Equality Caucus Condemns Advancement of Racist, Anti-Equality Censorship Bill

CEC Chair Rep. Mark Takano: “Censoring American history doesn’t change what happened—it dooms future generations to forget and potentially repeat the mistakes of the past.”

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, the Republican-controlled House Committee on Education and the Workforce advanced H.R. 8705, the CHARLIE Act, favorably out of committee. Congressional Equality Caucus Chair and Senior Member of the Committee Rep. Mark Takano released the following statement in response:

“Censoring American history doesn’t change what happened—it dooms future generations to forget and potentially repeat the mistakes of the past. Importantly, denying the existence of transgender people and the lasting effects of racism on American society does nothing to make American education better,” said Rep. Mark Takano, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus and Senior Member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce. “This bill censors some of the leading government-funded history and civics educational programs in an act of unacceptable overreach. Denying the lasting impacts Jim Crow and slavery have had on American society is denying reality, and restricting educators from honing their knowledge on these dark—but important—topics is an incredibly dangerous disservice to American students. I will keep working with my colleagues in the Equality Caucus to prevent this bill from becoming law.”


BACKGROUND
H.R. 8705, the CHARLIE Act, would prohibit funds made available to carry out Subpart 3 of ESEA from being used for so-called “gender ideology” (as defined by EO No. 14168) and so-called “discriminatory equity ideology” (as defined in EO No. 14190).

EO No. 14168 defines gender ideology to include the “concept of self-assessed gender identity,” the “claim that males can identify as and thus become women and vice versa,” and “the idea that there is a vast spectrum of genders that are disconnected from one's sex.” In effect, so-called “gender ideology” is the idea that transgender people exist. Thus, this provision would prohibit the recipients of funds under the American History and Civics Education programs—including the Presidential and Congressional Academies for American History and Civics, and National Activities programs—from acknowledging the existence of transgender people, including their contributions to American history, in the funded programs.

EO No. 14190 defines discriminatory equity ideology to mean “an ideology that treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals, and minimizes agency, merit, and capability in favor of immoral generalizations” and then includes examples. This provision would, among other things, prohibit the recipients of funds under the American History and Civics Education programs from discussing structural discrimination and its role in American history in the funded programs.

The CHARLIE Act also prohibits the Secretary of Education, when awarding grants under subpart 3 from giving priority to an eligible entity on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or immigration status.