
Bills like this are harmful to children because we are preventing kids from being as educated as possible. Educating kids on everything from A-Z, especially while their brains are growing and developing, helps them grow to be more open-minded and creative individuals. Restricting them from being educated and restricting teachers from doing the educating is only going to continue to cause a major split between the accepting and unaccepting halves of our country. This issue is only going to become more severe.
Three weeks ago in Missouri, republican state representative, Jamie Gragg, introduced H.B. 2885. This new bill prohibits any school official from supporting the social transition of any student under the age of eighteen. Socially transitioning includes the change of pronouns, the use of a different name, and the expression of gender through clothing, hair, and makeup. If a school official is to support any of these choices or withhold any information from the legal parent/guardian they will be required to register as a sex offender and face the charges of a class E felony.
These bills are an attack on equality and First Amendment rights amongst all Americans. The passing and support of anti-LGBTQ+ laws are only going to cause more harm than good. For people who claim that we should be “focusing on facts not feelings,” they seem to ignore a lot of the facts and copious amounts of research that’s gone into this subject. There has been more evidence than not showing that these bills that are forcing children to be outed to their parents and restrict their education in fundamental years are damaging to their development and growth as people.
Not only children but also adults, have a right to feel safe and accepted in their environment. This country is slowly being stripped of every individual’s right to have and express their own opinion. We shouldn’t be “making America great again.” We should be making America free again.
