The first time my son came home from preschool touting something he learned that I didn’t agree with, I panicked.

It wasn’t even a big thing (and I’m not about to open that can of worms here, just know that it was about politics), yet I still wondered for a fleeting moment whether we had to send him to a new school, whether the fact that a teacher communicated something differently than I would was simply a dealbreaker.

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It’s funny now to look back on that moment, when I was still so new to sending my little guy out into the world without me, when it still felt possible and righteous to try to make sure he never hears anything wrong or confusing or hurtful or nuanced.

I have since come to terms with the fact that it is impossible to control what my children are exposed to when they leave the house. Now, this doesn’t mean we just throw up our hands and give up. My wife and I can make sure to send them to good institutions with values that align with ours, and we can do our best to make sure they are always with responsible, loving adults who respect their two-mom family, but in the end, they’re going to hear, learn, and see things that I don’t want them to, whether from peers, teachers, relatives, or media.

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My job, I’ve realized, is not to curate their entire existence. All I can do is tell them whether I agree or disagree with something they learn and point them toward resources to find out more. From there, their own critical-thinking skills will have to kick in. It’ll be their job to consider what they’ve heard and decide what they believe.

The modern parents’ rights movement rejects this ethos.

Fueled by anti-LGBTQ+ right-wing organizations and GOP politicos, this movement wholeheartedly believes in a parent’s right (and ability) to control what their children read and learn in school. Leaders of the movement believe themselves to be the arbiters of what’s appropriate not only for their own children, but for entire student bodies.

The hypocrisy is blatant. When these parents fight for control by banning LGBTQ+ content, they are also taking away control from the parents who want their kids to learn about these identities.

It is obvious that the parents’ rights movement has never believed that all parents deserve rights, just that conservative parents do. But there is no Constitutional right to bully LGBTQ+ kids out of existence just because they make you uncomfortable.

The difference between the sides is stark. One side is teaching kids to hate, and the other is teaching kids to love. One is about censorship, and one is about expanding access to diverse materials.

There are no negative effects on straight cisgender kids who learn about queer people. On the other hand, when LGBTQ+ kids are not affirmed, their mental health suffers greatly. And when non-LGBTQ+ kids don’t learn to accept others who are different from them, we all suffer greatly.

In March 2022, despite national outrage and protest, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed the state’s infamous “Don’t Say Gay” law, which banned elementary school teachers from mentioning LGBTQ+ people in class. From there, the dominoes began to fall. Other conservative states approved copycat legislation, and librarians and teachers began losing their jobs for promoting LGBTQ+ inclusion.

At the federal level, the Trump administration is working to dismantle the Department of Education and is weaponizing what’s left of it to threaten schools that don’t discriminate against trans kids.

It’s a frightening time, but as always in the age of Trump, we must cling to hope for a brighter future and to the belief that the resistance is strong enough to win.

The April edition of LGBTQ Nation centers on the fight to save LGBTQ+-inclusive education. Our writers spoke with teachers, students, librarians, authors, and more to find out what’s really going on inside our schools and what’s being done to keep LGBTQ+ acceptance alive.

Because a lot is being done.

As American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten put it in the issue’s cover story: “There are thousands of classrooms in America every day that are operating as you and I speak, and most of the time, except in the extremes, teachers figure out how to engage with kids so they get the confidence they need and a sense of the agency that they need.”

While the right-wing movement is certainly strong, it is important to remember that oftentimes, it is a very vocal minority calling for book bans and other anti-LGBTQ+ initiatives. On the flip side, there are so many people out there fighting for LGBTQ+ kids.

This month, we’ll tell some of their stories.

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