It’s time to take action. . . . again.
For the past two summers, teachers rallied across the country at historic sites to speak out against anti-history education bills and to make public their pledge to teach the truth. The teacher-led rallies received national media attention, providing a valuable counter narrative to the oversized coverage of the well-funded anti-CRT movement.
Once again, we invite educators, students, parents, and community members to rally across the country and pledge to #TeachTruth and defend LGBTQ+ rights on June 10, 2023.
The situation is urgent.
Lawmakers in at least 44 states have introduced legislation or pursued other measures that attempt to require educators to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, transphobia, and other forms of oppression throughout U.S. history. These laws and restrictions have been imposed in at least 18 states. The Right has declared war on teaching the truth about structural racism and sexism and on LGBTQ+ youth.
Books by Black, Indigenous, authors of color, and LGBTQ+ writers are increasingly being banned.
As Jesse Hagopian points out,
Just as the Red Scare and the Lavender Scare were used to purge teachers from the late-1940s through the early-1960s, the current attacks on what history deniers have labeled “critical race theory” and “gender ideology” are directly connected.
In Florida, Gov. DeSantis’s so-called “Parental Rights in Education” bill — better known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — prohibits classroom instruction related to gay, lesbian, or transgender issues, and sexuality or gender identity more broadly. Florida is one of six states that censor discussions of LGBTQ+ people or issues in school, and one of eighteen that bans transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.
While claiming to “protect” young people, the right-wing legislators block any efforts to address gun violence (the leading cause of death for young people) and the existential threat of climate change.
This is a national call.
We have events scheduled and in the works in New York City, Washington, D.C., Salem, Iowa City, Los Angeles, Montgomery, Philadelphia, Nashville, Providence, Boston, Seattle, Newark, St. Augustine, Houston, and many more cities. See a map and a detailed list of location
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