A group of conservative parents in the state of New Hampshire is offering a $500 reward for the first person to catch a teacher in violation of a new law that they say bans the teaching of critical race and gender theory in public schools.
“We’ve got $500 for the person that first successfully catches a public school teacher breaking this law,” Moms for Liberty NH tweeted. “Students, parents, teachers, school staff… We want to know! We will pledge anonymity if you want.”
We've got $500 for the person that first successfully catches a public school teacher breaking this law.
Students, parents, teachers, school staff… We want to know! We will pledge anonymity if you want. https://t.co/hA7fqvj62u
— Moms for Liberty NH (@Moms4LibertyNH) November 12, 2021
The law the group is referring to, “Right to Freedom from Discrimination in Public Workplaces and Education,” was passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Chris Sununu on June 25. The law prohibits public employees from teaching or training any student or other employee:
- “that people of one age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, creed, color, marital status, familial status, mental or physical disability, religion, or national origin, are inherently superior or inferior” to another person of any of these immutable characteristics or personal identities;
- that an individual is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously, because of some immutable characteristic or group identity;
- that an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of some immutable characteristic or group identity; or
- that people of one identity group or immutable characteristic should not treat other classes of people equally, without regard to those traits or classes
The law also contains a similar provision in a subsequent section that extends the bans to public schools specifically. The law does include protections for “discussing, as part of a larger course of academic instruction, the historical existence of ideas and subjects” like racism and discrimination.
The law also provides for persons “claiming to be aggrieved by a violation” of the law to sue the school or school district in superior court for legal relief, or to file a civil action with the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights. Furthermore, the law provides that violations of the law by a teacher constitute “a violation of the educator code of conduct that justifies disciplinary sanction by the state board of education.” An FAQ document from state officials indicates that a violation of the law by a teacher subjects that teacher to disciplinary action by the state board of education, which could potentially include a loss of credentials.
A student at a New Hampshire public high school is already suing his school district after he was suspended from a football game after an off-campus conversation where he allegedly explained that his Catholic beliefs teach that there are two genders. As previously reported by the Daily Wire, the student was involved in a debate on a school bus about gender pronouns that carried over into a text message exchange. The student was suspended for “failing to respect another student’s gender pronouns and for ‘inappropriate language’ used in his texts,” the Daily Mail reported.
A number of other states are also taking steps to ban critical race and gender theory in schools. As reported by the Daily Wire, North Dakota became the latest state to ban Critical Race Theory in public schools, after governor Doug Burgum signed the bill into law Friday.