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Oct 1 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
Today's LGBTQ+ history month-- but it's being censored in schools, esp under Florida's "Don't say gay" law and #EdScare.

One teacher in Palm Beach changed her lesson on Sally Ride - the first US woman to fly in space-- to omit the fact that she was a lesbian.
Full story in @washingtonpost from June. Lesson alterations to erase LGBTQ+ history and identities are likely happening across the state.

Coupled with bans targeting LGBTQ+ authors and stories, young people are being deprived of their right to education. washingtonpost.com/education/2022…
Weeks before "DSG" law took effect, 11 boxes of books from 1 school district were dropped off on the doorstep of the National Stonewall Museum in Fort Lauderdale. Why? Likely for having LGBTQ+ characters and fears of political and parental backlash
sun-sentinel.com/news/education…
Books are now routinely being targeted merely for having any LGBTQ+ content. Even children's picture books. Sometime's they're being called "porn." And somehow, some school districts are listening to these claims and acting on them, like in Walton, FL: pen.org/book-banning-i…
It's not just books or lessons, but bans on pride flags, and safe space stickers. abcactionnews.com/news/region-pa…
In another unusual exercise of school board authority, Miami-Dade banned students from seeing Nilo Cruz's Pulitzer-Prize winning play, "Anna in the Tropics"... miamiherald.com/news/local/new…
And while this all got energized in FL, it's spreading like wildfire. "Don't say gay" educational gag order laws have been proposed in other states.. & a new one was just introduced in PA.
thehill.com/changing-ameri…
In Pennridge, PA, the drive to erase LGBTQ+ identities has been cloaked under a ban on any "advocacy" in classrooms. Includes a ban on Crosses and religious symbols... buckscountycouriertimes.com/story/news/edu…
In Kettle Moraine, WI, they banned teachers from wearing rainbow-colored clothing! 🌈🌈🌈. metroweekly.com/2022/08/school…

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More from @jonfreadom

Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Oct 1
Stop & consider what's happening in Escambia, FL.

116 books are being "restricted" in libraries just b/c one person threw them on a list, parlayed from online reviews.

ZERO due process. No one even READ the books first. 🧵 wkrg.com/northwest-flor…
Like everywhere, the "list" is heavily anti-LGBTQ and targets books that deal with contemporary politics, history related to racism. Swept off the stacks into a restricted section based on 1 person's objection using random reviews from the web. Here's all 116: ImageImageImage
116 books in one swoop! Lots of familiar targets incl @nhannahjones, @DrIbram @IamGMJohnson @ashleyhopeperez @KyleLukoff @JazzJennings__ @jodipicoult @SJMaas @lxgino @ShaunieDarko @JoKnowles @EllenHopkinsLit @angiecthomas @MargaretAtwood @halseanderson @DashkaSlater @JerryCraft
Read 13 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Jul 13
So... how bout that national teacher shortage, eh? It's basically everywhere. Some of this is due to long-standing challenges, burnout from the pandemic.. But also undeniable that teachers resigning b/c of rampant politicization, gag orders, book bans, threats, intimidation 🧵
Florida: short 9,000 teachers
news4jax.com/news/local/202…
Tennessee: short 1,000 teachers
newschannel5.com/news/a-crisis-…
Read 12 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Jun 1
Ohio's Don't Say Gay Bill HB616 heard in committee yesterday. The bill contains some of the most extreme bans and prohibitions I've seen, incl @The1619Project and "any other concept the state board of education defines as divisive or inherently racist". mahoningmatters.com/news/state/ohi…
Plenty of the usual vague language, incl bans on any curriculum that promotes "diversity, equity and inclusion learning outcomes" and "inherited racial guilt". No definitions in the bill. Terms that could be used to censor, surveil, punish as the state pleases.
Ofc the bill also mandates mechanisms for individuals to complain about any teachers in violation, provisions for them to lose their teaching licenses, and a funding penalty if a whole district is in violation. And mechanisms and powers for the state to "monitor" compliance...
Read 7 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Mar 13
The movement for school "transparency" (aka, teacher surveillance) notched TWO victories in FL this wk.

One bill mandates public websites to search all books/instructional materials used in K-12 schools.

The other does the same for public #highered.
#EdScare 🧵
The K-12 bill (HB1467) mandates public websites to search all books and instructional materials used in schools -- meaning: anything & everything students might see: textbooks, reading lists, manipulatives, electronic media, learning laboratories... wtsp.com/article/news/p…
But the higher ed bill (SB7044) is similar! Others have focused on how it threatens tenure & accreditation.

But it *also* directs all FL colleges & universities to create public searchable websites listing ALL instructional materials for ALL courses. 👀tampabay.com/news/education…
Read 9 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Mar 11
HB 1467 in FL now heads to DeSantis. Supporters say it "increases transparency" in the selection of books and instructional materials. But as with the whole "transparency" movement, you have to wonder what the bill ACTUALLY does... 🧵 wtsp.com/article/news/p…
The bill establishes term limits for school boards, but the real emphasis is on policies to strictly monitor access to books in schools, in curriculum, libraries, classroom libraries, heck, even on reading lists. flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2…
First it establishes that every school board must have a policy for a parent or "resident of the county" to object or contest to any book/material in a school or on a reading list. They can object to anything, based on two grounds:
Read 14 tweets
Jonathan Friedman 📚 Profile picture
Mar 11
At @PENamerica we coined the term the #EdScare to capture the unprecedented and multifaceted efforts to intimidate teachers, legislate prohibitions on classroom discussions, and ban books. Here’s what this all looks like right now in one state:

Florida.
The spotlight has rightfully been on the #DontSayGay bill and its ban on “instruction” about sexual orientation and gender identity. But the Sunshine State has become a hotbed for all kinds of education censorship. /2
First, there’s the “STOP WOKE Act” (HB 7) which has cleared the legislature and is now on its way to DeSantis’s desk. The bill will ban educators from teaching certain concepts related to race in schools & colleges. /3 floridaphoenix.com/2022/03/10/gop…
Read 8 tweets

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