Los Angeles Times

“Across the country and, indeed, across California, there is a growing war over what kids can be taught about queer issues,” Times reporter Kevin Rector writes in a new personal essay. “Conservatives want to ban the mere mention of queer people in schools and forbid LGBTQ+-inclusive school curricula. They want to ban drag queens from reading to kids, ban pride flags in classrooms and ban pride merchandise in stores. They want to ban young adult books with queer characters, ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender kids and try again to ban same-sex marriage, which provides many queer kids with hope for a fulfilled future,” he writes. “With the protection of children as their stated rationale, today’s most ardent conservatives have taken up as a cornerstone of their political platform the idea that our nation and its children would be a lot better off if everyone under the LGBTQ+ umbrella were shoved collectively back into the closet, so that the rest of the country might move forward pretending we don’t exist.” “But we do exist. And thank goodness,” writes Rector. “LGBTQ+ people have helped define this country. Our contributions to the nation’s cultural identity are indelible.” This essay is published as part of “Our Queerest Century,” a Times series highlighting contributions of LGBTQ+ people since the 1924 founding of the nation’s first gay rights organization. Read it, and the rest of the stories in the series, at the link in our bio. 🎨 Rachelle Baker @indoorcargirl / For The Times 📸 Sakuma / Associated Press