Republicans Demand Teachers Out Gay and Trans Kids

As they criminalize speech in the classroom

Mar 24, 2023

∙ Paid

(My apologies if this piece is a bit choppy. I felt the need to get it out quickly).

The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports that the Iowa Senate passed a bill on Wednesday restricting books and instruction related to LGBTQ identities in Iowa classrooms and libraries.

“The amendment to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ “parental rights” bill added requirements that school libraries not include materials which depict, visually or textually, any sex act. The final bill also bans instruction and materials related to gender identity and sexual orientation in K-6 classrooms.”

And here is the Republican response we hear so often, still quoting from the Iowa Capital Dispatch.

“Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, said opponents of the legislation were using “hyperbole, exaggeration, misrepresentations” to criticize the bill.”

This isn’t true. The Republican agenda is radical. Say it out loud. The Republican agenda is RADICAL. Rozenboom is using the words “hyperbole, exaggeration, and misrepresentation” to deflect and dull our senses as they incrementally implement their agenda.

The reality is Republicans are dismantling our democracy brick by brick, and the evidence has been piled up high and wide before our eyes for several years.

Authoritarian regimes are rising worldwide, including in the United States, and Iowa Republicans are helping lead the charge. We need to recognize this and respond.

According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch,

“Another provision in the bill requires school staff to inform administration and parents if they believe a child is transgender.”

I was reminded of all of this when I received a text yesterday from a local high school literature teacher who is a dear friend.

She had texted me a copy of the legislation and then followed up with, “There aren’t very many books worth reading that don’t have sex or sexual references (rape, pregnancy for example). Also, the Bible would be out. Shakespeare would FOR SURE be out.”

There are exemptions in Iowa Code for the Bible and other religious texts, but her point is the same. And, if Republicans are truly concerned about what children read, why is the discussion of incest, rape, etc., in the Bible OK? Why not go all in? Ban the Bible too?

Because it doesn’t fit their radical agenda, and despite what they say, it isn’t a conservative agenda either.

My friend then texted, “I told your wife at Walmart last week that I fully expect to be fired for refusing to follow these laws. I’ll never out kids.”

“I’ll never out kids.”

Say it again and again.

Our teachers shouldn’t be mandated by law to out kids.

My friend is a beloved teacher who taught one of our kids. She opened her eyes and the eyes of hundreds, maybe thousands of other kids, to incredible literature and other worlds that I may not know about or understand but that she and they felt they needed to see. I trust her.

But the difference between me (and most likely you), and apparently most, if not all all of the Republicans in the Iowa Legislature is that I want the worlds of my kids and grandkids to be bigger than mine. I want them to know more, see more, and appreciate more. I respect and trust my kids and grandkids that they will be thoughtful and responsible as they negotiate those worlds.

Republicans, on the other hand, want the worlds of their kids and grandkids to be just a bit smaller than their own, and perfectly aligned. And it’s not only their own kids--they are trying to legislate all of us into their world.

Republicans love their kids, but apparently many don’t trust them to engage in the world, because their own worlds are so small. And God forbid a teacher or librarian offer them a peek of the real world.

My friend loves her students. She is a trained professional, as are all of our teachers and librarians. And if they make a mistake, say, put a book in a library, or assign a reading that shouldn’t have been assigned, there are processes in place that can make the appropriate correction.

Republicans are playing a word game, saying they are for “parental rights,” like they don’t exist, and that they have to fight for them. There is only one word that I can use to respond to that, and that word is “bullshit.” Parents have always had rights in our public schools. We engaged with teachers and administrators about our kid’s education since preschool. We were always welcomed.

Remember, what Republicans are doing is radical. They are actively working to destroy our public schools. I wrote about why here.

So, what do we do now? We organize. Tell our public school teachers we have their backs. Look at your school board agendas. Your city council agendas. Your county board of supervisors agendas. Be there when our teachers and librarians need us. This is our call to action.

My teacher friend who started me on this rant is beloved by her students and our community. Her family has deep, deep, roots here. Her mother is my friend. Her sister is my friend. Her father is my friend, and my favorite photo of him is one of him standing, with some buddies, in a jungle in Viet Nam where he served long, long ago.

He didn’t fight that war--his family didn’t sacrifice in that war--so that contemporary radical Republicans could dismantle our democracy.

And if Republicans come for her here, and for others just like her in our small towns and larger cities across the nation, we need to be there for them, in the trenches, fighting the best way we know how. With words, tenacity, and commitment to preserving our public schools and our democracy.

Let me ask you, would you rather have my dear friend, a trained professional, assign your kids or grandkids a reading list in a high school literature class, or would you rather have State Senator Ken Rozenboom make those assignments?

Lots of thoughts come to mind here, but my mom taught me better than to say them out loud

Finally, here is what a friend I have had since high school had to say on the issue, on Facebook yesterday.

“Hurts my heart…my 4 year old great niece is always talking about her two amazing Moms!”

What would happen to this girl, her parents and her teachers, if the legislation was signed into law, and if this became a topic of discussion in school?

It would be illegal.

If Ken Rozenboom had his way? He would likely say this is “hyperbole, exaggeration, and misrepresentation,” but the fact of the matter is that Republicans in the Iowa legislature are criminalizing the speech not only of that child, but of all children in all of our public schools, and their teachers.

And this is wrong.

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Kurt Meyer, Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Kyle Munson, Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen, The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politic Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Macey Spensley: The Midwest Creative, Iowa

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

To receive a weekly roundup of all Iowa Writers’ Collaborative columnists, sign up here (free): ROUNDUP COLUMN

We are proud to have an alliance with Iowa Capital Dispatch.

Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture