It’s been a stressful few years to be an American educator, to say the least. Besides facing COVID in the classroom, staff shortages, low pay, and mental health crises (for both students and themselves), teachers have had to contend with the right’s weaponization of public K-12 schools as a fiery front in the culture wars.
According to a recent national poll by NPR and Ipsos, most parents report satisfaction with their children’s education. But that hasn’t stopped the GOP from introducing bills across the country targeting books and other school materials that address gender identity and sexual orientation. From 2020 to 2021, at least 40 states introduced bills that would censor curriculums and classroom discussions about race, religion, gender, sex, and sexism, the most infamous being Florida’s highly controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which bans "classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity" in kindergarten through third grade.
If you’re an LGBTQ educator, BuzzFeed News would like to hear from you. We may reach out to you for an upcoming story about how teachers are handling a rise in anti-LGBTQ sentiment nationwide, and specifically, the increasing frequency of smear campaigns against LGBTQ teachers. You can request anonymity for privacy reasons if needed.