Conservative censorship regimes expanded their reach across the nation over the weekend, as restrictive education policies went into effect in multiple Republican-led states.
With July 1 marking the start of the new fiscal year for most states, several policies restricting classroom discussions related to social inequality, sexual health and other topics that were passed during the last legislative session are now taking hold.
As NBC News reported, that includes laws in Iowa, Florida and Tennessee.
In Iowa, a law went into effect on Saturday that bans public and charter schools from teaching lessons related to gender identity or sexual orientation earlier than the sixth grade. The law also requires that schools notify parents if their child has requested using a different name or pronoun, continuing the nationwide right-wing crusade against transgender kids. And it requires schools to pull any books from that reference or depict a “sex act,” a dubious oversimplification that conservatives have used as the impetus to restrict access to several books by Black authors.
In Florida, a similar law took hold on Saturday that bans students from learning about menstruation, human sexuality or sexually transmitted diseases before sixth grade. This is in addition to state education officials voting in April to ban discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation all the way through high school, expanding on a law dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics. As The Daily Beast reported, the new law targeting sex ed has garnered criticism “since first periods typically arrive between the ages of 10 and 15 but are known to arrive earlier, including for 8- or 9-year-olds. By sixth grade, students are usually around the ages of 11 or 12.”
And a law passed in Tennessee went into effect on Saturday that strikes at the heart of diversity programs meant to foster inclusive spaces for marginalized groups in the workplace or on school campuses.
The law bans universities and employers from requiring trainings on “divisive concepts,” and its definition of what constitutes divisiveness could give conservative officials wide latitude to meddle with diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The dumbing down of America is live and in effect, with Republican lawmakers leading the charge.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.