From Censoring Books To Censoring Identity
If you’re like me, you were hoping to write about something light-hearted this week. NASA has some new pictures of Venus. There’s a story about Russian cowboys I’ve been sitting on for a few years. It’s probably Abraham Lincoln’s fault your clothes don’t fit. Unfortunately, I must put all of these topics aside because Florida is playing my song.
Recap: In my last column, I wrote about the banning of the book “Maus” in schools. (Go check it out if you haven’t.) We talked about censorship in general and why this particular book was the focus. We also talked about the larger motivations for banning books. While it is often couched in an attempt to protect children, censorship is about controlling ideas for a variety of purposes. As futile as controlling ideas is, it’s a technique that has been used to turn heroes into villains, edit and omit entire sections of history, and as Florida is demonstrating, remove an entire segment of the population.
As you may have seen, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently spoke on his support for a bill that would prohibit discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation in primary schools. It’s not an age-appropriate topic, or so claims some parent groups and other supporters of the bill. Their position is that schools should focus on the basics, like history, science, reading, and writing.
In fairness, proponents of the legislation claim that historical appearances of LGBTQIA+ populations and events will still be allowed. Also, students can talk about their families if they are part of the community. The bill seems more focused on prohibiting discussion of the specifics and anything not covered in the textbook. It’s education without context.
To be clear, the point of teachers is to provide that context. The text is the beginning of the lesson, not the end.
At first glance, this might seem relatively reasonable. Again, this is focusing on primary schools. That’s where the basics are presented. It’s not unprecedented to hold some heavier topics until later grade levels. We don’t expect a second-grade classroom to go into the details of the Tuskegee Study or MK Ultra because they are complex, specific issues. The point can be made generally, in a more digestible manner for young children.
The first problem with that logic, is that members of the LGBTQIA+ community often start identifying at a very young age. Increased levels of depression and suicide attempts in LGBTQIA+ youth are in part credited to not being able to discuss their identity discovery, particularly if there isn’t acceptance in the home. Not being able to talk about who you are, especially with a non-family role model like a teacher, is part of the reason realizing one’s gender identity or sexual orientation is such a traumatic and fraught experience.
By censoring discussion, this bill would force a worldview that does not include a community that students identify with. If students can’t see people like them in the world, they struggle to see themselves in the world.
Additionally, this is just the start. If this bill is successful, to think it will stop at primary schools is naïve. It will grow into higher grade-levels and beyond Florida. There are similar bills popping up in other states. There is a concerted effort to create a specific picture of the world and make that the only one permitted in schools.
Censoring specific book leads to censoring entire subjects. Censoring identities leads to censoring the human beings that manifest those identities. Ideas can’t be controlled. You’d have a better chance of that though, than controlling a person’s identity.
