Across the United States, movements to isolate and suppress queer and transgender people from public life continue to grow. in public school, library, university, art gallery, art museum, government websiteand national monument, We are witnessing the rapid disappearance of art, books, terms, and symbols representing LGBTQ+ identities.
You don’t have to think about where this comes from and where it’s going. Exercising state power against the LGBTQ+ community is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes.
LGBTQ+ in Nazi Germany culture and literature They were purged as “non-Germans.” More recently, in Putin’s Russia and Orbán’s Hungary, authorities have argued that children need to be “protected” from LGBTQ+ “propaganda,” and this rhetoric has been used to justify as well as strict controls on LGBTQ+ topics in schools and schools. universitybut also Museum exhibition restrictions and Across media, movies, books, and advertising.
this it hadn’t started Although Trump was re-elected, the current administration has successfully applied the strategy. declare With the presidential order “Gender ideology” are “anti-American” and say the government needs to protect children from what they claim is “indoctrination”, including the basic fact that gay and transgender people exist. There is currently no one in Congress, three A bill that would introduce anti-LGBTQ+ restrictions on certain federal education funds is gaining attention.
Like Florida’s 2022 “Don’t Say I’m Gay” Law. resound clearly Russian 2013 Act These three Congressional bills would ban showing minors “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” (HR 2616, HR8705and HR 7661) Groups are trying to weaponize funds to prevent schools from teaching terms coined primarily by Trump’s executive orders, such as “gender ideology,” “transgenderism,” “divisive equality ideology,” and “sexual orientation content.” Censorship often resorts to methods such as: ambiguous words Something like this, but the intention behind it is clear. It’s about removing transgender and queer representation from schools. All three bills have already passed out of committee, and just last month, surprisingly, HR 2616 passed the House with a combination of votes from Republicans and several Democrats.
Authoritarians target public schools because they are convenient places to advance changes in popular culture and where governments can have the greatest influence on what young people are allowed to learn and think. This is unsettling, but if the goal is to enact extreme policies to enforce a homogeneous national identity, schools are the best option for shaping the ethos.
Despite the Supreme Court’s maxim that “no official, high or low, can prescribe what is legitimate in politics, nationalism, religion, or any other matter of opinion,” we have seen government officials use their office to do just that, bypassing the First Amendment and passing laws and policies that exclude and erase LGBTQ+ identities from our institutions.
The task of reshaping popular culture through official state repression cannot be accomplished overnight. That’s why campaigns to wipe out LGBTQ+ representation continue to evolve from banning books to banning publications. ban on musicfrom DEI office closure to Suspension of funding for research Regarding LGBTQ+ public health, Demolition gender studies as an academic field. Texas Tech University recently moved prohibit Educational or student research projects that “center” on gender or sexuality. And more communities are seeing public library funding threatened over books. With transformer or queer representation.. The current FCC has also taken up this cause and recently announced that it is considering it. Add viewer warning To warn parents about “transgender or non-binary programming.”
These censorship tactics are moving increasingly easily from classrooms to campuses and from libraries to living rooms. Because the ideologues behind this censorship will not be satisfied until the crackdown plan is complete.
This aggressive campaign has yet to result in the kind of bans seen in other dictatorships. to celebrate pride, Prohibited Number of LGBTQ+ people appearing on prime time TV, government fines for retailers selling books such as: heart stopper or website streaming shows such as fierce rivalry. But anti-LGBTQ+ policies don’t end with censorship. Hungary has the right to veto passed the law By 2023, citizens will be able to report same-sex family members and trans-affirming parents. And Russia continues to arrest and prosecute more people than ever before. A rainbow pride flag is being raised or Publish an LGBTQ+ book. In Germany, they burned books and then people.
The United States is now at risk of repeating that pattern, as LGBTQ+ rights have progressed in the decades since their enactment. “Lavender Scare” The peak of the AIDS epidemic in the 1950s is reversing. Already at the state level, Prohibitions About gender-affirming care and laws cancel State ID for transgender people enacted, many state legislators campaigning to end marriage equality.
For the LGBTQ+ community, the message from these actions is clear. That we should not truly live and be seen and heard in public. Our educational and cultural institutions are fully committed to our erasure, and we know that without serious intervention things will not stop there.
Jonathan Friedman Oversees PEN America’s U.S. efforts to protect freedom of expression, including the freedom to write, read, and learn. Madison Markham He is the program coordinator for PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, which fights book banning and censorship in schools and libraries.
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