House Republicans advance education bill restricting discussions on racism & gender

Republicans on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce advanced legislation Thursday that critics say would push federally supported civics and history education deeper into the culture wars by restricting discussions of transgender identity, systemic racism, and diversity in American classrooms.The bill, H.R. 8705, known as the “Civics and History Advancement to Restore Learning, Integrity, and Education Act,” or CHARLIE Act, moved favorably out of committee less than 24 hours after House Republicans passed another controversial education measure targeting transgender students nationwide.The CHARLIE Act would prohibit federally funded American history and civics programs from using funds for what the legislation calls “gender ideology” and “discriminatory equity ideology.”Related: Virginia Democrat who praised LGBTQ+ inclusion is now helping Republicans out trans kidsRather than defining those terms itself, the bill imports definitions directly from two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump after his inauguration. One of those orders, Executive Order 14168, rejects the idea that gender identity can differ from sex assigned at birth and positions recognition of transgender people as “gender ideology extremism.”LGBTQ+ advocates say federally funded civics and history education programs could be barred from acknowledging transgender people as part of American history at all.That could affect programs supported by the American History and Civics Education initiative, including the Presidential and Congressional Academies for American History and Civics, as well as other federally funded national civics education efforts.The Congressional Equality Caucus condemned the legislation on Thursday as a censorship measure masquerading as education policy.Related: These 8 Democrats voted for the Republican national ‘Don’t Say Trans’ bill passed by the House“This bill censors some of the leading government-funded history and civics