Truthful History and Honest Discussions Can Serve as Vaccines for the Body Politic

“There are a lot of exotic notions about what are the most important points in American history,” said McDonnell.

Not unlike its predecessor, the American or “No Nothing” Party of the 1850s, the current Party of No! (formerly referred to as the “Republican Party”), in addition to considering and passing laws on the state level to restrict voting rights of people of color, low-income people, youth, elders, trans people, and people with disabilities, also advances the proposition that students must know nothing about the realities of U.S. history, culture, and the very notion of democracy.

For example, in April 2021, the Party of No!-controlled Arizona senate passed S.B. 1456, and the House voted in favor of the bill that would require parental permission for students to be allowed to engage in discussions in the classroom on topics related to LGBTQ people or HIV (yes, conservatives still connect us intricately with infection).

As opposed to five other states that have parental permission “opt out” requirements, the Arizona bill involved “opt in” policies, which is seen as a stricter and more severe constraint. The bill would be applicable to any courses of instruction from sex education to history and civics and literature.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who is a Republican, had the good sense, however, to veto the bill.

The LGBTQ civil rights organization, Human Rights Campaign, has been tracking anti-LGBTQ state legislation for the past six years. Within this 2021 state legislative session, 82 anti-transgender bills have been filed throughout the country already surpassing the 79 bills submitted in 2020.

For example, South Carolina’s HB 4047, and Texas’ SB 1311 would ban medical care to trans people, and Michigan’s SB 218 would ban trans people from sports teams.

In the affluent Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, Texas, a slate of conservative Party of No…

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