RI lawmakers hear impassioned debate on bill to limit teaching of racism, gender identity

PROVIDENCE — Should Rhode Island school teachers be punished for uttering the words "supremacy" or "racial guilt" in their classrooms when teaching America's racial history?

Should they be banned from mentioning The New York Times' "1619 Project" and any other "curricula that pursues a predominantly ideological and/or activist outcome"?

How about this proposed prohibition: "Sex education shall not explore sexual preference, gender dysphoria or sexual lifestyles."

And this requirement: "History shall be taught using the standards, customs and traditions in use at the time of the historical event."

A "first-offense" would lead to unspecified discipline at the local level. A "second offense" by a teacher would be referred to the superintendent or school committee, and a subsequent offense to the U.S. attorney general, under legislaton proposed by Republican Rep. Patricia Morgan that drew a crowd to the State House on Monday night.

There were strong feelings on both sides on each of these proposals, as evidenced by the written and in-person testimony presented to the House Education Committee.

But those who came to the State House to testify in person were overwhelmingly opposed to what one called "state-sanctioned hatred" and others described as an effort to erase unpleasant chapters in American racial history or their own early struggles as gay and transgender people.

The Rev. Donnie Anderson's late in life transition to a woman has been well documented, but her voice quavered with anger and emotion as she told her personal story.

"At 9 years of age, I tried to have a converation with my Mom about what I was feeling. That conversation did not go well and I now understand that, at that moment, I went into a deep dark closet, bolted the door and stayed there for six decades.

"I often wonder what would have happened if one of my teachers [in elementary school] in Cranston had known how to talk to kids like me. ... [Gender] dysphoria is not a made up thing. It's real. It's significant, and left alone, it kills."

Next up was Beatrice Pulliam, the vice president of the R.I. Library Association, who also vehemently opposed Morgan's bill (H 7539).

"As members of a profession committed to free and equitable access to informaton and the pursuit of truth, we stand firm in opposing any efforts to suppress knowledge ... or dictate what is orthodox in history, politics or bellief."

A former state GOP chairwoman – and candidate for governor – Morgan has for the second year in a row introduced a bill to prohibit schools from teaching that Rhode Island or the United States is fundamentally racist or sexist, or that an individual, “by virtue of their race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past."

It is unclear the extent to which any of these subjects have crept into the day-to-day learning in public schools, though members of a national conservative parents’ organization, and like-minded locals, have raised concerns in a handful of communities, including Barrington, South Kingstown and Westerly.

Morgan, in her own turn to speak, said her bill "enshrines the protections and benefits of the Civil Right Act of 1964 in our schools for all children, regardless of the race, sex, ethnicity or religion.."

"No child should be accused of being inherently racist or sexist or oppressed or oppressing because of their race," she said.

Morgan – who arrived at the State House with state police at her side – told colleagues she has received threats and "the most vulgar and obscene voicemails."

She said students at Classicial High School at one point staged a walkout in protest of her bill. "So much better to let the students go early rather than actually teach them," she said of their teachers.

With respect to why she believes teachers should not discuss sexual identity issues with their students, she said: children "can be easily swayed" by teachers who should not be giving them advice because they are not trained mental health professionals.

"They are not here to indoctrinate. They are not here to delve into the personal sexual lives of minors. They are there to teach them how to be critical thinkers and deal with the world when they are adults."

"It is a growing industry of attorneys ... who are now suing schools for leading children down a path that they later regret," Morgan said.

Political Scene: A Republican, a Democrat — two RI legislators a galaxy apart

Testimony for and against the bill

In written testimony ahead of Monday's hearing, Aimee Blanchette of Westerly denounced the legislation as "a copycat of some of the worst legislation we are seeing around the country right now.

Describing herself as a teacher, she said: "It makes it so teachers can't have meaningful conversations about the true history of this country and current events in a way that helps young people to understand how race and privilege impacts different communities."

"How am I supposed to teach about the Civil Rights Movement if I can't teach about political activism?" she asked.

"It also has the awful 'don't say gay'-type language many states are pushing by specifically barring discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. This is incredibly harmful for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people in our schools."

"In my role as a teacher, I am also the advisor to our school's LGBTQ+ club, trying to offer students encouragement and support, and I beg you not to make their lives any harder than they already are."

From the other side came this, from Bonnie Perrotti of Jamestown: "I am in full support of (H 7359.) I think that it is necessary that our children go to school to learn and to not be in an environment where they are dictated to on how they should think."

Andrea Puerini of Narragansett wrote: "Opponents have dubbed this the 'Don't Say Gay Bill' or racist legislation. It is neither."

She said "racial grifters'' have introduced their "sick ideology [into] our schools," and the legislation simply requires the "education establishment ... (to) abandon the racial and sexual indoctrination of our children."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI lawmakers' hearing on a bill to limit discussion of racism in school