Defense Department Schools Shutter LGBTQ Clubs, Ban Books
Defense Department schools that serve the children of military members have scrapped affinity clubs and flagged LGBTQ books for removal.
Schools run by the U.S. Department of Defense have reportedly scrapped affinity clubs celebrating diverse identities, canceled celebrations that acknowledge those identities, and attempted to remove books containing LGBTQ content or characters.
The moves come following an executive order from Donald Trump seeking to end what the president has termed “racial indoctrination” and “discriminatory equity ideology” in schools, referring to lessons dealing with race, racism, or identity groups, as well as the inclusion of LGBTQ-related topics, as part of the classroom curriculum.
While few U.S. public school districts — which are locally controlled — have made changes in response to the orders, as part of the federal government, the Defense Department has rapidly sought to comply.
Defense Department schools are located in various countries and serve about 67,000 students in preschool through twelfth grade. The changes imposed by each school are varied, reports The New York Times.
At Lakenheath High School, which serves the children of U.S. military members in Britain, an affinity club for gay students and their allies has been prohibited from meeting, while a “Women in STEM” group has been placed on hold.
Similarly, at Ramstein High School in Germany, affinity groups for students of Hispanic or Asian heritage, as well as the school’s Pride and Ally club, have been disbanded.
In some Defense Department Schools, programming related to cultural awareness months — such as Black History Month or Women’s History Month — has been canceled. Meanwhile, symbols of LGBTQ identity, such as rainbow flags or safe space stickers, have been removed from classrooms.
Schools serving the children of military personnel have seen books dealing with race, racism, cultural identity, and LGBTQ identity, flagged for removal.
In a February 5 memo, Defense Department officials instructed schools not to use certain materials or allow certain books to remain in school libraries. Included in that list of materials was Becoming Nicole, a book about a transgender girl and her family, and a biography of Albert Cashier, a Union Army soldier in the Civil War who was born female but fought and lived as a man.
Material in Advanced Placement Psychology courses, which broach topics like gender identity and sexual orientation, has also been censored as part of efforts to purge Defense Department schools of allegedly harmful “ideologies” that Trump frequently rails against as part of his attacks on DEI.
Will Griffin, a spokesman for Defense Department schools, noted that while students have a right to participate in student-led groups, they also need a teacher to supervise meetings. Because teachers in Defense Department schools are federal employees subject to Trump’s executive orders, many adults are unwilling to serve as mentors or sponsors to such clubs.
Even clubs that seek to encourage or celebrate women have been stalled.
For instance, Sophia Carey, a 16-year-old junior at a Defense Department high school in Germany, told the New York Times that she wanted to create a girls club at her high school. The club, as she envisioned it, would have held an assembly for Women’s History Month, brought in female speakers who work in the military and in science fields, and would have included a community project to offer feminine products in women’s bathrooms at school.
But Carey says the most significant obstacle has been finding a teacher to supervise the club due to fears of running afoul of Trump’s executive order.
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