There is a war of fear and misinformation across America's schools because Fox News and other right-wing entities have been spreading lies about children being attacked and "indoctrinated."
First there is the lie that Critical Race Theory is sweeping the nation's schools and teaching white students to be ashamed of themselves. This, of course, is ludicrous.
Then conservatives are also targeting transgender kids with the lie that they hold an unfair advantage against cis kids in sports. There have been attempts at passing laws across the nation fueled by beliefs that trans athletes are stealing scholarships and records from their cis counterparts. This is another lie, but like the CRT stories, truth means nothing.
Truth is irrelevant when you have organizations with vast reaches smothering the debate with lie after lie. And when you have government officials and others hiding behind religious beliefs and false assurances that they don't hate while labeling LGBTQ people and our kids as Satanic or demonic.
The 59 second video above will break your heart. It is of a trans student, Eli, speaking at a Texas state legislation hearing. The state is attempting to pass an anti-trans bill for the fourth time. Eli breaks down all of the awful things which happened to him in high school because of transphobia and how his participation in sports - which Texas legislators want to ban trans students from participating in - helped him get through it all.
Eli's simple question at the beginning breaks through all of the fear mongering.